MikeB

My wife and I, both 34, will be spending a week in the Bay area this summer. I've been to S.F. on a one night business trip but didn't get to see much. If you had to spend one week in San Francisco and surroundings...what would you do?

Just for fun...give me your top 5 things to do and maybe top 3 restaurants.

We will be visiting end of June.

J_Correa

Here's my top 5 recommendations for a 1st time visitor

1. Bay Cruise - there are several that leave from Fisherman's Wharf, to Alcatraz, under the bridge and back, out to Angel Island, over to Sausalito, and so on.

2. Cable Cars - definitely take a ride at least once during your trip. The lines can get long so go in the morning. The California line generally isn't crowded like the Powell lines are which go down to Fisherman's Wharf.

3. Chinatown walking tour - sfcityguides.org gived free walking tours through different neighborhoods. They are a non-profit through the library system. Chinatown is a must see and you will get so much more by taking a tour than just wandering around. After the tour, have a Dim Sum lunch - mmmmm.

4. Golden Gate Park - check out the park and museums.

5. Golden Gate Bridge - take a walk out on the bridge or rent a bike and ride across.

For side trips out of the city:
Santa Cruz mountains for redwoods
Monterey/Big Sur for great coast line
Napa/Sonoma if you are interested in wine.

Margie

My top 5 things to do are: See a play/show each night if possible, spend time at the Legion of Honor, take part in as many "CityGuides" walking tours as possible, explore the wine country, and attend a concert at Grace Cathedral. There is just SO much to do in SF, you are sure to get some wonderful ideas here - have a great trip!

Grasshopper

Mike, 1)Walk as much of the city as you can; Chinatown, NorthBeach, Union Square, Embarcadero 2)Get out on the bay. Some of the best views are from the water. Take a Ferry to Sausalito or Tiburon for lunch and shopping. 3)Bicycle; Rent bikes and ride from the Embarcadero to the GG Bridge and over it to Vista Point. You can combine this with #2 by taking a ferry back. 4) Golden Gate Park, including the museums, aquarium and Japanese Tea Garden. Go on Sunday and catch a concert in the Band Pavillion. Rent a paddle boat on Stowe Lake. 5) Treat yourself to Teatro Zinzanni, it's a fabulous dinner show that you are guaranteed to love.

Have fun!

BayArea

well... I'm 30-something...

(If its summer, I'd bring layers, foggy summers are freaking cold & foggy)

I would:

Spend a day in the Embarcadero/Financial-ish area. Cheeck out SFMoMA, maybe catch an IMAX movie at Metreon, listen to CD's at the big Virgin Records on Market, have lunch down at the embarcadero or drinks at the bar at Pier23


Go to Haight street checking out the beautiful Victorian houses near there and the funny shops trying to cache in on Hippy-chic. There is great vintage shopping for men & women in the upper haight and lots of worthwhile cheap eats.
Hobson's choice is a bar that specializes in rum based cocktails, & they have a nice Victorian ambiance inside.

Go to Golden Gat park and rent bikes or a bike mobile or a boat at stow lake (in the middle of the park). Check out the Japanese Tea Garden. Go way down to the end of the park & go across to Ocean beach (if it's not frigidly foggy freezy). It's a nice beach for walking, a better beach is China Beach if you will have a car.

Go to Alcatraz, it is really worth it. Find the Musee Mechanique. Its new location is near Fisherman's Wharf. They have these great antique arcade games that really work. And a photo booth where you guys can get photo stickers. Also near there are some old ships at the Hyde St Pier. very interesting.

You might want to go barhopping on valencia St. WATCH OUT FOR PICKPOCKETS. It's freaking annoying, but one of my acquaintances got pickpocketed and when he told our group of friends, others had similar stories. Not muggings, just pick pocketing. There are great bars in the Mission.

margieco

If you've got a whole week you may want to rent a car for a day and head up to Napa (if you like wine).

Alcatraz, though touristy, is cool.

Wander through north beach (urban walking is fun). If the Giants are in town, PacBell park is a lot of fun (and will change the atmosphere of bars/restaurants south of market).

Favorite restaurants (oh so many)
Boulevard is a great food place and kinda fancy
Farallon is where we generally take out of town guests; great food and really fun decor inside
Slanted Door used to be where we'd bring people, but it just doesn't feel that special any more
If you do go to wine country, the culinary institute at greystone castle has great food in a cool building
Ti Couz is fun for crepes and will get you wandering around the bars in the Mission. There's also lots of great food all over the mission (lots of good tapas places popping up there)
A bunch of spanish/fusion places have opened (all mostly in the mission/outer mission)

I'd say definitely try to go to dinner in different neighborhoods to get a sense of things.
If there's a particular type of food you like it'd be easier to make recommendations (or what you like in bars).

