San Francisco for 2 hours
 

I'm taking our team of 26 college women to San Jose for a competition. We'll have 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. Can I get some recommendations for one area to spend the 2 hours in and a few places to eat in that area that are relatively quick and $15 or less for a meal? I am leaning towards Fisherman's Wharf and eating at the fish stands there. Any feedback would be appreciated.

My first thought is Ferry Plaza market, food and fun.

My 2nd thought: those 2 hours, is it including or excluding lunch?

It takes at least an hour to get from San Jose to San Francisco. Is travel time within those two hours? Peak traffic hours could be longer.

Also are you flying out of San Francisco Airport? It's nowhere near downtown San Francisco or Fisherman's Wharf.

Sorry, but we need a bit more information before we can give any suggestions. Two hours is really not much time.

Can't really help you w/o the info asked above . .

Like are you being dropped off somewhere in SF and picked up 2 hours later? Or do you have to travel from somewhere into SF and that includes your 2 hours.

Tell us where you are traveling from and heading to. Like, is this in the middle of the trip and you have to drive from/back to San Jose? Or are you doing this '2 hours' enroute from or to the airport?

I'm assuming you'll all be on a large bus, right? 2 hours is not very long to feed 26 people, see any sites, and have them all get back to the bus on time. Instead of having to hunt down places to eat, you might do better to consider something like having them eat sack lunches on the bus on the drive up and then have the 2 hours free to actually see something.

Go to the Embarcadero market to browse. There are quite a few eating places there too.

I don't see anything wrong with the plan about eating and walking around down at Fisherman's Wharf.

suze: no one has said yea or nay on the OP's plans, but they will be in a competition in SAN HOSAY. Then the OP has two hours to get to San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf, dine, tour around, and then, presumably, to the airport?

Don't know how they are going to be able to do this.

God did not give human being wings, unfortunately.

However, if the two hours does not include commute time, then any number of possibilities come to mind.

Can't we just take the OP literally? I mean, she said they'll have 2 hours IN San Francisco, so let's assume she's smart enough to have already factored in (out?) travel time to/from.

I think I agree with her idea. Fisherman's Wharf is touristy, but it is on the bay, has the fun seals, and lots of food choices. But the Embarcadero/Ferry Building is nice.

How long is the cruise of the bay, lunch included? I remember a group of Fodorites went, and our family took the cruise too, it's a narrated cruise around Alcatraz, up to the bridge.

My point was we really don't have enough info. I'm assuming (hoping) this doesn't include the travel time. But we are talking about 26+ college students and the logistics will be daunting no matter what. If they all eat the same place - pretty hard to find a venue that would feed nearly 30 people in less than 90 minutes - leaving 30 mins for anything else. If they just all go off on their own like the OP indicates - in 2's, 3's, 6's - getting them all corralled and back on the bus in 2 hours would be just as hard.

But w/o a bit more info about their plans, it is hard to give really useful advice . . . .

The Wharf/Pier 39 is the easiest place - but even there, if they all split up, the time issue and actually finding the bus afterwards could be a problem.

Oh I agree that more info would be immensly helpful! But I just didn't see how one could jump to conclusions about travel time when that wasn't part of the original question.

How do you all have so much patience when OPs ask a question but don't stick around to participate??

First, wherever you're going, you need to scope out in advance where to park - esp. if you have an oversized vehicle(s).

Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf would be fine for 2 hours. Get some fresh air, grab some street vendor food (there's a In-N-Out there too) and just walk around.

They would probably enjoy going downtown too. Young women usually like a spin through the Westfield and/or Union Sq. There's a parking garage at 5th & Mission (just across the street and on the backside of Westfield Mall). Union Square is a short walk across/down a bit from there. There is a buffet-style Asian restaurant (name escapes me) on Mission just to the east of the parking garage entrance. It's cheap and not bad.

The Ferry Building/Embarcadero would be a good choice too - and you could walk there easily enough from Union Sq if go there and time permits.

The Mission, around 22nd - 24th might work too. While not the most glamorous part of the city, even kinda gritty, it does have fairly easy freeway access via Cesar Chavez and a number of cheap-n-good Mexican places. Plenty of inexpensive stores to shop in too. Maybe see Mission Dolores and some murals if you go there.

Will the parking garage on 5th and Mission accommodate a large bus?

I seem to recall that the entrance is very narrow.

No it won't. Perhaps they are in regular-sized vehicles or vans.

"<i>Perhaps . . . . </i>" Perhaps just about anything. We are sort of shooting in the dark until the OP comes back.

As much as I hate Fisherman's Wharf - I think that's the best option for a large group of 19 to 21 year olds. Fast food, walk-aways crab, variety of things to do for people of that age group, street entertainment, views of the Bay & Bridge, "mall" & trinket/souvenir shops, easy to corral when it's time to depart. I wouldn't dump them in the Mission. They may get bored with the Ferry Bldg area, and some may walk to the Wharf by themselves - which would make it harder to corral them. Union Sq is OK, and it would save 20-30 mins over the Wharf if the troups are arriving from the south by car.

Stu Dudley