San Francisco is small — seven miles by seven — but it stacks an improbable number of world-famous sights onto forty-three hills. The hills make walking between them a workout and parking a lottery, which is exactly where a chauffeur earns the day: dropped at the door of one landmark, collected at the next.
The Golden Gate Bridge
The city's most famous landmark, and the one no visit skips. There's no finer way to take it in than from the back of a black luxury sedan — gliding across the span with the towers rising past the windows, the bay opening on either side, climate controlled and unhurried while someone else minds the traffic. The full guide to the overlooks and the parkland around the bridge is in the Golden Gate Bridge guide.
Lombard Street
The "crookedest street in the world" — eight switchbacks down a brick-paved block of Russian Hill, banked in hydrangeas. We drop you at the top to walk down and meet you at the bottom, so nobody has to thread a rental car through the curves or fight for the photo line.
The Painted Ladies
The postcard row of Victorian "Painted Ladies" on Steiner Street, with the downtown skyline rising behind them from the green slope of Alamo Square. Five minutes for the photo, longer if you want to wander the Victorian blocks of nearby Hayes Valley.
Coit Tower & North Beach
The Art Deco tower crowning Telegraph Hill, its lobby wrapped in 1930s WPA murals and a 360° view of the bay from the top. Below it sits North Beach — the old Italian quarter and Beat heartland, City Lights Bookstore and espresso on Columbus. We drop at the tower and collect you down in the neighborhood.
The Palace of Fine Arts
A beaux-arts rotunda and colonnade left from the 1915 world's fair, mirrored in a swan lagoon at the edge of the Marina. One of the most photographed and romantic corners of the city — and a favorite backdrop for wedding portraits.
Union Square & the cable cars
The downtown heart — flagship shopping, the theaters, the grand hotels, and the Powell Street turntable where they spin the cable cars by hand. The Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines are the last manually operated cable cars in the world, climbing over Nob Hill to the waterfront. See where to stay nearby.
Fisherman's Wharf & the waterfront
The bay front — the Pier 39 sea lions, the crab stands, Ghirardelli Square, and the boats out to Alcatraz. The full waterfront loop is in Fisherman's Wharf.
Chinatown
The oldest Chinatown in North America. Enter under the Dragon Gate at Grant and Bush, then get off the tourist drag onto Waverly Place and Ross Alley for the temples, the fortune-cookie factory, and the dim sum locals actually eat. See dining.
Twin Peaks & the views
For the whole city at once, Twin Peaks looks straight down Market Street to the bay; best at dusk as the lights come up. More overlooks and the full self-guided loop are in scenic drives.
How a day runs
We sequence the stops so the hills and one-way streets work in your favor — dropped at a high point, collected at the bottom, camera ready at each. Combine the landmarks with the Golden Gate Bridge, the waterfront, and lunch for a full chauffeured day; see limo tours.