The Best of San Francisco: Private Half-Day Walking Tour

Union Square is a public square in downtown San Francisco, but it also refers to the shopping, hotel and theatre district that surround it. It earned its named during the American Civil War when it was used for rallies for the Union Army. Today, it’s raison d’être is rather different: shopping. The area surrounding the square is home to one of the most densely-packed and glamorous selections of stores, boutiques, art galleries and beauty salons to be found in the United States. Six department stores can be found within three blocks of Union Square, including Neiman Marcus, Macy’s (separate Men’s and Women’s, naturally), Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York. Add to that a small armoury of luxury retailers as well as flagship technology stores, including Apple, of course, and you can see why people are drawn here like moths to a flame. Even if they no longer cheers the troops here, Union Square is still the ceremonial heart of San Francisco. It is the site of many public concerts and events, protests and parties, as well as the annual winter ice rink, Christmas tree and Menorah lighting. Since 2009, in each corner of the square there has been a painted heart sculpture from the Hearts in San Francisco public art installation. Every year, they are auctioned off and new ones take their place — often the old ones pop up in other parts of the city. Don’t miss the central pillar either: atop it is the Goddess of Victory, as modelled by Big Alma Spreckles, who volunteered her services when she found out that sugar-baron Adolph Spreckles was in charge of the monument committee. Spreckles eventually became her sugar daddy, and in the end she donated her fortune to build the Legion of Honor.

The San Francisco cable cars are part of the world’s last manually operated cable car system. Every cable car is tugged along its hilly track by an underground cable which is gripped by a vice-like mechanism operated via the grip lever in the front of the car. If that sounds perilously like a creaking handbrake is the only thing between you and a rocket-ride down into the bay, fear not: every car has three separate breaking mechanisms. You’d have to be pretty unlucky. Used by commuters and tourists alike, the ultra-safe cable cars are among the most popular tourist attractions in the city. Even the surliest passenger can’t help but me charmed by their wonderful views from this quaint mode of transport. However, you have a few lines to choose between, depending on whether you’re zipping from A to B or lingering for the scenic route. With the Powell-Hyde Cable Car, the medium is the message: as you crank along this hilly line the Golden Gate Bridge will pop in and out of view. The Powell-Mason Cable Car slowly winds up Nob Hill, as if preparing for a sickening rollercoaster drop on the other side. At the terminus you can find the wonderful Musée Mecanique with its array of mechanical toys and arcade machines. The California St Cable Car is quieter, riding through Chinatown and climbing Nob Hill to Grace Cathedral. Hop off at Polk St for some boutique browsing. However, it is the Friedel Klussman Cable Car Turnaround which has the best story. In 1947 a lady rallied her garden club against the mayor’s plot to replace the cable cars with buses. When it went to vote, he was trounced. And when Klussman died in 1986, all the cable cars in the city were draped in black.

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the second-largest Asian community in North America and is as old as the city itself. But there are really two Chinatowns here, though: one for tourists centred on Grant Avenue and another for locals centred on Stockton Street. Dip in and out of both for wonderful dining options and a unique glimpse of a world within a world. In Chinatown, it pays to wander off the beaten track and down the side alleys. There you will hear the muffled buzz of conversation and the clatter of game tiles, and you can see temples with wafting incense and hanging pieces of laundry flapping like flags overhead. CornucopiaThe SF Chinatown is considered by many to be the birthplace of several Westernised Chinese dishes, such as Chop Suey, and also where delicacies such as Dim Sum were introduced to the United States. Even today its Dim Sum tea houses are still a major tourist attraction. But for the real deal, head to the Stockton Street markets. Here, between pull carts and dozens of stalls, you can find anything: dried mushrooms, sea cucumber, bundles of bok choy — you name it. American HomeopathWaverly Place is home to the district’s acupuncture and Chinese medicine shops. Also tucked away there is the Tin How Temple — the oldest Taoist temple in the city. Dozens of illuminated paper lanterns hover overhead and plates of orange and bread rest on an altar with a shrine of Buddha statues. Photography is not allowed, so you have to see it with your own eyes.

