Probably going there soon.
This is my first trip by myself so I don't want to be walking into the wrong places ;)
I'm only 21 so yeah no driving I don't think?
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Probably going there soon.
This is my first trip by myself so I don't want to be walking into the wrong places ;)
I'm only 21 so yeah no driving I don't think?
Pier39
Fisherman's Wharf
Alcatraz
Golden Gate Bridge
Asian Art Museum
Chinatown
That curvy road
Conservatory of Flowers and that other place outside nearby
Take that trolley ride
Shop downtown
Hit up all the bars
Drive south a bit and do some discount shopping at Gilroy
Jelly Belly Factory
rent a car and drive to monterey they have one of the best aquariums in the world, pebble beach golf course decent beach.
Stay near union square and you don't need to drive. Buy a transit pass for the week or however long you're there, really good system that's easy to get around on.
If you like oysters and fresh seafood, look up swan oyster depot - it's an awesome little storefront shop that's only open during the day and been there since the early 1900's. Awesome staff, they like visitors from out of town. Sears Fine Foods makes awesome breakfasts (it's another early 1900's institution in sf) and it's right up the street from union square. Swan is only about 8 blocks off, easy walk and worth it.
As noted above, chinatown there is pretty cool. Stay above geary at night as the tenderloin district can be pretty f'in dangerous after dark if you're in the wrong place at wrong time. Seen a couple of good bumfights down there wandering around drunk at night and a LOT of sketchy people. Out hotel staff gave us shit for wondering too far into the bad area, said we were lucky that no trouble happened.
Edit - found the address for swan for you - 1517 Polk St
Also, if you're a coffee fan Cafe Trieste is best bean in SF and is in North Beach on Vallejo St. :thumbsup:
Come out of the closet
NICE!Quote:
Originally posted by bbcustoms
Come out of the closet
I was waiting to see who would be the first immature one to make the gay reference.
Eat chcolate
BAM! Couldn't have said it any better than that..Quote:
Originally posted by n00bit
Pier39
Fisherman's Wharf
Alcatraz
Golden Gate Bridge
Asian Art Museum
Chinatown
That curvy road
Conservatory of Flowers and that other place outside nearby
Take that trolley ride
Shop downtown
Hit up all the bars
Drive south a bit and do some discount shopping at Gilroy
Hit up the Great Mall in Milpitas as well! cheep cheep
Go to Ghiradelli Square - it's a fully functional chocolate factory with a freakin' awesome dessert place. Very busy and I believe it is just west of the wharf.
If you like video games and other techno crap - go to Playdium (I think it's called). They have a Sony Playstation place that you can just sit down and play all the latest games for free. They also have a Microsoft store there that has some neat stuff as well.
I took a tour of the giant red woods when I was there a couple years back. It was pretty awesome. The biggest freakin' trees that you've ever seen as well as some nice scenary.
Oh yeah, go check out Castro too!
.
There's lots of gay's there. Use your imagination.
Eat Eat Eat ..
Especially chinese food ..
1/2 the price vs Calgary .. 2 times better taste .. 2 time better service!! and 1/2 waiting time ... :dunno:
sausalito? ill check for spelling, great food cool little town as well
if you hit up alcatraz... MAKE SURE you call couple days in advance or even book tickets online. I went there for a couple days and I couldnt get tickets.
watch out for people scalping them .. or companies try to sell u timeshares and they will give you tickets.
There's a place in SF in the Mission area (I think) called "Slanted Door". It's a really good fusion restaurant
Go to Alcatraz for sure! It was way cooler than I imagined. Do the audio tour while you are there. You get to hear so many amazing stories from guards and prisoners, and its no extra cost anyways. I'd say this is by far the best thing to do in San Fran.
Get a chocolate Sundae at Ghiardelli! They are soo good. I'll never forget the bum wading in the fountain there to pick out all the coins. He looked so happy for a soaking wet guy on a cold November night :rofl:
Walk around the streets and check out the amazing houses on all the hills. At night you can see through a lot of windows and see how the rich live. Some amazing places!
