This post provides information about the best free walking tours available in San Francisco led by local guides.
These expert guides will help you plan your trip and find the best San Francisco attractions.
Sightseeing doesn’t have to be expensive or boring. Suited for any budget, these San Francisco walking tours will take you all over this amazing city, keeping you entertained, educated, and excited the entire way.
So come along and discover hidden neighborhoods, sample world class cuisine, and learn the incredible stories of the men and women who built the City by the Bay.
Free San Francisco City Tours
The tours covered below focuses on the main highlights of the city.
You will learn about history, architecture, places and events that make up this city.
The guide on this tour will cover all of the downtown area.
You will hear stories about places, people, events and architecture that makes the past and present of this city.
Availability: Everyday
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
Hours: 10 AM to 12:15 PM
History Tours
As the name suggests, the focus of the tours mentioned below is to cover the history, movements and events of the city which paved the way for the city where it stands today.
This tour will take you on the beautiful mosaic tiled steps and you will get to see 360 degree views of Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park and downtown San Francisco.
Availability: Usually Everyday, check calendar
Duration: 2 hours
Hours: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Food Tours
This is the most exciting of all the other type of tours as it not only covers the rich culture, art and architecture, but it also covers drinks and food palette of this city.
Walking tours are great for meeting fellow travelers and making new friends.
Our guests come from all over the world, which means that many different perspectives are reflected in the questions asked of our tour guides and contribute to more enriching experiences for our guests.
We have over 700 reviews with a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Read the reviews for yourself.
ExcellentFree Tours by Foot4.9★★★★★ Based on 187 reviews fromSee all reviews review us onJoe S. ★★★★★ Today, I took an amazing three hour walking tour with ‘Free Tours By Foot’. My tour started at City Hall in lower Manhattan, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, and explored the DUMBO area on the Brooklyn side. Our tour guide, Lori P, was absolutely outstanding. Even me.. a 30-year New Yorker, learned dozens and dozens of new things I’ve never known before. It was so wonderful to see and learn so much while also getting fresh air and lots of good exercise. After the tour, four of us got together for a wonderful lunch.I wholeheartedly recommendFree Tours By Foot. besides New York, they have other branches in Chicago, LA, and more. For New York City, they have over dozen walking tours, including. SODO, Harlem, Art Murals and more.Alexia B ★★★★☆ Taken a San Francisco Walking Tour guided by Britt! Very nice to learn about the history of San Francisco, especially elaborate on China Town. Britt was very knowledgeable and friendly. There's a pit stop for some water and a restroom halfway - so no worries about that. Very satisfied with the tour - just make sure you English is good, since he talks fast! 🙂Tamar G. ★★★★★ We had a great tour with Vicky the amazing guide- many interesting stories told in a super engaging manner, the tour felt personal and we enjoyed and learned a lot about the history and the culture foundations of SF. Highly recommend!Rebecca O S. ★★★★★ We did a tour of San Francisco with Vicky, who was a wonderful guide! She brought us to many different areas of the city including Chinatown, North Beach (Little Italy) and the financial district. She also had a great list of food recommendations. Would highly recommend.Sophia Rose O. ★★★★★ Lovely tour with excellent detail about the cityAlessia S. ★★★★★ Tour di quasi 3 ore a San Franciaco con Britt. La città è meravigliosa ma questa esperienza l'ha resa indimenticabile. Tante curiosità, tante storie, tanti luoghi visitati! Britt è eccezionale e molto preparato. Non perdete questa opportunità se siete in città!José Julián O. B. ★★★★★ TheVinster42 ★★★★★ We had a great time on our Brooklyn Bridge tour. Our tour guide. John Gallagher, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic!! We started at City Hall Park where John gave us some interesting historical information. We then walked across the bridge. We stopped several times where John pointed out places of interest. Walking off the bridge and it's noisy "hustle and bustle" we entered the quiet area of Brooklyn Heights where John gave us lots of information about the history of the area. Then, it was off to DUMBO where we took the iconic picture of the Manhatten Bridge. The tour had to come to an end and no better place than the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory where we enjoyed some homemade ice cream!! This was a great tour and we highly recommend it!!Kevin O. ★★★★★ We had a Brooklyn Bridge twilight tour with John G. Out of all the things we did in out week in New York City, this by far was the highlight of our trip. John was very informative, interacted well with his group and made the entire process very enjoyable. He definitely fulfilled on his promise to save the best for last. When he took us out by the carousel at the very end of our tour, it was breathtaking. We were truly in awe of the sight of the skyline lit up.Very well done John. We will be looking for these tours