Mid-range · 6-hour walk · San Francisco
The Embarcadero to Chinatown in six hours
The ferry market, the waterfront north to the wharf, the crooked street and the tower, down into Chinatown.
San Francisco's hills are the whole problem and this route only climbs one of them, Telegraph Hill, and rewards it with the best view in the city. Everything before that is flat waterfront. The cable car from the wharf up to the crooked street exists precisely because the gradient is absurd and there is no shame in taking it.
The route, stop by stop
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Ferry Building
A 1898 terminal turned food hall, with a farmers market outside on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
35 min here Walk here → -
Embarcadero
The waterfront boulevard, freed in 1991 when the earthquake-damaged elevated freeway above it was demolished rather than rebuilt.
25 min here Walk here → -
Fisherman's Wharf
Pier 39's sea lions have hauled out here since 1989 and are the genuinely good part. Alcatraz boats leave from Pier 33.
45 min here Walk here → -
Lombard Street
Eight hairpins in one block at a 27 per cent grade. Walk down the steps at the side rather than the road.
25 min here Walk here → -
Coit Tower
Depression-era murals inside and the best 360 in the city from the top. The Filbert Steps down the far side are the way to leave.
40 min here Walk here → -
Chinatown
The oldest in North America and the densest. Go up Stockton where the groceries are rather than Grant where the souvenirs are.
45 min here Walk here →
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Every walking route in San Francisco, or the full San Francisco guide for where to stay and what a day costs.