San Francisco

Planning a trip to San Francisco, anyone here have ideas or places we can visit or dine at?

There are many many SF related travel sites so I won't bother with specific suggestions in SF. Despite all the nice restaurants we tried, the most memorable food we had was a sourdough bread bowl of chowder in Fisherman's Wharf. Also, avoid the downtown Chinatown. It's tourist trap. Try the new one in the suburbs.

Downtown SF gets pretty scary @ night. Stay away if you can. Even during the day times, the beggars get pretty aggressive. Don't be flashy.

The best part of our SF trip was actually Sausalito (north) & Carmel By-The-Sea (near Monterey).

Downtown SF gets pretty scary @ night

Not true at all. You just have to be aware when going into the Tenderloin or Civic Center.

Check out Napa Valley, esp. Francis Ford Coppola's vinyard.

typical 1st time frisco tourist stops: fisherman's wharf, pier 39, alcatraz tour, trolley cars, union square, chinatown.

also worthwhile: golden gate park, beach area, coit tower, twin peaks, presidio, golden gate bridge (from north side cliffs)

if you have more time and a car: go north to marin county (sausilito), napa valley or go south to monterey, carmel, san simeon (hearst castle)

hints: bring a good jacket/windbreaker and comfortable shoes

beware: the seafood restaurants at fishermans wharf are expensive and the waiters may fast talk you into ordering the more expensive items

Any good chinese restaurant for dinner?

What about a really nice but good fine dining? I'm looking at Anzu or The Waterfront Restaurant

I was using the Muni Website you plan out my itinerary, is it complicated? It seems complicated on the website

Anyone been to Golden Gate Park, I plan to go to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers

What about Alcatraz Tour, thinking about the night tour.

Thank you all for your replies!

I went last summer, but Zefal's post sums it up pretty nicely.

There's two shipyards that do the Alcatraz/bay tours - Blue and Gold fleet and the Red and White.. We took B&G for the Alcatraz tours, but we went on the wine tour to Napa and Sonoma with R&W. Highly worth it.. my gf was swooshed by the time we hit the champagne place.

yeah, definately bring a good windbreaker and comfortable shoes.

if you're driving, bring lots of quarters for the meters, otherwise you can take public transportation pretty much everywhere.

Edit: For good dining, forget about the Waterfront Restaurant. We went there after seeing all the good reviews, but the food was terrible, service was pathetic, and you order a "soda" and it comes in a medium sized glass filled with ice cubes and is non-refillable. My meal was so salty I sent it back the first time and it wasn't any better the second time. We hardly touched our food, left and I gave a loonie tip.

Neptune's Seafood Restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf was awesome. half a crab and half a lobster for $30 bucks.. that was the best lobster and crab I've ever had. Try the concierge at various hotel desks (don't use their services unless you really have to) and pick up any coupon books they might have lying around. You can save a few bucks here and there on food and parking.

Other places worth checking out is the Stinking Rose... I'll see if I can remember when I get home.

Didn't try Anzu. For Chinese food we ate at my gf's relatives, but it was good... Dim sum in Chinatown is pretty good too, but it's not that much different from what you'd have in the major Canadian cities. Dinner was plain awesome though.. sorry I don't remember the names of the restaurants we went to for dinner. Golden Gate Park is pretty nice - be sure to hike from parking lot to the little fort at the mouth of the bay.. again, the windbreaker and comfortable shoes come in play here. The Japanese Tea Garden is pretty nice, but if you like that kind of thing, be sure to check out Japan Town.

Also be sure to check out Lombard Street (the twisting uphill street), Mission District, Union Square, the Muir Woods (redwood trees), and Ghirardelli Square. City Hall is pretty neat too.

Can anyone tell me where the new Chinatown is...

Originally Posted by llcooljayce

Not true at all. You just have to be aware when going into the Tenderloin or Civic Center.

Nevertheless, be carefull ... Union Station at night is a place where the homeless drug users hang out. Not pretty, and it gets bothersome to be begged for change every 2 minutes ...

Anywhere close to the water is fairly safe at night though - Fisherman's Wharf almost never sleeps. I've gone clubbing solo in the party area west of the FW, it was very safe and full of fun young asian students from LA. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by littleangelvl

Any good chinese restaurant for dinner?

The really popular place seemed to be "The House of Nanking" on Kearny Street. There was always a line up to get into this place. However according to the concierge at my hotel the service is poor. I went to "R & G Lounge" also on Kearny and found the food very good.

If you want any details about San Francisco post a message on www.craigslist.org. When I was living there I would get tons of answers (from the locals) when I posted a simple question concerning anything.

Just came back from our one week vacation in San Francisco.

What a stunning city it is. Absolutely beautiful!

We arrived on Feb 28th and took the BART from SFO to Powell Station and walk to our hotel (Prescott Hotel - 545 Post Street) The whole ride was about 40 minutes. Checked into our hotel at about 4PM and decided to roam the streets a little.

We had reservations to Julius Castle close to Coit Tower and had time to spare so we decided to take a walk up to Coit Tower (*hint take the MUNI bus #39 lots of uphill walking) I'd recommend Julius Castle because the staff there are superb! They always made sure you were taken care of. The food was delicious!!

The next few days we headed off to Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown (MUNI bus #30), Asian Art Museum, Golden Gate Park (Conservatory of Flowers, and Japanese Tea Garden), and Twin Peaks. We also took part in the Harbour Cruise and the Alcatraz Night Tour.

We also took Hwy 1 south to Monterey and what a beautiful drive it was..too bad it started to rain later in the day. Driving was quite the experience! Going uphill and downhill reminds me of being on a rollercoaster. I hope the locals there check their breaks every year Also had the chance to drive down Lombard Street twice, once during the day, once during sunset..really nice...make sure you watch for the people at the bottom of the street, lots of people taking pictures there...

Here are a few pics we took..


Prescott Hotel Room


Golden Gate


At Top of Coit Tower


Nice Houses


Chinatown Entrance


Sunset in Millbrae (right beside airport)

I'll post more if anyone is interested...

l went to SF a couple yrs back, not sure if they have this at other Old Navys, but at the big one in downtown SF, they were selling T-shirts for $0.99.

Also, about the safety problem, it is definitely scarier in Oakland (where I stayed).

Bumping this thread, because I'm flying from Vancouver to San Francisco, June 2-7! I am mainly staying in Davis with my best friend (she's a nurse, damn the brain drain). Any new suggestions for fun, cheap stuff to do? Suggestions for Napa/Sonoma? TravelCuts is the cheapest for flights so far, I am buying my ticket this weekend.

woo, makes me want to go back.. Was there about 12 years ago and is one of my more memorable trips to US. only other place I'd rather go to is Hawaii.

How much was the hotel at the Prescott?

The Napa valley wine tours were most definitely the highlight. I remember listening to Handel's Opus #6 along the drive.