Ride the street cars.
Drive across the Golden Gate up to the redwoods and wine country.
Drive across the Bay Bridge to Oakland and see some Gangsta's and slums (go during the day though).
wear a flower in your hair
I agree, ask Dave Chappelle he know that San Franciso is the gay town!!Quote:
Originally posted by bbcustoms
Come out of the closet
What a shock that someone as ignorant as you has a Mustang.
Quote:
Originally posted by Mad$ella
I agree, ask Dave Chappelle he know that San Franciso is the gay town!!
Thanks to those that posted the info I asked.
To those other posters, GO FUCK A GOAT!:D
other then what the people above posted
Mexican food is good there too, its also cheapish
I hear the best pho is in San Jose (never tried it myself)
Theres a big ass H&M and Apple store in downtown
Theres a old army fort (fort point) at the base of golden gate thats neat.
Also treasure island has some old army stuff too
old bath house ruins by sea lion rock, its a nice place for a short hike.
Golden Gate park, theres a science center in there if your in to that kinda stuff
Japan town if your in to JDM stuff
Also you can get in to the zoo free some day on the first week of every month (I think it was thursday)
What's Pho?Quote:
Originally posted by MikeHL
I hear the best pho is in San Jose (never tried it myself)
And, you could check out some of the local car enthusiast sites to see if theres any meets around the time you're there, check the local scene and such ?
Vietnamese beef noodle soupQuote:
Originally posted by ex1z7
What's Pho?
go to homosexual night club
Good info here, I just booked a trip on expedia for $1500 for 2 people for 4 nights at the sheraton on fishermans wharf :thumbsup:
don't waste your money on the trolleys, they suck and they are expensive, in my opinion.
you definitely HAVE to do alcatraz, in my opinion. Book atleast 3 or 4 weeks in advance if you can, and i would recommend the last tour of the day, so your tour ends in the dark. you can stroll around alcatraz island in the dark and it is pretty cool.
alcatraz was one of the few tourist attractions that is really worth it, I found. and not too expensive either.
they have some good shopping in the business sector (near union square i think? cant remember) and haight street is good to, but from the sounds of where you will be, haight street is a little too far. (think of haight street kind of like 17th ave or kensington)
other than that, i'd say that i'd agree with everyone else.
i personally think the china town kinda sucks.
what kind of food do you like? if you like seafood then you'll find the best stuff right where you are staying.
also - i agree with whoever said the slanted door is a good restaurant.
Ancient bump.
I'm heading to SF next weekend. Definitely going to do Alcatraz (not enough notice to buy tix online, will have to show up early), fishermans wharf, see golden gate and bay bridge. We're staying DT, there Wed -> Sun.
Any other suggestions? Updates on good places to eat?
TIA!
The Ferry Building has some really great places to eat.
-Slanted Door is terrific. Call ahead, and make reservations as this place books up weeks in advance at peak times.
-Blue Bottle Coffee is one of my favourite places to get coffee anywhere. Across from this cafe is a really good ice cream shop, but I can't remember the name of it.
-Hog Island Oyster Company has a great menu too. The chowder is a must order.
There are some fancy 3* Michelin places like Saison and French Laundry that I've only heard good things about, but have yet to go. Or Chipotle is a cheap favourite of mine.
I was just there in May.
We booked Alcatraz (noon tour) less than a week in advance and it was fine. If you go, do the (Free) audio tour - it was actually really good. You can also leave the island whenever you want, the only set times are your arriving ferry and the last ferry of the day (6:30pm). It's a national park, which I did not know until I went there.
We stayed at Fisherman's Wharf, and ended up spending most of our time up there, so we were glad we didn't stay at Union Square, but that is subjective depending on what you like to do. We liked being by the water and it was very lively.
The curvy road is Lombard Street, check it out for sure, it's easy to walk to.
Ride the cable car once, but do it early and on a week day. It's basically a tourist attraction, it's not good for getting around, but it goes by a lot of the cool sights and you can hang off the side if you want.
