SAN FRANCISCO · CALIFORNIA
Bridges, hills, cable cars, and the wine country north.
Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, the neighbourhood walks and the bay cruises. Plus the day trips out to Napa, Sonoma, Muir Woods and Yosemite — the things SF is the launch pad for.
The one everyone takes
Start with the trip that fills first.
Whatever order your San Francisco days end up in, this is the one that books up earliest. Worth locking in before you sort out the rest of the week.
The classics
San Francisco’s Most Popular Tours
Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, the bay cruises, the redwoods. The trips most visitors plan their week around.
Beyond the city
Day trips from San Francisco.
Wine country in an hour. The redwoods over the bridge. Yosemite on a long day. SF earns its reputation as the launch pad for half the things outside the city limits.
Day trip
Napa & Sonoma
Over the Golden Gate, up the 101, into Cabernet country. The tasting-room circuit San Francisco built its weekends around.
63 tour reviews →Day trip
Muir Woods & Sausalito
Old-growth coast redwoods, then a ferry back to the Embarcadero. The closest national-park-grade afternoon in the country.
91 tour reviews →Day trip
Yosemite National Park
Half Dome, El Capitan, the giant sequoias of Tuolumne Grove. The longest day on the list, and the one nobody regrets.
31 tour reviews →By place
Pick a corner of the Bay Area.
The city for the cable cars and the hills. Alcatraz for the history. The Golden Gate for the bridge itself. Muir Woods for the redwoods. Wine country north on the 101. Yosemite east when you have the day.
By activity
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Bay cruise for the skyline. Cable car for the postcard. Bike across the bridge for the bragging rights. Wine tour when the city can wait. Twelve ways into San Francisco, depending on the kind of day you’re after.
Only in San Francisco
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Cable cars, sourdough, foggy mornings — those are SF, but versions of them exist elsewhere. These three don’t. Each one is its own day, and each one is reason enough on its own.
The Rock
Alcatraz Island
A federal penitentiary turned national park — the only one in the country. The cellhouse audio tour is built from interviews with the men who served time there, and the 15-minute ferry from Pier 33 is the only legal way onto the island. Sails sell out a week ahead in summer.
- 1 San Francisco: Alcatraz Island & 48-Hour Hop-On Hop-Off Tour
- 2 San Francisco: Inside Alcatraz Tour with Bay Cruise
- 3 One Day in San Francisco: Alcatraz, Muir Woods, and SF City Tour
International Orange
The Golden Gate Bridge
The most-photographed bridge in the world wasn’t supposed to be orange — the Navy lobbied for black-and-yellow stripes. Architect Irving Morrow held out for the vermilion he saw on the steel at the foundry, a colour that reads against fog as well as sky. The 1.7-mile span has anchored the SF skyline since 1937.
- 1 Golden Gate Bridge Muir Woods Sausalito with Optional Alcatraz
- 2 San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge Catamaran Cruise
- 3 San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito Cycling Tour
Oldest in North America
Chinatown
Settled by Cantonese migrants from the 1848 Gold Rush, San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest in North America and the largest outside Asia. It rebuilt faster than the rest of the city did after the 1906 earthquake. The fortune cookie was invented here; the walking tours still end at the Ross Alley bakery that folds them by hand.
- 1 Ghost Hunt in SF Chinatown with a Professional Investigator
- 2 Chinatown Walking Tour: Food, History & Flavor
- 3 San Francisco: Chinatown Culinary Walking Tour
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