If you're looking to see the sights on San Francisco's waterfront—but you don't have hours to tour the city—this quick walking tour is the perfect fit. Follow your guide to top attractions including Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square. History fans enjoy a quick look at the cable cars, and the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine. To make the most of your day, upgrade with Alcatraz tickets to see San Francisco's infamous former prison.

Explore San Francisco's historic waterfront on this guided walking tour
Visit the sea lions, and learn about San Francisco's history from your guide
See more in less time, and upgrade to visit Alcatraz Island with audio guide
Enjoy convenient morning departure, so you have the afternoon to explore

What's Included

English Speaking Tour Guide
Alcatraz Tickets ($41.00 USD value)

Food or Drinks
Guide Gratuities (Appreciated)

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Beach Street & Hyde Street
Beach St & Hyde St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
Meet your ExperienceFirst guide on the corner across the street from the Buena Vista Cafe (2765 Hyde St)

Start time

09:30 AM

End point

Pier 33
San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Concludes at Alcatraz Landing

What To Expect

Cable Cars (Pass By)

Ghirardelli Square (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation

Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

70 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 70 reviews

Enjoyable half day

Angela_C, Mar 2023

Robert was an excellent guide and made our tour very enjoyable. He was very knowledgeable about the area and its history. For me, I'm hard of hearing, found his talk easy to follow.

Excellent and insightful

Matt_B, Jan 2023

Robert was a great guide. He had all the passion and knowledge needed to give you great insight into a new area but he also cared about our experience too. He made sure we had time to take everything in, take photos and see all the best sites that you may not have known about otherwise. Thanks for a great morning Robert!

Fisherman’s Wharf your way to Alcatraz!

Christopher_T, Nov 2022

After searching through the many options for Alcatraz tours I settled on this one and it did not disappoint! I was extremely pleased with the tour portion as it was a quick, but informative tour of Fisherman’s Wharf. Our tour guide John packed in a huge punch of knowledge! He was witty and engaging and ensured we knew all the “go to” spots in the area. Scoma’s Seafood is MUST! Highly recommend this tour if you’re looking a quick tour option.

Alcatraz really interesting but walk a little short

Tony_B, Oct 2022

The guide John Hurst was very knowledgeable and informative but the tour length at 75 minutes was a little short and really only covered the fisherman's wharf area. The trip to Alcatraz was really interesting particularly the audio guide whilst walking around the cell block.

Just get your own ferry ride to alcatraz

Walter_S, Oct 2022

A couple interesting stories. Guide seemed to be in a big hurry, not very personable. Talked before the group could catch up to him.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Hello - I am so sorry to hear this! I will make sure to speak with the guide to knows to slow down. Please keep in mind this is a timed tour and we need to get you to Alcatraz by a certain time so there isn't a lot of room to hang around for photos and linger. It is a jam packed 1.5 hour tour followed immediately be Alcatraz. Thanks.

Best trip ever!

Diane_L, Sep 2021

Seeing Alcatraz and the Wharf with my daughter was just amazing. Our Guide on the Wharf was very informative and pleasant.

Quick visit to the city

Nellie_S, Aug 2021

John was our guide for the walking tour at Fisherman’s Wharf. He was excellent. Very knowledgeable and gave good information. Scota’s was a restaurant at the Wharf that he recommended. It is a must! Everything was delicious. The Alcatraz tour - take the self- guided tour with personal recording device. It was robust with information of the history and facility told by the actual guards and inmates.

Interesting, Memorable and Awesome.

Omar_V, Aug 2021

Some of the most memorable parts of my experience were the beautiful sightings of Alcatraz. Along with The bridge that we went to. The building filled with old arcades was also very amusing!

Walking tour & Alcatraz

Michael_K, Jun 2021

Tour guide was very knowledgeable & the walking tour really added to the experience, highly recommend this tour. Our guide spoke very clearly & answered questions

Unreliable

Tony_W, Jun 2021

The walking tour was great, but the company has no control over the Alcatraz ticket time. We were supposed to be on an 11:00 ferry, but it was actually 12:00. Some other groups had been bumped to a 2:00 ferry. The company needs to get this straightened out.

Response from Host, Jun 2021

My sincere apologies for the delay you encountered. Since returning after COVID our normal time slot of 11 AM with Alcatraz has been bumped multiple times due to reduced capacity. We are doing our very best to make sure we are made aware of any time changes (that are out of our control) and can communicate that to our guests in advance. I'm glad you enjoyed the tour, despite the hour delay. We will continue to work with Alcatraz to ensure this doesn't happen to other guests. Thank you for your feedback. Best, Dara

Great!

Darcey_S, May 2021

Chet was friendly, knowledgeable and walks at a quick pace! Got us to the alcatraz line just in time ☺️

Forgot to Book Alcatraz early...but tour was worth the extra cost

Peter, Mar 2020

My wife and I booked this tour mostly for the Alcatraz tickets. I will say the walking tour was very informative and fun. We did see places on the boardwalk that we would have never tried to discover on our own. Our tour guide was great. We were very happy this tour wasn't just overpriced Alcatraz tickets. Worth the extra cost. :-)

Tour experience

Daryl_H, Feb 2020

Dara was phenomenal as our walking host! She was enlightening and humorous making it very fun and we learned a lot!!! Alcatraz was so good! Ranger John was excellent and the audio tour was fantastic!!!

Good

John_D, Feb 2020

Walking tour was nice and informative. Guide took pride in her presentation. Alcatraz was fun too. A little crowded but glad we went through. Thx

A Great Combo Package

sojourningsara, Jan 2020

Like many others, we booked this tour mainly for the Alcatraz tickets. However, we always enjoy tours from locals, and this one was a winner! Dara was an informative and entertaining guide who showed us the highlights as well as the hidden gems of the Fisherman’s Wharf area. She recommended several places to eat in the area (Boudin’s was AMAZING!) and offered loads of knowledge about the Bay Area history, Alcatraz, and local lingo and culture. Even if you are lucky enough to find Alcatraz tickets on their own, we recommend going this route instead by experiencing Dara’s tour as part of your time at the Wharf.

Informative and interesting tour

Janet W, Nov 2019

Chet kept a good pace for our tour, giving us background info, interesting stories and enough overview in case we wanted to go back and see the museums, buildings and landmarks in more detail. I’d recommend this your to anyone visiting SF and residents as well.

Parking for Alcatraz tour

brabbit2173, Aug 2019

We were kind of worried about parking this being our first trip there but it was great plenty of parking spots and no questions were asked with our pre paid ticket went very smooth we are very happy

Tour was good

JaMe C, Jul 2019

Guide was knowledgeable about the area and led us directly to the Alcatraz meeting point. I would recommend.

Wonderful!

Deborah_R, Jul 2019

I will admit we booked this to get Alcatraz tickets, it was great. The guide was very knowledgeable, helpful and entertaining. I recommend it highly.

Agréable visite à pied et en bateau

Michel_D, Jan 2020

Guide gentils et professionel ayant des connaissances spécifiques à la visite à pied - aurait avantage à développer ses connaissances générales sur la ville et son historique. Visite d'Alcatraz agréable et intéressante - superbe prise de vues sur l'île et la ville.