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San Francisco in one day works best as a slow loop through the waterfront and a few neighbourhoods. This city in California lies on San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, so start by the water and then move on to one or two neighbourhoods. The experiences below are self-guided and can be booked one by one: choose the ones that suit you rather than all of them.
Fisherman's Wharf is a neighbourhood of San Francisco and a natural place to start, with the bay right beside you. If you would rather follow a story than a map, an escape game on your phone threads along the northern waterfront, from historic vessels at Hyde Street Pier to Ghirardelli Square.
Solve clues on your phone as the story moves between waterfront landmarks. Start when you like and pause as often as you want; there is no guide.
Alcatraz Island lies in San Francisco Bay. None of the experiences on this page includes a visit to the island, so check access separately if it is on your list. To get around, ride a cable car: San Francisco has its own cable car system.
Head inland from the Embarcadero with a quest set just after the Gold Rush boom. Its clues lead you between the Embarcadero, Union Square, Chinatown, the French Quarter and the Mechanics Monument, so it works as a flexible downtown loop for solo travellers, couples, families and small groups.
Follow clues on your smartphone to the next landmark, pausing and resuming at your own pace. You are given directions at every step, so no guide is needed.
Chinatown, another neighbourhood of the city, deserves more than a quick pass. A quest here links landmarks such as Old St. Mary's Cathedral and Portsmouth Square through puzzles and a story, so you see corners you might otherwise walk past.
Solve clues to unlock each chapter of the story and get turn by turn directions on your phone. Move between famous and overlooked corners at your own pace.
Haight-Ashbury is the place to explore the Summer of Love, on streets linked to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. Between neighbourhoods, look for Lombard Street, a steep road in San Francisco that is worth a short detour if steep streets are what you came for.
Play a private investigator tracking a young woman who vanished during the Summer of Love, across streets, park benches and Victorian homes. The quest has no fixed schedule and no group to keep up with.
Golden Gate Park is an urban park in San Francisco, and it includes the California Academy of Sciences. The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge in San Francisco, named after the Golden Gate, on which the city lies; Joseph Strauss was its architect. More options are listed on the San Francisco destination page.
Choose one or two. Each quest covers a different part of the city and you can start when you like, so leave room for a relaxed meal and for the views.
No. The walking experiences on this page are self-guided and run on your smartphone, so bring a charged phone and comfortable shoes.
No. None of the experiences listed here includes a trip to the island, which you would need to arrange separately.
Sources: Wikidata (CC0).
