You also might consider a treatment at Kabuki Hot Springs in Japantown.

If you like souffles consider Cafe Jacqueline in North Beach. The dessert souffles are to die for!

And,if you want great Mexican/Central American food, venture into the Mission District.

If you are staying at the Miyako part of the time, you will be close to some good restaurant choices in Japantown and the upper Fillmore corridor.

http://www.floriosf.com/
Florio - good bistro type place on Fillmore Street

http://quincerestaurant.com
Quince - nice splurge in the J-town/Pacific Heights area.

Maki Restaurant
(no website)
A tiny, classy place in Japantown - a cut above some of the other places. Right across the hallway from the Kinokuniya Bookstore, a destination in itself.

If you are not too saturated with music after the Blues Festival, check out the schedule at the Fillmore - very close by the Miyako. Make sure to go to the second-floor cafe, where the wallpaper consists of every Fillmore poster in existence.

All of these posts are making me want to take a tour of my own city!

bookmark for trip next year

We love Quince. Reserve before you arrive in SF.

When we were there last summer, we did a Vicorian Home Walk (see www.victorianwalk.com). We saw beautiful homes and learned about SF's history and architecture.

Going to Glide Memorial Church on Sunday morning is an experience unique to San Francisco. There is a gospel choir, a good sermon and a chance to mix with all kinds of San Franciscans. This is a church that serves over a million meals a year and there is a waiting list to volunteer there.

Don't miss having Mexican food in the Mission district. You can't go wrong with any choice you make but look for a line for best results.

Thanks for so many great responses! We are SO looking forward to this trip! We are staying at the two hotels since I couldn't get the Hotel Des Artes for all nights. I have read lots of reviews for the place and have seen nothing but good reviews. We do want to go to Alcatraz (still too early to book the tickets--I tried and we have to wait a week or two) and Sausalito is a must. Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, Ghiradelli Square, Grace Cathedral....we want to hit all of them. We are huge baseball fans and will try to get the Pac Bell, an of course, we want to hit so many of these great restaurants everyone is talking about too! Thanks, Fodorites!

To PJS: about how long did it take you to bike across the GG to Tiburon? Deciding how early we have to leave SF to do this comfortably.

Cindy, I've done that ride many times. It depends a lot on where you stop of course. There are fun things to see along the way. But over all it's about a 20 mile round trip (taking the ferry back). I recommend you stop in Sausalito to see the Bay Model. You'll see signs for it along the bike route.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Tiburon ferry limits the number of bikes allowed and it's a popular thing to do. If you get there late enough on a nice weekend afternoon, you can risk not getting on the boat. Then it's an uphill ride back to SF. Sausalito on the other hand is a much bigger boat and I've never run the risk of not getting on it. Larkspur is another possiblity (25 mi. round trip) but it can be tricky to navigate that route.

carriewp1, a couple of things:

1) The Miyako is in Japantown, which isn't really near anything else. Even if you have to change hotels, you might want to re-consider which "other" hotel to stay at. San Francisco does have a terrific public transportation system, though, so maybe it's not a problem for you.

2) I assume you know that by the time you arrive, the baseball season will be over (well, it will be the last weekend, but the Giants are away that weekend). I think they might give tours of PacBell, though.

Have fun!

dmlove....I do realize that the regular season will be over (and I hope my Red Sox are still playing--though I feel like they have kicked me in the gut the past two nights :( ), but I am hoping to get a tour, if possible. Also, we are still looking at other possible hotels. We are fine taking public transport (born and bred in Boston), but would even take a cab to make it easier with luggage. We picked the Miyako for the night since our room will have a nice view (we booked a corner room with panoramic view)and there is a deep soaking tub....which I know will be great after the long flight out to San Fran. Thanks for your help!

carrie, I just checked - you can buy tickets online at sfgiants.com. It looks like the last tour is the 30th of September (unless they just don't have October posted yet, which is possible).

Carrie, I called for you (it's local - I can see the park from my window). There will be an off-season tour schedule, but it won't be posted until mid-September.

Thanks, dmlove. We will look again in a couple of weeks and if we can may just go for a tour on 9/30.

Cindy - We left the bike shop at 11:00 and just missed the 5:00 ferry from Tiburon so had to wait until 6:00 to leave. But we made many stops along the way to take in the scenery. We spent at least 1 1/2 hours in Sausalito and wasted over an hour getting the two flat tires repaired.

We thought the ride over GG to Sausalito was nicer than from Sausalito to Tiburon (more to see). But that could also be because we were tired of getting flats fixed. We also thought the route to Tiburon was confusing. I don't think we followed the whole route on the map we had been given but we made it nonetheless.

Be ready for some hills on both stretches. If you need to walk them you will have plenty of company though I was proud of myself for only walking one small hill near the end of our trip.

Overall this was one of my favorite things that we did while in SF. I am guessing that with our backtracking for tire repair twice we rode about 20 miles that day. I would definitely do it again next time we visit SF.

Carrie-

One thing that no one has mentioned yet is that the end of your stay overlaps with Fleet Week, the US Navy's annual celebration in San Francisco. Usually the Blue Angels are in town and you can expect two days of fly-overs as they practice for the air shows they give on Saturday and Sunday.

Additionally there will be fireworks Friday and Saturday nights 10/5 - 10/6.

Someone's suggestions of walking the labrynth at Grace Cathedral coincides with my favorite cable car ride, the California street going west to east. Talk about a roller coaster ride.

My idea of a must-do restaurant is dim sum at Yank Sing at Rincon Center down near the Embarcadero. If you show up right at 10am, you don't have to wait in line.

Definitely eat crab at the wharf. Take a taxi ride across the bay bridge and then walk back to the city for an unforgettable experience. Have dinner in little italy and enjoy union square. Spend a day cruising the city in the trolleys. Oh yea and you guys would also enjoy Alcatraz. It is such a great city! Enjoy!

BayArea, when I first moved to the city, I "commuted" on the California cable car line (I lived about 5 blocks west of Van Ness Avenue).

<i> Take a taxi ride across the bay bridge and then walk back to the city for an unforgettable experience. </i>

The poster must mean the Golden Gate Bridge, since you most definitely cannot walk across the Bay Bridge.