Hello everyone.looking forward to our Northern California trip in about a week. We will begin in San Francisco, hit Napa (briefly), Mendocino, Humboldt Redwood Park and then back to S.F. We have two days before we fly out of S.F. and want to visit Golden Gate Park again. We have been to S.F. many times. My question is .......

What is your absolute best day spent at Golden Gate Park look like? I hear on Sundays there is swing dancing near the DeYoung Museum.I am a terrible excuse for a dancer having four left feet, but I do love to watch it. We have never rented bikes there. Where is the best place to do that? What else tickles your fancy?

Also any recommendations for. Great cheap eats in S.F. would be wonderful.

Thanks all. I appreciate your words of wisdom.

Without knowing what you mean by "cheap", Brickhouse Cafe on Brannan has great American Food for very reasonable prices. It's actually a bar, but this is not typical bar food (the family that owns the bar owns the boat that does the fishing and the farm that raises the cattle). The hamburger ($12) is the best around.

Not sure when on the calendar you are looking at this, but be aware that the huge Outside Lands music festival is in Golden Gate Park the weekend of August 7-9 (Elton John is the top headliner this year). It is sold out and draws about 60K people per day, so there is a lot of extra traffic to and around the park on those days. The part of the park that will be blocked off (including in the week leading up to the festival) is around Hellman Hollow from the center toward the western end.

My best day in Golden Gate Park is always a weekday--I find weekends a little too crowded for my taste, especially in the best-known areas. However, if you have no choice but to be there on a weekend, it's still one of the best places to spend a day in the city.

I would start with the Japanese Tea Garden (free MWF 9-10 am; a few dollars other times). Early is best there because of the evocative mood when few others are in the garden with you. End that visit with a cup of tea and some cookies at the teahouse. Then pop over to the DeYoung tower for a free, spectacular view of the city from the 9th floor (museum entry fee not required). If you are so inclined, pay for entrance and visit the museum galleries. The current Turner exhibit is fascinating.

Then I would choose between the Conservatory of Flowers and the Botanical Garden. The latter is bigger and has an array of areas to visit; the Conservatory is showier, in a historic glass building.

Walk from there past Stow Lake and then make your way west toward the ocean. It's a long walk (3 miles?) but perhaps you'll have bikes with you, which will be much faster (you can rent them on Haight right by the park, http://www.goldengateparkbikerental.com/, but there are other places as well). You can route yourself past the grazing bison if you're interested.

I love to take a picnic lunch to the lawn at the Dutch Windmill for a relaxing time out of the wind (which can be important, depending on the fog situation). Alternatively, you could have lunch nearby at the Beach Chalet, an informal restaurant still in the park, right across from Ocean Beach.

This itinerary should take most of the day, but if you want more you can peruse the park's web site, http://sfrecpark.org/parks-open-spac...te-park-guide/. You might also consider spending a couple hours on an SF City Guides walking tour (free; donation suggested). They run several in the park, but I've only done the Tea Garden tour (twice). http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=105
http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=102
http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=135

Have a great day!

Aprillilacs- thank you. That is exactly what I was hoping for. Most of the things you mentioned were on our list all ready. I love the idea of a picnic near the Dutch Windmill and the walk past Stow Lake. We had planned to visit theTurner exhibit. We are watching the movie Mr. Turner this week as prep. Although Hollywood is rarely historically accurate, we thought it might make the exhibit more interesting to our kids. Thank you again for the wonderful info.

Sf7307- thanks for the Brickhouse Cafe suggestion. We always appreciate good eats and if we can get delicious and under $80 for the four of us, that is a plus.

Ms_go- although we are definitely music fans, I am pleased to say we will be there the weekend prior, so hopefully there will only be the normal weekend crowds.

Anybody know if they still have the swing dancing on Sunday's near the DeYoung?

Looks as though they still do -here's their contact info:

http://www.lindyinthepark.com/contact/

R5

I've never been to the swing dancing, but their website seems to indicate it's still on, on Sundays, 11-2, between the De Young and the north entrance to the music concourse. http://www.lindyinthepark.com/

I thought the film Mr. Turner was one of the most boring films I've ever seen--it was all I could do to stick with it to the end--but it did provide good background for the exhibit, which I then saw the following week. Not sure how old your kids are, but good luck keeping them interested in it.

Thanks for the swing link. I can't wait to check it out.
Sorry to hear Mr. Turner was less than stellar. We'll give it a go anyway and just see what happens. Aren't you supposed to suffer for art?

Agree that weekdays in the Park are nice because they are slightly less crowded (although in summer tourist season the emphasis is on "slightly"), but an advantage on Sundays, in addition to the dancing, is that some of the major roads in the Park are closed to cars, which makes bike riding there nicer then.

We live up in the hills above Haight, within walking distance of the Park, so it is a frequent strolling destination. Whenever we are in the Park on Sundays, we make a point of stopping by the dancing. Last weekend there was the smallest number of dancers I've seen for a while, but it was hot, and maybe everybody's off on their own summer vacations. I've only actually joined in the dancing myself once or twice (they teach you), but I love to watch it. The dancers are from just about every age and ethnicity - somehow just watching such a varied group of people having fun represents the very best of city life to me.

The AIDS memorial grove is very pretty and worth a walk through when you're on the eastern side of the park, where the Conservatory, Academy of Sciences, etc. are. On Saturdays and Sundays there is often a small art show with art for sale in the area in front of the bandstand between the de Young and the Academy of Sciences.

9th Ave. just outside the park next to the Botanical Garden (walking distance from the de Young, Japanese Tea Garden and so forth) has a lot of good relatively inexpensive restaurants, all in the first block right next to the park. I like these:

Nopalito - not-the-usual Mexican food
Marnee Thai - um, Thai
Park Chow - casual pub food in a pleasant space
La Boulange - bakery
Ebisu - sushi/ Japanese (more expensive)

Maybe we'll see you at the dancing on Sunday! ;->

Yes, there is swing dancing and Golden Gate park orchestra at 1 pm on Sundays, you can sit on the benches between DeYoung and Academy of Sciences.

Tickets to DeYoung also give you admission to the Legion of Honor on the same day.

https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/exhi...sh-works-paper

From the Tea Garden, walk to Stow Lake and then up Strawberry Hill passing Chinese Pavillion on the way out. Great views at the top of Strawberry Hill.

Thanks for the additional advice. I really appreciate your time and effort. We are currently about halfway through our week and enjoying Humboldt Redwood State Park. It has been an amazing four days. We are all humbled by the variety and beauty Northern California is showing us and are very much looking forward to our days in San Francisco before heading home.

NorCalif - Yes, yes, yes the harmonious diversity of San Francisco is always a pleasure to take in. We are very much looking forward to swing in the park. Many thanks for the restaurant suggestions as well.

Dayenu- I wish we had time for Legion of Honor. If I am remembering correctly, it has an amazing Rodin collection. We were last there about 4 years ago. Sculpture moves me in a way that most other art does not. If I could put time in a bottle......

Debitnm- thank you. We have a lot to work with now. I think we could spend two days at Golden Gate and not see everything we'd like. I don't believe we've ever crested Strawberry Hill.