SmartHunts® - Best San Francisco Scavenger Hunt

San Francisco offers an eclectic variety of landmarks and culture!

Blending fun, exploration, and corporate teambuilding, a SmartHunts® San Francisco scavenger hunt are an experience that will have your team buzzing with excitement.

SmartHunts can customize your event to include much of what San Francisco has to offer, including world-class architectural marvels, top-tier museums, unique foods, and drinks, as well as highlighting the features of San Francisco’s mix of modern and historic culture. SmartHunts takes your team on a scavenger hunt through this great city where they can discover their own San Francisco style.

Whether your team is local to the area, or visiting from out-of-town, the SmartHunts team can create a fresh experience for your group with a fun corporate scavenger hunt. SmartHunts offers a unique corporate adventure tailored just for you and can take your group on any combination of San Francisco’s great neighborhoods & landmarks, including:

1. Embarcadero
   The Embarcadero is an excellent location for a SmartHunts San Francisco scavenger hunt! Built along the northeastern shoreline, the boulevard starts south of the Bay Bridge and runs north to Fisherman’s Wharf. It has a wide pedestrian walkway and stunning views and points of interest its entire length as well as countless restaurants and bars.

   Pier 14, now a modern pedestrian walkway, butts 637 feet out into the bay and shows off the area from a different perspective. The Ferry Building has a beautiful clock tower and was the city’s main ferry terminal. Now it houses nearly 50 restaurants and shops.

   Embarcadero Plaza has a 40-foot-high interactive sculpture fountain. Pier 7, also a pedestrian walkway, is beautifully preserved with wooden decking, wrought iron railings and period streetlamps. The Exploratorium on Pier 15 has hundreds of interactive exhibits dealing with technology, science, and the arts.
2. Jackson Square
   Dating back to the mid 1800’s, Jackson Square is one of the oldest districts in the city and nearly all the commercial buildings are still standing after the 1906 earthquake and fire are located here. Built on reclaimed land, Jackson Square was initially a prime business district until many companies moved further south to what became the Financial District and the area began to decline.

   The infamous Barbary Coast, known for its lawlessness and 100s of houses of ill repute, was located here although most of it had to be rebuilt in the early 1900s and much was closed in 1917. The Hotaling Building built in 1866, the largest whiskey warehouse in California, was one of the few buildings to survive the fire. Hmmm…
3. Financial District
   Currently the city’s business center, and home to six Fortune 500 HQs, the Financial District encompasses Embarcadero Plaza, The Ferry Building, the Transamerica Pyramid, Maritime Plaza and parts of Chinatown and North Beach.

   The Embarcadero Center is home to hundreds of stores, restaurants, and services. Built in 1898, the Ferry Building on Embarcadero Blvd offers magnificent views and nearly 50 eateries. The 853 ft tall Transamerica Pyramid can’t be missed. Literally. And if you need a break, Redwood Park at its base has 50 Redwood trees, a fountain, flowers, plants, and benches.

   Into Art Deco? Check out the Shell Building on Battery Street. Gothic? Check out the Heineman Building on Bush Street. It’s real skinny. Then slake your thirst at any of the numerous Cocktail Clubs, Taverns, Lounges and Brew Pubs.
4. SoMa
   SoMa, short for South of Market, is a spacious district SE of Union Square and there is lots to see and do here! The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is home to 30,000 pieces of modern art on 7 floors.

   Salesforce Park, a 5-acre public park, sits 4 stories above street level, is nearly 4 blocks long, has an amphitheater, a fountain, a walking trail and a playground. Yerba Buena Gardens is a 2-block collection of gardens that each celebrate a cultural diversity.

   The California Historical Society is WAY cooler than you might expect, covering 150 years of Californian history through photographs, writings, and art. The Moscone Center is a ginormous Convention Complex, the largest in the state, covering 87 acres.

   SoMa offers you an uncountable number of restaurants for every palate and budget.
5. Union Square
   Union Square is a plaza located in downtown San Francisco that covers over 2 acres of public land. It’s hard to imagine that it was a sand dune until 1850 when San Francisco’s mayor John Geary transformed it, although it was only the first of several versions of this space as the years passed.

   Need to take a break from the day? Have a seat at one of the numerous umbrella tables and benches or grab a snack from a concession stand.

   Surrounding the park, you’ll find a shopper’s dream come true. Shopping malls, upscale department stores, unique boutiques, art galleries, art museums and gift shops abound and share the space with restaurants, cozy inns, and grand hotels. There are also several theaters that offer everything from local productions to Broadway Shows.
6. Chinatown
   Portsmouth Square, considered to be the center of Chinatown, is where San Francisco began back in the mid 1800s when “claimed” by Captain Montgomery for the United States and it is where the first houses were built. Shortly thereafter the gold rush began, the population exploded, and Chinatown is still the most densely populated district in San Francisco.

   Officially, the entrance to Chinatown is on Bush Street, its southernmost boundary, where the Dragon Gate stands. Grant Street bisects Bush Street and is the main tourist thoroughfare running the length of Chinatown. This is where you’ll find many gift shops, bakeries, and restaurants.

