San Francisco travel guides & articles

All 18 in-depth pieces we’ve published on San Francisco — newest first.

Haight-Ashbury by Bus in San Francisco's Foggy September 2026

Tours & tickets

Haight-Ashbury by Bus in San Francisco's Foggy September 2026

The open-top loop only skims Haight Street: what it shows you, where to get off, and how to spend the four hours the bus never gives you.

How San Francisco's Cable Cars Actually Work

How San Francisco's Cable Cars Actually Work

A working powerhouse, three turntables, and crews who still spin the cars by hand. Ride San Francisco's cable cars for the machinery rather than the photo.

48 Hours on San Francisco Bay by Commuter Ferry

48 Hours on San Francisco Bay by Commuter Ferry

The Marin and East Bay boats cross the same water as the tour cruises for a third of the fare. Here is how to build two days around them, from the Ferry Building out to Angel Island and back.

San Francisco's Victorians: The Houses the 1906 Quake Spared

San Francisco's Victorians: The Houses the 1906 Quake Spared

A walk through the Victorian and Edwardian streets that survived San Francisco's defining disaster — from the postcard row everyone photographs to the interiors, cottages and private follies most visitors never find.

Sunset at Land's End: San Francisco's Wild Coastal Edge Where the City Meets the Pacific

Sunset at Land's End: San Francisco's Wild Coastal Edge Where the City Meets the Pacific

A local's route through San Francisco's Land's End Trail — Sutro Baths ruins, the best cliffside Golden Gate view in the city, a hidden beach down 243 steps, and every honest caveat about who each stop actually suits.

The City in 400 Stairways: San Francisco's Hidden Pedestrian Grid

The City in 400 Stairways: San Francisco's Hidden Pedestrian Grid

San Francisco hides a second city built entirely out of steps — here's the walking route that finds it, hill by hill, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Where the Jukebox Still Takes Quarters: San Francisco's Last Real Dive Bars

Where the Jukebox Still Takes Quarters: San Francisco's Last Real Dive Bars

A room-by-room tour of the Mission, Tenderloin, SOMA, and Polk Gulch dives that never got the mixology-menu treatment - cracked booths, cash-first bartenders, and the last few blocks of San Francisco that haven't been priced out of themselves.

The Park Between Two Seas: Golden Gate Park Beyond the Postcard

The Park Between Two Seas: Golden Gate Park Beyond the Postcard

A local's honest, neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood walk across San Francisco's greatest green space — from the museum concourse to the windmills at the ocean, with real prices, door realities and the timing that makes or breaks a day.

Karl Comes Home: How the Fog Made San Francisco

Karl Comes Home: How the Fog Made San Francisco

A calm, local's map to meeting Karl the Fog — the twelve best places to watch San Francisco's marine layer roll in, and which ones suit couples, families, and big groups.

SOMA (South of Market), San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

SOMA (South of Market), San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

How to read South of Market in order — from the museum block to the tasting-menu strip to the fog rolling off Folsom Street at 3am.

Richmond District, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Richmond District, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

A local's walk through the fog-lined avenues where San Francisco's best dim sum, a hidden columbarium, and the ruins at the edge of the continent all sit a few bus stops apart.

Pacific Heights, San Francisco: The Neighbourhood Guide

Pacific Heights, San Francisco: The Neighbourhood Guide

A local's walk through San Francisco's old-money ridge — the parks, the one house you can actually enter, and the stretch of Fillmore Street where the whole neighbourhood eats and drinks.

North Beach, San Francisco: the Neighbourhood Guide

North Beach, San Francisco: the Neighbourhood Guide

A local's walk through San Francisco's old Italian quarter — where the Beat writers drank, the delis still cure their own meat, and every street eventually leads back to one square of grass.

Mission District, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Mission District, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Murals, mission-style burritos, and the sunniest park in the city — how to actually spend a day in the Mission in 2026.

Marina, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Marina, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

A flat, sunny stretch of reclaimed bay fill that turned a ten-month fair into a neighbourhood — here's where to walk, eat and stay in the Marina, from the Wave Organ to the beer hall inside a decommissioned army post.

Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

A block-by-block walk through Haight-Ashbury in 2026 — the corner, the record store, the parks, and the bars that actually earn a stop.

Chinatown, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Chinatown, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Ten blocks of the oldest Chinatown in North America, walked properly — from the gate at dawn to a dive bar's baijiu Mai Tai after dark.

Castro, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

Castro, San Francisco: the neighbourhood guide

A block-by-block walk through the Castro in 2026 — the plaza mid-rebuild, the reborn Castro Theatre, and where a local actually eats and drinks between them.