Pam gave us a truly unique tour of Haight Ashbury full of personal anecdotes of her time being part…read moreof the community for over 50 years. Both her and her brother Bruce shared not only stories of the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin etc. but also about the philosophy and groundbreaking worldview of the time.

We really enjoyed the The Haight Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour. Stan, our guide, is very…read moreinformative and entertaining. He's a true part of the neighborhood, having lived there for decades, and as we walked to the various spots on the tour at least half a dozen people greeted him by name. Stan provided us with a lot of interesting history about the neighborhood and the city as a whole. And seeing some of the iconic sites like the Grateful Dead house and Janis Joplin's house, plus lesser known sites like the SLA safehouse, was really fascinating. I recommend the The Haight Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour with Stan Flouride!

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.

This was so interesting!! We took my in-laws when they were in town visiting, but us locals learned…read morejust as much. You tell Rick is very passionate about what he does. We were shown buildings we walk by regularly in a whole new light and loved being shown all the privately owned public parks hidden throughout the city!!! He even sends a map of all the parks after the class. Highly recommend for tourists and locals alike!

I highly recommend this to anyone visiting SF, and even locals…read more.. We gifted this tour to our son, who is studying urban development. This tour provides a unique insight on the City. You start with some of the oldest buildings and work your way to the newest. You also learn about international historical trends and their influence on the San Francisco architecture. Low level activity, nice slow pace. Rick Evans is the tour guide. He is informative, friendly and passionate. Excellent at giving perspective about the importance of preserving the past, and the necessity of bringing the new and modern into the fold. A great way to spend three hours.

Tour was super cheap! Only 10 dollars per person to see the house on the inside! While inside you…read moredo have to stay with your guide which makes it difficult to take pictures inside the house. But the guide is incredibly informative and it's like being taken back to the 1800's. It's also very large and beautiful on the inside specially the dining room area

An authentic Victorian house, Queen Anne style (belonging to the late 19th century merchant class)…read morethat survived both the1906 earthquake and subsequent fire. This is a great museum for tourists - it offers a great glimpse of a life of early merchant families and how they projected wealth in a rapidly growing city. This is truly a time capsule of upward mobility that tells a story about immigrant merchants trying to transform commercial success into social legitimacy. Victorian aspiration in architectural form: like many merchant families of the era, the owners attempted to replicate the visual language of European wealth by painting and treating the façade to resemble stone, even though the structure is wood (a small prestige performance). The bathroom setup - marble top grooming table, exposed plumbing, clawfoot tub, early shower, bidet - indicating a more layered approach instead of a minimalist bathroom. Advice to all visitors: It may be worth calling ahead to confirm there is no yard or gardening maintenance scheduled during the 1- hour tour (only 2 tours per day). The leaf blower running during our visit was loud enough that made it difficult to hear the soft-spoken docent throughout the tour. Removing 1 star only for this reason.

Sea to sauna is a tour about unique SF…read more The start is at 11 am, when I got picked up by a minibus in SF downtown. Then arriving to The Ramp for delicious breakfast/lunch. I chose crispy fish tacos n coffee. The atmosphere is very pleasant, also gathering for the breakfast is a nice opportunity to meet people. Later on it's time for boarding. Getting on wine tasting and feeling salty wind with bay drizzles. So many stunning views! After sailing around Alcatraz and Angel's island we are turning back to the Ramp. Where we are getting picked up to our next destination - Archimedes Banya. It's a 3 floor sauna /spa complex, where you can experience different kinds of worldwide saunas, Russian/Eastern European traditions and the authentic kitchen. Also nice tap beer. Mmmmmm Also they have yoga classes and a patio with beautiful views of SF bay. After some amount of saunas, jacuzzi and the pool it was time to have some food. 4 course meal is included with the tour. For the meal I chose soup charcho, salmon plate, lamb pielmeni and pirozek. In the evening, after fun Banya time, we went to the mission bar to finish the day with some more entertainment. Really fun tour, I wanna go again sometimes.

I can't recommend this experience enough!! It was one of the best days ever. It was relaxed, so…read morefun to meet the other guests, was very easy and well thought out with transportation and AMAZING locations picked by our organized and gracious host..everything went so smoothly, and generally I am not a tour group kind of person, but this was so well curated... I can't wait to do this again, and to share with friend. For all the incredible experiences we had, sipping wine while gazing at San Francisco and the Golden gate bridge on a lovely sailboat, to entering utter bliss in the sauna, which felt very authentic (my new favorite place in SF!), to an incredible borscht and sparkling wine in the banya, and a rooftop view of the bay...I could go on. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, you won't regret it!!

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!

I took the walking tour of the Castro District. Diane was very knowledgeable about the area and…read moreabout how to set cameras and compose for better photos. Those who needed help seemed to find her readily available and competent to give them the guidance they needed. I have bad knees and couldn't do certain parts of the tour (climbing steep hills and stairs). Diane was very accomodating in guiding me to alternate routes where I could rejoin the group. It worked very well. I would certainly recommend this tour to new photographers who are looking for help in spotting good shots and then creating them effectively. I found Diane's knowledge of the area and history interesting and helpful for me to get some good shots.

I had a wonderful time on Diane's tour. I went on the Civic Center / Hayes Valley tour and saw…read moreparts of SF I'd never seen before. I can't believe I'd never been to Civic Center Plaza even though I've lived in the Bay Area for 16 years. Diane kept the tour moving along at a good pace and she had lots of stories to tell about SF's history. Her love for SF is evident and she's a very accomplished speaker. This tour is definitely worth the money and I plan on taking all the other tours she's offered.