I need your help planning a short family vacation. We will be in SF for a day and we would like to hear some suggestions on how to best spend the day. We stopped by SF last year just for a day and we took the opportunity to tour Fisherman's wharf. We'd like to see other parts of SF, but don't know where to start. We've heard about Chinatown, Lambard Street, Nob Hill, and the 49-mile tour trail. I'd like to hear from you. What's the best way of spending a short afternoon and still feel like we saw SF.

thanks.

you may just watn to take a tour, if you want to see the most --otherwise you could walk around chinatown or take a ferry to sausalito

Highly recommend you take a tour..it will show you areas you could never find on your own and if you come back and have the time you can revisit..

take a bus tour of the city plus sausalito and come back on a ferry. In any hotel you can pick up a booklet with a list of the tour buses, they pick you up at your hotel. Usually these tours take 1/2 day so you may have some free time. And plan to come back for at least a week in the future!

My favorite trip is to go to Union Square where the shopping is (Stockton and Market). Browse around the huge shopping area there. Let the kids out into Niketown and Virgin Records Megastore. Trendy Teen's would like Urban Outfitters and GAP (stockton two near the cable cars). there's a great pizza place on Stockton TWO also, across from Urban Outfitters. Then buy tickets for the San Francisco Trolley to Ghiradelli Square. That's the famous chocolate shop! Go to the square and get a hot fudge sundae. Either take the trolley back or for a faster route, grab a taxi/bus. The trolley will definitely give local flavor! Of note: trolley lines to buy tickets and get on can take some time, especially on weekends.