San Francisco Ghost Tours: The Stories Beneath the Fog

San Francisco ghost tours compared

Prices and ratings in this table were checked on July 29, 2026 on Viator. Three of the four publish no start time, so those rows read Varies rather than a departure we invented; only the VIP hotel hunt prints one, at 8:00 pm.

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The San Francisco stories to know before you book

Alcatraz comes first. The documented history needs no embellishment: 36 men tried to escape the federal penitentiary in 14 attempts, and the three who vanished on a raincoat raft in June 1962 have never been found, a case the U.S. Marshals keep open to this day. The haunted reputation centers on D Block's solitary cells, where guards and inmates traded stories about cell 14D. The National Park Service, which runs the island, endorses none of it. Guests keep reporting cold spots anyway.

Two dates do most of the work in this city's ghost stories, and one of them is documented to the minute. The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 struck at almost precisely 5:12 a.m. and ruptured the northernmost 296 miles of the San Andreas fault, per the U.S. Geological Survey, which also records that the frequently quoted figure of 700 deaths is now believed to underestimate the loss of life by a factor of three or four. What the fire did over the next three days is the part these routes walk. By Saturday, April 21, 1906, The San Francisco Call was printing from a temporary office at 1651 Fillmore Street with a second office in Oakland at 1016 Broadway, and its front page that morning followed the flames into North Beach: "All hope for it was abandoned when the fire crossed Pacific street near Kearny," reads the issue held by the Library of Congress. Pacific and Kearny is the old Barbary Coast corner, a couple of blocks from the flagpoles where the Chinatown hunt now gathers.

Alcatraz sat in the middle of that same week, and not as the prison the movies show. The island ran as a military prison from 1859 to 1934, and only in the 29 years after that, as a federal penitentiary, did it hold the 1,500 men transferred in from other prisons that its reputation rests on, per the National Park Service. So when the county jails emptied after the quake, the island took the overflow: the Call's April 21, 1906 front page reported that 176 prisoners sent to San Quentin were refused by the warden there because they had not been sentenced, and were landed at Alcatraz instead, to be moved on to jails around the bay within the day. That is the file underneath the boat ride, and none of it needs a ghost.

In Pacific Heights, the Queen Anne Hotel started as Miss Mary Lake's School for Girls in 1890, bankrolled by a Comstock silver senator whose name appeared in the gossip columns next to hers. The school lasted six years. The story goes that Mary Lake never left her fourth-floor office, now Room 410, where guests report waking to find themselves tucked in. A few blocks away stands the Whittier Mansion, a thirty-room pile that survived the 1906 quake and briefly served as Nazi Germany's consulate in 1941 before Washington ordered it closed; the apparition said to walk it is blamed on either the builder or his unlucky son.

The Westerfeld House on Alamo Square carries the strangest resume in the city: built for a Victorian confectioner, later home to occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger, with rituals held in its tower during the 1960s and a pentagram carved into the top floor. Its longtime owner, who restored the house, says flatly that it is not haunted. It is a private residence, so admire it from the square. Chinatown, the oldest in North America, burned to the ground in 1906 and was rebuilt in deliberate pagoda style by its own merchants to secure its place in the city; its alleys carry the memory of the 1900 plague years, when officials denied the outbreak to protect commerce while the neighborhood was cordoned off.

Which San Francisco ghost tour is right for your group?

The lantern walk through Pacific Heights

The story-first format here is the city's original ghost walk, running since 1998 and led by a working stage magician: the San Francisco Ghost Hunt Walking Tour, 5.0 stars across 185 reviews, from $28.99, with the listing's own run time given as 1 hr 30 to 2 hr, a cap of 30 guests, and the independent operator San Francisco Ghost Hunt behind it. The route is the mansion blocks, the Chambers Mansion story and the ghost bride said to pace California Street, told rather than measured with gear. Two lines from its listing are worth reading first. It meets in front of the Healing Arts Center at 1801 Bush Street at Octavia, under the tall trees, and the listing asks you not to go inside the building. And its note about children, quoted in the questions below, tells you more about what the night feels like than the run time does.

