Tours in San Francisco

In the past five years, City Sightseeing tour company has shuttled 1.5 million passengers around San Francisco in signature double-decker, open-top tour buses. Within the city itself, four different routes wend through various neighborhoods and past iconic landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Danny Tanner’s favorite grocery store. Outside the city, tours also run to Muir Woods, wine country, the picturesque towns of Monterey and Carmel, and Yosemite National Park.

Mr. Toad specializes in small, personalized tours that offer a better overview of the bay area than the Full House intro. Instead of the modern vehicles frequently sighted touring urban landscapes, Toad tours take place in pre-1930s vehicles that run on propane, the power behind grills and floating cities. The nimble rides can easily navigate the hilly cityscape along the route.

Bay City Bike's three locations in Fisherman's Wharf serve as the brick-and-mortar trailheads for bikers looking to cruise through the scenic streets and notable sites of San Francisco and the Bay Area. From each location, cyclists can ask staffers for directions to a number of scenic routes, including a path that crosses the Golden Gate Bridge and crosses into Sausalito, mountain-bike trails through the Marin Headlands, or tours of historic locales such as the Palace of Fine Arts or the famed phone booth known for letting people teleport out of Alcatraz. Those who prefer to explore San Francisco by other modes of transit can sign up for tours via Go Cars, segways, and buses.