San Francisco Urban Adventures

11/09/2020

The air quality is going to be really bad today! Stay inside and stay safe.

The Bay Area has been choking on wildfire smoke for weeks but early Friday morning the sooty conditions worsened, with air quality reaching severely unhealthy levels over large swaths of the region.

10/09/2020

2020 hasn’t been kind to us. Roughly 52% of the storefronts in the city are currently closed due to the pandemic. And now we’re into the fire season and are experiencing the largest wildfire in California’s history.

We’ve unfortunately closed all tours for the next two weeks until the air quality and conditions get better. Stay safe everyone, the new year is almost here.

Across Northern California, huge plumes of smoke from a fire that blasted through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada billowed high into the atmosphere, turning day into an eerie twilight.

20/08/2020

The Bay Area and the city currently have the worst air quality in the world! Stay safe everyone, 2020 is almost over.

Mayor Breed said as of Wednesday afternoon, air quality was "red," meaning it's unhealthy to breathe. She urged all San Francisco residents to stay home if they can. "The best thing you can do is avoid exposure to outdoor air by staying indoors with the windows and doors closed."

The smoke may have been a little less thick this morning, but expect it to get worse throughout the day.

21/07/2020

When it's safe to travel again, we'll be ready for you! We've been using the downtime to work on some new tour ideas and partnerships. Here's our latest. It's with Culture Trip and will explore the hidden trails of Lands End and the history of Adolph Sutro and SF at the turn of the 20th century.

Explore the hidden trails and viewpoints of Lands End and Sutro Baths, learning about their history and influence on San Francisco’s early beginnings.

15/07/2020

This one really hurts. It’s our favorite spot for a sunset, burger and beer on a local’s budget.

After 83 continuous years of business, a San Francisco institution is closing its doors permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic.

06/06/2020

Big day next week. The bars are going to be open! We could use a stiff drink after the last few months!

California will allow the reopening of schools, day camps, bars, gyms and some sports with modifications starting next week. Details about the significant step as the state gradually pulls back a stay-home order issued in mid-March were not immediately available. Mark Ghaly, the state’s top health...

02/06/2020

Urban Adventures has always been about bringing people together. But as nice as that sounds, we can’t truly do that in a world that has been and continues to be divided. In our cities and communities around the globe, we stand with those who are being unjustly persecuted. We recognize our own failures and we will strive to do better, to be better. 🤜🏿❤️🤛

29/05/2020

The city isn’t expected to reopen hotels til mid-August. That basically means we may not be open until then as well. We’re holding on, wish us luck as we try to make it to the other side. Stay safe everyone! 👊

The timing for Phase 4 will depend on the city’s outcomes in Phases 1 to 3.

21/05/2020

This is our new reality. What’s it like in your hometown?

Dolores Park got a polka-dot makeover on Wednesday morning courtesy of the San Francisco...

07/05/2020

Uh oh. Maybe it’s a good idea for everyone to keep working from home?

The next cities expected to get hit hard are New York City and Los Angeles.

07/05/2020

Dear Travel Agents, thank you! Happy Travel Advisors Day! 🙌

The travel industry has been turned upside down. And although we don’t know when we will get past this, we know that we can’t do it without you.

02/05/2020

We’re finding it especially tough to be a travel company that can’t travel right now. We miss sharing our beautiful city will all our guests.

We'll survive this pandemic but we want to let you know we can't do it alone and hope you'll be able to help us. This too shall pass, and once it does please think about booking with Urban Adventures and Intrepid Travel for all your adventures! Your money spent affects so many people and locals in a positive way, more than you can imagine!

If you have a few minutes, please give a read from our CEO as he explains more about the crisis and how it's affecting us. We miss everyone and can't wait to hug you! :)

Since its inception on a Melbourne kitchen table 31 years ago, Intrepid has been committed to balancing purpose and profit for all of our staff, customers and partners.

27/04/2020

What do you miss the most during the lockdown? For us it’s definitely ice cream!

15/04/2020

We wanted to do a quick update and let everyone know we're doing ok. We hope you are as well! We're looking forward to seeing everyone on the other side and can't wait to have a drink in-person. Please stay safe and when we see you, first beer is on us! :)

11/04/2020

There’s so many business suffering in the city right now and they all deserve to be helped by the community. But if there’s one that would be devastating to the culture and history of the city if it was lost would be City Lights. Please help if you can!

A Message from Elaine Katzenberger, Publisher and CEO of City Lights Booksellers & … City Lights Books needs your support for KEEP CITY LIGHTS BOOKS ALIVE

10/04/2020

Congratulations to Olga from Moscow Urban Adventures and Rebecca from Athens Urban Adventures for being recognized by Travel Massive as one of the 100 Inspiring Women Travel Founders! Congratulations to everyone for being so inspirational!

Women entrepreneurs who have started awesome travel businesses.

08/04/2020

San Francisco is starting to see early signs that we’re flattening the curve! Staying at home is starting to pay off! We can’t wait to see everyone on the other side. 🙌

01/04/2020

Hats off and thank you to our Mayor, London Breed, and the city for getting ahead of the curve before there was even a curve!

