Tours are an awesome way to explore a city by taking the trouble out of traveling and leaving you with nothing but great experiences and fond memories. Tours have knowledgeable, local guides to take you from one place to the next, so each outing leaves you with an adventure you won’t soon forget. The Tour Guy has awesome San Francisco tours and San Francisco day trips!
History lovers…and those of food, wine, and culture will love San Francisco. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought lots of prospectors to the area and people continued pouring into California, especially after it gained statehood in 1850. By the early 1900s, San Francisco was a major city with rich architecture, grand mansions, public parks and spaces, beautiful Victorian homes, cable cars, theaters, and all the aspects of a fine city. The earthquake of 1906 devastated the city, but it quickly rebuilt bigger and better. In the ensuing decades, San Francisco’s multiculturalism thrived, especially due to its Chinese and Italian populations—all the better for tasty food tours today!
Here are some tours that are sure to take your San Francisco trip to the next level!
San Francisco in a Half Day by Electric Bike
Follow your local guide around the city on an e-bike (it does the peddling for you) on this four-hour tour to see stops such as:
- Ghirardelli Square in Fisherman’s Wharf
- Golden Gate Park—see windmills, statues, and Japanese Tea Garden
- Haight-Ashbury—the heart of peace and love in the 60s
- Historic Mission District—named after the site where Spanish missionaries set up their first church
- The Castro—rainbows across the area are full of meaning and culture
- Iconic Victorian Painted Ladies including the “Full House” TV show house
San Francisco in a Day with Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz
This seven-hour tour includes a local guide picking you up at your hotel like a VIP where you will then commence on a day of sightseeing with stops that include:
- The Golden Gate Bridge
- The Twin Peaks
- Photo opportunities of Alcatraz, the Bay Bridges, and the skyscrapers of the Embarcadero and the Salesforce Tower
- Visit Haight-Ashbury and go through Chinatown and North Beach
- Your guide will take you to a local market so you can grab lunch
- Take a ferry to Alcatraz Island and explore and check out Fisherman’s Wharf on your own before you return to your hotel or get dinner.
Feast for three hours in the heart of San Francisco’s Italian community! The North Beach area celebrates the Italian immigrants who moved here and made it their home. This area was also home to Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg. All food and drink is included. A local foodie guide will take you to stops where you’ll eat food including:
- Cappuccino
- Cannoli
- Chocolate
- Cured meats
- Arancini
- Pizza
- Parmigiana
- Pasta
- And explore the hangouts of the Beats
Savor Chinese food delicacies on this three-hour food tour in San Francisco’s Chinatown with a local guide where you will try incredible delights. Food and drink includes:
- Peking Duck
- Moon Cakes
- Visit a fortune cookie factory
- Pork buns
- Dumplings
- Scallion pancakes
- Visit a tea house
Redwoods, California Coast, and Sausalito from San Francisco
See giant trees older than the Roman Empire and over 30 stories tall. This full day tour starts at your San Francisco hotel where your local guide will take you on an adventure including:
- A trip over the Golden Gate Bridge
- Visit Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserves
- Visit Guerneville where you will have time for lunch and shopping
- Take a drive out to the Northern California coast where you can dip your feet in the Pacific Ocean
- Stop at Bodega Bay for saltwater taffy
- Go to Bodega made famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”
- Stop in Sausalito
This wine adventure takes you to three boutique wineries where your guide picks you up from your hotel in downtown San Francisco before taking you on a ten-hour tour including:
- Sample wines at three boutique wineries in Sonoma
- Learn about the wine-making process
- Head through the vineyards and see the local grapes up close
- Have time in Sonoma for lunch, to visit artisan boutiques and shops, and to visit the historic Mission—one of California’s oldest settlements
- Visit Sausalito
- Have a short stop for photos overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge
Other Tours
Redwoods and Wine Country Day Trip
Morning in Marin: Muir Woods, Sea Plane, & Sausalito Ferry Tour
Yosemite in a Day from San Francisco
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