SF Info
What you need to know!
Yvette M
Yelp
I went to San Francisco with my boyfriend and he booked the ghost and crime tour for the Saturday night. It was a really interesting blend of true crime, history and some seriously scary ghost stories. In other words perfect entertainment for the night. The tour stopped in a historical bar midway through the tour for a quick cocktail and then ended at the oldest pub in the city. It was our first night in SF and the guide was really helpful with recommendations for the rest of our stay. We’d definitely give it 5 out of 5!
John Julien
This was a great tour and Jamie was a fantastic guide! We were able to see so many parts of the city, learn its history, and feel comfortable navigating its many neighborhoods. Whether you’re visiting for a day or a week, I can’t recommend this tour enough. Thanks Jamie!
Gina Ziegler
TripAdvisor
What an awesome way to see San Francisco. Jamie our tour guide was born and raised in the city and was an amazing, interesting source of knowledge and made the tour so fun from riding the trolley car, easy walking, beautiful sites and excellent food and treats. I highly recommend this tour. And I must say, a great value. THANK YOU JAMIE, you made San Francisco so memorable!
Sightsee780139
TripAdvisor
Such an interesting deep dive into the Castro and Mission neighborhoods, for which we had an incredibly sunny warm summer day. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, having grown up in the area, and pointed out not only historical places, but beautiful murals, homes and fun nooks and crannies (like hidden stairways to streets) that we never would have seen on our own. We definitely came away with much more of an appreciation for Castro and the Mission (love Dolores Park!) and will seek out other neighborhoods on our next trip!
Gillian_D
Viator
I had the most amazing time, as a solo traveller doing a small group tour is perfect. My tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. He gave us lots of fun facts along the way and the whole experience was very interesting. Bring your walking shoes we started at 10 am and finished at 6 pm, I highly recommend you do this tour. We went to places tourist didn’t go.
Jamie Sarkozi
My Boyfriend and I booked an all Day SF tour with Christofer and had an amazing time! He knew a ton of history which we loved and we were able to see a ton. We loved it as it had been our first time visiting. Would highly recommend to anyone wanting to be shown around the city.
Edgar Wallace
Did a wonderful tour with these guys while I was in San Francisco on business. I’d also done a tour with the sister company in Los Angeles several years ago. Kevin, who was the guide, was great and it was so nice to be outside. We learnt tons about SF. Definitely recommended!
6 Day Trips From San Francisco
A lot of visitors to San Francisco are also looking to explore the wider Bay Area. There are so many interesting places to visit and things to do in the wider region that it makes sense to make the most of the opportunity to include them in the trip. But out of all the options, what are the best day trips from San Francisco?
You'll see day trips to Yosemite National Park (around 6 hours drive from San Francisco) and Monterey (over a hundred miles from the city) advertised, and a lot of visitors will make those journeys. Both Yosemite and Monterey are well-worth visiting, but what we've done with this list is focus on 6 destinations that are all less than a hundred miles from SF AND are totally worth the effort to visit.
Bay Area Trips from SF
1. MUIR WOODS NATIONAL MONUMENT (TOP PHOTO)
Muir Woods is the closest National Park to San Francisco and pretty much a must-do if you're visiting the Bay Area. It sits on the western slope of Mount Tamalpais, north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, barely 45 minutes drive (depending on traffic) from the Financial District. It forms part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The park protects almost 250 acres of old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest, one of the last remaining parts of a vast forest that once covered over 2 million acres, stretching from the Big Sur to Oregon, before the Gold Rush brought commercial logging for building houses in San Francisco.
Muir Woods has a ton of phenomenal, easy, hiking trails that take visitors through some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in North America. There are numerous tour companies offering organized day trips from SF to the park, but if you're driving there BE SURE to purchase a ticket in advance, parking is limited and can sell out weeks ahead.
For more information on Muir Woods check here.
2. SAUSALITO
Sausalito is a beautiful little city that clings to the coast on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. You can either drive over the Golden Gate Bridge or take a ferry from the Ferry Building, both are great ways to get there, and in fact you can easily take a bus one-way and a ferry the other, which is the best way to do it. .
You can even combine a trip to Sausalito with a visit to Muir Woods, since they are both quite close to each other.
The city developed in the 1870's as a fishing town, helped by being both close to San Francisco and, at the same time, isolated from it due to being accessible only by water or a long land route that skirted all the way around the Bay Area. That comparative isolation ended with the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937.
Today the city has a nice strip of art shops, cafes, restaurants and bars along the bay front. It's definitely worth spending an afternoon and/or evening in this beautiful Bay Area city.
For more information on Sausalito check here.
3. NAPA VALLEY AND SONOMA VALLEY
The first vines were planted in Napa Valley in 1838, nearly two hundred years ago, and commercial viticulture has been present since 1858. Next door Sonoma Valley is the site of the Mission San Francisco Solano, the most northerly of the California Missions, and the only one established during the period when the state was part of Mexico. The valley also has the second oldest winery in California, Buena Vista Winery, established in 1857. So both regions have a long history of winemaking.
Even if you're not big on wine, there are plenty of reasons to visit: breathtaking scenery, historic sites and world-famous restaurants. You can easily take a day to visit the wine region, but better still stay the night (and include a trip to Sacramento). It's one of the most popular day trips from San Francisco.
For more information on Napa Valley check here.
For more information on Sonoma Valley check here.
4. ANGEL ISLAND
Angel Island sits in the middle of San Francisco Bay near another, much more famous, island called Alcatraz. Most visitors to SF, especially first-time visitors, are going to make the journey out to Alcatraz, but not nearly so many visit its larger neighbor.
Home to an immigration station from 1910 to 1940, making it a kind-of West Coast Ellis Island, Angel Island is now a State Park. It's a wonderful place to hike or bike, with phenomenal views of San Francisco and the bay, as well as the immigration station, which is now a museum.
For more information on Angel Island, read our guide.
5. EAST BAY
On the opposite side of the bay from San Francisco are the East Bay cities of Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda. Berkeley is leafy and nome to the oldest college in the University of California, Oakland has numerous historical sites and an observatory, and Alameda has a picturesque and vibey downtown, as well as a retired U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.
You can easily visit the East Bay using either ferries or BART, and a trip out there from San Francisco is well-worth it. For more information on the area, and a list of things to do and places to visit there, read our guide.
6. SAN JOSE
The city of San Jose is south of SF, at the bottom of San Francisco Bay, and is actually the most populous city in the Bay Area. Founded only a year after SF, in 1777, the settlement was an important strategic settlement on El Camino Real, the main trail connecting the military base at the Monterey Presidio with the San Francisco Presidio.
Now the city sits in the middle of what's known as Silicon Valley. What that means is a lively bar and restaurant scene, with some of the best establishments in California. There are plenty of other things to do in the city, including paying a visit to Apple's Computer History Museum.
For more information on the city and things to do there check here.
This map is interactive. To open in Google Maps click the icon in the top right corner.
If you have any feedback on our recommendations of 6 Day Trips from San Francisco, or if you have some recommendations of your own, please email us and let us know. We’ll be sure to take it into account.
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