Urban Safaris – Walking Tours of San Diego

Patty’s walking tours are perfect for San Diego visitors and residents alike. Even long-​time residents can learn a lot from walking with Patty (even about their own neighborhoods!). We’re long-​time San Diego visitors who finally discovered Urban Safaris a few years ago, and now we go on these wonderful walks every time we visit. You’ll see San Diego in a new light, and each additional walk makes you feel even more at home there.

Just wanted to say
You have the best tours, I’m looking forward to October when you have a special tour in the fall its amazing .
Your so sweet Patti,
See you in Historical Sherman Heights (June)

We spent the last hour today on a tour of South Park with Patty from Urban Safaris. I’ll admit that I was at first skeptical of how long this would capture my attention. Once Patty began her tour, I was immediately captured by the interesting examples and remnants of our city’s history that she was able to illustrate to our group. Our tour lasted about an hour and it was nearly 90 degrees out, and almost the entire group was captured enough to maintain in the sun’s heat. I am looking forward to trying a tour of another neighborhood with Urban Safaris in the near future. If you are at all interested in this city’s history, this is a great way to really see it first hand. Museums are great, but having the past presented tangibly really drove it home for me.

Think you know San Diego?
If you don’t, definitely come on one of these walking tours. And even if you think you do, still come, because there may be a thing or three that you may very well learn and give you a greater appreciation for the community.
Like Ethan said, these tours take you to various neighborhoods in San Diego: North Park, Hillcrest, Gaslamp, South Park, East Village, Mission Hills, etc. Each last between 1.5−2 hours. Along the way, Patty points you to various landmarks and oddities in each neighborhood and provides the history and background of each. In addition, she also shows some historical pictures in context to today’s landscape.
In addition to researching herself, many people have donated their knowledge and information that have gone on the walks themselves, adding even more rich history from people who actually have grown up and seen the changes in San Diego.
Go!

These are fantastic walking tours of San Diego.
The fact of the matter is, San Diego DOES have history … you just have to look for it. And there are few people better than Patty (Ms. Urban Safari herself) to show it to you.
Urban Safaris offers guided walking tours of different San Diego neighborhoods, ranging from urban centers like the Gaslamp Quarter and La Jolla to Balboa Park and the open canyons around town. Patty, a long-​time San Diego resident, teacher and historian, knows more about the city than anyone I know. And she has a knack for noticing fascinating things that most of us pass every day without even a second’s notice.
Usually, there’s a tour every weekend, leaving on Saturday at 10am and lasting about two hours. The specific location depends upon the neighborhood of the week, but you can find out by making a reservation with Patty on the website, by sending her an email, or even by calling the number. Space is usually limited to about 15, so it’s good to make your reservations early. On the other hand, San Diegans are notorious un-​curious about their city, and so the tours often (and unfortunately) have plenty of space.
The best way to find out about the tours is through the website, although they are occasionally advertised in the San Diego Reader (under ‘Local Events’) and Patty can give you a paper schedule when you go on your first tour. They don’t happen every weekend (because Patty travels and spends a lot of her time researching new tours); but there are ‘seasons’, and when a new schedule comes out it will usually list tours for weeks and even months in advance.
Really, I can’t say enough about these tours. I’ve learned a ton. Most of all, I’ve found a great, new way to appreciate the wonderful city we share.
PS — The tours don’t necessarily leave from Horton Plaza. I just put that there because Unilocal required that I put a specific location. Really, this isn’t the kind of thing that has a specific location — it changes each week with the particular tour. Just go to the website to find out where the next tour is leaving from.