San Francisco, District by District
San Francisco is small enough to cross in an afternoon, but its neighborhoods hold 250 years of city history, and thousands of years of Ohlone life before that. This tour visits 14 districts. It starts at the Ferry Building and circles through downtown, the northern hills and waterfront, the Presidio, the western neighborhoods, the Mission and Civic Center before ending South of Market, a short walk from where you began.
Each main stop is a short history of one district, with how to get there by Muni, BART, cable car or on foot and how long its mini walking tour takes. Tap the details arrow to walk that mini tour: four or five sites in walking order, each with its own map point. Tap Next to skip ahead to the next district.
The whole tour is a full day or more, so plan on several days or pick the districts that interest you most. Wear good shoes, because the hills are real. Most sites are outdoors and free; for museums and buildings, check current hours before you go.
14 stops on this tour:
Ferry Building and the Embarcadero - Where the City Met the World
Financial District and Jackson Square - Gold Rush on the Old Shoreline
Chinatown - The Neighborhood That Refused to Move
North Beach and Telegraph Hill - Little Italy and the Beats
Fisherman's Wharf - Italian Boats and Old Ships
Nob Hill and Russian Hill - Cable Cars, Mansions and the Great Fire
The Presidio - Two Centuries Guarding the Golden Gate
Japantown and the Fillmore - Two Communities, One Neighborhood
Haight-Ashbury - From Victorian Suburb to Summer of Love
Golden Gate Park - Sand Dunes Turned Into a Park
The Castro - A Neighborhood That Became a Movement
The Mission - Where San Francisco Began
Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest
South of Market - From Rincon Hill to the Tech Boom
Plan your visit
- Route: 14 stops · about 19 miles · walking, plus a ride for the longer legs
- Time: a full day at an easy pace, with stops
- Start: Ferry Building and the Embarcadero (directions)
- Cost: free tour
- Audio: narrated - tap ▶ Listen at the top of any stop
Stops on this tour
- Ferry Building and the Embarcadero - Where the City Met the World
- Financial District and Jackson Square - Gold Rush on the Old Shoreline
- Chinatown - The Neighborhood That Refused to Move
- North Beach and Telegraph Hill - Little Italy and the Beats
- Fisherman's Wharf - Italian Boats and Old Ships
- Nob Hill and Russian Hill - Cable Cars, Mansions and the Great Fire
- The Presidio - Two Centuries Guarding the Golden Gate
- Japantown and the Fillmore - Two Communities, One Neighborhood
- Haight-Ashbury - From Victorian Suburb to Summer of Love
- Golden Gate Park - Sand Dunes Turned Into a Park
- The Castro - A Neighborhood That Became a Movement
- The Mission - Where San Francisco Began
- Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest
- South of Market - From Rincon Hill to the Tech Boom
More tours nearby
- Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (4 mi) - 1,017 acres of wonder - museums, gardens, bison, and windmills in the heart of SF!
- San Francisco Waterfront Tour (5 mi) - From the Golden Gate to the Ferry Building
- San Francisco Zoo: Exhibit by Exhibit (7 mi) - A self-guided loop by the Pacific, from giraffes, gorillas and lemurs to penguins, koalas and the Depression-era buildings where the zoo began.
- Fort Funston Historic & Scenic Tour (8 mi) - Coastal Defense History Meets Natural Beauty