Explore the LGBT history of the Castro on foot during this walking tour. Follow your informative local guide through the famous neighborhood while learning about the local landmarks and historical sites. Be inspired by the rich, diverse history of this iconic district and its continuing role as an epicenter of LGBT activism and events.

Guided walking tour through the Castro neighborhood
Learn about the history and culture of San Francisco
Walk by Harvey Milk's former residence and camera shop, as well as the Harvey Milk Plaza
See the Rainbow Honor Walk Project and the Pink Triangle Memorial Park
Visit the AIDS Quilt Names Projects original site
Informative narrative from your local guide

What's Included

Local guide

Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

400 Castro St
400 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114, USA

Start time

10:00 AM

What To Expect

Meet your local guide for the walking tour of the iconic Castro neighborhood. Visit the historic Castro Theatre, with its Spanish Colonial Baroque architecture, and learn about how the district got its name.

Walk on to visit several historical sites related to Harvey Milk, the gay rights activist and famous San Francisco resident. See his home, his photo shop and the campaign headquarters for his political activities.

See the Pink Triangle Memorial Park, the Rainbow Honor Walk Project, the AIDS Quilt Names Project, and the Human Rights Campaign.

This moving, empowering and informative tour will give you authentic insight into San Francisco's history as center for LGBT rights and activism. Public walkways are all wheelchair accessible.

The Castro

Come cruise the Castro on this fun and comprehensive 2-hour tour! Celebrating 30 years of walking with PRIDE, Cruisin' the Castro Walking Tour is San Francisco's premier tour company! Learn about LGBTQ culture, diversity and the lack of civil rights in America. Explore the many historical sights that has shaped a community as well as, a world wide culture. No other tour offers over 20 historical sites that span from the Gold Rush, World War II, civil rights leader, Harvey Milk, the AIDS epidemic, the Rainbow Honor Walk and beyond! Cruisin' the Castro Walking Tours is conducted by a long time local resident, historian and community activist. Recognized as a TripAdvisor "Hall of Fame" member since 2011!

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Harvey Milk Plaza

Learn how Harvey Milk arrived and became the 1st openly gay male politician to serve public office in United States and a Civil Rights Activist. Find out how the rainbow flag was created!

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Tours operate rain or shine
Minimum numbers apply. There is a possibility of cancellation after confirmation if there is not enough passengers to meet requirements. In the event of this occurring, you will be offered an alternative or full refund
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 4 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 good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

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

5.0

560 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 560 reviews

Great tour!

Kevin_B, Dec 2022

Kathy was very knowledgeable and showed us a lot of Castro’s history and culture. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour!

The Loving Castro Neighborhood

Mark_Z, Dec 2022

Fantastic Tour of the Castro and the LGBTQ+ community. Kathy was great showing us the history, memorials and art of the LGBTQ+ community in the Castro. She was knowledgeable, passionate and excited to share her community with us. I highly recommend this tour!

Great tour with a great guide

Michael_G, Sep 2022

Kathy was just amazing with her knowledge and stories and information. Highly reccomend her tour of the Castro.

Amazing lgbt tour of the castros many great spots and gems and informative history

Felicya_p, Sep 2022

All the history and hidden gems of the castro . The tour guide was so informative and friendly. Also, the group felt very close and familiar to the point that at the end it felt sad to leave and part ways.

A top quality tour

Anne_H, Sep 2022

Kathy was brilliant - very knowledgeable and interesting and also genuinely interested in helping us all understand the significance of what she was explaining to each of us personally- very good value for money - great job Kathy :-)

Great Tour!

John_M, Aug 2022

Kathy is exceptionally knowledgeable. I appreciated learning history, art, and culture of the diverse Castro community. I feel I have a deeper understanding of the Castro and my own personal history and experience!

10/10 experience!!

Haley_R, Jul 2022

This tour was absolutely the highlight of my trip to San Francisco!! My girlfriend and I came to SF for the first time to meet my family for a family vacation, and we decided to break away for a morning to take this tour. Kathy was a wonderful tour guide, and an inspirational figure to both me and my girlfriend. She was funny, informative, and motivational in her talks about how we all need to be active in our fights to make the world a better, safer place for all. We learned a lot and enjoyed all of the places we went on the tour. And the cherry on top was the woman who proposed to her girlfriend at the end of the tour!! I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone and everyone :)

Best tour!

Jenny_M, Jul 2022

Kathy was amazing! She was so kind and knowledgable. I learned so much on the tour and met a lot of great people. This is a 'do not miss' for sure!

Great historical review of city's LGBTQ+

Gwendolyn_K, Jun 2022

The art work along the outside wall of Harvey Milk Academy for elementary school children was awesome.

Brilliant

David_H, May 2022

Kathy was a very good tour guide. Very knowledgeable and most of what she told us was from experience which made it very personal. We learned lots. Thank you 😊

Wonderful experience

Kurtis_J, Mar 2022

Very knowledgeable and a fantastic experience. I really liked Kathy and thought she was accommodating to my 4 year old.

Best walking tour

blehman, Jan 2022

Kathy is a bona fide member of the community and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Castro and LGBT history. Great political perspective too.

Love the gayborhood

Richard_L, Aug 2021

Kathy was a great guide! Fun to see the neighborhood and learn its history from someone who lives in and loves it.

Awesome

stephanpeters49, Feb 2020

Very informative, full of history and passion. Great job, Kathy. Lots of Harvey milk memorials......

Fantastic Guide, Fantastic Tour

Austin_J, Jan 2020

The guide was incredibly knowledgeable, entertaining, and enlightening. I learned so much more about the LGBT movement in San Francisco than I knew. I was the only person on the tour and she still held it and took the time to show me all the places of interest and took the time to get to know me as well. Highly recommend.

Passionate host made it memorable

Zoe_B, Oct 2019

Fantastic tour, not too much walking , full of history and great euthusiastic humorous passionate host

Great tour with a great guide!

David_D, Sep 2019

We really enjoyed the Castro tour! Our guide Kathy was very fun, nice and passionate and she provided us a lot of information about the district history and nowadays challenges and struggles of the LGBTQ community. Thank you Kathy!

A surprise

Debb_H, Sep 2019

Kathy was a great tour guide. So much interesting information. A real eye opener. Would recommend this tour.

Informative tour

RoxanneTrahan, Aug 2019

Informative tour that made everyone feel included even myself who was solo on the tour. Would definitely recommend!

Fantastic tour!

Cecilia_F, Jul 2019

We had a wonderful experience. Kathy knew so many interesting things about the neighbourhood, really wprth every penny. Thank you!

...

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