Discovery Street Tours

Excellent! What a fun way to get to see San Fransisco!
I took my wife on a little surprise trip to San Fransisco for her birthday. Since it was Christmas time I wanted to take her on a Christmas lights tour. After looking at a lot of different options I decided to go for the Science of Holiday Lights tour. It wasn’t quite what I expected but it was definitely worth it.
Since you are limited to walking you don’t get to go see all of the lights that the city has to offer but the lights that you do get to see you see in a different way than on any other tour. It’s a great mix of science, history, and beautiful Christmas lights!
Robin is a great guide and her tours are much more personal than any other tour I’ve ever been on. Decided to go out on a limb and try it out after having read a few good reviews and I’m so glad that we did. My only regrets are that we live so far from San Fransisco so we can’t go back for some of the other tours that she offers and that it has taken me so long to get online and post the review.

Had a GREAT time today on the San Francisco Rocks tour, which is about the city’s geology and earthquake history. Learned a lot, had tons of fun, and got an in-​depth look at parts of the city I had seen many times but never really understood before. HIGHLY recommended.

We (wife and adult kids, brother-​in-​law with his teenagers) did the Christmas lights tour. It was interesting and fun — highly recommended.
Maybe the best part was that Robin knew all these little interesting places that you might normally walk by and not notice.

I went on the Holiday Lights Tour recently and it was great!
I braved the chilly weather to head out to FiDi/​Chinatown for a very interesting tour filled with different types of holiday lights. Robin jam-​packed this tour with fascinating facts about lights, some history and how it affects us. For those interested in trying out a new type of tour and putting your science facts to use, this tour is definitely for you! I would highly recommend it, and bring friends!

We took the Christmas light tour. We learned about the history, physics and chemistry of Holiday lighting, got some exercise and had some great cookies… what else can you ask for??? :-)

The geological tour was amazing — just enough science to learn something new while connecting SF history with the city’s contemporary landscape. A beautiful walk with a fun guide. Robin’s knowledge and passion for science and history are contagious! You’ll never look at SF rocks and hills the same way again!

I went to the «Invented in San Francisco» Tour and it was so fun! The tour was intimate and I got to interact with other people in a small group.
The tour was different from the usual touristy stuff you could predict. Instead, it focuses on the part of SF history that is rarely explored. Robin was very knowledgable and I loved how this tour highlights the creativity and science (which probably has inspired and drown a lot of people to SF).
If you’re an international traveller like me, this tour will capture some unusual flavor of SF for your trip.

We had a great Sunday walk with Robin! We started our Science of Bread and Cheese in Allyne Park, getting a quick lesson in the alchemy of basic ingredients that create so many textures and flavors in both bread and cheese. We headed up the hill to Polk st to taste cheese and get all our questions answered at Cheese Plus. From there we meandered to another little pocket park to learn about baking and bread. Finally, after shaking up a jar of fresh butter, we returned to Allyne park to taste some bread, butter and cheese.
Our group was fun and full of information, and the bits of science and history made this a much more interesting tour than just sight-​seeing — and I’ve lived in SF for 28 years! I would love to see Robin offer food science tours in other neighborhoods — I can’t wait for the Science of Kimchee!

I absolutely loved this earthquake-​themed walking tour of San Francisco! If you want to know this city at the deepest possible level, this is the tour for you.
About a dozen people, in ages ranging from their twenties to their sixties, meandered through the Mission, Castro, and lower Twin Peaks neighborhoods, up side streets and to overlooks that visitors rarely stumble upon — and that even residents may have missed.
We met at Dolores Park, and Robin, our tour guide, introduced us to the earth forces that have shaped this city. She was obviously very knowledgeable and yet knew how to convey scientific information in a lively, memorable way. Out of her backpack (aka mobile classroom) she pulled props — like a nerf-​style earth that came apart and showed the various layers that make up the earth — and snacks, like a gourmet cheese ball that was not only delicious but also demonstrated the consistency of the earth’s core and mantle. Later in the tour, other delicious tidbits were brought out to demonstrate other principles of earthquake science. Yum!
She also had historic photos that allowed us to compare the present-​day view with what we would have seen during the 1906 quake, and I especially enjoyed Robin’s stories of that disaster, how the city handled it, and what earthquake scientists learned from it. I found myself repeating those anecdotes at a dinner with friends that evening, and everyone was as rapt as I had been.
As befits an earthquake-​themed tour, we also paid close attention to outcroppings of rock, and Robin again brought out props — this time a tupperware container filled with different rock samples — as she explained the geology of various kinds of bedrock.
One of the great things about this tour was that is seemed to attract very interesting people, and the questions put to Robin were at quite a high level. Tour participants also shared knowledge of the city and of science with each other, so the experience felt less like a teacher leading us along and more like a group of curious individuals exploring in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Robin knows her stuff, and she is fun and personable. I also love that she follows up with an email giving links to more of the information we touched on during the walk.
Very highly recommended!

I took the bread and cheese tour offered by Discovery Street Tours. Robin met us in Allyne Park and discussed how cheese is made. We then went to an excellent cheese shop and tasted some cheeses. Next we talked about how bread is made, and got some bread from La Boulange. We completed our walk by eating bread and cheese in the park, with other goodies that Robin provided. Robin’s explanations were scientifically accurate, yet easy to understand. She made the tour fun and informative. We also had several hands-​on demos. I’m looking forward to attending another tour in the future.

We went on the Science of Holiday Lights tour and it was great! Walking through the Castro’s beautifully lit streets, Robin explained to us the history of holiday lights and some interesting facts about lights and color. I learned a lot and had a wonderful time walking through the streets and enjoying the holiday lights. Towards the end she gave us snacks, then we walked to a spectacular ending.
Go take a tour!

I recently went on the science of tea walk and I’m so happy I did! I really enjoy drinking tea, but I’m not as tea savvy as I would like so this was a perfect opportunity. We first gathered at a park in Chinatown where Robin (our tour host) schooled us on some interesting tea facts. She showed us the differences in teas and I was surprised to find that with some gourmet teas, the leaves are actually hand-​rolled if you can believe that!
We then walked through Chinatown to a tea tasting. It was totally exciting to sit and enjoy any tea to my liking, and our tea host was so hilarious. We concluded our walk with a local tea creator who showed us the cool process of «cupping» where we got to taste tea like a professional while enjoying more of Robin’s scientific point of view.
My Sunday couldn’t have played out better. The sun was shining, the tea was steeping, and city was our oyster! Robin really created a unique experience for us, I’m so happy I went.
YES I would recommend this to a friend, duh!

I love these tours. Somehow, Discovery Street manages to combine four of my favorite things: science, walking, urban exploration, and the beautiful city of San Francisco. Make that five if you count food, which is the central topic of some of the tours. As a San Francisco native, I’m always thrilled when I get to discover something new here in my endlessly fascinating hometown — whether it’s a cheese shop, some crazy rock formation, a hidden alley, or the fact that some amazing thing was invented here (I’ll keep the spoilers to myself). I still think about all the things I learned on the Invented in SF and Science of Bread and Cheese tours. Robin Marks is an über-​expert urban explorer who seems to possess a wealth of scientific knowledge and has an engaging, patient, clear teaching style. At the end of the tours, I felt like I’d learned a ton, seen some beautiful hidden corners of the city, gotten some exercise, and met a bunch of really nice people — an added bonus I hadn’t anticipated. These tours would be an especially unique way for out-​of-​towners to see the city. I’d say Discovery Street is a must-​do for locals, especially science-​lovers, and for SF visitors who want to try something off the beaten path.