|
The best way to really
get to know any city is to walk its main thoroughfares, ramble down its side
alleys, and immerse yourself in the day-to-day activities taking place on
the streets its locals frequent. San Francisco is no exception. Plus, as an
added bonus, the city’s numerous hills will make you more fit in the
process.
Do It Yourself
with a Self-Guided Tour
If you want to do it
yourself, the
San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau offers printable PDF files
of five favorite walking tours in San Francisco including Union Square,
Chinatown, and Fisherman’s Wharf. You can download these illustrated guides
directly from their website, but you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader software
to view the files. Another option is the
Diverse City Destinations website, which offers a series of ten self-guided
walking itineraries for tours such as “Jazz & Blues,” “Art to Architecture,”
and “Soul of the City.”
If you’d rather use a
“real” book as your guide to walking San Francisco, there are several good
options. Walking San Francisco by Liz Gans (Falcon) guides you
through 18 popular walks, including several in the scenic Golden Gate
National Recreation Area. Lunchtime Walks in Downtown San Francisco
by Gail Todd (Wilderness Press) shows you 33 short walks that offer a great
way to see popular San Francisco areas by foot, even when you’re short on
time. Stairway Walks in San Francisco by Adah Bakalinsky (Wilderness
Press) offers detailed itineraries for 27 walks through San Francisco’s
little-known stairways. These walks are a great way to get to know the
“hidden” San Francisco and get a great workout at the same time.
Let a Guide
Show You the Way
If you’re looking for a
guided walking tour,
San Francisco City Guides offers the best deal in town on guided San
Francisco tours—they’re free. With over 30 different offerings, City
Guides takes you to all the usual destinations such as Chinatown, Haight
Ashbury, and North Beach as well as to other lesser known but equally
intriguing areas of the city. Tours such as “Ghost Walk at City Hall,”
“Bawdy & Naughty,” and “Gold Rush City,” reflect the
city’s colorful past. City Guides is a non-profit organization sponsored by
the San Francisco Public Library.
Another option is the
Victorian Home Walk, takes you on a 2-1/2 hour tour past more than 200
Victorians and includes a visit inside a Queen Anne Victorian as well as a
scenic cable car ride. Tour price is $20 per person.
The
Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco offers two docent-led walks of
Chinatown. The Chinese Heritage Walk offers a guided cultural tour of
Chinatown for $17 per person. The Chinese Culinary Walk emphasizes culinary
Chinatown and includes a dim sum lunch for $40 per person.
Coffee lovers should appreciate
Javawalk, a two-hour guided tour of San Francisco’s best coffeehouse
culture at $20 per person. If the thought of all that java is making you
hungry, check out the
Wok Wiz tours. This tour company offers several tours including the Wok
Wiz Daily Tour, the I Can’t Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown Tour, and
the Ciao Chow – Chinatown and North Beach Tour. Prices vary based on tour.
Unique,
Unusual, and Out of This World
Interested in visiting
some of San Francisco’s most notorious haunted homes? The
San Francisco Ghost Hunt just might be the ticket. This tour takes you
on a three-hour visit of Pacific Height’s haunted past and includes an inside
tour of one of the most famous “haunted mansions.” The tour price is $20
per person.
If San Francisco’s
vampire lore intrigues you, give the
Vampire Tour of San Francisco a try. Led by 127-year vampress Mina
Harker, as portrayed by a local actress/playwright, the tour provides a
guided visit of Nob Hill mixed with vampire fantasy. As legend has it, Mina
was embraced by Count Dracula himself in 1897 and has lived in the tunnels
under Nob Hill ever since. Played for entertainment value and popular with
both locals and tourists, the tour costs $20 per mortal.
The Great
Outdoors
If you’re interested in
getting out of the city, check out the
Sierra Club's offerings. It offers hundreds of hikes and walks per year
for all fitness levels, plus provides the opportunity to meet and mingle
with the locals. A few of the scheduled hikes are in the city itself, like
the city stairways hikes, but most take you to scenic locations outside the
city such as
Mt. Tamalpais or Pt. Reyes.
City Hikes arranges hikes of scenic San Francisco locations for
groups of eight or more. Locations include Golden Gate Park, Presidio-Crissy
Field, Fort Mason-Marina, Fort Funston-Ocean Beach. Occasionally, they also
schedule public hikes for which individuals can sign up.
San Francisco is a great walker’s city,
offering an eclectic mix of walking tour options. Whether you’re an urban
aficionado, a nature lover, or a seeker of the unique and unusual, San
Francisco will entertain you and keep you in shape at the same time.
Patrice-Anne
Rutledge is a
California-based freelance journalist and bestselling author who writes
about both her professional interests (communications and web design) as
well as her personal interests (travel, food, and healthy living). She has
authored 22 non-fiction books for leading publishers, including Smart Travel,
and has contributed over 100 articles to magazines, newspapers, and websites
around the world. You can reach
Patrice via email at
patrice@patricerutledge.com or through her website:
www.patricerutledge.com.
|
