A San Francisco Bike Tour

Formerly inaccessible to two-wheelers, owing to the countless (there are said to be 43) hills, the city of San Francisco now offers cyclists easier access with the rise of electric bicycles. Here is a nice alternative to walking: two wheels let you undertake a broad tour of the city — though not exhaustive, as you might expect.

You will find in the city numerous bike rental shops offering half-day, full-day, or weekly rentals. Blazing Saddles, in Fisherman’s Wharf, offers mechanical or electric bikes for all levels, as well as guided tours. Sylvie Walters, a French guide from L’Esprit San Francisco, guided us with passion through this multi-hour adventure powered by our legs.

Fisherman’s Wharf

The tour begins in Fisherman’s Wharf, a busy waterfront district tucked between Fort Mason and Telegraph Hill. The neighborhood is popular for its abundance of restaurants and its piers, gateways to ferries on the San Francisco Bay. The former factory sites, such as the site of the famous Ghirardelli chocolate factory, are still visible, though repurposed into pleasant eateries or nightlife venues. Those with a nostalgic streak will even venture to the remarkable Mechanics’ Museum, which houses retro arcade games and old slot machines.

Along the quays, lined with tourist shops and small eateries (don’t miss stopping by Boudin, the historic bakery that keeps the sourdough bread secret), the neighborhood stars sport moustaches. On Pier 39, a colony of sea lions basks in the sun, under the curious gaze of onlookers and pelicans.

Jackson Street

Pedal along Columbus Avenue, which heads east to reach the tiny Jackson District, the only block in the area dating from the Gold Rush, spared by the 1906 earthquake and the ensuing devastating fire, our guide tells us. The firefighters would have liked to save the West Coast’s largest drinking establishment, located near Jackson Street.

The entire neighborhood, adjacent to the Financial District and the Transamerica Tower — a pyramid-shaped tower completed in 1972, whose 260-meter height defines the city’s skyline — was reclaimed from the San Francisco Bay after the 1840s gold rush.

The district lost some of its appeal after 1929 and the financial crash… Until 1950, when architects saw untapped potential. Today it is a quaint and pleasant neighborhood, tucked under the towers of the Financial District, housing chic boutiques and small cafés.

The Ferry Building and Pier 1

From the base of the Transamerica, just a few hundred meters to the Embarcadero square, you face the historic Ferry Building. It too survived the earthquake; the ferry terminal was built in 1898 and remained the city’s main entry point for bay arrivals until the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge were completed in the 1930s.

Today the building houses cafés and restaurants. A good spot for a morning bite. Lean on the railing of Pier 1, look toward the horizon, and you may see the head of a sea lion peeking above the waves. The bay serves as a refuge for them, away from the great white sharks of the Pacific. “San Francisco is also on the migratory path of birds and whales”, explains Sylvie.

In the distance, the two levels of the Bay Bridge can be seen, connecting to the industrial Oakland port further south in the bay. Opposite Pier 1, the artificial Treasure Island — built for the 1939 World’s Fair — appears to be under constant construction. “San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides; it cannot expand, but continues to attract people, so thousands of homes are being built on Treasure Island, the future neighborhood in development”, Sylvie explains. The rents there are already higher than in New York.

“In San Francisco, there was the gold rush, the silver rush, and now the AI rush, notes Sylvie. So we see, at the same time, an incredible real estate rush. Facing rising waters in the bay, Treasure Island was raised in the 2010s.

The Civic Center and City Hall

Once back on the bikes, dive into the vast Market Street — a great way to appreciate San Francisco’s urban energy. Stop at the junction where Powell Street meets Market Street, where the famous Cable Car (the city’s yellow historic tram) ends its line and is mechanically turned around on its rails to head in the opposite direction. A curiosity drawing crowds from morning to night.

From there, several options open up to reach City Hall: continue along Market Street and turn left onto UN Plaza, or wander through the Tenderloin, unfortunately marked by the ongoing opioid crisis.

The City Hall dome will look familiar to visitors to France, and for good reason! Built in 1915 in Beaux-Arts style by Arthur Brown Jr — who also designed the War Memorial Opera House, the Veterans Building, the Temple Emanuel, the Coit Tower and the Federal Office Building — “it resembles the Hôtel des Invalides, and its model was the Church of Notre-Dame de la Nativité in the Val-de-Grâce, Paris”, notes Sylvie.

Here, history was written, and perhaps most notably that of American same-sex couples. In 2004, “the mayor had weddings for same-sex couples celebrated there, openly challenging the applicable law”, notes Sylvie. The first couple married consisted of two historic lesbian activists: Del Martin, then 83, and Phyllis Lyon, then 79.

