San Francisco Outdoor Activities
Recommended Outdoor Activities by Groupon Customers
From an early age, native San Franciscans Cynthia Yee and Korene Tom found themselves fascinated with their native culture and its ties to ancient beliefs and the supernatural. Now, through SF Chinatown Ghost Tours, native guides immerse guests in the mysticism, folklore, and history of the U.S.’s oldest Chinese community during themed walking tours. Wandering down dimly lit streets, patrons see the sites of former gambling dens, riots, and antique shops specializing in Mogwai. A daytime cookie factory tour meanders past historic Chinatown sights including a Taoist temple, food markets, and a fortune cookie factory, letting guests munch on cookies where the renowned biscuit was invented.
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.
Even before you climb inside, the GoCar is clearly a car with a personality. The petite, three-wheeled two-seater has a hood that slightly resembles an eager-to-please smiley face, and an open top that seems custom-made for letting the breeze ruffle your hair. Then the real fun begins: built with the company's own software and a compassion for the voiceless robots of America, a talking GPS system guides two-seater GoCars through the city streets of San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon with cheerful, info-rich narration. Second only to having a knowledgeable local jog alongside your minivan, tours zip along at drivers' own pace and accommodate as many pit stops as time allows.
Spinnaker Sailing’s crew helps people to experience the San Francisco Bay providing lessons, yacht and sailboat charters, and fractional- sailing boat-sharing memberships. During lessons, staffers challenge students to turn theory into hands-on action, using American Sailing Association guidelines to transform landlubbers into landlubbers who can sail. For those who prefer to outsource steering, Spinnaker Sailing’s captains load up to six passengers for private cruises aboard skippered 30- to 50-foot yachts. Parties can request to sail around Angel Island or stop in at Sam’s in Tiburon to grab drinks or dinner. Meanwhile, Spinnaker Fractional members share luxury Beneteau boats, indulging in the benefits of boat ownership without being bogged down with the cost of insurance, fees, and vessel upkeep.
