The Bay City Guide works great for me for a few reasons. First of all the maps, especially the…read moredetailed Union Square and Golden Gate park maps, are great for explaining things to tourists and locals alike as they are very up to date and easy to read. The information inside the guide is simple but useful, it highlights neighborhoods in SF that tourists wouldn't normally even think about and this is important for tourists who want to get the full SF experience. Lastly, and this might sound odd, but I like the ads. IT highlights locals businesses that I wouldnt have normally thought about, and I like when money in San Francisco is recycled within the city, it creates long term relationships between vendors and local businesses. Great guides, thanks being a great part of our local hospitality culture!

My review also relates to the Alcatraz, Open Sky city tour and Chinatown Walking Tour, all booked…read moreas a package for $87. In the city for the weekend, we booked the tour on Saturday and were told to check in at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday. At that time, the gentleman at the desk told us that we would take the ferry to Alcatraz at 11:00 a.m., the city tour at 3:00 p.m. and the walking tour at 5:00 p.m. The Alcatraz portion went fine. We had a couple hours to kill after that, and then went and took the city tour. As another reviewer mentioned, the bus is a school bus (stickers for school bus rules still attached at the front of the bus) with its top cut off. The seats/benches are not precisely built for comfort! I have re-named this portion the Psychedelic Bus Tour because it was so bizarre. We, too, had Timber as our guide, an aging hippy who was apparently a professional photographer (and insists you let him take your photos if you want them to turn out well), a bit actor and now a tour guide. The tour was unintentionally hilarious -- and would have remained so throughout the three long hours had one been drunk or perhaps on 'shrooms; however, after two hours everyone on the bus was looking for an escape route. First of all, the only stops we made were at the Palace of Fine Arts and the Golden Gate bridge, both of which occurred within the first 30 mins of the tour. We were then regaled with the driver's stream of consciousness ramblings about anything from a new bike trail ("Oh, wow, I hadn't noticed that before!") to comments about pretty young women on the street (all spoken over the loudspeaker so that the women in question could undoubtedly hear as well) to police activity near the Disney museum ("Look at that -- three police cars! I wonder what's going on there. We definitely don't want to stop here!") We were also subjected to his politically incorrect sociological views, such as the "fact" that there are "10-12 reasons" that people become homeless (this as we were stopped at a light in front of Golden Gate park where said homeless were happily smoking pot) and, while driving through Chinatown, the observation that one thing the Chinese know well is capitalism! Ah, and we were also introduced to a transgender club (with a warning to the gentlemen that pretty ladies might not be ladies at all) and a topless club. And there were children on the bus!!! Lest I forget, in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge, on went the radio to a local 70's/80's station and we were 'treated' to such best-forgotten hits as Janet Jackson's "Nasty Boys" and Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". I'm telling you, a drunk would have had a blast on this tour; me, being all too sober, not so much! As for the walking tour, well, how were we supposed to be there at 5:00 p.m. when the bus tour lasted over three hours??? We were dropped off at 6:15 p.m. and had obviously missed it. Since we left San Francisco that same night, there was no way to do it on another day. In fact, we weren't even told that we could do it another day, which strikes me as rather unethical, seeing as how the man we originally checked in with had to have known that the bus tour was 3 hours long and would overlap with the walking tour. All in all, I'd recommend that others book the tours separately. The bus tour definitely isn't for families, but a group of college age kids or single (drunk) adults might get a kick out of the guide's bizarre ramblings.

The Japanese tea Garden tour with Jay Streets. is five star. He gives the right balance of history,…read morepolitics and humor throughout the tour. His dog, Norton, leads the way throughout the beautiful guide garden paths. Not to be missed! Jay Streets, the tour guide, is incredible.

I'm ready to write a positive review after my run-in with all these not so great places…read more A teacher I used to work with told me about these amazing tours and I'm usually down to try and learn new things. They have a bunch of tours for different neighborhoods, but this one is specifically for Historic Market Street: Path of Gold. I will admit, I was a bit reluctant at first because I was definitely being judgmental about the title of the tour, but it was quite interesting and I'm ready to tell anyone who will listen about all the cool things I just learned today! Did you know that some of the F Market streetcars are actually imported from Milan, DC, and other places that have gotten rid of their streetcar system? Did you know that the Ferry Building is two different colors because coats of the material had fallen off the clock tower due to the earthquake? This tour has a lot of history on the architecture of the buildings along Market Street, so if you're not into that, this may not be the tour for you. Otherwise, there are still plenty of interesting stories and facts to be heard. These tours are free and done by volunteers. They usually last about an hour and a half to two hours. John, our tour guide, was extremely knowledgeable and boy, for an elder man, does he walk fast! These tours are supported by a small grant and donations from walkers. They suggest a $5 donation per walker, but of course, they don't make a big deal if you don't. If you go, you should definitely donate! :) Very enjoyable and I'm ready to go on another!

