SAN FRANCISCO · CALIFORNIA
The bridge, the Rock, and a hundred Victorian hills.
Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, bay cruises and bridge bike rides, Chinatown dumplings and the redwoods across the water. And the wine country, Yosemite and the coast, every one a day trip from the city.
Only here
Only in San Francisco.
Bridges and boat tours turn up in every harbor city. A maximum-security prison on an island in the bay, the oldest Chinatown in America, and International Orange steel standing in the fog belong to this one.
The Rock
Alcatraz Island
A federal penitentiary on a rock a mile and a half off the wharf, home to Capone and the Birdman from 1934 to 1963. The only ferry leaves from Pier 33, and the cellhouse audio walk is narrated by the guards and prisoners who were actually here. Tickets go weeks ahead.
- 1 San Francisco: Alcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided App
- 2 Combo Tour: Alcatraz Island and San Francisco Grand City Tour
- 3 San Francisco: Alcatraz Island & 48-Hour Hop-On Hop-Off Tour
International Orange
The Golden Gate Bridge
Opened in 1937 and painted the warm orange that still reads through the fog, the bridge runs 1.7 miles across the strait where the Pacific meets the bay. Walk it, ride across to Sausalito, or watch the towers vanish into the afternoon fog from a boat below.
- 1 San Francisco: Golden Gate Bay Cruise (60 Minutes)
- 2 Golden Gate Bridge Muir Woods Sausalito with Optional Alcatraz
- 3 San Francisco Golden Gate To Sausalito Bike Tour
Since 1848
Chinatown & North Beach
The oldest Chinatown in North America runs straight into North Beach, the old Italian quarter where the Beats read at City Lights. Dim sum and herb shops on one block, espresso and sourdough on the next, the Transamerica pyramid standing over both.
- 1 Chinatown & North BeachLittle Italy: 7 Tastings & History
- 2 North Beach & Little Italy Walking Tour: Food, History & Flavor
- 3 Ghost Hunt in SF Chinatown with a Professional Investigator
Start here
The one most people book first.
More San Francisco trips are planned around this than anything else on the list.
The classics
San Francisco's Most Popular Tours
Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, the bay and the wharf. The days most visitors come for.
Where to begin
The experiences a San Francisco trip is built around.
The island, the bridge, the bay, the wine country and the redwoods. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Book this one first
How to do Alcatraz.
One company runs the ferry and tickets sell out two to four weeks ahead, so the real question is which tour, not whether. Three ways onto the island, depending on what you want from it.
Napa & Sonoma
Wine country is a day trip.
An hour north of the bridge, the Napa and Sonoma valleys hold some of the most celebrated vineyards in the country. Cabernet in Napa, pinot and zinfandel in Sonoma, tasting rooms strung along the valley floor and a wine train running through the middle of it. Trips leave the city in the morning and have you back by dinner.
Read the guide: the best wine country day trips →Across the bridge
The redwoods are half an hour away.
Cross the Golden Gate and the old-growth coast redwoods of Muir Woods stand twenty minutes up the road, with the harbor town of Sausalito and the Marin headlands on the way. Push further on the same early start and you reach Yosemite granite or the Monterey coast. The biggest scenery in California, all within a day of the city.
See the best day trips from the city →On the water
The whole skyline, seen from the water.
San Francisco Bay is the front row. Sail or cruise out under the Golden Gate, past the rock at Alcatraz and around Angel Island, the hills and the downtown towers stacked up behind the waterfront. Sunset trips, brunch cruises and small sailboats all leave from the piers.
Bay cruises & sailing →Painted Ladies
The city the 1906 fire didn't take.
When the earthquake and fire leveled downtown in 1906, the streetcar suburbs to the west came through. The result is block after block of Victorian and Edwardian houses, bay windows and gingerbread trim, most famously the painted row above Alamo Square with the skyline behind it. Walking tours work Alamo Square, Pacific Heights and the Haight.
- 1 North Beach & Little Italy Walking Tour: Food, History & Flavor
- 2 San Francisco Chinatown Walking Tour
- 3 San Francisco LGBTQ Walking Tour with Local Guide
Two wheels
Ride the Golden Gate to Sausalito.
The signature half-day on a bike: pick one up near Fisherman's Wharf, roll along the bay to the bridge, cross the span with the city at your back, then coast the long descent into Sausalito for lunch and the ferry home past Alcatraz. E-bikes take the hills out of it.
See all 25 bike tours & rentals →By place
The city and the bay, six ways.
Alcatraz for the prison island. The Golden Gate for the icon. Chinatown for the dumplings. Sausalito for the redwoods across the water. Napa for the vineyards. Yosemite for the big day out.
By activity
Pick how to see the city.
Up top on a bus, out on the bay by boat, across the bridge by bike, or on foot through the old neighborhoods. Plus the food, the wine and the city after dark.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in town? A long weekend that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
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