Home » **Annual Event**, *Top Pick*, In Person, Outdoors, San Francisco, Veterans Day, Walks & Tours, Weekend Events Guide - November 10-12, 2023

13 Free Guided Walking Tours For Veterans Day 2023

Dang! This event has already taken place.
>> Want to see our Top Picks for this week instead?
Friday, November 10, 2023 - 9:30 am to 2:00 pm | Cost: FREE*
*Free tours but donations appreciated. Tours of the Japanese Tea Garden may require an additional admission fee.

All Over San Francisco | San Francisco, CA

Free / Learn More

Looking for something to do and to explore the city if you have the observed day off for Veterans Day?

San Francisco City Guides offers free daily guided walking tours of San Francisco

2023 Veterans Day Free Walking Tours | Friday, November 10, 2023

Friday November 10
9:30 am – Japanese Tea Garden*

After the successful 1894 Mid-Winter Exposition San Francisco decided to keep the Japanese Village exhibit. Makoto Hagiwara was hired to be the new manager of the Garden and immediately set about expanding the Garden three-fold to its size today. An impressive variety of flora greets you as you enter a Japanese inspired wonderland of small scenes created throughout the Garden. The peace and quiet of the Garden encourages one to slow down and be mindful of the surroundings – A perfect walk for those seeking a peaceful afternoon…

View Tour Details >

10:00 am – City Hall and the Civic Center

After the original City Hall perished in the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco had a chance to think bigger the second time around. Civic Center is a campus that houses some of the city’s most important governmental and cultural institutions.
Minimal walking — but maximum awe.

View Tour Details >

10:00 am – Cityscapes And Public Places

The 1985 Downtown Plan was one of the most important piece of red tape in San Francisco history. With accelerating downtown development, city officials laid down some ground rules: If you’re going to build here, you’re going to have to pay a little extra to cover the necessary infrastructure improvements. Oh — and you have to devote a portion of your project to a publicly accessible open space. Thus, Privately-Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) were born.

View Tour Details >

10:30 am – Mission Murals

Murals first appeared in the Mission in the 1970s and soon became central to the area’s identity.  Over the decades artists have used the walls of the Mission, its buildings and even entire alleyways to give voice to matters of social and political importance to the neighborhood. You’ll start in beautiful Precita Park and be moved by the stories that inspired the murals and finish in Balmy Alley where you will see a display of powerful works expressing feelings about immigration, war, gentrification, as well as healing and the celebration of women. This is an unforgettable walk, both visually dazzling and emotionally impactful.

View Tour Details >

11:00 am – Cable Cars: Halfway to the Stars

Since Andrew Hallidie introduced Cable Cars in 1873, San Francisco’s cable car lines changed the landscape of San Francisco, making hilly neighborhoods accessible.  The cable cars survived the 1906 earthquake and fire as well as outlasting political attempts to modernize transportation.  Today the cable cars have gained worldwide attention to become what it is seen as today, a San Francisco icon.

View Tour Details >

11:00 am – Fisherman’s Wharf: A Hidden History

It may not look like it now, but underneath the sleek, commercial facade of today’s redeveloped Fisherman’s Wharf, hundreds of Italian immigrants built an entire industry on the backs of Dungeness crab. Not everything on this tour happens on the water. We’ll look at Ghirardelli Square, once the factory of San Francisco’s most beloved chocolatier. Passing the Hyde Street Cable Car Turnaround we  discuss San Francisco’s cable cars and we’ll explain the stories of many of the historic ships anchored at the Hyde Street Pier.  Discover a new side of the Wharf, featuring stories of the Bay that locals themselves don’t know.

View Tour Details >

11:00 am – Golden Gate Park: American History
Memories in Trees, Stone & Bronze

Join us on a fascinating stroll in one of America’s most magnificent urban parks, where you will hear the incredible tale of the Park’s improbable creation from a sea of desolate sand dunes.
Learn how this city of immigrants to a new state from across the country and across the world chose to celebrate and connect to the history of the US.

You will hear amazing and little-known stories of controversy and violence behind the monuments and memorials commemorating America’s turbulent and inspiring past.

