We are two 48 yr olds travelling to SF we arrive Jan 23 and leave red eye on the Jan 28, we won't have a car and will be staying at a hotel on Mission and 4th can't remember the name. Below is a list of places and restaurants we want to visit and we would appreciate your opinion on. As a background we love to eat, semi-foodies but would also like to keep the cost down. We've been to SF about 10 yrs ago so we can skip some tourist spots

Here's where we want to go:
1) Take a tour bus to Napa (is Sonoma doable?)
2) Sausalito
3) Walk around downtown (Fisherman's wharf, etc)
4) Tiburon
5) Muir woods (1/2 day tour)
6) Ferry building market

Places to eat:
Ice cream:
- Humphrey Slocombe
- Bi-rite creamery
- Lush (4184 Piedmont Ave, Oakland)

Bakery
- Tartine
- Acme at the Ferry building
- Kara's for cup cakes

Other food places
- In and Out Burger
- Let’s be Frank dogs
- Chez Panisse

Need sugestions for Mexican (both hole in the walls and restaurants) and affordable dinner under $25 for entree, Chez Panisse is our main dinner. Please let us know if the places we would like to see is too much. We love to walk and like to be out of the hotel from 9 till dark.

Thank you everyone

Sounds like a good plan. Climate will be much the same as it is in July...

Pretty good plan - some comments...


Here's where we want to go:
1) Take a tour bus to Napa (is Sonoma doable?) Used to be on public transit but I don't kmow tour buses.
2) Sausalito - not sure if you need to do Sausalito AND Tiburon. Tiburon is SLIGHTLY more upscale and less touristy.
3) Walk around downtown (Fisherman's wharf, etc) - downtown is not Fisherman's Wharf The Wharf can be fun but it is VERY touristy. Downtown has the Westfield Mall an upscale
mall if you like fancy malls. The Mall has an outlet of the Slanted Door, called Out The Door, a famous Vietnamese Restaurant, that has a much shorter wait and same excellent food.
4) Tiburon see above
5) Muir woods (1/2 day tour)
6) Ferry building market

Places to eat:
Ice cream:
- Humphrey Slocombe
- Bi-rite creamery - be prepared for lines even in Jan!
- Lush (4184 Piedmont Ave, Oakland)

Bakery
- Tartine - same advice w/ lines - constant....but SO worth it (more worth it than Bi Rite IMHO)
- Acme at the Ferry building - Acme bread is in shops all over town, if you're at the ferry Bldg why not , but I wouldn't make a special stop there./
- Kara's for cup cakes - again if you happen to be in the Marina or Ghirardelli Sq, get one but Miette in tthe Ferry Building (and shops in several locations) has even better as do several small bakeries you'll find all over town.

Mexican -I have two new favorites

Tropisueno in the South of Market area - upscale taco bar with great service and good prices.

For down home tacos and burritos - Taqueria San Francisco on 24th and York in the mission/Potrero area. Best tacos el pastor I have ever had.

It will get dark by 5 pm, I think. Now, mid-November, it's dark at 5. We are on winter time.

I know gb is just trying to be funny, but the weather is actually VERY different in late January than in July. July might be cold/foggy or it might be beautiful. January will be cold-ish (to us, that is, low to mid 50s during the day) and it's very possible it will rain (which is extremely unlikely in July, which is not rainy "season").

I agree with everything mztery has said about Tartine, Out the Door, Fisherman's Wharf. There's also an "Out the Door" in the Ferry Building, right behind (in front of?) the Slanted Door on the main concourse.

What is it you're interested in doing while you're in the city?