San Francisco Outdoor Activities

At Rhythm Tennis, students learn the ins and outs of the sport with one-on-one instruction from coach Greg, a San Francisco Men's Champion Division winner. Beginners learn to defeat competitors and screen the air for migrating cicadas by mastering fundamentals and strokes such as the forehand, backhand, and volley. Onsite tennis pros also restring rackets and offer tips and tricks on gear.

The crew members at The Electric Tour Company believe that San Francisco is the most fun town in the world, and that one of the best ways to explore its diverse streets are on unique vehicles such as the Segway and electric bikes. This led them to develop tours—for locals and tourists alike—which have attracted attention and praise from outlets such as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the Los Angeles Times. Atop the sturdy deck of an i2 Segway, groups wheel past famed sights including Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz prison, and the city’s notoriously hilly streets. Night tours facilitate a deeper exploration of neighborhoods such as Little Italy and Chinatown, and electric-bike tours whizz straight over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Led by local historian Rick Evans, guide of the SF Weekly's Best Walking Tour of 2009, the Chinatown walking tour escorts guests through a complex and densely populated neighborhood with an engaging narrative about its rich history. Urban explorers weave their way down narrow alleys and across plazas, discovering the area's charms and the Chinese community's role in the growth of San Francisco and the state. The seasoned tour guide regales groups of no more than six with insightful tales of the oldest Chinatown in North America bolstered by years of experience and a storytelling degree from the Mother Goose Technical Institute. Highlights of the tour include visits to the Street of Painted Balconies, a colorful, crowded street saturated with international flags and upstairs temples, and a cathedral completed during the Gold Rush in 1854, which was recognized as the first Roman Catholic church on the West Coast. The one-mile trek makes stops at a fortune-cookie factory—to watch cookies cool, harden, and form their all-knowing cores—and the neighborhood's oldest herbal shop, which is stocked with Chinese medicine and tongue depressors.

With Janis Joplin's raspy vocals slicing through its speakers, and a costumed guide at its helm, the Magic Bus cruises into the 1960s as it captivates riders with a groovy comparison of San Francisco's past and present. Over the course of a two-hour trip, iconic neighborhoods and city landmarks pour through the bus's windows, which, at various stops, get covered by retractable video screens that flicker with historic images. Tour takers sing along to classic tunes as the bus rolls through Chinatown, Golden Gate Park, and Haight-Ashbury, famous for its role during the Summer of Love, and later, during the notorious crossing guard strike of 1982. Aside from public tours, the Magic Bus opens its tie-dyed doors to private parties and corporate charters.

Departing from the charming town of Tiburon, the Angel Island Tiburon Ferry takes passengers on 10-minute rides to the historic Angel Island State Park. The ferry is run by the McDonogh family, which boasts a storied history of five generations of running boats to the island while quoting lines from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The company runs its route year-round, encouraging hikers and bicyclists to take advantage of the islands’ trails in any season and also runs regular sightseeing cruises around the bay. Passengers can embark on one- to two-hour excursions that glide beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, explore Alcatraz, or cruise along the shoreline of Marin County.

Since it was erected 75 years ago, the Golden Gate Bridge has welcomed thousands of commuters and connected two pieces of land that, like itself, stand as preserved national parks. Staffers at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy have maintained the Bridge and more than 40 other local parks for the past 30 years, working to keep them relevant and accessible to visitors while preserving their original structures and native wildlife. Today, guides lead walking tours along the Golden Gate Bridge, walking and ferry tours around Alcatraz Island during the day and at night, and bus tours through Muir Woods. Their conservation staff also hosts regular local events such as botany workshops, endangered species restoration efforts, and youth classes in the history of ethnobotany: the cultural use of plants for food, medicine, and toga-party accessories.