San Francisco

Full-Day San Francisco Tour by Cable Car & Foot

Badge of ExcellenceSan Francisco, USA
SF in a Day Tour
  • 8 hours
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

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Overview

Avoid the hassle of following maps and explore San Francisco in a much more fun way—by joining a small-group tour. The itinerary helps you learn about the history of the city with stops at interesting locations—such as Nob Hill, San Francisco City Hall, and The Castro, and Lombard Street. To help you save time and zip around the city with ease, the route includes travel by cable car, Metro, and historic streetcar.
  • Tick off lots of San Francisco highlights in a day
  • Don’t worry about the trip being crowded—it’s a small-group experience
  • Save tired legs and enjoy the views on a cable car ride
  • Tour showcases great photo opportunities—including Lombard Street

What's Included

  • Tour Guide
  • All Metro travel is included (USD20 value)
  • 2 cable car rides and 1 journey on the historic streetcar included (if possible)..
  • We donate $1 for every guest to a non-profit, Climate Cents.
  • Gratuities not included, because voluntary. If you enjoy tour please allow 15-20%.
  • Lunch/Snacks are not included.

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

  • Market St & Drumm St
    San Francisco, CA 94105, USA

    The guide will be checking in guests at the cable car station on the corner of Market and Drumm Street (by the Robert Frost marker), from 15 minutes before the tour is due to begin. Be sure to allow extra time for traffic and finding parking. We CANNOT wait for latecomers, there are other guests.

Start time

10:00 AM

End point

  • Chinatown, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Tour ends in Chinatown, about 10 minutes walk from the meeting point. Guide can make recommendations for dinner in the area or for other things to do.

What To Expect

The Embarcadero

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Nob Hill

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

San Francisco City Hall

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hayes Valley

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The Castro

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Mission Dolores Park

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Haight-Ashbury

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Painted Ladies

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Lombard Street

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

North Beach

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Chinatown

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Near public transportation
  • No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
  • Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
  • Aim to get to the meeting point 10-15 minutes early. If you’re late you will miss the tour.
  • This tour is not recommended for children under 15 y.o.
  • By making a booking for this tour you agree to be bound by Real San Francisco Tours terms of service.
  • Please note cable car and streetcar operations can be affected by events and technical issues beyond our control.
  • This is a walking tour and we move at a reasonable pace, climbing several hills and sets of steps. It’s not suitable for people with mobility issues.
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 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.
  • This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