Nob Hill is not just one of today’s San Francisco’s 44 hills — it was one of the original Seven Hills too. It was actually first known as California Hill, but was renamed when the Central Pacific Railroad’s Big Four - known as the Nobs - built their luxurious mansions there. Robert Louis Stevenson described it as “the hill of palaces.” They chose it for its stunning views and central position, and ever since it has been an exclusive enclave for the rich and famous of the West Coast. Although the 1906 earthquake levelled almost the entire neighbourhood, it retained its air of affluence all the same. The air of privilege marks it out from the Bohemian feel of the rest of San Francisco — you might not want to live there, but it’s great fun to visit. Nob Hill is dense with building but still finds space for some of San Francisco’s loveliest little parks. Huntington Park takes up an entire block and was formerly the site of the mansion of the railroad baron Collis P. Huntington. It’s a sleek spot for well-dressed wanderers and coiffured poodles, and the central fountain is a copy of Rome’s Fontana delle Tartarughe. Looming over Huntington park, Grace Cathedral is the cherry on top of Nob Hill. It’s the largest Gothic structure on the West Coast. It also nods to Italy: its gilded bronze doors were made from the cast created by Lorenzo Ghiberti for the Baptistery in Florence. None other than Michaelangelo dubbed them fit to be the gates of heaven. They hold frequent concerts in the cathedral, and it’s a glorious setting.

Pier 39 is a popular shopping built on a San Francisco pier, in Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood. Pier 39 is known for its sea lions, we can also find shops, restaurants, and street entertainment.

The Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco used to b the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory. The buildings have been renovated to hold shops, restaurants and galleries.

The Golden Gate strait stretches 1.6km between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate Bridge is the iconic suspension structure that spans it, linking the city of San Francisco to Marin County. Having opened in 1937 it was, until 1964, the longest suspension bridge in the world. The American Society of Civil Engineers quite rightly declared it one of the Wonders of the Modern World. It was far from easy to build though. Once known as “the bridge that couldn’t be built,” the engineers in charge faced all sorts of adversity, from the natural - whipping winds, thick fogs and treacherous tides - to the human: a noisy bunch of nay-sayers. It took ten years of planning to get off the ground, but then just four years to get it done. The single-suspension span is anchored by twin towers that reach 746 feet — once taller than any building in San Francisco. Two cables, each more than 7,000 feet in length and containing some 80,000 miles of wire stretch over the top of those towers and set their roots in concrete anchorages on either shore. The scale and enterprise of the project must be seen to be believed. 24 CarrotThe bridge takes its name from the strait, rather than actually being painted gold, to the dismay of some tourists. The bridge has in fact always been painted orange vermillion, otherwise known as “International Orange.” Carbon black and steel grey were rejected in favour of the warm orange that marks it out from the cool colours of the sky and sea. The repainting of the Golden Gate Bridge is actually a never-ending task as the metal beneath must be perfectly protected from the high salt content in the air.

Sample some fresh fortune cookies, learn about their history, and take some home with you, directly from this landmark factory.

This 64m tower can be found in the Telegraph Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco. Rising up above Pioneer’s Park, it was built in 1933 at the behest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit’s will. She left one third of her not insignificant estate for the civic beautification of her adored city. Just one of the things her generosity sponsored was this memorial tower. Woman of the PeopleBuilt in the art deco style, the tower is made of unpainted reinforced concrete. There is an apocryphal story that the tower was built to resemble a fire hose nozzle, on account of Coit’s close affinity to the San Francisco firefighters of the day. However, apparently the resemblance is simply a coincidence. Throughout her life Lillie Hitchcock Coit was recognised as an honorary firefighter. She was a wealthy socialite and one of the more eccentric figures in the San Francisco social scene. She chomped cigars and wore trousers long before they were considered socially acceptable things for women to do. From a young age she had chased the fires and firemen around town, and even today she is the matron saint of SF firefighters. The tower itself is wrapped around with 1930s depression-era murals glorifying SF workers. Thanks to that public art, it was once denounced as communist, but is now a treasured landmark in the city. From the top you get extraordinary 360-degree panoramas of the downtown area and waterfront.