This was a good tour, and the woods were so incredibly peaceful and really helped me remember how…read moresmall I am in this great big world. Those trees are massive! The women's restroom at the entrance of the trail is disgusting. There was literal fuzzy mold on the wall under the sink, used toilet paper all over the floor...it didn't appear to have been cleaned in weeks, at least. For the first time, I felt like I needed a hazmat shower after leaving there, and I say that after traveling across country and using countless public restrooms! The toilet paper is like wiping with a snowflake so you have to use a ton just to dry off the undercarriage.

My husband used to live in Santa Venetia, during his 5th through 7th grade, and we were taking the…read moreroute when he used to ride his bike to MUIR WOODS. With that said, I'm just reviewing the VIEWS to Muir Woods, by car, since that's what we did! There were a lot of twist & turns, roads with beautiful new homes (that weren't there before) & gardens! Awesome views along the way. We drove for over 1 hour, and we were trying to follow the path, when he was a boy. That was some adventure for him, and for us in our car . . . and he was able to find his way back home. If he had done that today? He would sure gotten lost without a GPS!

Darin is so sweet and nice person. He went out his way trying help me finding last minute Alcatraz…read moretickets. Guys, plan your trip agead of time and make sure to areange all the tix at least couple weeks before. Learn my lesson Anyway this place deserves good rating, they doing their job!

I am a San Francisco resident; had a few family members visiting from out of town and thought it…read morewould be fun to treat them to a tour of our beautiful city. I stopped by the store and ran the idea by the owners. They were very patient in listening to my time schedule and helpful in suggesting a number of options that would fit our plans. They were very knowledgeable about their products and obviously knew the city well. I ended up booking a few tours, but the most fun for us was riding around the city in Big Bus Sightseeing Tour double-deckers and hopping off and on to check our points of interest like Haight-Ashbury district, amongst others. The six of us had a wonderfully busy and fun weekend and took full advantage what the city had to offer. I highly recommend Discount Tix.

This was one of the best things. I love walking tours. The host was knowledgeable and…read moreentertaining. The group was small enough to make it seem cozy. It's a must do.

Christian our guide was amazing! Awesome presentation of stories; you could tell he had done his…read moreresearch and really enjoys sharing what he's learned and heard. Along with the 4-5 ghost stories you hear, you will also get some San Francisco history and architectural tidbits. What was challenging on our tour, specifically, was just the other people in our tour group. One was a loud, over enthusiastic 18 year old who seemed to have never learned volume control or any kind of social graces. I would expect this kind of behavior from someone younger - it was distracting for us and from the slamming of neighborhood windows, it was just as annoying to the residents. I'm not sure how many people are allowed in the walking group, but just know you dont get to pick the maturity level of strangers. All in all, I would recommend!

It's amazing place to visit and a lot to see and enjoy all the art work. And the museumread more

Johannes was an amazing instructor. The tour was awesome and got to see a lot of the park…read more The initial training is really useful and will make you an expert in no time.

This trekking company organized my trip to Tibet, they were extremely helpful and professional. We…read morewere treated excellent all the way thru the whole trip! Great accommodations, and transportation, top notch service.

Effie and her team at Dharma Journeys guided me on a wonderful Pilgrimage to Nepal and Tibet - a…read moretrip that forever changed my life for the better! I highly recommend going on a Journey with this crew. They are kind, trust worthy and a blast to travel the world with!

We ran into SK at the Wells Fargo Bank's roof garden. He was talking about the adjacent building,…read moreso I listened in and later asked more questions. SK kindly told me about the architectural elements and history of the building and invited us to join the tour. Although we could not stay for the whole time, we were able to learn about the fascinating histories behind the Well Fargo Bank building, the Hunter-Dulin Building (West Coast HQ of NBC when it was still radio), the Hallidie Building at 130 Sutter by Willis Polk (first building to have glass walls), and the heart sculptures all over San Francisco. What's really great was that SK put things into perspective by not just talking about San Francisco but comparing SF to other cities. Both locals and out-of-towners can learn a ton from his tours. Book SK's tour to see SF like never before! SK also gave us cool sackpacks!

RUN DON'T WALK TO THIS ABSOLUTELY INSPIRED WALKING HISTORY MAGNET OF ALL THINGS SAN FRANCISCO…read more Literally, I said to SK, the very first place you took me to and told me about, if the tour stopped here, I got my money's worth. The combination of rich story-telling by SK and the engaging sites and sounds of Downtown San Francisco made for the highlight of my stay in San Francisco. Who would think something called lousy would be so great???!!! Here you obtain the real, in-depth stories of how the West was won and where the bodies were buried. Remember when we think early San Francisco, we are talking about the Wild West. And boy oh, boy were there doozies. What other tour will tell you the history behind the words "limelight" and "sugar daddy" - both San Francisco originals. You do not have to read anymore Yelp Your Reviews. Just book this one and enjoy the very entertaining ride!