San Francisco

Nearly Private San Francisco Tour Including Sausalito

Badge of ExcellenceSan Francisco, USA

2 to 3 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Overview

See the best of San Francisco (and Sausalito, its neighbor across the Golden Gate Bridge) in one trip—and enjoy an insider’s perspective as you go—on this small-group tour. Following the morning pickup, set off via vehicle to discover highlights ranging from Lombard Street and Golden Gate Park to Haight-Ashbury and Sausalito. As you go, your San Francisco-born guide will share their own stories and memories of the city.

This nearly private tour is capped at six to ensure a personal experience
Cross the Golden Gate Bridge, drive down the Lombard street, and much more
Enjoy the chance to visit scenic Sausalito, which many other tours miss
Your local guide’s stories will bring the city’s history to life

What's Included

Bottled water
Snacks

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

580 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Pickup is directly across the street from the Marriot Courtyard at 580 Beach St. This is 1.5 blocks from the historic Beach & Hyde cablecar turnaround. Parking available at the Anchorage Parking Lot, at 500 Beach St.

Start time

11:00 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Fisherman's Wharf (Pass By)

Pier 39 (Pass By)

Ghirardelli Square (Pass By)

Lombard Street

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Pacific Heights (Pass By)

Lucasfilm Lobby

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Palace of Fine Arts (Pass By)

Golden Gate Bridge

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Sausalito

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Legion of Honor (Pass By)

Lands End

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Golden Gate Park (Pass By)

California Academy of Sciences (Pass By)

de Young Museum (Pass By)

Japanese Tea Garden (Pass By)

Haight-Ashbury

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Painted Ladies

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Japantown (Pass By)

Nob Hill

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Chinatown (Pass By)

North Beach (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

139 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 139 reviews

Highlight of our trip - Awesome City Tour!

Annie_B, Mar 2024

Wow what a fun time we had! So glad we chose Paul’s tour-it was like visiting a good friend who offered to give you a private tour of the city. We learned so much about the bay area’s history and he showed us places we never knew about that were just amazing, we will be back and book him again, Thank you so much Paul!

Past and present of San Francisco

paulette_s, Feb 2024

This was one of the best tours i have been on. If you come to SF, please ask for Paul. What a wealth of knowledge plus personality. Can’t say enough about the three hours it was great. Worth every penny. I would have liked to have ended the tour with lunch that would have been over the top.

Must Book Tour

Stacey_R, Feb 2024

This was a fantastic tour. Paul is a lifetime San Francisco resident and it showed. Very informative, interesting and loved that he took us to places you would never see on a "big name" tour. Many great, personal stories about the city as well as historical times and events.

Fab tour of beautiful city

KristinLumley, Jan 2024

Excellent tour and tour guide Paul who was very accommodating and had excellent knowledge. We would highly recommend.

The Best Way to See San Fransisco on Your First Day!

Lori_S, Nov 2023

Paul is the most entertaining and engaging Tour Guide! He personalizes the tour for only 2 couples based on what you want to see and includes his own personal experiences as a SF citizen. We were blown away by how much we saw in a few hours: Iconic drive down Lombard Street, The Pink Ladies, Haight-Ashbury, The Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Ghirardelli Chocolates, Lucas Films HQ, Over the Golden Gate Bridge for the best photo ops of San Fransisco, beautiful Sausalito, through the Robin Williams Tunnel and so much more... We highly recommend this tour.

Response from Host, Dec 2023

Lori! You guys were definitely a never-to-forget experience yourselves, your generosity and enthusiasm really made my day, and the fact that we were able to re-connect for the Queen show really cemented our day as one for the books, so much to say thank you for!! -Paul

Best tour for your buck!

Jacqueline_S, Nov 2023

Paul was the absolute best tour guide! He was SO informative (a San Francisco native) and very friendly; he answered any questions we had and did his best to give us suggestions where to go and places we’d be better off avoiding. It was a great tour because it was semi- private, meaning it was only myself and my mother and another friend duo. Paul is also a fantastic photographer! You will not be disappointed with him on this tour. We covered all the major points of interest but I felt a little less time should be spent looking at the painted ladies, other than that no complaints! Book this tour!!

This tour was perfect!...

Abby_P, Nov 2023

This tour was perfect! Paul was a great tour guide who really made it feel like you were driving around with a local friend. He was personable and very knowledgeable and informative. We hit all the major tourist spots in the city, and some hidden gems. We were lucky to have a gorgeous day with minimal traffic. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a small group experience of the city.

The best tour of San Francisco

Joan_C, Nov 2023

I recommend that everyone does this tour. Learned so much about the city of San Francisco. Every place he recommended, was perfect. He was entertaining, and knowledgeable. Best tour I did all week.

SF and Sausalito Tour

Jenny_S, Nov 2023

Thank you so much for an amazing tour. We were lucky to have our own private tour of the city and got to see many areas that the larger buses could not visit. At times I felt like we were on a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of San Francisco. Paul gave many suggestions of places to see and eat… too many!!! We should have planned a longer trip to SF! Thank you so much for a wonderful tour! We look forward to returning soon!

We have a new friend in the city!

Kathryn_P, Sep 2023

This tour was amazing! Paul was friendly and as a native of San Francisco was very knowledgeable. He knew a lot about the history of the city which he shared with us without being boring. The ride was comfortable. Paul was accommodating, responsive and easy to reach. We saw so much of the city we would have never been able to see on our own. I would HIGHLY recommend this tour.

