Hello:

We are trying to put together an itinerary for our San Francisco/Wine country trip in October. We have been to SF before so we've seen all the touristy things like Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower and Legion of Honor. We are staying in Union Square and will have a rental car part of the time. This is a sample itinerary-please add any suggestions. We would like to visit Twin Peaks and the Lyon Street steps but I'm not sure where to fit them in. We would have also liked to see Half Moon Bay, Pigeon Point lighthouse, and drive south of SF, but I cannot seem to combine things to free up and extra day.

Day 1: Arrive in the early afternoon from SFO via BART and check into hotel. Quick lunch. Visit Mission Delores (open 1-4PM) via Muni. Go to China Town in the evening.

Day 2: Cable Car Museum (open 10-5), lunch in North Beach, Haase-Lilenthal House (open 12-3), shopping on Chestnut and/or Union Street. Will be using public transportation.

Day 3: Wine Country day trip. Would like to tour one winery and the visit the grounds of a few others. Probably Sterling, Chateau Jean, Chateau Montlena, Korbel, Olive Press, BR Cohn, Oakville Grocery. We really don't care for wine, so we won?t be doing much sampling. More interested in seeing the process and grounds. We do like gourmet food stores, especially olive oils and cheeses.

Day 4: Muir Woods in the AM and Point Reyes in the PM. Lighthouse open 10-430.

Day 5: Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market in the AM. Picnic lunch in Golden Gate Park. We'll take the F street car to the market and back to the hotel to drop off purchases. Should we drive or take the bus to GGP?

Day 6: Walk across GGB in the AM, visit Marin Headlands and Point Bonita Lighthouse (open 1230-330) in the afternoon.

Day 7: Leave for SFO at 12 noon via BART.

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

If you go to Sterling, I would also recomend going to Clos Pegase, across the street. The winery was designed by contemporary architect/designer Michael Graves.

http://www.clospegase.com/

As for olive oil, you must go to the Napa Valley Olive Mfg in St Helena and try their oils.

http://www.napavalleyoliveoilmfg.com/et. The winery

Hi, Katie7!

You can combine your activities for days 5 and 6 if you took your car. You don't seem to have much activity on Day 5.

You could drive to GG Park, spend some time there, drive across the GG Bridge, do the Marin Headlands, etc. Or drive to Marin County first and come back to the GG Park in the afternoon.

That will free up Day 6 to go down to Monterey and Carmel. Take the coast Highway 1 from San Francisco and head straight down. It'll make for a full day of activity. Then, on return, come back via the faster freeways. Slightly north of Monterey you can cut across on Highway 156 from Highway 1 to Highway 101. 101 then will take you straight up to San Francisco. Just avoid 101 during peak traffic hours on a weekday.

Hope this helps! Welcome to California!

Drive to Golden Gate Park and on the way there (or back) drive up Twin Peaks--it is on the way. (Is day 5 a weekday or weekend?)

The best day to stop at the Lyon St stairs is the day you are on Chestnut. That is when you are closest, but you will be below the steps and would have a bit of a walk to them. How have you heard of the Lyon st stairs anyways? Is there a specific reason you wanted to stop there?

By the way, in October you may be able to see some whales from Point Reyes.

In Wino Land, if you are not into wine maybe stop by Viansa (Sonoma). They have a very cool "Italian Marketplace" with oyster crakckers out to sample all the sauces etc. VERY overpriced but fantastic. I got roped into buying their single press olive oil--very good!

All in all you trip sounds fantastic! October is beautiful here--we are usually right in the midst of Indian summer!!

Hello, thanks for the suggestions!

We'll definitely check out the Napa Valley Olive Mfg and Viansa. We will be arriving on a Tuesday afternoon. We wanted to do Napa during the week to avoid some of the crowds.

Jason: I think the suggestion to combine Days 5 and 6 to drive south will work! Thanks for the driving directions.

Kikahead:

Day 5 would be a Sat.

I saw a picture taken from the Lyons street steps in a travel book-it showed the Palace of Fine Arts and the bay in the background, with some gardens and homes in the foreground. It looked really pretty. If we can't make it there, that's okay.

