Top Walking Tours

Top Walking Tours

All About Chinatown (415/982-8839. www.allaboutchinatown.com). A delightful "behind-the-scenes" look at the neighborhood. Owner Linda Lee and her guides stop in Ross Alley and at a Buddhist temple. At herbal and food markets, you'll learn the therapeutic yield of fish stomachs and ponder uses for live partridges.

Chinatown Alleyway Tours (415/984-1478. www.chinatownalleywaytours.org). To go beyond dim sum and learn about the modern Chinatown community, join up with one of these young guides. Tour leaders, who all grew up here, discuss not only Chinatown's history but also current social issues.

Don Herron's Dashiell Hammett Tour (www.donherron.com). Brush up on your noir slang and join trench-coated guide Herron for a walk by the mystery writer's haunts and the locations from some of Hammett's novels.

Foot! Comedy Walking Tours (www.foottours.com). You'll likely find yourself breathless with laughter, not just gasping after a steep hill. The tour leaders are all moonlighting pro comedians; they've got offerings like "Nude, Lewd and Crude" North Beach.

Local Tastes of the City Tours (415/665-0480 or 888/358-8687. www.localtastesofthecitytours.com). If you want to aggressively snack your way through a neighborhood as you walk it, consider hanging with cookbook author Tom Medin. You'll learn why certain things just taste better in San Francisco -- like coffee and anything baked with sourdough -- and you'll get tips about how to find good food once you get back home. Along the way, you'll gradually gorge yourself into oblivion: the North Beach tour, for instance, might include multiple stops for coffee and baked goods.

Precita Eyes Mural Walks (415/285-2287. www.precitaeyes.org). For an insider's look at the vibrant murals in the Mission District, this is the place to call. The nonprofit organization has nutured this local art form from the get-go and they stay on top of all the latest additions.

San Francisco City Guides (415/557-4266. www.sfcityguides.org). An outstanding free service supported by the San Francisco Public Library. Walking tour themes range from individual neighborhoods to local history (the Gold Rush, the 1906 quake, ghost walks) to architecture. Each May and October a slew of additional walks are added. Although the tours are free and the knowledgeable guides are volunteers, it's appropriate to make a $5 donation for these nonprofit programs. Tour schedules are available at library branches and the San Francisco Visitor Information Center (Hallidie Plaza, lower level, Powell and Market Sts., Union Sq. 415/391-2000; 415/392-0328 TDD. www.sfvisitor.org).

Wok Wiz Chinatown Tour (650/355-9657. www.wokwiz.com). Cookbook author Shirley Fong-Torres and her team lead these walks. Conversation topics include folklore and, of course, food. One version called "I Can't Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown!" includes breakfast and lunch.