Fodor's "Good Walks" in San Francisco
 

Hi all,

Planning a trip to San Francisco in May. I love to walk around a city - I walked 8+ miles in Paris in one day following the Fodors See-It guides. By my estimate, I'll have two and a half days to explore the city. I'm not really interested in going inside museums (besides Alcatraz), so I'm happy walking by monuments, etc. My questions is: are the walks in the new Fodor's guide good?

Appreciate any info provided. More questions to come as I work on my travel schedule. I will be staying near Union Square and will not have a car.

Have you checked out the website for the city guides? They are free walking tours of different parts of the city. I did the Ferry building and loved it. Here is there website:
http://www.sfcityguides.org
Sorry I know nothing of the Fodor's guide walks.

I have used the Fodors walks in other cities (not San Francisco) and they were wonderful.

The "City Guides" Keb mentioned are fantastic - take a look at the site

Of course, walking in the City is a bit different than walking in Paris because of our many hills. There are several walking books written by locals - "Stairway Walks" by Adah Bakalinsky is my favorite, and there is also "Historic Walks in San Francisco" by Rand Richards, and "Lunchtime Walks in Downtown SF" by Gail Todd.

I also like the SF City Guides walking tours - they are free and there's over 30 different walks. My wife is one of the volunteer guides on the two Victorian House walks. It's sponsored by the public library .

Stu Dudley

I haven't seen the Fodors walks, but I am confident they will point you in the right direction(s).

One of our favorite walks is to take a bus from downtown to Filmore Street--a neighborhood shopping street. We walk up to the top of the hill (Pacific Heights) which gives great views of the bay, bridge, and Alcatraz. Then we walk down the hill through Cow Hollow to Chestnut Street (shopping and restaurant neighborhoods). From there we walk or take a bus to Fisherman's Wharf from where we walk back to downtown via North Beach and Chinatown.

I'm with you on museums; however, I believe you will enjoy the Modern Art Musuem, if only for the building.

Another favorite is a tour that takes visitors into one the the grand old Victorian homes. I'm sure it will be in your guide.

On Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 59) there is an interesting Maritime National Historic Park with access via a National Park Pass, if you have one.

If you visit during a foggy season, plan your trip to Alcatraz in the afternoon.

Check out the transportation pass and buy a transportation map (handy to have when you find you are so pooped you want to take a bus or trolley to your next destination).

Have a great trip.

We did a paid for tour by Wok Wiz in Chinatown. We found it very informative and interesting and it ended with a delicious dim sum lunch.
The hills can be steep so walking around SF is quite different than anywhwere else. You can always hop on a trolley.

It has been many years since my first trip to SF, but we did the major walking tour from a Fodor's guide. We started on Nob Hill and followed it through the financial area, Chinatown, North Beach, and Fisherman's Wharf. We had a map and decided to do our own thing going back. What a bunch of hills -- seemingly all up. The Fodors tour had very cleverly wound us around so we only seemed to go down, never up.