Waverly Place: "Street of Painted Balconies", pretty alley, former setting of brothels and tong battles.Old Saint Mary's Cathedral: early SF church, only Chinatown building to survive earthquake and fire.Sing Chong Building: first building of post- earthquake Chinatown, in new "Chinese" style.Grant Avenue: the main street of Chinatown with most of the tourist shops.The Chinatown Gate: aka the Dragon Gate, entrance to Chinatown, built in 1970.To download a PDF of the map: click here. To fill out some of the details on the sights and places to explore, see my pages on: On my page about Chinatown history, I've included information and photographs from the Gold Rush period and the lawless times that followed, before the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed the entire neighborhood. These streets, and especially the alleys, have seen some rough times, very different from their charming appearance of today. I've marked the places on the map (below) you can use to navigate, and print it out if you would like.īefore you head out to explore, I think the tour will be more interesting if you get a glimpse what life was like here during the Gold Rush era and early 1900's. I haven't given a step by step sequence to follow, because there are so many ways to walk through the neighborhood, but going in numerical order is probably the most efficient way of doing it. I've listed what I think are the most interesting things to see and do in Chinatown. The Self-Guided San Francisco Chinatown Walking Tour See Chinatown & North Beach tour for availability and booking. Sample dim sum, moon cakes, Italian pastries, chocolate, pizza, and more! The guide covers the history of both neighborhoods as well as introducing some of the tasty delights and crafts of both cultures. This is a 5-star tour that explores both Chinatown and North Beach (our charming Italian neighborhood) in one walking tour. See Chinatown Food Tour for more info and booking. You'll also explore some authentic Chinese crafts, and enjoy a full lunch. This is a tasty tour that goes off the beaten track through Chinatown, sampling a variety of Chinese specialties and hearing their background stories. It's two hours and $59 for adults, children $49.įor more info and booking, see San Francisco Chinatown Walking Tour. Viator has a highly-rated walking tour that takes you around the markets, schools, fortune cookie factory, Chinatown alleys, temples, herbal shops, etc., and explains the fascinating history of this community. This helps me provide all the free information I post on this website. Note: I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through some of the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. There are also some highly-rated, reasonably-priced walking tours that take you through the Chinatown hot spots. In addition to the Chinatown tour, I've been on a number of their other tours and I've really enjoyed them. They do ask for a donation to the non-profit organization at the end, but there's no pressure (the tip doesn't go to the tour guide). The Chinatown tour lasts about an hour and a half, and it's free. There are no reservations people just show up at the appointed time and place. How the free tours work: the times and meeting locations are listed on their website. I've been on their Chinatown tour and highly recommend it. The tours are conducted by trained volunteers who are very knowledgeable, and have a real interest in the subject. San Francisco City Guides is a local non-profit organization, associated with the SF Public Library, that does free tours of all sorts of San Francisco attractions. The tours usually take two to three hours, then you can head out on your own to poke around in the alleys, do a tea tasting, look around in the shops, and have a leisurely lunch.ġ) The SF City Guides Chinatown Walking Tour A tour is an easy and efficient way of getting around and seeing a lot, and you don't have to spend a lot of time reading about the history of every place beforehand.
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