Come join a free walking tour of San Francisco on May 10-14! City Guides, founded in 1978 (see History page for details), is a non-profit organization with more than 200 trained volunteers who lead FREE history and architectural walking tours in San Francisco. They are sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library and are a a San Francisco Parks Trust Park Partner. Join in for a walk along the streets, sidewalks, and byways of America’s most beautiful – and fascinating – city!
| Monday May 10 |
9:30 am – Japanese Tea Garden
10:00 am – Chinatown
11:00 am – Fisherman’s Wharf
11:00 am – Bawdy & Naughty
1:30 pm – Chinatown
7:00 pm – North Beach By Night
| Tuesday May 11 |
10:00 am – Palace Hotel
10:00 am – Rising Steel: Two Centuries Of San Francisco Architecture
11:00 am – Pacific Heights Mansions
11:00 am – Historic Murals Of Rincon Center
11:00 am – Castro: Tales Of The Village
12:00 pm – Ferry Building
1:30 pm – Historic Market Street: Path Of Gold
2:00 pm – Financial District
| Wednesday May 12 |
10:00 am – Theatre In San Francisco
11:00 am – Diego Rivera Mural: Pan American Unity
11:00 am – Gold Rush City
11:00 am – Coit Tower Murals
1:00 pm – Japanese Tea Garden
1:00 pm – 1906: Phoenix Rising
2:00 pm – Nob Hill
| Thursday May 13 |
11:00 am – Civic Center & City Hall
11:00 am – Golden Gate Bridge
12:00 pm – Ferry Building
1:00 pm – Fort Mason To Aquatic Park
1:00 pm – Fire Department Museum
2:00 pm – Palace Hotel
2:00 pm – Nob Hill
| Friday May 14 |
9:30 am – Japanese Tea Garden/Stow Lake/Strawberry Hill
10:00 am – South of Market Architecture Stroll
10:00 am – City Scapes And Public Places
10:00 am – Golden Gate Park: East End
11:00 am – Fisherman’s Wharf
1:00 pm – Fort Mason Historic District
1:00 pm – Fire Department Museum
1:30 pm – Gold Rush City
1:30 pm – City Scapes And Public Places
| Saturday May 15 |
10:00 am – North Beach
10:00 am – Omni Hotel Walk
10:00 am – Palace Hotel
10:00 am – Chinatown
11:00 am – Castro: Tales Of The Village
11:00 am – Pacific Heights Mansions
11:00 am – Mission Murals
11:00 am – Landmark Victorians Of Alamo Square
11:00 am – Coit Tower Murals
11:00 am – Sigmund Stern Grove
12:00 pm – Ferry Building
1:00 pm – Telegraph Hill Hike
1:00 pm – Fire Department Museum
1:00 pm – Palace Of Fine Arts/Marina
1:00 pm – Fort Mason To Aquatic Park
1:30 pm – Mt. Davidson Hike (Tour Cancelled)
2:00 pm – Land’s End: Sutro Heights
2:00 pm – Japantown, Urban Renewal and Fillmore Jazz
Most tours last 1-1/2 to 2 hours and you just need to show up at the time and place indicated on the schedule. (NOTE: They ask groups of 8 or more to schedule a special tour several weeks in advance. See below.) Your guide will be wearing a badge that displays the City Guides logo. If you don’t see the badge, just look for someone at the appointed place who seems ready to lead a tour. These a very fun and informative tours and you will see a combination of tried-and-true San Francisco landmarks and off-the-beaten-path sites. They walk rain or shine and have a few indoor tours (Palace Hotel, Fire Dept Museum, Coit Tower), but most of their tours are outdoors. People often ask if the tours are strenuous and the answer is mostly no, although walking in San Francisco often involves hills. Call the City Guides office for more information: 415-557-4266.
City Guides has always had a special relationship with the San Francisco library. They got our start more than 30 years ago when a San Francisco mayor asked the city librarian to find volunteers to give tours in City Hall. In their early years, we were funded as a project of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. While no longer connected to the Friends, they still receive sponsorship from the library. City Guides provides fun yet educational services that are a logical extension of a free public library, which is the reason they continue to provide tours to the public without charge.