Pier 39 (where all the seals are as well as a ton of shopping & restaurants) was cool.
Buy a transit pass, the transit there is amazing. No need whatsoever for a car. Took us a while to figure out the transit though, there are cable cars, street cars, buses, LRT's (which can also drive on the road and stop like buses), and the BART (another train for further distances). Once we had it figured out, you could get anywhere super easily and in good time. The transit passes work for everything except BART and the cable cars. I think it was $6 to ride the cable car, and the BART had reasonable distance based fares (you'll just need to take it to/from the airport). Grab a bay area map from your hotel, it will have all the train lines on it too.
The natural history museum/science center was really well done. It's kind of like Montreal's Bio Dome if you've ever been. It's in Golden Gate Park.
The Coit Tower is a cool area, you don't have to go up the tower, there are great views just from the general area.
Rent a bike and do a loop from Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito, then take the ferry back to Fisherman's Wharf. Gorgeous area with tons of good food and little shops. Bike rentals were like $20 for the day. Just across the GGB, there is also an awesome lookout at Battery Spencer (old defense point for the bay). There is a road going up to it, so you can bike or walk up it no problem. It's an easy ride and didn't take more than a half day, so I highly recommend it. Doesn't sound like much but that was a highlight for us.
Only thing I didn't like was the ridiculous amount of homeless people. They are everywhere, on every street corner and on every bus, and almost always super high or drunk hassling everyone. They annoyed a lot of people, asked for money, and just did stupid sh*t in general. Not a huge deal, but just use your common sense obviously. There were fewer of them on the street cars and trains, but they seemed to like the buses.
The shopping was nothing special with the 25% exchange rate, but it depends what you're after I guess.
For food, we just used Urban Spoon app and Yelp reviews to pick places, and were never disappointed. Lots of fresh seafood sold on the street too if you want a quick crab sandwich, calamari, lobster, etc. We ate seafood or sushi every day pretty much. One place that stood out for us was Hollywood Cafe for breakfast. We had to go on a weekday because the lineups were crazy, but it was good.
Check out the new police building. TomcoPDR's bro designed that shit. Cool story.
pack some warm clothes. Weather is nuts there and will go from cold in the morning to hot by lunch and dam cold at night. Not sure what you're doing for transportation but i would just bus or trolley around. Parking is horrible anywhere and if you're staying DT expect to pay $30-$40 a night for parking.
Food was a real hit and miss for us because we figured we could wing it:nut:
We did try a highly reviewed place on the wharf and the crab at T and T was fresher lol
STRIPPERS
Oakland is where it's at for awesome ramen. :drool:
Visited there last week. I suggest walking/biking from Fisherman's Wharf to Palace of Fine Arts to Golden Gate to Sausalito Vista Point. It's a good urban trek. Lots of interesting buildings to pass along the way like the Marina District houses, Lucasfilm & ILM office, Bay School of San Francisco. Heading back I walked along Union St. Lot's of bars and restaurants just full of people.
I like walking so I started from my hotel in Union Square and went up the Hill and down the other side. Along the way there's lots more buildings and sights to see like Chinatown, Lombard Street. Or take a cable car.
On another day I walked along Broadway, Fillmore St, Haight St. (up to Divisadero). You'll see a lot of funky multilevel houses along Broadway St. I've heard of Fillmore before from listening to jazz music so I walked there and also went to Amoeba Records along Haight. I should have checked the Amoeba website for their live performance schedule. The Fillmore Jazz Festival is in two weeks.
It's only along Union Square area where I saw a lot of homeless and some crazies/weirdos. It was OK since there's so much people there and I saw lots of cops day and night on the weekend.
Cool response, I don't believe we've ever seen this suggestion before on Beyond.Quote:
Originally posted by Dertz
STRIPPERS
Mission Bay public safety building, not sure how much access the general public has anymore at this point.Quote:
Originally posted by max_boost
Check out the new police building. TomcoPDR's bro designed that shit. Cool story.
http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=4764
New England lobster market & eatery is pretty good seafood.