Dear Katie:

BR Cohn is the manager of the Doobie Bros. There will be a benefit concert of Oct.4?

Have fun on your trip.

Clos Pegas is a very attractive winery. Montelena is not much to look at if you are not going for the tasting. Since you plan to be in the Sterling Area you may want to try Niebaum Coppola or Schramsberg (champagne) because Chateau St. Jean and Korbel are in the Sonoma wine country rather than the Napa wine country and you may be too spread out to enjoy it all in one day. Their are other gourmet groceries shops in Calistoga or St. Helena or you can buy more picnic foods at V. Sattui winery.

By the way. Don't leave Pt. Reyes until too late in the day. You may even want to stay overnight out there. And visit the cowgirl creamery for some great cheeses --there is one that is a night and day goat milk cheese--I think it is called "fog" something with a layer of ash. It is delicious!

Hello:

Thanks for the tips! We are planning to leave Point Reyes around 6 pm when it is still light. I'm assuming that there is issues with fog and poor visibility out there?? Regarding wineries, we are really going to look at the grounds and buildings, more than for tasting, so thanks for those suggestions. We will add Clos Pegase to the list, especially since it's so close to Sterling. Is it better to visit Napa or Sonoma-I read Sonoma is less crowded and less commercial.

Michelle: We'll be there a week later, so we'll miss the concert.

Thanks, Katie

Katie~the fog and poor visibility should not be that much of an issue...while it does get foggy the visibility generally is not that diminished. Allow for some time to relax after the Lighthouse because there are many steps both down and back up. What you will encounter, whatever way you leave, are some winding roads. You might want to consider this in terms of your departure time. You might also go back over Mt. Tam and stop for dinner in Mill Valley or Sausalito. The drive from there back to SF is pretty easy and will be faster if you wait to avoid the rush hour crowds(you will be going against traffic but it could still be heavier than were you to go at another time.

PamSF -thanks for the info. I read about those 300 plus steps, but we'll see how far we get! Getting down shouldn't be too heard but getting back up is a different story.

Katie

Sounds like a fun trip! Here's my 2 cents: When I lived in SF, I lived on Pacific and Baker-1 block up and over from the Lyon steps. IMO, it is one of the BEST things to do in the city. You can take a bus to the end of Union which will be Lyon (which edges the Presidio)you'll be 2 blocks from the bottom of the steps. Step up to Broadway which is where the stairs end. (Lyon does not go thru to Broadway,but there are stairs) and thus you have your view.
Since you'll be in need of nourishment after such a trek, and perhaps not eaten since Union street, I might suggest a stop at Liverpool Lil's on Lyon. Heck, if you are going to do the PR lighthouse you'll be fine! I am a lighthouse lover and Pt.Reyes has an original Fresnel lens-(they used to do night tours every other Sat. and turn the light on-that was something!)Next trip try to make time for the lighthouse at Pt.Arena! I also agree with choosing between Sonoma or Napa
for your wine trip. I would choose the top of the valley in Napa (Sterling and Clos Pegase) and working your way down
via the El Dorado Trail (not as busy as Hwy 29) Much more scenic, but do take one of the "cross" roads and stop in to Dean & Deluca in St. Helena (I think) for your gourmet fix. For a Sonoma trip (PamSF is wondering how I got this far before I mentioned MY backyard,LOL!)
I would choose the Healdsburg area,paticularly the West side Road along the Russian River-BE-A-U-TI FULLLL. The website wineroad.com will
tell you all you need to know and more. Everyone here has given you such great ideas-good gracious, they've given me good ideas for a City trip!Have fun deciding!
R5

Thanks to everyone for the help. I read about the Point Arena Lighthouse-it looks good but seems a little far for the amount of time we have. Thanks for the info on the Lyon Street stairs-I was impressed with the picture I saw (Palace of Fine Arts was one of my favorites the last time we were in SF). It looked like the steps overlook the top of the Palace, as well as the homes and gardens aound the steps. We were also planning on visiting Dean and Delucca as we missed out going there when we were in NYC last year.

Thanks, Katie

If you love gourmet foods you must stop at Dean and Deluca's. I could spend hours their.