• Choose it if you want the told version of San Francisco after dark rather than a night of holding equipment.
• Choose it if the price and the record both matter; $28.99 is the second lowest listed from-price here, and 185 reviews stand behind its 5.0.
• Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access; this listing does not offer it, and only the Chinatown hunt does.
• Skip it if you need a departure time before you commit; this listing publishes none, and its own note about children says only that the tour is late.

Verdict: the default pick, and the one San Francisco ghost tour anyone has booked through this site's links this year, a single booking in July.

Book the Pacific Heights ghost walk in San Francisco

The Chinatown hunt with a professional investigator

The Ghost Hunt in SF Chinatown with a Professional Investigator is the listing this page used to call the Haunted San Francisco Ghost Hunting Tour; the title changed, the tour did not. 4.8 stars across 931 reviews, more than the other three here combined, two hours from $55, capped at 26 guests, run by the independent The Haunt Ghost Tours, with EMF meters handed out and the old Barbary Coast ground between the start and the finish. It gathers at the two flagpoles at the foot of the Transamerica Pyramid, on the corner of Montgomery and Washington, and ends at Waverly Place in Chinatown. It is also the only one of these four listings that offers wheelchair access, and it lists strollers, accessible transport and accessible surfaces with it. On children its listing says "Not recommended for children age 10 and under," which is a recommendation rather than a ban.

• Choose it if the review record decides it; 931 reviews is more than the other three tours on this page put together.
• Choose it if anyone needs wheelchair access, or a stroller is coming; this is the one listing of the four that offers both.
• Choose it if you want the Barbary Coast and Chinatown blocks rather than the mansion streets.
• Skip it if $55 a head is more than tonight's budget; the Gold and Ghouls walk starts at $26.

Verdict: the steadiest booking in the city on the numbers, and the accessible one.

Book the Chinatown ghost hunt in San Francisco

The Union Square walk

San Francisco Ghost Tours: Gold and Ghouls Tour is the listing this page used to call the San Francisco Evening Ghost Walking Tour, retitled but the same compact circuit of Gold Rush fortunes, the mansions that money raised and the hotel floors where some of it never checked out: 4.6 stars across 313 reviews, 90 minutes from $26, the lowest listed from-price of the four, run by San Francisco Ghosts By Us Ghost Adventures. It meets at Union Square, 333 Post Street, on the corner of Powell and Post across from the Saks Fifth Avenue sign, where the guide waits in a US Ghost Adventures shirt. Two facts from its listing deserve to stay separate, because they get mixed together. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours out, the same as all four here. Confirmation is a different mechanic: this is the one listing of the four that confirms within 48 hours subject to availability rather than instantly. It also flags back problems and heart conditions, and it lists strollers but not wheelchair access.

• Choose it if price sets the night; $26 is the lowest listed from-price here, and four tickets run about $104 before fees.
• Choose it if 90 minutes is the right length and Union Square is where your evening already is.
• Skip it if you need to know tonight that you are confirmed; this one can take up to 48 hours.
• Skip it if the listing's cautions apply to anyone coming; it flags back problems and heart conditions.

Verdict: the value alternate, and the one to start earliest because confirmation is not instant.

Book the Union Square ghost walk in San Francisco

The haunted hotel hunt with a cocktail

The premium option trades the sidewalk for a building. The VIP Haunted Hotel Experience: Ghost Hunting plus Cocktail runs two hours from $115, the highest listed price of the four, caps at ten guests, the smallest cap published on these listings, and starts at 8:00 pm, the only clock time any of the four prints. It gathers right outside Fior d'Italia at 2237 Mason Street in North Beach, ends back at the meeting point, and comes from The Haunt Ghost Tours, with the investigation running inside the hotel after the spirit boxes come out. The itinerary includes, in the listing's words, a "Cocktail or alternative at our bar stop," and the listing publishes no age line at all, so if anyone in your party is underage that question goes to the operator before you book. The rating is a 5.0 with 45 reviews behind it, the thinnest published count of the four, which reads as a strong start rather than a settled record. Its listing also carries a Likely to Sell Out label.