Walk around campus at University Berkeley, interesting people and neat eatery and just cool stores to check out around those streets
Don't know if Pixar studios in Emeryville (the Ikea in East Bay) still allow tours
Thanks for all the input everyone! Keep it coming :thumbsup:
THIS. I'm a car person, but I really enjoyed renting a bike and riding across the bridge. One side is for pedestrian traffic, the other for cyclists, so you just concentrate on riding. It's what I remember most about my trip.Quote:
Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Rent a bike and do a loop from Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito, then take the ferry back to Fisherman's Wharf. Gorgeous area with tons of good food and little shops. Bike rentals were like $20 for the day. Just across the GGB, there is also an awesome lookout at Battery Spencer (old defense point for the bay). There is a road going up to it, so you can bike or walk up it no problem. It's an easy ride and didn't take more than a half day, so I highly recommend it. Doesn't sound like much but that was a highlight for us.
Bring a rain jacket! The weather goes from sunny to rainy fast.
Wear good shoes. You'll probably end up walking more than you think.
I actually just got back from San Fran and these were all the sights I saw with the GF. I would highly recommend a bike rental and bike to all these spots and go see Sausalito across the bay (really easy ride). I also would re3comend a city bus tour as it will take you to all the cool spots and often has tickets available for places like Alcatraz.Quote:
Originally posted by n00bit
Pier39
Fisherman's Wharf
Alcatraz
Golden Gate Bridge
Asian Art Museum
Chinatown
That curvy road
Conservatory of Flowers and that other place outside nearby
Take that trolley ride
Shop downtown
Hit up all the bars
Drive south a bit and do some discount shopping at Gilroy
Hope you have fun!
Pier 39 is a tourist trap. Lots of American chain restaurants and tacky souvenir shops.
Ghirardelli is pretty lame too.
Gilroy is okay, but it's the same as any other Premium Outlet. I'd skip it with our dollar being as it is.
Make a trip out to Napa / Sonoma valley wine country and visit some wineries (it's a little over an hour out of San Francisco). Stop in Yountville and eat at one of Thomas Keller's restaurants (even the fried chicken at Addendum is amazing if you prefer casual), grab some pastries from Bouchon.
The Francisco is great for a crab dinner at the port. A little pricey and often very busy, but we went after 9 and got seats pretty much to ourselves.
I'm booked for the exact same days, Jul 1-5.
I'm staying in Union Square and am doing most of the things suggested here including Alcatraz and renting bikes at the pier and riding across Golden Gate to Sausilito. I'm also renting a car for a day just to do some shopping - isn't the Livermore outlets closer than Gilroy (1 hr vs 1.5 hrs)?
I also booked resos for Gary Danko - it's my gf's birthday and first time to SF. I hear its awesome! Oh and I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a place called HRD which I'm hoping to check out. Looks so good.
I'll have to figure out how to use the transit pass, but should be fun. I went once to SF 8, 9 years ago, but i remember Lombard street being just okay haha. I mean...its just a windy street lol. Although I did walk it and i hear its fun to drive.
Save your trip for next year so you can do nude run.
http://baretobreakers.com/
.
In addition to what's already been mentioned (though I'd personally skip Alcatraz cause I thought it was pretty disappointing), I'd recommend doing a ghost tour. Anytime I go traveling, it's always first on my list of things to do if I've never been on one in that city. Whether or not you believe in that sort of hokey stuff, it's a really great way to learn about the history and some of the urban legends and stories in the area that some locals may not even be aware of.
I did this one back in January
http://www.sfghosthunt.com
I've probably done about 10 ghost tours and I saw the most fucked up thing on this tour, but I won't spoil the surprise in case anyone goes haha! You'll know it when you see it.
When I went to Gary Danko last summer I found the food was good, but there are some places in Calgary I'd pick over Gary Danko in terms of quality. However, the service there is unbeatable, I think that's where they get their super high ratings, so if you don't end up getting a reservation there, its not like you're missing out on some seriously mouth watering food..