in other cities from this point forward.Thanks John for a truly great experienceKevin and KayWisconsinHan A. ★★★★★ Smriti A. ★★★★★ Great tour, very informative. We started in Union Square and saw Chinatown and Little Italy. Britt was very good guide and gave us a lot of information about the city.Suzie G ★★★★★ Great walking tour!Vicky, our guide, was brilliant. So knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects. And she gave out sweets for answering questions!We did the original tour which starter at Union Square and covered mostly China Town and little Italy.Would highly recommend!Daniel O. ★★★★★ Great tour. We learned a lot of San Francisco including some background information, information of current developments in the city and of coures we heard some urban legends. Plus Visky showed us some hidden gems in San Fransico. This all makes the tour perfect and we were more than happy to attend.Claudia L. ★★★★★ Our tour with Vicky was so nice! She explained a lot and is such a wonderful hartwarming person! Thank you so much! 🙂coral R. ★★★★★ We took the "All in one" tour with britt and it was great. We saw nice places and heard interesting stories about the city.He's a real expert.Katha Z. ★★★★★ Our tour with Vicky was just incredible! We had so much fun and learned a lot about the City (especially Chinatown and Little Italy). We would do it all over again 🙂 thank you so much Vicky!Tam D. ★★★★★ Victoria was wonderful, caring and knowledgeable. She remembered everyone's name, did trivia and gave prizes to winners.A great way to learn about the city.Thomas R. ★★★★★ Vicky was an amazing tour guide! I’m not usually one to do walking tours, but this one was well worth it!!!Max G. ★★★★★ Wir hatten eine großartige Tour mit Britt, der nicht nur viel gezeigt, sondern auch viel Historisches sehr anschaulich dargestellt und berichtet hat.Beatriz Gurruchaga S. ★★★★★ Vicky ha sido una guía magnífica, muy amena y divertida. Buena elección del contenido del tour y mucha información interesante.Camila T. ★★★★★ My mom and aunt had great fun with Jon today during the Lower East Side Food tour. Attentive, patient and very knowledgeable.Olga S. ★★★★★ A great way to get to know the city is by taking a walking tour. With a knowledgeable and excited guide as Victoria (Vicky), you will see the gems only locals know about. When asked about their highlights of the day, my kids said "Vicky's tour" and that means a lot! We recommend the tour very much. Thank you, Vicky!Nunzia C. ★★★★☆ Nora ★★★★★ My partner and I really enjoyed the original SF tour with Vicki. It was very informative, Vicki was a lovely guide, and we visited some unique spots around the city. Highly recommended!Lorena R. ★★★★★ Vannia P. ★★★★★ My friends and I had the pleasure of taking the Original SF Tour with Vicky. It was a marvelous experience. Vicky was so nice, friendly, and knowledgeable; she left us enamored with that amazing city. Highly recommended!Heny H. ★★★★★ just great tourJane T. ★★★★★ Karena G. ★★★★★ Our tourguide Vicky was great and we saw places we would have never found on our own! I highly recommend the tour!Brett F. ★★★★★ Brian was both entertaining and well versed in the history of the freedom trail providing much information that we never saw in mainstream history books. The walk was easy (all sidewalks), and his presentation was fun - not just a robotic oration. Great time!Miranda B. ★★★★★ This was an awesome way to get to know some of the not-so-common history of San Francisco and be introduced to the different neighbourhoods of the city. Our tour guide Britt was great! Very friendly, knowledgeable and an engaging presenter. I will definitely be doing one of these tours the next time I'm on vacation!Vale T. ★★★★★ Jennifer T. ★★★★★ Great walking tour of the city by Britt. His ability to narrate the history of San Francisco in a relevant and captivating way is unmatched. Great for anyone wanting to learn more about the city's history and to see the true neighborhoods of San Francisco vs. just the tourist attractions.Rina K. ★★★★★ Great tour and an awesome guide who gave great information. My tour was roughly two hours long and we went around 2 miles. We walked through China Town, North Beach and other areas. Also, our guide took us to backstreets in addition to main roads. Our guide was very well prepared and brought pictures in a binder to show what the city looked like in the past. Overall a great experience.Lin K. ★★★★★ Miriam H. ★★★★★ Barrie B. ★★★★★ A friend and I joined Britt's Free Tours by Foot 2pm tour of Chinatown this past Sunday and WOW we learned so much. Britt is easy to understand, comfortable to spend time with, and is an absolute gem of a tour guide. He can cite facts, give back stories to wall murals, show you little known architectural and anecdotal trivia, and of course inform you of Chinatown. Highly recommend.Asrar A. ★★★★★ Eleanor M. ★★★★★ Britt is a wonderful tour guide and knows all kinds of things about this beautiful city!Einav K. ★★★★★ Lena R. ★★★★★ Joanne L. ★★★★★ I took two tours of the city with Britt and I would highly recommend for anyone to take a tour with him. He was dynamic, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.Syed Zulhilmi Tuan S. ★★★★★ Britt was great !Akshay A. ★★★★★ Samantha B. ★★★★★ Very entertaining and I learned some really fun info about the areas I walk through everyday.İdil U. ★★★★★
Self-Guided San Francisco Tours
Don't see a tour that fits your schedule?
We also offer self-guided tours, which are totally free to take. These tours can be enjoyed anytime of the time, day and night.
