San Francisco Itentiary
 

Please offer advice on the following 1 week itentiary in S.F.

Saturday: Arrive around noon from East coast.
Head to Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach for the evening. Hit City Tix for 1/2 price shows. Beach Blanket Babylon offered at CityTix?

Sunday: Chinatown/Haight Asbury. Anyone ever been to the Glide Church on Sun a.m.? Is it worth considering. Is Chinatown better to see during the week?

Monday: Rent car and head to Muir Woods and Napa Valley for the day.

Tuesday: Alcatraz/Fishermans Wharf/Beach Blanket Babylon

Wednesday: Sausalito (how much of a day can we make here?/Museum of Modern Art

Thursday: Golden Gate Bridge/Presidio Park/Exploratorium

Friday: open for Golden Gate Park or whatever we feel like we missed.

Any suggestions? This is very flexible and we don't feel compelled to stay on a strict schedule by any means.

If you want to see Beach Blanket Babylon, buy your tickets EARLY! It often sells out as it is such a popular show. Chinatown may be better to see during the week as there will be less tourists (but more locals). Sausalito--you can take the ferry there which is always fun. I don't know how much of the day you could spend there though. Lunch & shopping? You may want to put this in after Muir Woods and devote a full day to the Wine Country (Sonoma & Napa). All in all your itinerary sounds like a lot of fun!! You hit a lot of great places. Are you staying downtown or at the Wharf?

Don't miss Glide; it's is one of the world's most joyous experiences. Nothing like it in America. A true one-and-only SF institution . But get there early for a seat.

Chinatown is best on a weekday or Sat. Grant Street is for tourists. Walking on Stockton is like walking though China or Hong Kong markets. Almost any restaurant in Chinatown is good, just pick one where all the patrons are Chinese.

Combine touristy Sausalito with natural Muir Woods [short wonderful walk through magnificent redwoods.] If there's time, drive over Tamapalis to Stinson Beach. If you plan on visiting wineries, Napa will take an entire day.

Definately get Beach Blanket tickets well in advance. I think they're available over the internet.

Walking ovet the Golden Gate Bride and visiting the exploratorium will make for a wonderful day. In fact, you've got a perfect intinerary.

Be sure and get your Alcatraz tickets as early as possible- it sells out weeks in advance.
Also, if you are interested in some of the Big Name places to eat, get reservations there early as well.
Muir Woods and Napa together is a pretty long day- if you like wine maybe try Sonoma County vineyards after Muir and give Napa another day.
Enjoy your trip.

Mike B aka Ninermike: My wife and I are staying at the Grand Hyatt in Union Square. We got a rate through Priceline at $75/night. Planning on 1 day of rental car, maybe we should go 2 and take your suggestion of Sausalito/Muir Woods and Napa Valley on different days. My original thinking was Sausalito by ferry to avoid having rental car over 1 day. Thanks for the advice on Beach Blanket Babylon.

Is Japantown worth a visit? I'm also looking for good restaurant recommendations in Sausalito.

Japantown is neat but I don't think it is a "must-see" like Chinatown is. It is a lot smaller then Chinatown and a little out of the way. There are some neat shops and restaurants. Restaurants to look at in Sausalito are Ondine & Alta Mira. Grand Hyatt is a FANTASTIC hotel!!! Great location!

do you like wine? if so, take a whole day for Napa. the area is just Gorgeous!

oh, and as far as Japantown, honestly i think you will have time for it. it is something fun to do if you have time. I had two full days in SF, and after the gray line bus tour, i had plenty of time left. i liked Japantown alot and took a bus to get there. public transportation is great in SF. fisherman's wharf is nice for an afternoon but i honeslty was so sick of it after 2 hours. with 1 week in San Fran, i would check out Japantown , their little mall was cute

I think you should go to San Jose.(just kidding)

Ninermike: How exciting! We visited SF last year around this time for the 1st time. What we did was took a couple of tours to get the most in. One was the Tower Tours Deluxe City Tour. After a lot of research, it seemed to cover the most and was well worth it. The other tour was the Gray Line Muir Woods/Sausalito -- again well worth it. On this one, we toured MW, then went to Sausalito; instead of taking the tour bus back to SF, we took a ferry. You have to see Sausalito, it is so awesome, and, of course, you can see SF from across the bay. We ate lunch at a little place called Winship's, which was good, but there are other places you might consider. I think there's a Scoma's Seafood Restaurant there which I heard is better than the one in FW. We rented a car for a couple of days, one day we went south to Carmel and Monterrey, the next day we went headed north to Sonoma and Napa Valley. We had planned to go on up to Bodega Bay (where "The Birds" was based) but passed it up; now I wish we had gone ahead.

Where are you staying? We stayed at FW, but I'd recommend you stay in Union Square or the Financial District. There's a hotel that I want to stay at the next time we're there called The Orchard in Union Sq. Btw, FW, Union Sq., Financial District, Chinatown, North Beach are all so close together, you can walk if you have time or jump on trolley.

I am staying at the Grand Hyatt in Union Sq. I think we may head to Sonoma and Muir Woods for the day and if we enjoy ourselves go back to Napa for a 2nd day. We will not have a car so I would like to make the most of a 1 day rental. I'm not a big fan of guided tours, otherwise I probably would take a Sausalito/Muir Woods package into consideration. Thanks for all your advice.

I'm going to place another post on good inexpensive eating in San Francisco if any of you are intersted in replying.

That's understandable. I did want to add that the Muir Woods/Sausalito tour allocates a certain amount of time in MW, but you are on your own instead of with the group. However, if you get motion sickness, forget it. My poor husband had to keep his eyes closed and head straight to the restroom when we got to MW! The driver wrapped around those curves on the way there like it was nothing. Have fun in SF!