On Teatrozinzanni; it's not cheap and the food is just OK (alright, the food was just OK when i went), but they've got El Vez hosting it and he's just a phenomenal entertainer. Plus the acrobatics and juggling is pretty sensational.
Have fun!

dg

margieco: thanks for the info on Ti Couz... i'll be in SF area this summer, and will be looking for crepes. i know that sound odd, but each trip i take, i try to have crepes. so far: Montreal, Quebec, New Orleans, London, Savannah, D.C, etc.

utahtea

1. Overnight trip to Yosemite National Park.

2. Day trip to Point Reyes National Seashore.

3. Day trip to Monterey.

4. Fishermans Wharf

5. San Francisco Zoo

What can I say, I don't like cities.

Utahtea

Budman

The walking tours sound like fun. I've taken them in London and they were great. We're going to SF in late May. Definitely going to have dinner in Chinatown, but a walking tour of Chinatown sounds like fun?

Can anybody help with a link to Walking Tours in SF? Thanks.

Any recommendations for nice restaurants, other than some of the upscale ones that have been recommended on this site. I'm not looking for places like "Boulevard" where you are treated with soup to nuts (5 courses). We'll get that in Paris. Mainly looking for places where you can get a nice steak/seafood/chops, have a couple of beers/cocktails -- something along the lines of an Irish Pub, German restaurant, etc. I just want to have a nice dinner without having to "buy" the place. Thanks.

J_Correa

Check out www.sfcityguides.org for walking tours. That's the web site for the non-profit organization I mentioned above. It's affiliated with the public library system and all of the guides are volunteers and very interested in SF history. The tours are free, but they accept donations to help offest their costs. There are many different tours - I think the Chinatown tour followed by a Dim Sum lunch is great.

MikeB

thanks for all the input! i'll keep checking back for more advise...Fodor's seems to have the most active message boards of all the travel sights.

Ashleigh

We stopped over on our way to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We had a great time. We only had a few days, but rented bikes and road over the GG Bridge, which was awesome! That was a full day, and the next day we rode the trolley cars, got a feel for the city and just relaxed.

As for restaurant recommendations, our favorite was Gary Danko's. We made reservations about a month in advance, and it's pricey, but in our opinion, well worth it.

PamSF

Mike, Check out the Acme Chop House.

BayArea

cheaper eats...

Acme is supposed to be good, but I haven't been there.

Park Chow, near Golden Gate park, has very good food in a very casual atmosphere. Daily specials and a menu that covers a lot of territory. American food but also some Asian & Italian touches.

If you like Asian food Thep Phenom in the lower Haight (on Fillmore @ Haight) is one of the best Thai restaurants in the city. They have very good seafood in their dishes. There are food watering holes around the corner Mad Dog in the Fog and Toronado.

Two doors up from Thep Phenom is India Oven, some of the best Indian food in SF( Which really is not as good as San Jose).

Both places require reservations, but you can make them same day.

Firefly on 24th Street in Noe Valley is a locals kind of place. Nice meaty offerings there, I had a double porkchop to die for. Reservations are essential and should be made at least a week ahead of time. This would be my first choice.

BayArea

Ooops.

Sorry, I am typo city today, that should read GOOD watering holes, not Food watering holes.

~BA

DavidDJ

MikeB, You have received lots of great information on things to do in SF proper. Some worthwhile sidetrips given your length of time would include:

1.Heading south on the scenic 280 freeway for a tour of the Filoli Estate (www.filoli.org)

2. Continuing south on the 280 for a daytrip to San Jose (www.sanjose.org) Some of the key things to checkout include The Tech Museum of Innovation (www.thetech.org) Winchester Mystery House (www.winchestermysteryhouse.com) the Rosicurcian Egyptian Museum (www.egyptianmuseum.org) and and the History Museum and Japanese Gardens in Kelley Park (www.historysanjose.org) as well as the San Jose Museum of Art (www.sjmusart.org) The Improv Comedy Club is also great. http://www.symfonee.com/Improv/SanJose/home/Index.aspx

3. Daytrip to Big Basin (www.bigbasin.org)

4. Daytrip to Monterey (www.monterey.com) In Monterey some of the highlights would be the Monterey Bay Aquarium (www.mbayaq.org), Fisherman's Wharf (www.montereywharf.com) and nearby Carmel. From SF take 280 south to 17 south to highway 1 south.

5. Daytrip to Napa and Sonoma Wine Country


Top 3 restaurants:

A.P. Stumps (www.apstumps.com)

E and O Trading Company
http://www.eotrading.com/sanjose/index.html

Spiedo http://www.spiedo.com/About_Spiedo_Ristorante/Spiedo_SanJose/spiedo_sanjose.html

Have a great trip.