In 2016, I dedicated my weekends to exploring the neighborhoods of San Francisco. My quest gave me a comprehensive overview of the City. I highly recommend the experience. Regardless of whether you live in San Francisco or are visiting for the first time, there are tons of fantastic resources to fuel adventure and exploration. Here are a few of my favorite resources:
San Francisco City Guides Tours
San Francisco City Guides has such a diverse array of free daily tours that there is something for everyone. Some tours focus provide an orientation to the landmarks and history of a neighborhood while other tours focus on specific architectural, natural, and artistic features within the City. I particularly recommend the tours that focus on San Francisco’s unique neighborhoods such as the Dogpatch and Castro, the rare May/October specialty tours such as the tour of Visitacion Valley and Stern Grove, and tours of San Francisco’s unique landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower.
Stairway Walks in San Francisco
To supplement guided walking tours, I also recommend Adah Bakalinsky’s Stairway Walks in San Francisco. I personally own the Seventh Edition, but each new edition contains a couple new walks so I recommend getting the latest version. The San Francisco Public Library also has some copies. Bakalinsky’s book did a great job of introducing me to incredible views that were previously unknown to me despite months of active exploration. I have yet to find a resource that does such a thorough job of exposing the natural beauty that San Francisco has to offer.
60 Hikes within 60 Miles of San Francisco
Whether you feel as though you have adequately sampled each neighborhood in San Francisco or are simply looking for a day out of the City, I highly recommend choosing a hike from 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of San Francisco. I personally have been working my way through the Second Edition which I picked up from a used bookstore a few years ago and have not been disappointed. The author, Jane Huber, also maintains a comprehensive website with Bay Area hiking recommendations.
Mission Peak Regional Preserve 
Point Reyes National Seashore: Estero to Drakes Bay
Additional Recommendations
In addition to hikes and walking tours, a few books have helped me immensely to orient myself to San Francisco:
- Cool Gray City of Love by Gary Kamiya. This book contains 49 chapters with 49 perspectives on San Francisco that cover everything from the City’s natural history, neighborhood characters, hidden features, and cultural development. It is beautifully written and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend.
- Season of the Witch by David Talbot. This book dives into the more sensationalized dark history of San Francisco, weaving together a number of 20th Century narratives to help explain how the City got to where it is today. This book was quite a page turner and is a very quick read.
- I also recommend books that explain the unique geology and weather of San Francisco such as Clyde Wahrhaftig’s A Streetcar to Subduction and Other Plate Tectonic Trips by Public Transport in San Francisco and Harold Gilliam’s Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region.
If books aren’t your thing, KQED has a podcast about all things Bay Area called “Bay Curious” that explores a variety of insightful topics such as Hetch Hetchy Water, San Francisco’s sewer system, the Golden Gate Park bison, and the City’s microclimates.