These marriages were later declared void following a Supreme Court decision, then re-celebrated in 2008 after a California Supreme Court ruling that excluding same-sex couples from marriage violated the state constitution.

Of course, the Golden City is considered a pioneer in the fight for LGBTQ rights. Everywhere in the city you will encounter the name Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California’s history at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies

Heading west, you’ll reach the elegant Victorian houses of Lower Haight, and nearby Alamo Square. It is from this hill, shaded by Monterey cypresses or Lambert cypresses, that you get the best view of the famous Painted Ladies—small, colorful Victorian houses squeezed closely together along Steiner Street. “They withstood the 1906 fire, notes Sylvie. They were built in local cedar, in the Queen Anne style, the most common in the city in the 1890s.”

More than 48,000 Edwardian or Victorian houses are said to have been built in San Francisco between 1850 and 1915. “And you can paint them in whatever colors you want, jokes Sylvie. There’s even a very particular profession here: house colorists.” Note also nearby, at the corner of Fulton Street and Scott Street, the William Westerfeld House, built in 1889 in the Stick-Eastlake style.

At the corner of Fulton Street and Scott Street, the William Westerfeld House, which could house the Addams Family.

“This used to be a working-class neighborhood until the 1960s, then a hippie-era den of iniquity in the 1970s,” explains our guide.

Golden Gate Park

From Alamo Square, follow Oak Street and you’ll quickly reach the tender greens of Golden Gate Park, a 412-hectare park (bigger than Central Park!), a true green oasis in the city.

In the park, the very wide JFK Promenade feels like a real road. For a reason: it used to be open to cars before the Covid-19 era. “It was closed to traffic during the pandemic, then San Francisco voters in 2022 voted to make this pedestrianization permanent”, recalls Sylvie.

Today, cyclists, pedestrians, and runners mingle along the promenade, in front of the flower conservatory, a covered botanical garden and a stylish wood-and-glass building erected in 1878. “It has also survived the 1906 earthquake, notes Sylvie, but after the disaster, more than 200,000 homeless people came here to shelter in the park.”

In Golden Gate Park, all park avenues bend to cut the wind coming off the nearby Pacific. Farther along JFK, Naga, a sea-serpent statue borrowed from Burning Man 2024, rises from Rainbow Falls’ pond.

Venturing north from the park, you’ll pass through the Richmond district. The Victorian-style houses on the steep streets here look more modest, but make no mistake, each one today is worth between 1 and 2 million dollars, according to Sylvie.

Presidio Park and the Golden Gate Bridge

Following Park Presidio Boulevard, you’ll soon reach Presidio Park. Once “composed of dunes, and a hunting ground for Indigenous peoples who lived here before Europeans arrived,” as our guide puts it. Today you’ll find eucalyptus forests, hiking and biking trails, beaches like Baker Beach, and the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Curious gray buildings punctuate the heights along the Pacific coast, visible from the park: “blockades,

vestiges of Spanish, Mexican, and then American presence at this strategic naval point on the West Coast of the United States (…) Until the 1940s, Japanese ships were monitored from this very vantage point.

After more than two centuries of military activity, the Presidio was ceded to the National Park Service in 1994.

Today the site is also a vantage point for the city’s emblem: the Golden Gate Bridge, which raises its two orange towers into the fog, just a few hundred meters away. “It bears the name of the narrow passage it spans, the Golden Gate (Golden Gate), the only entry and exit to the San Francisco Bay,” details Sylvie. “In fact it is so narrow that several famous navigators, such as Francis Drake or Jean-François de La Pérouse, skirted the West Coast of the country without seeing it. The strait was discovered by chance in 1769 by a military vessel.”

The structure, primarily designed by Joseph Strauss, was inaugurated in 1937 and was then the world’s longest suspension bridge. Spanning 2.8 kilometers, it embraces an Art Deco style, and its distinctive color sparked a heated debate. The Presidio base’s military officials proposed yellow and black, but the architects refused. They agreed on “international orange,” which complements the bay’s blue and the hills’ hues.

The bridge can be crossed by car, on foot, or by bicycle. The boldest, and those with remaining leg strength, will attempt the crossing and reach the sunny town of Sausalito on the other side. A gentle waterfront excursion amid fisher houses awaits. To return to San Francisco, the link is by ferry (bikes allowed): two companies connect Sausalito to the city — Blue & Gold Fleet and Golden Gate Ferry — to Pier 41 or the Ferry Building. Along the way you’ll enjoy a spectacular view of the skyline and the Alcatraz island.

The 2.8 kilometers of the bridge are easily traversed on two wheels!

This excursion was made possible by:

Blazing Saddles

L’Esprit San Francisco

San Francisco Travel Association