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Things to do in San Francisco?

V

Vageetasjn

Senior member
I'll be there for 4 nights this week. I enjoy food, art, music, wandering around neighborhoods, etc. Any first-hand/personal suggestions?
 
Just take a walk around the city. Union Square is nice as is the Wharf (horribly overpriced tourist trap) and I do enjoy a walk through golden gate park. Check out the palace of fine arts too.
 
Go eat an El Farolito (24th and Mission) carne asada super burrito. Or a quesadilla Suiza.
There's a BART station across the street.
 
Walk down the coast west of the Golden Gate Park. Neat neighborhood, ocean views, and WWII gun batteries.
 
A couple things.

I wouldn't bother with the 'tourist trap' of Fisherman's wharf, but if you can't resist, there are seals off a side to look at, and a decent aquarium (neat Jellyfish).

But for a much more extensive aquarium, see the excellent new Museum of Science in Golden Gate Park. And go to Golden Gate Park. It's a big, pretty place with trees, and besides that Museum - which also includes an albino Alligator mascot and a planetarium and indoor rain forest and natural history area - there's the sixth-most visited art museum in the US IIRC, the De Young. And very nice Japanese Gardens.

There's also a modern art museum downtown.

I'd say you need to research places to go. There's great dining at hundreds of restaurants - but you need to know where to go. It's one of the best walking cities.

The old cliff house area is nice - ocean views, an arcade museum.

You can ride BART around conveniently, and there are those 'ride around get off if you want' tour buses to see things. There are harbor cruises - and inexpensive ferries, which leave from the Ferry building, which you should go to. It's a remarkable place filled with gourmet stores - two just for olive oil alone. And a huge farmer's market Tue/Thu/Sat morning. The ferries go to Sausalito or Alameda, both nice but Sausalito nicer.

Union square has some nice shops; that's a pretty easy place to walk around - you can find little gems like Teuscher's chocolates of Switzerland, with only a handful of US locations, and a specialty champagne truffle. Of course, Chinatown is nearby too, as well as Japantown, but I'm marginal on recommending either; Chinatown is a crowded bustling area, Japantown a quiet area with seemingly very autheintic Japanese shops.

The Presidio is a former military base with a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Disney family museum.

Check tv show web sites like 'eye on the bay' and 'Check Please, bay area'. There's the famous "49 mile drive" if you like to see pretty places.

You might enjoy wine tasting and fine dining in Napa Valley, an hour drive - there's a wine train, too, and even in the far north a large European-style castle with wine.

There are comedy clubs and music clubs of course. Something touristy but I hear good things about is the "Beach Blanket Babylon" stage comedy.

The Castro is the central point of gay community, if you would like to see what that's like.
 
Hey Craig234 -- any recommendations on places to stay? We're headed out to SF over Labor Day weekend... My wife and I stayed in Union Square last time and enjoyed the shopping but had trouble finding restaurants that were nearby (it was raining so we didn't want to venture far). Are there any other nice walkable areas with lots of dining and drinking choices nearby?
 
Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square are touristy, but you cannot go to SF and not go there (I spent many Saturday nights hanging out there 😉 )

Alcatraz is a must if you have the time.

There is also the GG Bridge, GG Park (De Young Museum, Academy of Sciences), cable cars, the baseball stadium tour (does it have another new name, yet?), Lombard Street, The Haight, Chinatown.

My favorite place to eat when I go back home to SF is House of Nanking (919 Kearny St @ Jackson Street). An absolute hole in the wall with absolutely the best chinse food I have ever had.

MotionMan
 
MotionMan said:
My favorite place to eat when I go back home to SF is House of Nanking (919 Kearny St @ Jackson Street). An absolute hole in the wall with absolutely the best chinse food I have ever had.
Click to expand...

I always thought House of Nanking was extremely overrated. I tried it and was not impressed, even with recommendations from the owner.

R&G Lounge is another place to try.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/r-and-g-lounge-san-francisco
If you need fancy Chinese, then you can try Yank Sing.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/yank-sing-san-francisco-2

If you're there this week, you can try to hit up the various Off the Grid food events for food truck goodness. http://offthegridsf.com/weekly-markets

Ferry Building - go on Thursday's Farmers Market - the Roli Roti truck is there, you need to get the Porchetta sandwich. http://www.roliroti.com/home
 
SOO many places to eat, depending on your price point too. Thinking:

Zuni Cafe - get the rotisserie chicken
Gary Danko - probably the best restaurant in SF
House of Prime Rib - Prime Rib goodness
Wayfare Tavern - get the fried chicken
Osha - Thai!
Alexander's Steakhouse - go with a friend, share the entree. Get hamachi shots.
Burma Superstar - Burmese food
 
This that you WANT to not miss while you're here:

1. THE Porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti on Thursday and Saturday at the Ferry Building at noon. Only on those days at lunch, farmers market is a great way to spend some time walking around. A bit pricey, but well worth your experience. Do come early. Long line. Long. Oh, and if you want some of the better rotisserie chicken, then the same place (but you don't have to stand in line, just go up to the counter).

