Hello All,

Planning a visit to SF in late May, spanning two weekends.

This will be a one time visit for me (I'm not a traveler) and want to make it a memorable visit for my friend and I.

Must do's:

Teatro Zanzinni
Sunset Dinner Cruise
Day Cruise (either ship or catamaran)
Shanghai San Francisco
Various walking tours
Alcatraz Night Tour
California Academy of Sciences (Behind the Scenes Tour)

Possible do's (off-beat, but I really want lots of fun memories)

IFly - Indoor flying
GoKart
Helicopter Tour

Out of San Francisco

Two day via (car rental) to Big Sur, working my way through Carmel, then saying overnight in Monterey. Next morning, Morning Rounds at Monterey Bay Aquarium, then working my way back to SF.

Yays, nays or any suggestions or welcome and appreciated!

FYI: Big Sur is much further south than the Monterey Peninsula, and you're taking a winding route, so that's a pretty substantial drive that will take all day. It's only about 250 miles, but if you go via Highway 1 (which is the most scenic route), it's going to take a long long time).

With 10 days, I think you'd be much better off making your trip down the coast a bit longer, especially if you are not likely to travel here again. Make sure you go to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. If I were you, I'd drive all the way down to Big Sur, spend the night, and then start the drive up the coast the afternoon after seeing Hearst Castle in the morning. Spend at least one other night in Monterey. So the excursion should be 3 days, not 2. And I'd save at least one day to go to Muir Woods, especially if you have never seen coastal redwoods. It's an easy excursion you can do either by car or on a guided tour.

Do a search of Stu Dudley for a lot of info on SF.

I agree with Doug. Hearst Castle is well worth a visit and then Highway 1 north. You can buy your tix on line in advance for the castle and the aquarium.

When you get to SF, take a Grayline day tour of the city and area... that will give you a great overview of the city and you can use that to plan the rest of your trip... it sounds cheesy but it will give you a little taste of everything...

Make sure you purchase a MUNI passport which is good on cable cars, trolleys and buses. This will save you a fortune as cable cars are $5 one way and trolleys are about $2.40 one way.

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I'll put Hearst Castle on the To Do list! I'll start a new topic for a To Do in Big Sur / Carmel / Monterey later.

To clarify, I plan to begin and end my stay in SF, with the Southern trip a kind mid-stay getaway because I've been told that 10 solid days in and around the SF Bay area may be a bit much (i.e. lots of great things to do, but we should look around the area for a bit of a change). I planned an overnight trip because I wanted to to be sure we have still have lots of time to see everything (well almost everything)we could possibly want to in SF.

Muir Woods is definitely on the to do list and possibly Marin County (been old by an ex-SF resident that it's a nice drive and visit). Napa Valley, worth the visit if we're both non-wine, non-alcoholic drinkers? Again, I don't want to be out of SF too long because my friend really, really wants to see everything possible.

I'm definitely getting a Muni Pass and any other discounts I can. ;-) Please keep the suggestions coming.

When you go up to Muir Woods, take at least day and continue on to Point Reyes National Seashore or at least up Mt. Tamopolis (sp?).

Very good suggestions, but I'm with Centralparkgirl that one of the best suggestions anyone can give you here is to do a board search for posts on the city by Stu Dudley. An utter must.

Sunset Dinner Cruise
Day Cruise (either ship or catamaran)
and Alcatraz

I would skip the day cruise, and take a ferry to Sausalito or Tiburon instead.

When we went to Muir Woods, we hired a limo instead of taking a tour. It wasn't that much more and so much nicer, as it was our schedule and not a tour group's schedule. Still have the limo co. if you are interested. We've used them several times and have been well pleased. Also the free walking tour with the City Group (someone please help me with the name of this group) was really good. They have several different walking tours. One we went on was only the two of us and our guide. You should spend a day visiting museums, there are some really wonderful ones in SF. HAVE FUN, it's a great city. And by all means check out Stu Dudley, he's the bomb, when it comes to info on SF. He won't steer you wrong.