San Francisco

[38Chevy454]

Used to live in east San Francisco bay area and DW and I would BART into the city for a day. SF is a great walking city. It is not that big and you can get to many places just walking. Driving into city you pay bridge toll, then parking is a PITA and expensive. Just save your money and don't get a rental car if staying in the city.

Ride the cable car if you have not done it, but lines are long and it is not really a fast way to get around. I never used cable car to get around, and never took it when visiting unless there with visitors that wanted to do it. Occasionally took MUNI, the streetcar system which has a lot of cool old art-deco style cars; but most of the time just walked. North Beach (Italian section) is my favorite area. Walk through Chinatown and definitely go to the alleys and the side streets out of the main tourist traps. Market St has the big shopping stores. Pier 39 is kinda tourist typical stuff. Fisherman's wharf is good to see and experience, from there walk over to Ghiradelli Square along the waterfront. The Ferry Bldg has a neat farmer's market. Cable car museum is free and a neat way to really learn about them. It is also where all the cables are powered from.

Sausalito does nothing for me, just a 60's holdover IMHO. Best part of Sausalito is the view of the city. Golden Gate park is nice. Marin Headlands at north end of GG bridge is nice if you have a car. Presidio is near the SF end of the GG Bridge and another neat place to check out.

Alcatraz is a neat tour, and as said my many get reservations well ahead.

Overall, I just eat and drink and stay at ground level walking. Check out local restaurants and watering holes. SF is generally pretty safe, just ignore all the homeless panhandlers.

 

[NW-Bound]

We used to make many trips to SF in the 80s and 90s. I was always able to find a parking spot in Chinatown and elsewhere by driving around a bit. That's not possible anymore. Large cities along the coasts, east and west, are getting so congested. Good thing I discovered rv'ing so that I can go into the boondocks.

 

[cathy63]

A couple of things I haven't seen mentioned:
- Hyde Street Pier National Historic Park has several old ships (my first school field trip in first grade was to see the Balclutha there) https://www.nps.gov/safr/learn/historyculture/balclutha.htm
- Free walking tours of different neighborhoods. These volunteer guides are friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable. Aside from just getting a bit of exercise, I always learn something new and interesting about my hometown. San Francisco Walking Tours | City Guides

 

[gerntz]

All the recos seem good. BUT, were it me, I'd spend 3-4 days in SF & rest either going north or south. South is Monterrey/Carmel//17 Mile Drive & Winchester House. North are the better known wineries & redwoods. On way north, I'd leave folks off on south end of GGB & park in lot at north end & meet people in the middle. I preferred Armstrong State Park to Muir Woods - more/bigger trees, way less crowded. But be sure of the hours it's open given it's a further drive. If do Muir, get there before it opens as the parking &traffic can be horrendous. Sonoma wineries & towns are more laid back than the Napa circus.

 

[CaliKid]

Maybe just because I have been to SF 100-200 times, or more, but I think a week there would be too much. Maybe one day rent a car and go south to hit Winchester Mystery House, the Tech Museum, and see the headquarters of the big boys (Google, Facebook, Apple). Maybe another day rent a car and go north through Marin, Sonoma, Napa. If really adventurous I would rent a car and spend one night at Lake Tahoe. It is about 4 hours from SF but it is so beautiful.

 

[MichaelB]

+1 to the idea of spending a couple of days in SF and then going elsewhere. So many good options it will be hard to narrow the list, but wine country, redwood forests and Lake Tahoe are all worth visiting.

 

[HFWR]

https://youtu.be/WnjufR8GDcw

 

[Ronstar]

Maybe go to Yosemite for a couple of days. About 4 hour drive each way though.

 

[Hyperborea]

I'd skip the suggestion for Winchester House. It's ok but it's pretty far from SF if you have no other reason to go to San Jose. Napa is ok but has become very touristy and the wineries now all have fees and guest centres that make them feel like an amusement park. Sonoma (the valley next to Napa) is a little less so. Both of these have changed a lot in the 20 or so years I've been here. If you go don't go on the weekend. Yountville just north of the town of Napa has a number of spectacular restaurants including The French Laundry.

The SF zoo is a mediocre zoo - don't bother.

Some of the museums are worth considering: de Young; Legion of Honor; SFMOMA; Asian Art Museum. The science museums too - Cal Academy of Science and the Exploratorium - are worth a mention if they are interested in science. I would also suggest visiting the cable car museum as part of a cable car ride.

If they have any interest in jazz/blues then just over the bridge (a Bart ride away) in Oakland's Jack London Square is one of the premiere clubs in the US - Yoshi's. Not too far away from there is the original Blue Bottle coffee - a hipster mecca. You can take a cupping class and try a bunch of interesting coffees.

A good site for checking out restaurants in the Bay Area (though mostly SF) is the Check Please Bay Area PBS TV show site. Interesting format for a TV show where the 3 guests each episode are locals who have a favourite restaurant and each of the guests and the host separately go to all 3 restaurants and then discuss them. My wife and I have used it frequently for restaurants.

 

[Hyperborea]

Maybe go to Yosemite for a couple of days. About 4 hour drive each way though.

March could mean a lot of snow still in the mountains making it difficult to get to Yosemite. We've had a lot of precipitation this year - rain in the Bay Area and snow in the mountains.

