Anyone ever gone to San Francisco? I'm heading there for a quick weekend trip (literally a day and a half, flying in Saturday morning and leaving Sunday afternoon). I know that I want to do Alcatraz and the Walt Disney Family Museum as well as the Dickens Fair. Anyone have any other lesser known places to go. I'm also a little nervous going as a female solo traveler. Thanks!
book Alcatraz NOW! And fisherman's wharf is pure awesome. I have eaten so many bowls of chowder at Alliotos,and it is still there at the foot of Taylor street off the wharf. Ripleys is a way cool tour. Walking across the golden gate to me is the highlight of the city. I got to take my older kids, and it was perfect! A real safe way to see the city is HOrnblowers tours. I learned to drive in a VW bug in the late 70s in the great city. I always felt like it was a little town in a big city. I hope you fall in love with it!
If you only have a day and a half, your schedule is already pretty full. While you are over near Alcatraz, walk Pier 39, check out the sea lions and eat a meal at Bubba Gumps. But get your Alcatraz tickets first off, or even in advance, or you'll have to do it the second day - they fill up fast if I remember right. The San Francisco Zoo is good - they had an albino alligator when we were there. If you have time, head down to San Jose (about an hour from SF depending on traffic) and tour the Winchester Mystery House. My one regret about living in San Jose for 5 years is that I never visited the Mystery House before moving. If your evening is free (and it's still open that late this time of year) Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is great. I'm pretty sure there's no admission, just pay for ride tickets if you want to ride. Big Basin State Park is gorgeous, and right there on the peninsula.
I agree with all that Anne said! Be sure you see Coit Tower - it's a landmark that you always see in TV shows and in movies. I'm not sure if you can still drive down Lombard Street (on your own) or not, but it's amazing! There are gorgeous parks at the Golden Gate bridge. The Bay Bridge is very beautiful too. My brother lived there for many years and he took us everywhere. I loved seeing those Victorian "row houses" - again, they're something you always see on TV and in movies. There's just SO much to see there! We visited several wineries too - that's super fun. I love SF!
If you have a car, you can do the https://www.sftodo.com/sanfrancisco/scenic-49-mile-drive/ It's a great way to see a lot of what San Francisco is known for.
Hi Kim! I live directly across from SFO. I go here to find fun local stuff: https://sf.funcheap.com Pier 39 is awesome, get mini donuts, talk to the sea lions, ride the carousel. We eat at Wipeout Bar & Grill there. There's an outdoor ice rink at Embarcadero right now. The Disney Museum is in the Presidio. You might just want to do the double decker bus tour. We went for a work party & it was so fun, & I mean I've lived here all my life. Yep, I was born here. My gallery has quite a few SF pages if that helps you any. Feel free to message me. Is it this weekend? We're planning on going to San Jose for the Winter Wonderland stuff, but I'm happy to try & meet up.
Check out this site: http://www.barbarycoasttrail.org/ DH and I had two days in SF and we thought the information in this book was amazing! It doesn’t matter if you do the entire walk (although we did!) because it is full of so much history and information and places to see that it is well worth the investment, even if you just do a small section if you happen to be nearby the trail. Otherwise it’s just a good history of the city. Make sure to pick up a copy of those free tourist books for they’re full of coupons, especially for a treat at Ghirardelli Square! Other things. There is a great National Park Service museum at the Cannery. The Blue Mermaid at The Cannery has the most AMAZING seafood chowder!! There is a small self-guided tour at Boudin Sourdough Bakery that has a timeline of SF that was the best capsule of history that I’ve seen anywhere in the city. If you want to take a cable car ride, do not board at a hub! Walk to the nearest stop and get on there. Otherwise the wait can be up to two hours to board. The fortune cookie factory in Chinatown is a must-see. It’s tiny and takes just a few minutes. $.50 to take photos od the ladies making cookies. I really liked the Golden Gate Bridge visitors center, although parking there is difficult to find. Have fun!
Another place I had fun that hasn't been mentioned is the Exploratorium. I think that's the correct name. It was a science museum with lots of hands on stuff. I loved the crabs they had that use whatever is in their environment to create their homes. They put one in a tank with only yarn, so he was covered in yarn and so colorful! That was over 24 years ago though! That's the last time I was in San Francisco, when my husband and I drove up there (and then down the coast back home to L.A.) for our honeymoon week. @AnneofAlamo That's neat you mention Aliotos. Robert and I ate there on our honeymoon and he has returned several times on business trips and he tells me how he reminisces about our time there. We also enjoyed the Golden Gate Bridge, the Santa Cruz pier (I think it was indeed free to just walk on it), and the Winchester Mystery House. My favorite place on the whole coast, though, was Monterey. We canceled our plans to camp one night our honeymoon week and stayed a second night in Monterey, it was so beautiful and wonderful. Have a great trip!
I agree with Anne - if you are going to do Alcatraz you might as well stop and have some seafood (deftly chowder!) and take in the sights (and smells ) of the wharf. But the wharf is very busy! There a lot of very cheap seafood stands too. One thing I absolutely loved in Golden Gate Park was the Japanese Tea Garden. It was so beautiful to walk around and photograph. If you are only there a day and 1/2 - it might be tough to go and see all those places around SF because you just won't have a lot of time. I second Jess's tour of the Presidio - for whatever reason that area is pretty quite usually! And the views! Ah! Gorgeous! Have fun!
One thing you should know is the bus system there isn't like a typical bus system....like they don't make a complete loop so if you head on the wrong bus headed the wrong way you won't eventually make it to where you were originally headed. I learned this the hard way with a couple of friends. LOL! We had a lady stop the bus, tell us to get off and get on a bus headed the other direction and talk to no one. Who knew?! Just be careful! I'm not a clam chowder person so I don't have any recommendations there but get some chocolate at Ghirardelli. Or, even some ice cream.
I'm in agreement with everyone here. Alcatraz, Pier 39 (as an animal lover, this was my fave - AND it has a live feed all the time, so if you coordinate, when you're there, you can wave at whoever is at home watching you! We did this with my parents and they took a pic on their computer, and they loved seeing that we were doing well!), Lombard street was a favorite, and of course the bridge! Have fun!! As of right now, this was my fave vacation that my hubs and I took.
We loved alcatraz. One time we did the tour, we were one of the last groups of the day. Being a scrapper, I was always lagging back taking photos of things when people cleared out of a room. Well I was so slow that the park ranger actually asked us if we wanted to go with her down below to the oldest part of the prison to help her lock up. HEck yeah! That was a pleasant tour perk. We liked going to pier 39 to see the sea lions, and also ride a streetcar. And there is Chinatown. We also ate at a restaurant where all the entrees including dessert had garlic in it.