   At Grant & California Streets check out Old St Mary’s Cathedral, the only building to survive the earthquake and fire of 1906, as well as the Sing Fat and Sing Chong buildings, the first two buildings built afterward. And Stockton Street is where the locals do their shopping at countless fresh produce, fish, and meat markets as well as herb and tea shops.
7. North Beach
   Back in the day, North Beach was a beach on the NE side of San Francisco, but in the late 1800s landfill was used, as it was along much of the perimeter of the city, to increase usable space for docks, warehouses, and wharves. Covering over 300 acres it became home mostly to Italian immigrants and was dubbed Little Italy, but now presents a much more diverse demographic.

   Italian restaurants still abound but you’ll also find many unique shops, eateries, theaters, and cafes plus a vibrant nightlife in its music venues, bars and hotels. Saints Peter and Paul Church is a must see on Filbert Street and check out the Saint Francis of Assisi National Shrine at Columbus and Vallejo as well as the Language of the Birds installation and jazz mural at Columbus & Broadway.

   North Beach was also home to the Beatnik subculture and City Lights Bookstore, Vesuvio Cafe, The Beat Museum and Caffe Trieste continue to operate today.
8. Fisherman’s Wharf
   Located on the northern waterfront, and San Francisco’s most popular destination, Fisherman’s Wharf is built on landfill from the remains of the 1906 earthquake and is still in use as a dock today.

   The famous Pier 39 is part of this complex, home to the Aquarium of the Bay, the San Francisco Carousel, and the Musical Stairs Exhibit. 100s of Sea Lions can be seen from a large viewing area on the west side of Pier 39 and the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges are easily visible as are Alcatraz and WWII Naval Ships.

   Beer and wine tastings abound as do restaurants, shops, and entertainment options.
9. Fort Mason
   Located on the northern coast between the Marina District and Fisherman’s Wharf, Fort Mason covers 1,200 acres and is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Included therein is the extensive Great Meadow Park, Community Gardens and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

   On the eastern side of the district is Aquatic Park, Pier, and Cove as well as San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, is home to Hyde Street Pier and historic vessels such as 19th century schooners, tugs, and a ferry.

   Just south of this area the former Ghirardelli’s Chocolate Factory, now a Marketplace and Square, is a beautifully restored mecca for shopping and dining. Fort Mason Center on the western side is the more commercial side of the district and there’s plenty more to do there!

   Festival Pavilion hosts events year-round including art, beer, and film festivals. Next door on Pier 2, check out the Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco Art Institute and Cowell Theater. Just south of the Piers lies the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture as well as numerous museums, galleries, and restaurants.
10. Marina District
    Marina District is situated at the site of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition which celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal, on the city’s north shore, between The Presidio and Fort Mason.

    A must-see is The Palace of Fine Arts, the only remaining building from the Exposition. A magnificent Romanesque structure with a 162-foot-tall rotunda, Corinthian columns, an exhibition center, a lagoon and 1000 seat theater sitting on 17 acres of land.

    Marina Green, a public park located on the north side of the district, has
    expansive views of the Bay, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Check out the Lighthouse on your way to hear The Wave Organ.

    Chestnut Street to the south is the commercial area where you will find a plethora of stores, shops, cafes, and restaurants.
11. The Presidio
    San Francisco’s Presidio is located on the northern shore of the city where the Golden Gate Bridge begins. Formerly a Mexican military outpost, then U.S. Army base, it is older than the city itself and in 1962 was declared a National Historic Landmark and in 1994 the Presidio became part of our National Park Service.

    The 1,500-acre park includes residential, commercial, and wooded areas and 24 miles of trails for hiking or biking. There are nature events, a learning center, 8 scenic overlooks, group campsites, a golf course, and a mountain lake. The beaches and watersheds have been restored making this a birder’s paradise.

    In the mood for some history? Visit the Korean War Memorial, the Fort Point Historic Site, San Francisco National Cemetery, or the Presidio Officers Club.

    Many of the historic buildings have been rehabilitated and some repurposed into
    restaurants, hotels, museums, a theater, and a visitor center just to name a few.
12. Coit Tower
    Telegraph Hill is a quieter, more residential, neighborhood sandwiched between the much busier North Beach and Embarcadero Districts and is where, in the 1850s, the first telegraph in San Francisco was set up, to communicate with Point Lobos 8 miles away.

    Coit Tower, measuring 210 feet, sits atop the Hill and affords a spectacular panoramic view of the entire area. Inside the ground floor of the tower, you’ll find murals painted by artists in the 1930s as part of the Public Works of Art Project and there is an elevator up to the observation deck.

    Pioneer Park encompasses the Hill and it’s a prime location to spot the flock of wild Cherry-Headed Conures that inhabit this district and not far away the Filbert Street Steps and Greenwich Steps lead through lush foliage and landscaping past beautiful homes up to yet more awe-inspiring views.