School trips to San Francisco

Why visit San Francisco?

Learn about living with earthquakes

Located close to both the infamous San Andreas Fault and the Hayward Fault, San Francisco is prone to earthquakes and is, therefore, the ideal place to learn about earthquakes and the scale of devastation they can cause.

On a geography school trip to San Francisco, your students will find out about the devastating 1906 earthquake that destroyed almost three-quarters of the city. They’ll also learn about the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that also caused significant damage and led to regeneration and development projects.

Your students will also have the chance to learn about how the infrastructure is planned and developed to mitigate the risk from major earthquakes.

Explore breathtaking landscapes

From San Francisco, you’ll also be able to visit the Yosemite National Park, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon.

Yosemite National Park is also in California and is famous for its granite cliffs, waterfalls and biodiversity. You can choose to look at the area’s earth science and geology, its life science and ecology or its river systems and fluvial landforms.

The Grand Canyon is, of course, one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth. Carved out by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon will certainly help to stoke your students’ passion for geography.

And a visit to Death Valley offers your students the opportunity to explore a desert environment.

Discover an exciting city

San Francisco experienced a significant boom during the Gold Rush, then again in the 1990s with the dot-com boom and again in the 2000s with the social media boom. Many international tech companies are still headquartered in the city, including Twitter, Airbnb and Uber. And the San Francisco Bay area remains an important centre for new technology startups.

San Francisco has also been a centre for liberal activism in the USA and the city retains a very liberal, tolerant atmosphere that your students will love.

This is a very multicultural city and the influences of its immigrant communities are evident in both the food and the cultural events that take place throughout the year. For example, San Francisco’s Chinatown hosts one of the largest Chinese New Year parades outside of Asia.