Amazing

Rebecca_H, Sep 2023

I ,,, I would just like to say that I feel like the tour guide that we had was very informative. I've learned a lot more about San Francisco then I ever knew before it was very enjoyable and entertaining. I want to say that he is very knowledgeable of the city of San Francisco, very friendly very talkative and outgoing and I truly feel like I really do have a friend in San Francisco. thanks to this guy he made me feel at home and for that I appreciate his time. Great experience he did a wonderful job I recommend this in this guy to anybody that comes to San Francisco. I love the city of San Francisco it has been enjoyable experience

Fantastic, informative and very enjoyable

Ian_P, Sep 2023

Fantastic tour Paul lived upto his 5 star rating Excellent and very informative with great interaction Could not recommend him more highly

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Hi Ian, thanks so much - I really enjoyed our outing yesterday, and was tickled to learn about the SF Firefighters Museum with you all! Looking forward to showing the City to you & your daughter on your return - and please take my best wishes back to Newcastle :-) -Paul

A must do while in SF!!

Sherry_B, Sep 2023

Paul was amazing!! This trip had a total of five people and it felt like a family friend that you’ve known forever is taking you around and showing you all the their city hast offer. in large cities like this, you would have to pay a local taxi driver to take you to all the spots that they know to get a tour like this. He absolutely loves where he is from and wants to show it off. We were also lucky enough that the other people in the group wanted to see some things so we were able to kind of put in some requests of what we wanted to see of the city and make those edits to the trip. Paul made sure that we were able to get the best pictures of the golden gate based on where the fog was, he took us to some little hidden gems to get pictures of the bay bridge, and the Golden Gate that unless you’re from San Francisco, you wouldn’t understand or know that that was where to go. He took us to the top tourist spots, but also included some of his favorite painted ladies. Paul was even kind enough to let tell us that you know for the rest of the days on the vacation if we needed to understand how to do something in the city or needed a recommendation that we forgot to ask for for maybe food or places to go or the best way to get somewhere, just call or text him and he would you know answer us back. And that kind of personalization doesn’t come often, but it was completely genuine. I can’t recommend this tour enough!

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Sherry, this may be my favorite review yet - thanks so much for the thoughtful and complete response, I truly appreciate it! I have to say that I shouldn't be surprised: your enthusiasm, curiosity, and overall presence really helped make for a special day out - I find that frequently the tour is a reflection of the unique alchemy of the guests and the City, and so I should say thanks not only for the review, but for the special day! -Paul

great experience - more knowledge of the plants and trees would have made it perfect

denise_m, Jul 2023

Great to be dropped off at the restaurant we ere going to. Thanks. The reason I seldom do these reviews is because they try to bully you.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Hi Denise, thanks for the feedback - I generally try to up my game when folks ask about things that I'm less familiar with, and this is an area that I'm always working on, so I will definitely stay on that, (though sometimes, I've been told that I get a bit *too* excited about some of the local flora, like the unique yellow Pohutukawa tree that I show guests from NZ). That being said, I do appreciate the kind words and review, and am glad that you enjoyed both the trip and the Restaurant! Thanks very much, Paul

We l o v e your tour!!

Elizabeth_Y, Jun 2023

My son and I enjoyed our time at San Francisco with Paul, he was very personable,knowledgeable and very welcoming, he showed us around town like he was touring around his own relative or close friend visiting his home town, he was so verbose and we learned a lot about SF, and it’s history , we like the pictures you shared , thank you for the Boudin sourdough bread too and we went to good Scoma restaurant for lunch after the tour per your recommendation , that was a good sunny day spent at the wharf…Good luck and see you on our next SF visit…

Response from Host, Jun 2023

Elizabeth! It's lovely to hear from you - I'm so glad everything worked out, and we had a truly memorable tour! And I'm doubly happy that you tried Scoma's, a true SF staple - I'm already looking forward to your next trip ! -Paul

A Great Tour!

Aiwen_T, Apr 2023

Paul was our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable and passionate about the city. My mom and I truly enjoyed our 3 hours tour and this was a wonderful experience for us and we would recommend Paul to all my family, friends or anyone who wants to learn about San Francisco! He is the BEST!

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Thanks so much Aiwen! I really appreciate the efforts you made to have an extraordinary day - between your flights and the tour you may have actually set a record for longest day in SF ever :-) Again, thanks! -Paul

Best Tour of SF!

Barbara_R, Apr 2023

We couldn’t have asked for a better experience than we had with Paul. This felt like a tour with a friend who was showing us all his favorite spots in his hometown. His personal insights and anecdotes brought the city to life. He answered our questions and packed so much into our short time together. I’ve visited SF several times before but learned so much! We especially loved the personal touches such as the sourdough bread snack from Boudin’s and chocolate from Ghirardelli. I cannot recommend this tour enough!

Great way to see San Francisco

Greg_B, Mar 2023

We all had a fantastic time with Paul on this tour. Would highly recommend this day out to all visitors

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Thanks Greg- it was a pleasure showing you all around, and I hope Emily has a great parade today! -Paul

Excellent tour and Paul...

DhruvPatel, Mar 2023

Excellent tour and Paul was most Knowledgeable guide.Showed us more then may have been included. Excluded what was not necessary saving us time

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Thanks very much Dhruv! I really enjoyed yesterday, and take great enjoyment in knowing that we're Android rebels! :-) -Paul

Best tour

Norman_O, Mar 2023

Paul is an amazing guide. He is knowledgeable, friendly, engaging, and friendly. It was a great tour.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Thanks so much Norman, It was really a beautiful afternoon & you both made it a memorable trip (especially that photo at the Bridge/golf course vista!!) -Paul