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Reviews

4.5
54 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travelers.
Showing 1-10 of 54 reviews
Great for city overview
MICHELLE_R, Apr 2024
We enjoyed visiting all the different areas of San Francisco. We would have had trouble getting around that easily without someone who knew the transit system & what went where. Our guide was very knowledgeable & obviously loved his city. Great tour if you want to get a broad overview of the city.
I really recommend it!
Jacquie_C, Mar 2024
My most great memory of the tour is how our guide was so knowledgeable of San Francisco history, and how he explained everything with such accuracy and patience to the ones that had many questions
Outstanding experience!
Anne_F, Feb 2024
Incredible tour guide. Mark was so knowledgeable and kind. We saw so much of the city, more than we could do alone in three days. We highly recommend him and this tour. Worth every penny!
San Francisco - A City which has many variations
Mary_R, Jan 2024
It was great to use all the different methods of Transport available San Francisco. The guide was extremely well informed,we learned a lot.
Excelente
RICHARD_M, Jan 2024
Excelente Christopher was very knowledgeable, informative and attentive Thank you Richard and Lorraine
Great time
Terri_G, Dec 2023
Our guide was wonderful. He had a lot of information about the old and new. Kept my husband very entertained.
Must see if 1st time in San Francisco
Beverly_C, Dec 2023
The guide was very informative and did his best to show us everything even though the rain started. Highly recommend.
First class tour
Andie_J, Dec 2023
Absolutely loved the tour. Riding the cable cars in the sunshine was fabulous. Having lived in san francisco most of his life, our guide was full of amazing stories and tales from all of the places we visited. First class tour. Thank you.
best ever mix of tourism
Sharon_B, Nov 2023
Mark was an excellent guide with lots of history and local lore... with a great commentary especially on the writers, poets and musicians of the area...this is an excellent mix of public transportation and walking...
Excellent guide
Yvonne_Q, Oct 2023
Mark was there be of the best guides I have had, with lots of interesting local stories. An excellent introduction to San Francisco.
Memorable day in San Francisco
Mike_H, Sep 2023
Our tour with Mark was amazing. He was a wealth of knowledge with so many personal stories to share. You can tell he loves San Francisco, and it translated well with us. It’s a long day, but we would have never seen this beautiful city without his expertice. I would highly recommend signing up for this tour!
Fun way to explore Sam Francisco
Lcleonardi2, Aug 2023
A fun way to explore SanFrancisco . A mix of very short cable car , street car and bus trips to different parts of the city.mixed with a fair amount of walking . Great overview of each area and landmarks , lots of interesting history and local stories provided entertainingly by our guide Mark . You feel like a local travelling with locals and exploring their burbs. Best way to learn about SanFrancisco in a very packed day..
Poor customer information
Gertruda_M, Jun 2023
Should have been told in advance that parade would affect cable car and street car runs… which was the main attraction for booking… we would have scheduled another day. Disappointing! Took 7 buses.,. Waiting was exhausting.
Response from Host, Jul 2023
We're sorry that this guest clearly didn't enjoy the tour as much as we would like. It took place during the first-ever Juneteenth Parade on Market Street. Since it's a new event we were unable to predict its impact on the tour. It's also worth pointing out that ANY tour company using the cable cars or trams that day would have had the exact same issues. The event affected both cable cars and streetcars, which is very unusual. However, issues of this type can happen from time to time, due to both events and technical issues (the cable car system is 150 years old). We've updated the tour descriptions to reflect this reality.
Fantastic guide and a great way to see this amazing city
David_W, May 2023
Going on all the different forms of public transportation particularly the cable cars a fantastic way to Cedar city
Excellent
Amanda_T, Apr 2023
Tour guide was very knowledgeable very interesting experience would receive it to anyone good value for money
Dan Fransisco by foot
Thomas_K, Mar 2023
Buildings in SFO, our guide Mark gave a very detailed history of the city showing all key sites. It was exciting travelling on the cable and trolley cars and mixing with the public on the buses.
You get to see SF like a local
Patricia_A, Nov 2022
Excellent tour guide I would highly recommend a great way to see SF by foot and public transportation
A mess ! No van showed up! No response from tge Day tour despite VIATOR is communicating
Herline_M, Jul 2022
Terrible experience, no communication with the tour guide, we were there at 9am, but claimed we didn't show up and they said they waited for 30 minutes in fact we had a witness in that meeting place that no Van or car came with a sign, and we were there almost 45 minutes waiting, no calls , no response, meeting place not clear, and refused to refund for 3 people, but hopefully VIATOR would find ways to redeem themselves coz i did not have any issues in other tour in the past, still waiting for a refund of almost $300!
Response from Host, Mar 2023
Unfortunately it appears that these guests completely misunderstood the type of tour that they booked. This experience is a walking and metro tour - not a bus tour, as you can see if you read the description. It's incumbent on potential guests to read the description carefully before they book, all the relevant information is there. The meeting point is the Embarcadero cable car station, a famous San Francisco landmark, where we take the California Street Line. We received several emails and phone messages from these guests in which they said that they were running late and didn't know where the meeting point is located. It's clearly stated on tickets that we're unable to hold the tour for latecomers, since there are other guests, and we don't have a phone help line, because it's totally unnecessary. All the information that guests need is already in the ticket - a description of the meeting point and a Google Map marker. There are also photos of all tour meeting points on our website. There are no refunds in the case of guests not showing up. Why not? Because we've scheduled a guide, who has to be paid, we've purchased a Metro pass and we've reserved a spot for that guest. Our tours often sell out, meaning we may well have turned down bookings in order to accommodate that guest. In summary we love doing this tour for our guests, it's why we created it. We think it's the best comprehensive tour of San Francisco, and we were excited to do it for these guys. But we cannot take responsibility for things that we have no control over.
Fabulous day in San Fransisco
Gillian_D, Jul 2022
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 9am and finished at 6 pm, I highly recommend you do this tour. We went to places tourist didn’t go.
San Francisco Insider
Jochen_R, Feb 2022
Great off the beaten track in Castro and Haight. Super Chinatown walk. Great idea to use public transport.

From $135.00

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

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