View Tour Details >

1:00 pm – Cityscapes And Public Places

The 1985 Downtown Plan was one of the most important piece of red tape in San Francisco history. With accelerating downtown development, city officials laid down some ground rules: If you’re going to build here, you’re going to have to pay a little extra to cover the necessary infrastructure improvements. Oh — and you have to devote a portion of your project to a publicly accessible open space. Thus, Privately-Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) were born.

View Tour Details >

1:00 pm – Japanese Tea Garden*

After the successful 1894 Mid-Winter Exposition San Francisco decided to keep the Japanese Village exhibit. Makoto Hagiwara was hired to be the new manager of the Garden and immediately set about expanding the Garden three-fold to its size today. An impressive variety of flora greets you as you enter a Japanese inspired wonderland of small scenes created throughout the Garden. The peace and quiet of the Garden encourages one to slow down and be mindful of the surroundings – A perfect walk for those seeking a peaceful afternoon…

View Tour Details >

1:00 pm – Mission Dolores Neighborhood

See one of San Francisco’s oldest and most colorful neighborhoods, the Mission, where you’ll trace a history beginning with Indigenous peoples through waves of immigrants to today’s concerns of gentrification. Begin at the famous golden fire hydrant where locals successfully fought to save the area during the 1906 earthquake. Gaze at a spectacular view of SF’s skyline from gorgeous Dolores Park.  Wander through a historic district, get a mini-course about Victorian styles, go down the hip Valencia Street corridor, see and understand the importance in the Mission of its murals, while learning about the area’s Indigenous peoples and the colonization by Spain and Mexico at the oldest building in San Francisco, Mission Dolores, the church of Saint Francis of Assisi.

View Tour Details >

1:00 pm – Presidio: From Military Base to National Park with Tunnel Tops

From Spain, to Mexico, to the United States — The Presidio has been home to more militaries than almost any other fortress in America.  When the military left lawmakers transformed the space into a National Park in 1996, and since then the Presidio has become one of the greatest (and greenest) places to explore in all of San Francisco. Join us on a walk through San Francisco’s panoramic, luscious park, with wooded areas and scenic views as far as the eye can see including the newly-created Tunnel Tops.

View Tour Details >

1:30 pm – Gold Rush City

“Gold! Gold from the American River!”, shouted San Francisco businessman Sam Brannan, as he ran down Montgomery Street in May,1848, waving a jar filled with gold over his head, sparking the Gold Rush.
As word spread rapidly around the world, the tiny village of San Francisco, tucked amidst massive sand dunes by the Bay, and frequented by grizzly bears and mountain lions, was transformed virtually overnight into a booming instant city.

View Tour Details >

2:00 pm – Salesforce Transit Center

Occupying nearly two square blocks in the heart of a neighborhood of gleaming office and residential towers, the Salesforce Transit Center is at once a functional inter-modal transit hub and an inspirational public space. The post-modern building, designed by the late architect César Pelli, serves as an anchor for an ambitious civic effort to build a modern mixed-use neighborhood in the heart of the city. Join us on a walk through this new city landmark, including its Grand Hall, interactive art, a visit to the center’s renowned rooftop park of lush gardens and unmatched skyline views.

View Tour Details >

*Although the tour itself is free, the afternoon Japanese Tea Garden tour may require separate admission charge to the gardens.

Japanese Tea Garden Admission Fee
– Mon, Wed, Fri: FREE admission for entrance between 9am and 10am
– San Francisco Residents, Veterans & Gardens of Golden Gate Park Members: FREE (Must show ID)
– Non-Resident Fee – $14 Adult (Feb.-Nov.), $12 Adult (Dec.-Jan.), $16 Adult (Weekends Year-round)
Prices updated 11/2/23

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.


Cost: FREE*
*Free tours but donations appreciated. Tours of the Japanese Tea Garden may require an additional admission fee.
Categories: **Annual Event**, *Top Pick*, In Person, Outdoors, San Francisco, Veterans Day, Walks & Tours, Weekend Events Guide - November 10-12, 2023
Address: San Francisco, CA