Excursion China town's street scene tour at San Francisco

Depart the cruise pier and travel to San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest and largest Chinatown in the US, a cultural and tourism leader for the city. Once in Chinatown, set out with a local guide on an exploratory walk through the main streets and the side and back alleys.

Your guide will tell you how Chinese immigrants started to settle in San Francisco around 1848, drawn in by construction jobs on the railroad and the California Gold Rush.

The story of Chinatown is the story of a neighborhood; an American neighborhood, an old neighborhood, an immigrant neighborhood, where the old country still lives inside the new one. The past and the present are inseparably woven together in this neighborhood defined by Broadway, California, Kearny and Powell streets.

Keep a look out during this walking tour for some of these sights: Chinatown Dragon Gate (the official entrance into Chinatown), Fortune Cookie Factory, Sing Chong Building, Tien Hau Temple, an Old St. Mary's Church built in 1853 and the only building that survived the fire that destroyed Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake.

There will be small bite food samplings during the walking tour including dim sum, pastries and fortune cookies.

Note

Please note: This is primarily a walking tour, so comfortable shoes for the 2 to 2.5 mile exploratory walk around San Francisco's Chinatown is recommended. The tour vehicle will just drop off and pick up again after approximately 2 hours in Chinatown. Guests will need to be able to walk without sitting for at least 2 hours. In your backpack carry only a light sweater, hat, and leave valuables on board.