San Francisco Tours

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Back to Tours & CruisesSan Francisco Organized Tours

The 49-Mile Scenic Drive

The self-guided, 49-mile drive is one easy way to orient yourself and to grasp the beauty of San Francisco and its extraordinary location. It's also a flat-out stunning and very worthy excursion. Beginning in the city, it follows a rough circle around the bay and passes virtually all the best-known sights, from Chinatown to the Golden Gate Bridge, Ocean Beach, Seal Rocks, Golden Gate Park, and Twin Peaks. Originally designed for the benefit of visitors to San Francisco's 1939 and 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition, the route is marked by blue-and-white seagull signs. Although it makes an excellent half-day tour, this miniexcursion can easily take longer if you decide, for example, to stop to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge or to have tea in Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden.

The San Francisco Visitor Information Center, at Powell and Market streets, distributes free route maps, which are handy since a few of the Scenic Drive marker signs are missing. Try to avoid the downtown area during the weekday rush hours from 7 to 9am and 4 to 6pm.

A BART Tour

One of the world's best commuter systems, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) runs along 104 miles of rail, linking 43 stations between San Francisco, Millbrae, and the East Bay. Under the bay, BART runs through one of the longest underwater transit tubes in the world. This link opened in September 1974, 2 years behind schedule and 6 months after the general manager resigned under fire. The train cars are 70 feet long and were designed to represent the latest word in public transport luxury. More than 3 decades later, they no longer seem futuristic, but they're still attractively modern, with carpeted floors, tinted picture windows, air-conditioning, and recessed lighting. The trains can hit a top speed of 80 mph; a computerized control system monitors and adjusts their speed.

The people who run BART think so highly of their trains and stations that they sell a $4.40 "Excursion Ticket," which allows you, in effect, to "sightsee" the BART system, or basically ride it. "Tour" the entire system as much as you like for up to 3 hours; you must exit at the station where you entered (if you get out anywhere else along the line, the gate instantly computes the normal fare). For more information, call tel. 415/989-BART or visit www.bart.gov.

Boat Tours

One of the best ways to look at San Francisco is from a boat bobbing on the bay. There are several cruises to choose from, and many of them start from Fisherman's Wharf.

Blue & Gold Fleet, PIER 39, Fisherman's Wharf (tel. 415/773-1188; www.blueandgoldfleet.com), tours the bay year-round in a sleek, 350-passenger sightseeing boat, complete with food and beverage facilities. The fully narrated, 1-hour cruise passes beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and comes within yards of Alcatraz Island. Don a jacket, bring the camera, and make sure it's a clear day for the best bay cruise. Frequent daily departures from PIER 39's West Marina begin at 10:45am on weekdays and 10am on weekends and holidays during winter and 10am daily during summer. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $16 for seniors over 62 and juniors 12 to 18, and $12 for children 5 to 11; children under 5 are admitted free. There's a $2.25 charge for ordering tickets by phone; discounts are available online at www.blueandgoldfleet.com.

The Red & White Fleet, Pier 43 1/2 (tel. 415/447-0597; www.redandwhite.com), offers daily "Bay Cruises" tours that leave from Pier 43 1/2. The tour boats cruise along the city waterfront, beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, past Angel Island, and around Alcatraz and are narrated in eight languages. Prices are $21 for adults, $17 for seniors and teens 12 to 17, and $13 for children 5 to 11. Discounts are available through online purchase.

Bus Tours

Gray Line (tel. 800/826-0202 or 415/434-8687; www.sanfranciscosightseeing.com) is San Francisco's largest bus-tour operator. It offers several itineraries daily. Free pickup and return are available between centrally located hotels and departure locations. Reservations are required for most tours, and keep in mind that those available in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Korean depart at 9am only.

Walking Tours

Javawalk is a 2-hour walking tour by self-described "coffeehouse lizard" Elaine Sosa. As the name suggests, it's loosely a coffee walking tour through North Beach, but there's a lot more going on than drinking cups of brew. Javawalk also serves up a good share of historical and architectural trivia, offering something for everyone. The best part of the tour may be the camaraderie that develops among the participants. Sosa keeps the excursion interactive and fun, and it's obvious she knows a profusion of tales and trivia about the history of coffee and its North Beach roots. It's a guaranteed good time, particularly if you're addicted to caffeine. Javawalk is offered Saturday at 10am and Sunday through Friday for private parties of 6 or more by appointment only. The price is $20 per person, $10 for kids under 12. For information and reservations, call tel. 415/673-WALK; or visit www.javawalk.com.