2. While you're there, schedule a trip for Alcatraz. This week is suppose to have nice weather, so schedule for it after your pork sandwich in the afternoon. By then the fog would have burned off and you'll have a GREAT view of the bay, the bridges and the city. You'll need to book your Alcatraz trip in advance.

3. Up the street a bit is SFMOMA, right now they have a few note worthy exhibits, one of which is the Picasso, Matisse and the Parisian Avant Garde if art is your thing.

4. If you want Chinese food, take a trip down Irving or Clement. But, I'd recommend two places. One is Hong Kong lounge on Geary, the other is R&G Lounge. They're both excellent and Hong Kong Lounge is a bit grittier, so if you're staying around downtown, go to R&G Lounge. Do treat yourself to the Peking duck there, it's the BEST I've had, and believe me when I say it's possible some of the best Peking duck in the world. I can say that with authority. Order the whole duck. The black lychee Martini at the bar is great.

5. You can walk around China Town afterwards, then straight to Union Square. Make a detour to the Marriot hotel. Take the elevator to the rooftop bar, have a drink or five there and enjoy the view. If you see any Singapore Airline or Malaysian flight attendants there, say hi for me.

6. Fort Point at the base of GG bridge. Picture ops. You may be able to see some surfers out there at the right time. Spend some times driving through the Presidio. It has some amazing and breathtaking views.

7. Japanese tea garden in the GG park.

8. Cliff House - have some clam chowder

9. Walk to the Park Chalet - a few more drinks.

10. Take the bus to the SF Zoo, you'll like it.

11. Say hi to SSSnail.

12. There are probably TONS more things to do, but I don't remember all of it. Whatever you do, don't go to the Mission, or Hunters Point, Bays view, or cross the bridge to Oakland.

13. As much as I hate it, but I think you should rent one of those three wheels driving guided tour. It's something I'll do one of these days, and I think it takes you to all the usual places.
 
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BillGates said:
Hey Craig234 -- any recommendations on places to stay? We're headed out to SF over Labor Day weekend... My wife and I stayed in Union Square last time and enjoyed the shopping but had trouble finding restaurants that were nearby (it was raining so we didn't want to venture far). Are there any other nice walkable areas with lots of dining and drinking choices nearby?
Click to expand...

Nothing in particular, though there are so many choices, from nice hotels to value hotels to boutique hotels to ethnic (the Nikko is a nice Japanese Hotel).

For a nice hotel, I've always liked the St. Francis downtown.

I'm surprised you had a hard time with restaurants near Union Square, there are a ton a concierge could point you to.

That really is a nicely centrally located area to stay - it has BART to other places - but there are others, such as North Beach (Italian area).

North Beach (Columbus Avenue) is a pretty nice stroll - don't turn on Broadway, where you will find places like the only unionized, worker-owned peep show.

There are some nice hotels south of market too - like the W - but the area is a bit more hit and miss for things to see (plenty to see, but good to know what you're headed to).

Places like the Mission have some nice destinations and plenty of 'color' (I don't mean that racially though it has a lot of minorities), but the destinations - nice bakery, gourmet grocery, many ethnic restaurants - are in a pretty seedy area. I doubt I'd put it on a 4 day schedule.

For 4 days, I'd consider the bus/tour ride first day with maybe one walking destination (like North Beach or a couple things South of Market), one day maybe Golden Gate Park and both museums (IMO probably a full day, add Cliff House area if you have time), one day maybe Ferry Building and ferry ride to Sausalito, one day maybe Napa Valley or oher areas in SF.
 
Craig234 said:
North Beach (Columbus Avenue) is a pretty nice stroll - don't turn on Broadway, where you will find places like the only unionized, worker-owned peep show.
Click to expand...

Ah, Broadway...

One of the guys in my youth group's mom was the only female strip club "caller" (door person) on Broadway in the 1980's. For most of a summer, on Saturday nights, we got into shows for free, though we would all buy the 2 drink minimum to be nice.

The oldest member of the youth group was 18. I was 13 at the time (I looked a bit older since I was about 6' tall).

And, like I said, "Ah, Broadway".

😉

MotionMan
 
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