• Choose it if going inside with the equipment running is the point; the other three stay on the street.
• Choose it if you want the smallest group; ten guests is the smallest cap published on these four listings.
• Skip it if the rating is what you buy on; 45 reviews is a thin record next to 931.
• Skip it if $115 a head is the wrong number for tonight; two tickets come to $230.

Verdict: the splurge, and the one we would book first for a party of two.

Book the haunted hotel ghost hunt in San Francisco

Alcatraz after dark

Alcatraz after dark is its own category, and here is the honest version: the only night tour is the official one, run by Alcatraz City Cruises from Pier 33, and it sells out weeks ahead in season with no night departures on Sundays or Mondays. The night listings you will find on resale platforms are third-party bundles, so book the official ticket directly. Chinatown also has a dedicated ghost walk run by a local operator since 1994; book that one direct as well.

On accessibility, San Francisco is thin, and the split is worth saying plainly. One of the four compared listings offers wheelchair access, the Chinatown hunt with the professional investigator, which lists strollers, accessible transport and accessible surfaces along with it. The Gold and Ghouls walk lists strollers but not wheelchair access, and flags back problems and heart conditions. The Pacific Heights walk and the hotel hunt list neither wheelchair access nor strollers. Group sizes run the other way: the Pacific Heights walk takes up to 30, the Chinatown hunt up to 26, and the hotel hunt caps at ten. Three of the four are street routes, and the hills here are not negotiable, so read your own listing before booking for anyone who would rather not climb.

Planning your San Francisco ghost tour night

Practical notes: summer is fog season, and evenings run cold enough that locals gave the marine layer a name, so bring real layers even in July. Tours keep to the well-lit tourist corridors of Union Square, Nob Hill, Chinatown, North Beach and Pacific Heights, and standard city precautions apply. Most walks run 90 minutes to two hours over moderate hills.

Meeting points sit in four different neighborhoods, so read yours the day before rather than the hour of. The Pacific Heights walk meets in front of the Healing Arts Center at 1801 Bush Street at Octavia, under the tall trees, and its listing asks you not to go inside the building. The Chinatown hunt gathers at the two flagpoles at the foot of the Transamerica Pyramid, on the corner of Montgomery and Washington, and ends at Waverly Place. The Gold and Ghouls walk meets at Union Square, 333 Post Street, on the corner of Powell and Post across from the Saks Fifth Avenue sign, and your guide is the one in the US Ghost Adventures shirt. The hotel hunt gathers right outside Fior d'Italia at 2237 Mason Street for its 8:00 pm start and ends where it began. Three of the four publish no start time at all, so the booking page for your date is the only authority on when you are expected.

If you are not walking to the meeting point, the fare math is simple: an adult Muni single ride runs $2.85 on Clipper or MuniMobile, $3.00 in cash, and buys 120 minutes of travel, while a cable car single ride is $9.00 with no transfers, per the SFMTA fare page as of our July 29, 2026 check. Take the cable car because you want the cable car; take the bus when you just need to be at Union Square or Bush Street on time, at $2.85 against $9.00.

If the trip has room for a drive, the Winchester Mystery House sits in San Jose, about an hour south, and is not a San Francisco attraction no matter how often it appears on San Francisco lists: Sarah Winchester built for 36 years, and the famous spirit-appeasement motive is legend rather than record. The USS Hornet, a WWII carrier with a haunted reputation of its own, is docked across the bay in Alameda. And down the coast at Moss Beach, a Prohibition speakeasy still trades on its Blue Lady, a story even ghost hunters have called staged in places.

Book the Chinatown ghost hunt with 931 reviews

Questions people ask

What time do San Francisco ghost tours start?

One of the four publishes a clock time: the VIP haunted hotel hunt starts at 8:00 pm. The other three publish no start time at all, which is why our table reads Varies on those rows rather than a departure we made up, and why the booking page for your date is the authority. The Pacific Heights walk gives away the shape of the night without giving a time, since its own note about children says the tour is late and chilly. Read all four as evening bookings, which is when the fog and the streetlights do the work.

