Discover Walks

We happened upon Discover Walks during our honeymoon in Paris… then on our anniversary we discovered they offer tours in San Francisco! We return annually and attempt a different tour on each visit!
These tours are historic and pop culture in nature, so they offer a more entertaining and engaging approach for the modern consumer! The tour guides have a designated time, at a designated place to meet and you show up and tip the guides a deserving dollar amount for their outstanding wit and knowledge (at the end of course). It is an option to book a private tour in advance if you prefer this.
We now know where to find the space invaders in Paris and the poorly written fortune cookies in San Francisco now!
PS — Be prepared to walk and end in a different location than you started. They like to take a group picture at the end and place it on their website!

I am a perpetual tourist. Every time I move to or visit a new city, I scope out the walking tours. I am a natural born walker and walking tours have always been one of my favorite ways to discover a city. I’m also a sucker for learning everything I can about a city; ghost stories, famous scandals, architectural mysteries, etc… To back up slightly, I lived in San Francisco in the eighties and no matter where in the world I may have hung my Giants cap over the past few decades, San Francisco has remained one of my favorite travel destinations. Some cities are perfect ‘walking cities’; San Francisco is one of them. So when I moved back here in 2012, walking tours were first on my list and Discover Walks San Francisco was where I trekked.
My first tour was the North Beach tour – (come on Joe DiMaggio and Pizza!) And although I know a bit about the city by the bay, this tour was awesome. Our city guide was Evan, and he made us feel like we had access to insider information that most locals would have to dig for. He provided an excellent mix of history, humor and tasty treats – (complimentary fudge), along the way.
Do you know where the term Shanghai came from?
Do you know who Carol Doda is?
And what of the A.P. Hotaling’s building?
How about the history of that fabulously phallic Coit Tower?
You will learn all of this and SO, SO much more.
Evan’s knowledge of North Beach and its history was fantastic and helps you appreciate this very special place. Being a long time fan of San Francisco, I had an amazing time. It never gets old learning something new about the place I love and having so much fun doing it, was an added bonus.
The thing about Discover Walks is, its tip based; which technically means free. But for the sake of comparison; the double Decker buses, which are impersonal and quick, with the added joy of the scratchy, tin-​can effect of the narrator – (if said tin-​cans actually work) – cost about $ 40.00 a person. That’s the low end of the price spectrum. The bay cruises, Alcatraz, Exploratorium, museums, Aquarium, etc… range from $ 40.00 and up. Quite frankly, you won’t get the great stories, personality, feel the ‘globe-​granite’ underfoot experience that you do on a Discover Walks Tour. So remember, if you dig what you hear and see, dig a little deeper and drop some bucks into the bucket for the photos, the stories, the YouTube video and the experiences that will last long into the future.

Molly puts on a great tour of Chinatown! Interesting historic facts, attention to our personal needs and questions, a wonderful stroll through many ‘unusual’ spots in Chinatown, she even walked us to a great lunch spot after the tour was done. We loved it! We highly recommend it to all newcomers and tourists. Great fun was had by all!
I had one day in San Francisco and took all three tours (tipped $ 10 a tour), for $ 30 for a whole day of personal attention, wonderful food/​shopping recommendation and plain out fun there is nothing else to do but take these tours!

I took My Wife and 23 of my high school debaters from Texas on 2 tours in 1 day. (North Beach & China Town) I thought that it was great and later in our trip my kids kept asking to go back to China Town to eat at some of the cool suggestions that our super cool tour guide, Molly, gave us. Molly also went above and beyond. After taking our obnoxiously large group on 2 tours she happened to be walking to the fisherman’s warf and she let us follow her there so we did not get lost on our way and she gave everyone some great tips of what to do there before we parted ways. I could not have been more pleased with our experience and would recommend it to everyone visiting San Francisco!

There were 2 of us (along with guide Natasha) that did the Barbary Coast tour. We stopped for candy, and a slice of yummy Golden Boy pizza, then decided to tag along for the Fisherman’s Wharf tour the same afternoon. Very informative, well researched — but not at all stuffy. Natasha put her personality into it and picked up on the types of things that interested us. We ended up with basically a private tour for the full afternoon! I would definitely recommend the tours, the concept, and the great guide.

Jessie was terrific and very informative. Well worth your time!!!

I did the North Beach tour (with guide Jesse) the day after Thanksgiving and enjoyed it so much (including following up on a lunch recommendation for pizza at Golden Boy pizza on Green Street, followed by a canoli at Stella Bakery on Columbus Ave) that I came back for the China Town tour over the weekend with guide Erroll. Both guides were courteous, informed, in control of their routes and messages and as is always true with guides who know their stuff, they make the streets come alive. I had seen the «If at first you don’t succeed…» graffiti art without it really registering. Jesse changed that for me. In China town, which I had strolled earlier myself, I always look at the shops at eye level, but Erroll got me to see the headless fish hanging in the 3^rd floor fishmonger’s wondow, and all the Chinese temples located on the top floors of buildings. After the tours, one really feels as if you have begun to understand what makes these neighborhhods tick. Easily worth a $ 20 tip in my book!
Marty M
Miami Beach