I am traveling from Beijing to Detroit in October and have a 8 hr. layover in San Francisco. I have never been there and need advice as to what to do with those 8 hrs. I will be very tired, so basically I would love to go to a park (maybe near the bridge?) and relax . I am not sure about the proximity of lets say the Golden Gate Bridge and the airport. Any other ideas as to what I could do with those layover hours?

Janice, assuming you will arrive on time (SFO is notorious for lateness) and after you clear customs/immigration, you will have much less than 8 hours. However, you can take a taxi (about $30 but worth it with jet lag and time issues) and go to GG Park if you want. There is lots to see there. I would probably take a taxi to Ghirardelli Square and poke around in the little shops, walk down the waterfront and possibly get a ferry across to Sausalito and back. You'll see the bridge that way and part of the city.

Janice: SFO is about a 30 minutes outside of SF. Golden Gate park is lovely, though it is not near the Golden Gate bridge. But you could go to the Japanese tea garden in the park, or to the Asian Art museum, or to the Academy of Sciences, or to the arbroetum (all in the same part of the park). The weather in Oct is often the best in SF. The park stretches all the way to the beach. It's one of my favorite spots.

Don't know when in October you'll be in SF, but the Asian Art Museum (recommended above) is closing on October 7 to prepare for a move downtown.

Three other possibilities come to mind - the Palace of the Legion of Honor is a lovely smaller museum located next to the Presidio, and there are paths and viewpoints nearby where the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen - plus in October you might have some autumn color starting to creep into the trees surrounding the museum.

Plan B would be to head to Telegraph Hill in the center of the city and walk among the beautiful eucalyptus groves, wonderful residential streets, shops, etc., enjoying the view of the city and the Bay Bridge from the park around Coit Tower. You can wander around to your heart's content and never be far from a passing taxi to take you back to the airport.

Plan C is to taxi to Fisherman's Wharf, relax at the waterfront park in front of Ghirardeli Square ditto the walking and window shopping, have a snack amongst the tourists, then if you're up to it ride the Hyde St. cable car back to Market Street, then taxi etc.

When we fly long haul segments we find a little exercise is much more beneficial than snoozing between planes, but these options will give you the choice. Happy landings!