Some preliminary lessons from the city's response

25/03/2020

Here’s an incredible video of what San Francisco looks like right now; it’s haunting and mind blowing.

San Francisco shelter-in-place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Driving through San Francisco during the pandemic is jaw dropping. Thankfully few people are out...

24/03/2020

We asked the universe this morning for some good news, we then got this warm nice review in our inbox! :)

If you need to reschedule or want a refund, no worries. We got your back!

16/03/2020

It’s with sadness that we’ve decided to close shop for the next few weeks, especially with the city’s notice today to ‘shelter-in-place’ and to limit all non-essential gatherings and travel. When we open again is up in the air until we learn how things play out with the Coronavirus.

All existing tours in this time frame are cancelled and you’ll receive a full refund. Once this all passes, we as a company and community will be stronger and ready to show you the Best. Day. Ever.

Much love, San Francisco Urban Adventures

Six Bay Area counties demanding residents shelter in place for the next three weeks as health officials scramble to keep coronavirus from spreading across the region. Here’s a quick look at what you need to know about the shelter-in-place order:

13/03/2020

FYI: All San Francisco public schools will close for three weeks, from March 16 through April 3!

12/03/2020

Whew, what a week! Our guides and team have been away in Mexico City for our Urban Adventures Guide Conference. The guide conference is held twice a year someplace different each time throughout the world.

The conference is always a good mix of fun, ongoing training and making new friends with other guides from all over the world and the 160 other Urban Adventure cities.

There were plenty of tacos eaten, margaritas drank and lots of wrestling matches!

We’re back at it now in San Francisco and happy to be home!

12/03/2020

Coronavirus Customer Information

Last updated: March 12, 2020, 1pm EST

If you are planning to travel in the coming weeks, you’ll likely have some questions about the impact Coronavirus (officially named COVID-19) may have on your plans.

Please note that the tours in San Francisco are operating as normal and are not currently being cancelled. This could change as conditions warrant; if you have any questions please email us at [email protected].

Please also note that the majority of our tours globally are continuing to operate as usual, except in destinations where cities have been put into quarantine or where itineraries cannot be maintained. Current affected destinations for Urban Adventures tours are:

Beijing - Closed until April 1, 2020
Hong Kong - Kowloon Food Safari closed until April 1, 2020
Italy - All tours closed until further notice
Sydney - Closed until April 1, 2020

Our local guides in 146 cities around the world are giving us real-time information in all our destinations, and we will regularly update this list as new developments come in.

Booking Terms & Conditions

As always, all our join-in and private tours have free cancellation up to 48 hours prior to the departure of your tour, so you can still book with confidence knowing that you have the time to make any changes or cancellations to your booking.

For custom "Create Your Own" tours, refunds are as follows:

60+ days to departure – Full refund
59 - 31 days to departure – 50% of tour fee is forfeited
30 days and under to departure – 100% of tour fee is forfeited

If you wish to make any changes to your booking, please contact [email protected] and we will be more than happy to assist. For assistance with booking for San Francisco, please contact [email protected].

If we must cancel a tour due to government-issued COVID-19 restrictions, we will notify you immediately and offer 3 options for your booking:

Transfer the full amount paid to a gift voucher you may use for any future bookings in any destination, with no expiry date
Re-book the same tour for a future date with a 20% refund off the price paid
Receive a full refund less any unrecoverable costs

Note that the above conditions apply only to your Urban Adventures tour, and do not include visas, vaccinations, travel insurance or flights.

Travel Advisories

Please check with your local travel advisory for up-to-date travel warnings:

Australia: Smart Traveller
Canada: Travel Advice and Advisories
New Zealand: SafeTravel
United Kingdom: Foreign Travel Advice
United States: US Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs
World Health Organization (WHO)

We also recommend you check with your travel insurance provider for their policy regarding COVID-19 travel claims.

08/03/2020

We love having a solid crew of old friends for some fun Saturday night shenanigans!

05/03/2020

Coronavirus is making us a bit tired and anxious, and we’re sure you’re feeling the same. We’re not sure what’s going to happen over the coming months. Most of us will be OK, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be stressful and difficult.

To help put things into a bit of perspective, Intrepid Travel has collated some advice and information for anyone who has travel planned, or might be planning on travelling, over the next few months.

This whole coronavirus thing is making us a bit tired and anxious, and we’re sure you’re feeling the same. We’ve collated some advice and information for anyone who has travel planned, or might be planning on travelling, over the next few months.

24/02/2020

We have local friends that would never step foot into Fishermans Wharf, but for us it can be a really fun neighborhood to explore and visit. There’s so much more than just the tourist shops and fast food restaurants. Our fav thing currently is exploring and learning about the coastline’s rich fishing history. Did you know there was at one point in time more than 400 local fishing boats!

23/02/2020

Who’s in Sonoma County this weekend? We’re checking out Golden Gate Cider and have decided that it’s worth two thumbs up!

22/02/2020

Today is International Tourist Guide Day! We’d like to thank all our amazing guides for making sure our guests are always having the Best. Day. Ever. Nothing would be possible without you! Thank you team, including those not in the pic! 🙌

20/02/2020

We love finding hidden murals throughout the city!