SF with school-age kids -- too much to choose!
 

Hi all,

We are trying to narrow down our itinerary for our July 2017 trip to CA (yes we like to plan early!). We have 5 nights (4 full days) in SF before driving south to Monterey/Carmel area. Our family consists of two adults and two girls (ages 10 and 12) from Canada. We enjoy trying local specialties and some outdoor activities. We are staying near the Coit Tower.

Our notional "must-do's are:
- walking tour of Chinatown with dim sum
- farmers' market Sat am at Ferry Plaza
- Alcatraz
- cable car ride
- Muir Woods/sushi lunch in Sausalito
- Golden Gate Park (rent bikes?)
- Lombard St/Ghirardelli
- pizza slice in North Beach

Is it too much to see both the Exploratorium AND the California Academy of Sciences (CAS)? We can get a city pass that would include Alcatraz/Exploratorium/CAS/unlimited transit so it would not cost us extra but not sure if it is worth it to do both? The Wells Fargo Historical Museum looks neat too.

We will be picking up a rental car the night before we leave -- it is very near Pier 39. Thinking of checking out Musee Mecanique and Boudin Bakery tour at some time.

Have we missed anything? Anything to drop? We are not really interested in seeing zoos or art museums this trip.

Thanks in advance!

>>Is it too much to see both the Exploratorium AND the California Academy of Sciences (CAS)?<<

Not IMO. Since you are going to GGPark the Academy is a given. And the Exploratorium is walking distance from either Pier 39 or the Ferry Bldg.

The Cable Car museum might be fun. Lots of "old time" stuff there.

Calzone in North Beach is a great spot for pizza & people watching. It's not "gourmet", however - you go there for the "scene".

How about a free City Guides walking tour (donations welcome)? www.sfcityguides.org My wife is one of the volunteer guides on the two different Victorian House themed tours.

Take lots of quarters with you to the the Musee Mechanique.

See if this interests your family
http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/

Do you have parking arranged for the evening you'll have the car? The Coit Tower area has very restricted parking.

Stroll Union Street (not Square)/Filmore/Chestnut St Details in the following link.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

Definitely check out muse Mechanique, it was a lot of fun!

I don't think it's too much. SF is really compact. Since you mentioned bikes, you might consider a biking tour- it went through Golden Gate Park and it was a lot of fun.

Ahhh, Stu, you know Calzone! Our little go-to spot for pizza and mojitos! While our son has reached the mojito drinking age (and then some), when he was "school age" he loved eating there as well.

>> Stu, you know Calzone!

Yep - we "start" there whenever we have dinner in North Beach. We were going to go to Rose Pistola 2 weeks ago, and have beers/wine at Calzone first. But I woke up 2 days before with back spasms and had to cancel dinner. Two years ago, my cousin from Denmark & his 10 YO daughter visited us - and we had pizza & beer at Calzone after a full day in The City. Fun place.

Stu Dudley

If you are staying <i>near</i> Coit Tower what about a walk up <i> to</i> Coit Tower to check it out?

Still an awesome restoration job and you can't beat the 360 degree view from the top.
Plus you can check out all the parrots.

We usually stay at Columbus Motor Inn and walk up to Greenwich and take Greenwich all the way up. Nice workout, too.

Grab a slice of pizza at Tony's Coal Fired Pizza and Slice House after the hike up? Take your slices over to Wash Sq?

When you get your rental car to head south, if you are not in a big hurry, you may want to take the scenic route to Mon/Car.
Drive thru The Presidio down to Geary. Geary turns into Pt Lobos and then The Great Hiway to Skyline until it turns into Hwy 1.

We have taken the drive several times and in both directions and it offers some beautiful sights.

Don't miss the unique Filbert Steps, right near Coit Tower, with lovely gardens, a flock of wild parrots, and houses reached only by the stairs.
http://www.sisterbetty.org/stairways/filbertsteps.htm

More photos of the Filbert Steps:
http://sfist.com/2015/05/11/the_step...ou.php#photo-1

Filbert Step is a good suggestion, too. Love the little gardens, statues and some of the houses are amazing.

Another tourism workout we like to do is walk up Kearny to Coit then down the Filbert Steps to Levi Plaza then out on the Embarcadero.

Man...I need a SF fix soon.

BTW... @ Surfergirl....still trying to get over <i>pizza and mojitos</i> #-O

Thanks all.

Any views on Boudin bakery tour with sourdough samples included? :)

Is it worth eat to eat their chowder in the bowls for lunch near there? It seems quite pricey but not sure if it's worth it.

Would also love to try cioppino. thoughts on Tadich vs Sotto mare (or other)?

I love Boudin bread and clam chowder and I must admit it seems like a bargain to me. What prices are you seeing for this?

And yes, the tour is fun, take it.

Oh, I think I see what you are looking at. They have a restaurant with table service and reservations and all but they also have a walk up restaurant where you place your order and get your food and go sit down. So do that with the kids, the prices on the sourdough bread bowls shouldn't be more than $7.00 each. And please, eat the bread, use it to dip in the soup! It drives me nuts when I see people leave the best part behind!

Ah ok that makes sense! The prices for the sit down place were quite expensive. We are happy to do more cafeteria style. I think the girls would enjoy eating the soup out of the bowl (and eating the "bowl", 'natch!).

Thanks again all for the terrific suggestions.

Have a great weekend!

<b><i>It drives me nuts when I see people leave the best part behind!</b></i>
Amen, MonicaRichards!
Some would say it's a sin to do it in SF!

When I think cioppino I still think Scoma's. Mixed reviews of late, tho.

The cioppino at Tadich Grill was a real highlight of my San Francisco trip! So good. What a history that restaurant has! I recommend it.

I also had a sourdough bowl of chowder at Fishermans Wharf. It was rather disappointing. Can't recall the name of the place. Still, it was a nice touristy thing to do!

Your list of things to do is a good one. Just one warning about the cable car ride: the two cable car lines running from Powell Street are quite popular with tourists since they go past Union Square and to Fisherman's Wharf area, so the waiting line to board them can be an hour or more....plan your time accordingly.

As an alternative, if you want to ride a cable car without the huge wait, ride the California Street line. The views are very good and you might actually get a seat.

Here's a map that shows the lines:
http://www.streetcar.org/wp-content/uploads/map.pdf

Note that there are only three cable car lines...the rest on that map are not cable cars.

Thanks for all the info.

With regards to the cable car ride...we will be in Chinatown and will be going to the cable car museum. From there, the plan was to take the Powell-Hyde line to Lombard and then walk to Ghirardelli Square.

>> we will be in Chinatown and will be going to the cable car museum. From there, the plan was to take the Powell-Hyde line to Lombard and then walk to Ghirardelli Square. <<

Don't have your heart set on this -- as hotboy says, the Powell street lines are typically VERY crowded so you often (like most of the time) can't just jump on.

If you want a cable car ride -- instead of from China Town, I assume you'll be visiting the you visit the Ferry Bldg at some point?? From there you could walk the short distance to the California St line, get off at the Cathedral/Taylor St and walk to the museum.

Sorry for garbling that - should say >> I assume you'll be visiting the Ferry Bldg at some point?? <