 

[NW-Bound]

We first went to Napa in 1980 in our honeymoon road trip to the Pacific Northwest, and revisited it a few more times since, the most recent in 2015. A lot has changed as all places have, and it is getting a lot more crowded and commercialized. That most recent visit was in May, so it was more tolerable. It is still enjoyable. If one goes, be sure to stop by the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) at Greystone in St. Helena, which is a beautiful building used to be owned by the Christian Brothers Winery.

About Yosemite NP, it will be like a zoo in the summer. Our last visit was in Sep 2012 when the crowd was already gone, so it was not bad at all. We liked the adjacent Sequoia NP more though, and by RV camping, had time to go deep into Kings Canyon NP.

I just recall now that at this high-country home, I have an old Doubleday digest book, which is similar to a Reader Digest Condensed Book. It was donated to the local county library and I picked it up. In it was a reprint of a short book titled "My San Francisco". I just went up to the loft to get it.

In the book, there's this paragraph.

There are four things a visitor to San Francisco may be relied upon to say.

He is likely to remark that it is a "cosmopolitan city". He will probably observe that it is "more like New York than any other city in America". He will be astonished by the hilly terrain. And he is most certain to comment on the weather; for the swift alternations of temperature, of fog and sun, of wind and quiet are bound to puzzle him at first.​

The author was Joseph Henry Jackson, the Literary Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. This Doubleday book was printed in 1955. And the narration still holds true.

 

[FIREd]

The SF zoo is a mediocre zoo - don't bother.

Uh-oh, I rather enjoyed it. I guess I am easy to please.

 

[NW-Bound]

Hmm... I have never been to SF Zoo, nor know where it is. I could be wrong, but after San Diego Zoo, I am afraid all others will disappoint.

PS. On the Web, they talk of the Toledo Zoo as being #1. SD Zoo is last in the top ten.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Just don't drink the water in SF. It comes from a reservoir inside Yosemite National Park.

Free the Hetch Hetchy!

Well then don't take a shower either. [emoji6]

Anyway...

Ditto on a previous post re: the cable car. There are multiple stops and sometimes they don't get around to collecting your fare. Check out the Muni system-it has buses and trolleys that take you where you want to go. Mostly a car is a liability. But as with many cities, crime is a problem, as is the large homeless population.

Skip the zoo. Many things to see in Golden Gate Park but pass on the aquarium. The Palace of Fine Arts is a gorgeous building, and a neat place to visit. Coit tower is cool, but walking on the Golden Gate Bridge is amazing, even if you don't go across.

A restaurant on Fisherman's wharf with a great menu and not well known is Scoma's. It is literally on the wharf, where the fisherman bring the catch in, so you can watch real work and the big ships too. High priced, but lunch is more reasonable. I last went there in 2006 with my dad as a guest beloved family members. My native SF relatives have never had bad food or service. I remember amazing service and to die for crab dishes. The best news: if you have a car, they have FREE valet parking, right there on the wharf. Make reservations if you go.


Agree on Armstrong State Park. Coastal redwoods are coastal redwoods. And it's in Sonoma wine country, similar to Napa but with more forest. Watch out for Russian River flooding though, if it stays this rainy. Ditto for Napa River. A cool drive in the area is going out through Sebastopol and Occidental to Bodega Bay.

Yosemite is pretty far from SF and there are some closures this year:

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Calaveras Big Trees state park is an hour closer than Yosemite. One of biggest trees fell in January but there plenty more.

Good luck sorting through the advice. Many Bay Area folks on this board.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Some random thoughts -
- Personally, I like the Oakland Zoo better than SF. It's not huge but they do their best to have natural exhibits and enrichment activities for all the critters.
- I second Yoshi's. We were there a few weeks ago.
- If it were me I think there is more than enough to see in SF and Bartable locations alone. I would not try to fit in Yosemite and Lake Tahoe if I'd never been to SF before. As others mentioned Clipper Cards are very handy.
- I'd skip the Winchester Mystery House in favor of something more scenic like a ferry trip to Angel Island.
- A U.C. Berkeley Garden annual membership allows members to get in free to many of the local museums and gardens in the Bay Area with reciprocal privileges, as well as many other museums and gardens nationally (over 1,000 museums and gardens nationwide - AHS, ROAM and NARM members).
- Johnny Fun Cheap has a continually updated list of many of the local special events, like festivals, parades and art gallery strolls.
- The Rocket Boats that operate out of the Fisherman's Wharf area are really fun. They only run in the warmer months.

 

[gcgang]

Tadich Grille https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadich_Grill. Food is good and Their waiters are hilarious, if you like Don Rickles.
I asked a cabbie what his fav restaurants were. He basically replied, if it ain't good, it ain't open. Meaning San Franciscans don't patronize bad restaurants, and anything that's been around a while must be good.

 

[NW-Bound]

Reading this thread and another recent one on Seattle should tell people something. That is there are a lot of things to do and to see in the Pacific Northwest.

These places are crowded for a reason. I had the opportunities to visit them years ago when the crowd was less, and unpaid parking spots could be had. Even so, I still come back every so often. Need to get away from the boondocks once in a while.

 

[Bikechuck]

My younger daughter and her fiancé live in a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco so when my wife and I visit we rent a place. The last time we visited we used Air B&B instead of booking a hotel. I highly recommend this as we had accommodations far nicer than any hotel room that I have ever stayed at for approximately half the price.

 

[oldtrig]

We are still looking at all these great posts. THANKS