San Francisco Full-Day Tour by Cable Car & Foot
Description
Our SF in a Day tour will take you places that no other San Francisco tour does, traversing the city by cable-car, rail & bus to visit enchanted gardens, secret stairs & glorious rooftop vistas, creating an unforgettable experience. You’ll avoid crowds at the tourist hot-spots, while experiencing the culture of SF & learning its history. We’ll start your tour near the Embarcadero & take the cable-car up to Nob Hill. From there we go to City Hall (or Cable Car Museum) &, after going inside, we can grab a coffee in Hayes Valley. After that we head to the Castro, then walk through Dolores Park. We finish the morning part of the tour in the Haight, it's a great place to get some lunch. After that we take you to see an icon of San Francisco, the Painted Ladies. That's followed by a walk down another SF icon, Lombard Street. We finish the tour with a walk through North Beach & Chinatown. By then you’ll have had a fantastic experience of SF & made some beautiful memories to take home.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your guide will help you orient yourselves, by telling you the history and background of the Ferry Building and downtown San Francisco.
Take the cable car up steep Nob Hill to see the grand mansions of the San Francisco's first millionaires.
enjoy this fascinating museum about SF's most famous transport feature, which is also the site of the machinery which runs the system (weekends).
Go inside our beautiful City Hall and learn about the important events which took place there (weekdays).
See this picturesque new area, near the San Francisco Civic Center, with it's collection of great street art and small coffee shops.
One of the loveliest parks in SF and possessing great views of downtown.
Experience this historic neighborhood, hugely important in the LGBTQ movement, of which San Francisco is a world-wide symbol.
This is where the hippie, anti-Vietnam War, movement really started in the 1960's. The neighborhood still maintains much of that same aesthetic (as well as being a great place to have lunch).
An icon of San Francisco. What trip here would be complete without seeing these beautiful, Victorian houses, with their amazing views of SF?
One of our most famous landmarks, we walk down the steep, curved street - and you'll get some great photos for Instagram.
Walk through this historical neighborhood, San Francisco's very own Little Italy.
We finish your tour in San Francisco's famous Chinatown, with a visit to a back street fortune cookie maker. What better way to end your amazing day in SF.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Aim to get to the meeting point 10-15 minutes early. If you’re late you will miss the tour.
- This tour is not recommended for children under 12 y.o.
- By making a booking for this tour you agree to be bound by Real San Francisco Tours terms of service.
- Please note cable car and streetcar operations can be affected by events and technical issues beyond our control.
- Please check dates/times carefully BEFORE making a booking.
- Tour includes a 45 minute to 1 hours lunch break in Haight-Ashbury (at guest's own expense). All types of diet can be accommodated.
- This is a walking tour and we move at a reasonable pace, climbing several hills and sets of steps. It’s not suitable for people with mobility issues. Guests walk 4-5 miles. over the day.
Reviews(214)
James the guide was great. A lot of good walking mostly downhill. We were only two so that made it more personal
Our tour guide, Jamie, did an amazing job. He shared so many amazing facts and was very friendly. Knew exactly where to go. We had a wonderful day and my teens had fun too.
The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and was wonderful to have conversations with and ask questions about San Francisco. He was extremely helpful when it came to deciding on places to eat and getting back to where we needed to be. We both loved the tour.
This company got good reviews but unfortunately we got a dud. The man was very nice but knew nothing but brief anecdotes that we could have found out about on our phones. In fact, he didn't even know about some notoriously haunted buildings everyone knows about when we asked, and he gave misinformation about other things. At times we felt like we knew more than he did having done some reading. The tour very quickly changed from a ghost and crime tour to just information about buildings that we passed and anecdotes about himself. It was very disappointing for the money, and we wish we had booked one of the free SF City tours instead because we know that the volunteers there are actually trained in local history.
We're sorry to see that this reviewer didn't enjoy their tour with us, we always want guests to have the best possible time on it. However they are completely wrong to suggest that the guide isn't an expert on San Francisco history, all of our guides are. No need to believe us - any potential guest can go to our website and navigate to the section called "Inside SF". There they will find dozens of in-depth articles about the city's history, including photos, videos and maps. Many of these pages get thousands of views every month. In fact if this reviewer can find a better article on any of the topics covered there, then they can send us the link, and if they're right, we'll give them a full refund for this tour. We would also appreciate it if this reviewer could email us with more info about the notoriously haunted building and any other topic they felt the tour didn't cover. We will for sure look into it. - Catalina
If you want a different kind of experience from riding on a big tour bus all day, this is a great option. We ended up having a private tour as there were only the two of us on a Sunday. Our guide Mark is fantastic with a wealth of information about all the different neighborhoods and important events, some of which he himself lived through, as a long time (more than 4 decades) SF resident. We went to places and saw arts that we otherwise would never have discovered on our own. It was definitely fun to ride in the cable car, street car and many buses without having to navigate them all on our own. Throughout the day, Mark had never stopped being most enthusiastic about what he was telling us. It was most worthwhile and an unforgettable day in the city.
Mark was our guide and was utterly fantastic. He was very knowledgeable of the history of San Francisco, and the presentation was in a light and often humorous manner. Great time!
I really enjoyed my San Francisco day tour. It was a great way to see so much of the city in a short amount of time, especially as someone visiting and trying to understand the different neighborhoods, history, and culture. The tour was informative, interesting, and gave me a better appreciation for how colorful and unique San Francisco is. I especially enjoyed learning about the Castro, the city’s LGBTQ+ history and the stories connected to different landmarks. The guide shared a lot of details that I probably would not have learned just walking around by myself. It made the city feel more alive and meaningful.
It’s an amazing tour. I loved every minute of it. You really get a feel and knowledge of the city. Be ready to walk up hills, take trolleys, ride the subways. I’m mean it’s an adventure. We saw the whole city. Highly recommend it if you love being active. Tour guide was the best!
We had a really great experience! Jamie was wonderful, very knowledgeable about the city and its history. Very flexible and accommodating. He has some good restaurant recommendations as well and all in all made our trip truly worth it
Our family had an amazing tour with Jamie. We learned so much about the history, architecture, and interesting people of the city. We enjoyed the cable car rides, lunch in Chinatown, and incredible views of the city. Highly recommend this tour!
