Get out much? If you're an out-of-town student living near campus, chances are you haven't seen as much of San Francisco as you know you should have—and if you're from here, perhaps the only time you explore the city nowadays is when family is in town and wants to see the sights.

It's time to venture out and see what this city is all about. The best way to do it? Riding the San Francisco Municipal Railway—or Muni, to you and me.

Sure, with its dirty and often-overcrowded buses and the sketchy-at-best scheduling, Muni hardly sounds like the most inspiring way to tour. But with more than 80 routes covering 90 percent of all the city's residences, Muni is the best option for seeing the underbelly of San Francisco.

The tour detailed here requires some patience—it consists of at least eight buses, two light rail trains and a cable car, and covers almost 30 miles—but if you're willing to give up an afternoon following the entire route, you'll be rewarded with a unique perspective of the city. Beginning and ending at SF State, it will take you as far north, east, south and west as the city will allow.

You can complete the tour in around four hours, but you may want to plan a whole day off to give you time to explore. Be sure to pick up a Muni map at the SF State bookstore before heading off.

M Ocean View
Take the Italian-built 'M' light-rail train at 19th Avenue and Holloway, to the art deco-styled West Portal station. Begin your Magical Mystery Muni tour with a drink at the Philosopher's Club (if it's open) or "the best crab melt sandwich in the city" at Toasties; both are around the corner from the station.

48 Quintara-24th Street
Catch the 48 from Ulloa Street, opposite the Metro station. As you ascend up the hill, you’ll see Sutro Tower—a TV and radio broadcasting structure—to the west, and on a clear day, the ocean is visible.
Ask the driver to stop at Portola and Glenview.

37 Corbett (Part I)
While waiting for the 37 on the corner of Glenview St., take in the vista to the south—sometimes you can see the Santa Cruz mountains.

As the electric-powered bus winds its way around Twin Peaks, you’ll be wowed by the stunning views to the east: you’ll see the downtown skyline, the docks and shipyards at China Basin, and the Mission with its surrounding neighborhoods. Further east is the skyline of Oakland, set in front of the silhouetted Mount Diablo.

Hop off at 14th Street and Church, and explore the gay-centric vibe of the Castro district.

37 Corbett (Part II)
Embark on the 37 from the 14th Street stop, across the street from where you first got off, headed west. You’ll snake up and around Buena Vista Park, and then down through Cole Valley. Get off at Haight Street, the spiritual birthplace of 1967’s Summer of Love. Today it’s more about head shops, stylish clothing boutiques and street kids hustling for cash. Don’t miss Amoeba Records at Haight and Stanyon.

71 Haight-Noriega/7 Haight/66 Quintara
From anywhere on Haight Street, catch either the 7, 71 or 66 bus, headed downtown. Get off at Fillmore Street in the Lower Haight. Hungry? Grab a top-notch gourmet hot dog from Rosmunde’s Sausage Grill.

22 Fillmore
Pick up the southbound 22 from Fillmore Street, and take it all the way to 3rd Street. You’ll pass the Mission district, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, and then through Potrero Hill before terminating at China Basin.

Notice the gentrification of Potrero Hill’s warehouse district—lofts and high-end grocery stores are everywhere.

At 3rd Street, you’ll see San Francisco’s dwindling blue-collar past, with cement factories, warehouses and dockyards set among the brand-new UCSF research center. The Ramp restaurant at 17th and Mariposa has an outdoor patio on the water’s edge, and features live music on weekends.

T Third
The ‘T-Third’ Metro line began full service a year ago, making it the city’s first brand-new light rail system in over 50 years. En route to the downtown Embarcadero Station, you’ll pass the glorious AT&T park, one of the nation’s finest ballparks and the home of the San Francisco Giants.

California Street Cable Car

Exit the Metro station and mosey over to where Drumm, California and Market intersect. From here you’ll ride a cable car up California Street. If you have a Fast Pass, the ride is free. If not, it’ll cost you a near-extortionate $5.

San Francisco has been operating these classic cars since 1873. The 1906 earthquake forced most of the routes to switch to streetcars, and now there are only three working cable car routes. The California route is San Francisco’s best-kept secret: while throngs of tourists line up for hours to ride the Powell-Mason line, this one is comparatively underused.

Catch glimpses of the bay through the buildings as the car hikes its way up the hill past Chinatown, Union Square, Grace Cathedral and the Fairmont Hotel, and then down to Van Ness Avenue, where it terminates.

47 Van Ness/49 Van Ness-Mission
From Van Ness Avenue, take either the 47 or 49 northbound to Fort Mason, a former United States Army post that now houses art studios, cultural centers and a youth hostel. Traipse through the old to find the decommissioned cannons pointing over the bay toward the Golden Gate, poised and ready to ward off enemy attacks.

28 19th Avenue

At the western edge of the fort, find the bus stop opposite the main entrance and take the 28 bus to the Golden Gate Bridge. Be sure to sit on the right side of the bus.

Once past the dreary motel-lined Lombard Street, you’ll be cruising along the ridge of the Presidio, where you’ll see the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, Alcatraz, Angel Island and plenty of sail boats bobbing about in the frisky bay waters. Look the other way, toward the Presidio, and the view is more sobering: the 28-acre San Francisco National Cemetery and its 30,000 military graves.

Disembark at the Golden Gate Bridge and take a stroll across the iconic “international orange”-colored structure.

29 Sunset
This bus meanders through the Presidio, once the longest-serving military base in the United States. Today, most of the cream-colored barracks are empty and the entire area is a nationally recognized historic landmark.

Once past the wooded eucalyptus thickets, you’ll get a good view of the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes you can see the Farallon Islands, which are 27 miles off the coast and teeming with elephant seals and Great White Sharks.

Hop off at 25th Avenue and Fulton Street and explore Golden Gate Park—at over 1,000 acres, it’s one of the largest urban parks in the country.

5 Fulton
Take the bus along the north edge of the park all the way to Ocean Beach, a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of chilly waters and unpredictable rip tides that curiously have become a surfer’s paradise.

Here you’ll find the recently renovated Cliff House restaurant, originally built in 1858 and overlooking the Sutro Baths, or the more contemporary Beach Chalet, which features an outdoor beer garden during the summer months.

18 46th Avenue
The final leg of the journey begins across the street from the Safeway on La Playa Street. As the bus meanders past the pastel-colored single-family homes, ponder the fact that until the 1920s, much of the Sunset was little more than the grass-covered sand dunes still visible along the ocean’s edge.

The tour finishes with a loop around the ever-shrinking Lake Merced—a freshwater lake fed by an underground spring, and surrounded by shooting ranges and three golf courses—before terminating at State Blvd.