San Francisco - sightseeing

frankie1star

We are off to SF end of May, am looking for suggestions for sightseeing in and around SF, we are there for 4 nights, then heading down to Carmel

fififoofoo

book Alcatraz befor you go from the official webisite - then you won't have to queue when you get there!!

Fat_Boy

My parents went a couple of years ago and went on an old style fire engine that does a tour of the city and the Golden Gate nature reserve. Apparetntly it's great fun, if you like that sort of thing!

Website here http://www.fireenginetours.com/

lr1277

Have a look here to see if anything interests you:
http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=CA

I would try the anchor brewery and the Levi's tour if only to see if I could get cheap products.

If I was near LA I would also try and get to the Jet propulsion laboratory.

HTH

rlc22

fififoofoo wrote: »

book Alcatraz befor you go from the official webisite - then you won't have to queue when you get there!!

I'll second this one.

I think it's also worth booking the first trip of the day (9am?) as you can go and do the audio tour while it's still quite quiet - we found it was starting to get quite busy when we were nearing the end of it.

We were there for about a day and a half and went to Alcatraz on the first morning, then wandered up to pier 39 to go and see the seal lions (which was fun, although v v touristy there!). Continued our walk up through Fisherman's wharf, up to Ghiradelli Square. We then took the street car back to Union Square where we were staying. The next day we got the bus out to the Golden Gate Bridge and started to walk across it (gave up in the end as it was windy and cold!).

I'm sure you'll have a great time

JohnDep_2

My Brother has recently moved to SF (well Marin but close enough)

I visited at Xmas, I enjoyed the open top tour bus, if you can beat the queues, go on a cable car, its an experience!

If you fancy a bike ride, go to Blazing Saddles (I just love the name!) and get the ferry to Sausolito, on the high street there is a nice place to eat (cannot remember name, its on the main road, the water side, about half way, flashing sign saying breakfast... amazing mussel spaghetti and carrot cake!)

I wanted to try the Stinking Rose restaurant -- everything has garlic in it!

Go over the GG bridge and have a gaze at vista point (right hand side as going over) and the old army bunker on the left hand side.

Dont bother eating around fishermans wharf.. we had an aweful meal at the sourdough factory!

Watch out for tramps, they all have sad storeys, but you can smell them from blocks away. If you walk down the street and think you can smell a sewer leak, you are within a block of a tramp. It can we quite disturbing for young kids. It is a sad situation that they got dumped there after 'nam.

Ill have a think what else.

ailuro2

Third for the visit to Alcatraz combines with a city tour on the coach which covers just about everything.

If you're flying in then don't plan this for the first day, it's too much to take in nwhen tired and a bit jetlagged.

There's a really cool American diner on the street heading south from the Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square - we had breakfast there every day, was really American, with half a 50's car hanging out of the wall.:D

canardo

There's a really cool American diner on the street heading south from the Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square - we had breakfast there every day, was really American, with half a 50's car hanging out of the wall.:D

Also trying to remember the name of this one, we went there for breakfast and it was brilliant, we stayed at the Villa Florence which I would thoroughly recommend, and the Italian restaurant next door to it

Best place we ate in SF was definitely the Cheese Cake Factory but prepared to que you cant make reservations, but the bar is very nice anyway!

Another vote for the coach tour to give you an idea of where things are around the city its far more like visiting a European City and accessible on foot unlike LA

chriseeboy

Hi,

Have been to SF a few times and all the tips posted so far are very good. However, if you like architecture and nostalgia the Civic building looks great and of course, was featured in scenes from the Dirty Harry films.

Last time I was there a friend of mine, (a Californian native), took me to the top of the Hilton Hotel. There is a bar/restaurant atop built in a greenhouse style which affords panoramic views of San Fran. On a sunny day it is a fantastic sight. Golden Gate, Bay Bridge, the docks, downtown, as far as the eye can see.

Well worth the trip, no problems geeting in provided you have a beer or something.

trets77

Just in case you didn't heed the advice of the othe posters about Alcatraz .... book it before you go . they were only selling tickets for 2 days in advance while we were queing for the boat.

we did a bus tour , which covered most of the things you want to see . like Golden Gate Bridge , Haight Ashbury , Fishermans Wharf ,Chinatown , The Presdio , and Lombard street.

Definatly ride a cable car.

there are a a fair few homeless beggars hanging around places like town hall , and Downtown. we were warned by the the owner of the hotel we stayed at not to Venture too far south of downtown into the area known as The Tenderloin , as it is not safe. we stayed in Nob Hill and it was lovely and felt pretty safe.

frankie1star

great advice, thanks to all