When should you book a San Francisco ghost tour?

Earlier than feels necessary, and the terms make that cheap: all four of the compared tours cancel free up to 24 hours before start time, four out of four, with no exception to read around. Two mechanics matter more than the calendar. The Gold and Ghouls walk out of Union Square is the one listing here that does not confirm instantly; it confirms within 48 hours subject to availability, which is a separate thing from cancellation. And the hotel hunt carries a Likely to Sell Out label with ten seats a night, so that is the one to book first if it is the one you want.

Are San Francisco ghost tours kid-friendly?

Two of the four listings answer, and both answer with a recommendation rather than a rule. The Pacific Heights ghost hunt puts it best: "No age limit, but we don't recommend the tour for kids under 6 years of age. It's late and chilly, and little ones may get tired and restless." The Chinatown hunt with the professional investigator says "Not recommended for children age 10 and under." The Gold and Ghouls walk sets no age line but flags back problems and heart conditions, and the hotel hunt publishes no age line at all even with a cocktail on its itinerary, so ask that operator before you book it for anyone underage. On strollers, the Chinatown hunt and the Gold and Ghouls walk both list them.

How much do San Francisco ghost tours cost?

Plan on $26 to $115 per person. As of the July 29, 2026 check on Viator, the Gold and Ghouls walk starts at $26, the Pacific Heights ghost hunt at $28.99, the Chinatown investigator hunt at $55, and the VIP hotel hunt at $115, which is what two hours inside a hotel with a cocktail and a ten guest cap costs. For party math: four on the Gold and Ghouls walk runs about $104 before fees, four on the Pacific Heights walk about $116, and two on the hotel hunt $230. If you want the crowd's verdict on the field, the four compared tours carry more than 1,450 reviews between them.

Are San Francisco ghost tours worth it?

The record says yes, with the counts read honestly. Two of the four hold 5.0 ratings and they are not equal: the Pacific Heights ghost hunt's 5.0 rests on 185 reviews, the hotel hunt's on 45. The Chinatown investigator hunt holds 4.8 across 931 reviews, more than the other three combined, which makes it the steadiest number on the page. The Gold and Ghouls walk sits at 4.6 across 313. Nothing here rates below 4.6, and format matters more than brand in this city, so choose by what you want the night to be: the mansion blocks, the Barbary Coast and Chinatown, Union Square, or a hotel with the door shut behind you.

Is Alcatraz really haunted?

Nothing in the prison's records supports it, and the Park Service treats the island strictly as history. The cell 14D stories come from guard and inmate folklore, amplified by a televised psychic visit in the 1980s. What is documented, the escapes, the solitary cells, the men who never left, is unsettling enough on its own.

Can you visit Alcatraz at night?

Yes, on the official night tour run by Alcatraz City Cruises from Pier 33, the only authorized ferry. It sells out weeks in advance in peak season and does not run Sunday or Monday nights. Book direct rather than through resale bundles.

What is the most haunted place in San Francisco?

There is no scoreboard, but four names dominate the conversation: Alcatraz, the Queen Anne Hotel, the Whittier Mansion and the Presidio, where a lady in black is said to walk the old Officers' Club. The Queen Anne is the one you can actually sleep in.

Can you stay in a haunted hotel in San Francisco?

Two good candidates. The Queen Anne Hotel in Pacific Heights leans into the Mary Lake story and lets you request Room 410. The San Remo Hotel in North Beach, an earthquake-era pension with period rooms and shared baths, carries the Painted Lady story and hosts small-group investigations.

Is the Winchester Mystery House in San Francisco?

No. It is in San Jose, roughly an hour south by car. It pairs well with a Bay Area trip, but no San Francisco walking tour visits it.

See how San Francisco stacks up in our best San Francisco ghost tours guide, browse the rest of haunted California, or compare it against all our haunted city guides.

How we work: every route on this site starts in the archives. Read how we research our tours.