Cruisin' the Castro (tel. 415/550-8110; www.webcastro.com/castrotour) is an informative historical tour of San Francisco's most famous gay quarter, which will give you new insight into the contribution of the gay community to the city's political maturity, growth, and beauty. Trevor Hailey, who was involved in the development of the Castro in the 1970s, conducts the tours. She knew Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician elected to office in the United States: You'll learn about Milk's rise from shopkeeper to city supervisor and visit Harvey Milk Plaza, where marches, rallies, and protests begin. In addition, you'll explore the Castro Theatre, a memorial honoring gays who perished in the Holocaust, and side streets lined with beautifully restored Victorians, as well as the plethora of community-oriented stores in the Castro whose owners Hailey knows personally. Tours run Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 2pm May through November and begin at Harvey Milk Plaza, atop the Castro Street Muni station. The cost includes lunch at a Castro area restaurant. Reservations are required. The tour, with lunch, costs $45 for adults and $40 for seniors over 62; the price for children is flexible depending on their age.

On the Haight-Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour (tel. 415/863-1621), you explore hippie haunts with Pam and Bruce Brennan ("the Hippy Gourmet" -- see www.hippygourmet.com). You'll revisit in 2 1/2 short hours the Grateful Dead's crash pad, Janis Joplin's house, and other reminders of the Summer of Love. Tours begin at 9:30am on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The cost is $15 per person (cash only). Reservations are required and the tour starts at the corner of Stanyan and Waller streets.

San Francisco's Chinatown is always fascinating, but for many visitors with limited time it's hard to know where to search out the "nontouristy" shops, restaurants, and historical spots in this microcosm of Chinese culture. Wok Wiz Chinatown Walking Tours & Cooking Center, 654 Commercial St., between Kearny and Montgomery streets (tel. 650/355-9657; www.wokwiz.com), founded over 2 decades ago by author and cooking instructor Shirley Fong-Torres, is the answer. The Wok Wiz tours take you into Chinatown's nooks and crannies. Most guides are Chinese, speak fluent Cantonese or Mandarin, and are intimately acquainted with the neighborhood's alleys and small enterprises, as well as Chinatown's history, folklore, culture, and food. Tours are conducted daily from 10am to 1:30pm and include dim sum (Chinese meal made up of many small plates of food). There's also a less expensive tour that does not include lunch. The walk is easy, as well as fun and fascinating. Groups are generally held to a maximum of 15, and reservations are essential. Prices (including lunch) are $40 for adults and $35 for children under 11; without lunch, prices are $28 and $23, respectively.

The very gregarious and entertaining tour owner Shirley Fong-Torres also operates an I Can't Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown tour. It starts with breakfast, moves to a wok shop, and stops for nibbles at a vegetarian restaurant and dim sum, and at a marketplace before taking a break for a sumptuous authentic Cantonese luncheon. It's offered on most Saturdays and costs $75 per person, food included. The Walk & Wok tour includes shopping for food in Chinatown, and then cooking (and eating) it together at Shirley's Cooking Center (most Sat; $100 per person). Shirley also offers a nighttime tour, which includes dinner and starts at $65 per person; the price goes up depending on what you want to eat.

Jay Gifford, founder of the Victorian Homes Historical Walking Tour (tel. 415/252-9485; www.victorianwalk.com) and a San Francisco resident for 2 decades, communicates his enthusiasm and love of San Francisco throughout this highly entertaining walking tour. The 2 1/2-hour daily tour, at a very leisurely pace, starts in the lobby of the Westin St. Francis hotel and incorporates a wealth of knowledge about San Francisco's Victorian architecture and the city's history -- particularly the periods before and after the great earthquake and fire of 1906. You'll stroll through Japantown, Pacific Heights, and Cow Hollow. In the process, you'll see more than 200 meticulously restored Victorians, including the sites where Mrs. Doubtfire and Party of Five were filmed. Jay's guests often find that they are the only ones on the quiet neighborhood streets, where tour buses are forbidden. The tour ends with a trolley bus ride back to Union Square, passing through North Beach and Chinatown. Tours, which start at Union Square at 11am, are offered daily April through December and Thursday through Monday from January through March and cost $20 per person.