My wife Cyn and I will be going to SF for the weekend of Jan 25-26th. Any cool must see things going on right now that we might want to catch.
Reccomendations for places to stay and good food also highly appreaciated.
If you want probably the heartiest, cheapest, best breakfast you can find, go to “Moulin Rouge” on the corner of Geary and Larkin.
It’s not fancy, but I was just amazed at how… well, good the breakfast was. Just ask them to make a stronger pot of coffee, and they will. The usual stuff is a little watered down.
If you don’t have a room yet I suggest going to expedia.com and doing a search on hotels. Sometimes you can get really good deals. A good deal in SF, after taxes and parking, is anything under $125 a night. Parking is a nightmare, $20-30 a night is common, and pretty much forget about finding an empty place on the street.
The Holiday Inn on Van Ness and California has worked well for us in the past. It’s right next to the trolly line and you can pick up a Muni pass in the hotel.
It’s only a short, (or really, really long depending on the traffic) drive to Napa Valley, well worth it if you haven’t been there.
The town is an absolute hoot, enjoy.
Scott’s Seafood in the Embarcadero is pretty damn tasty! My wife makes me take her there whenever we are in the area.
Don’t buy a car from Ellis Brooks. It is my opinion that they are crooks.
The Tenderloin is always a treat, but not for the faint of heart.
Lots of great museums and Golden Gate park, too.
But if I was you, I would head east to Tahoe, and get a day or two in skiing. Have fun!
The meter’s a little off on the second line, and the I think it’s kind of dicey rhyming “treat” and “heart”. 
Snoop around:
Looks like the whales aren’t going to be nearby until Feb.
And search this forum for “francisco” - lots of tips, I have no idea what you are interested in, so…
Kiku’s of Tokyo (underneath the Hilton) was probably the best meal I’ve ever had.
Be sure to see Alcatraz. It’s an amazing experience.
The Exploratorium is a lot of fun, too. I also loved the cable car museum (taking a ride on one is a must for a tourist).
Alcatraz is worth the trip, but dress warmly. Whatever the temp is on the mainland, be ready for it to be strikingly cooler on the island.
If you like to walk, you will enjoy the town and experiencing it that way. We put on about 10 miles a day hoofing through the area.
We rented a car for one day and did a driving tour that took us through every major area. That was a good thing. A great view of the town can be had by climbing to the top of the Twin Peaks. Just be sure to do so after the fog clears.
There are plenty of places to eat around Union Square. Once you get hungry head there and you are bound to find a tasty place.
The absolute best place to watch the sunset is the Cliff House Restaurant:
http://www.sonic.net/~playland/cliffhouse.html
Take the cable car over to the Buena Vista (the Hyde Street cable car ride is the coolest) and have an Irish coffee. It’s close to Giardhelli Square.
Best regards,
Mooney252
Would you be interested in a hastily assembled DopeFest, or is this more of a romantic couples getaway?
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I thought the tour of Alcatraz Island was fascinating, but I can understand how your wife may not find it a particularly romantic getaway. Wear a warm jacket and walking shoes.
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There are three cable car lines today. All three can be boarded at Market Street, downtown SF’s main drag. The most scenic and exciting is the Powell-Hyde line, a swinging and swaying 3.1 mile jaunt up to Victorian Square.
BTW, don’t confuse cable cars, which are pulled mechanically by a chain under the road, with trolley cars, which are buses that run on electrical wires above the road. SF has both.
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Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s twice as exhilirating (and romantic at night) on foot than it is in a vehicle. A friend of mine proposed to his girlfriend there.
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Take one of Shirley Fong-Torre’s Wok Wiz tours of Chinatown.
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Must-see evening entertainment, a veritable SF institution: Beach Blanket Babylon.
I’m sighing in nostalgia just thinking about these things!
Where to stay the romantic way? Edward II Inn & Suites has charm, location, and won’t bust your budget.
ummm…
cable cars are pulled by cables, not chains.
trolleys are electric busses
coaches are diesel busses
streetcars are electric rail vehicles
SF runs all of these.
There are also jitneys, which is beyound the scope of this discussion.
The famous “painted ladies” victorians (featured on millions of postcards) and located at the intersection of Steiner and Grove streets (Alamo Sq).
We breifly discussed this. Would a Sunday lunch thing be doable for anyone. Heck Vogue if you came and brought soap I bet Cyn would buy some we loved the stuff she ordered from you.
We found a decent priced hotel IIRC the Nob Hill hotel on Hyde. We will arrive fri night and find something fun for sat and a nice dinner somewhere exotic and or romantic. Sunday is a little more flexible and we will prolly be looking to get out of town by 3pm or so to get home at a reasonable hour. Depending on the kindness of Drach’s boss (hee-hee, haw-haw) we may be in early Fri night. Any local dopers who would like to make arrangements to say hi or meet up for a bit please feel free to email me before friday around 2pm.
Wallon your idea of walking the bridge sounds cool…have to ask Cyn tho, shes not much of a fan of cold winy excursions.
I was just there last week, and I agree that the Alcatraz tour was great, and my boyfriend and I did a lot of walking through the neighborhoods. I loved how you could walk 10 blocks and pass through 4 neighborhoods.
We had bad restaurant experiences (well, not bad, but nothing special). The best place we ate at was in Sonoma (we spent about a day visiting wineries).
Well we are here 
Alcatraz was cool Cyn got an alcatraz book, signed by the author. Pier 39 was…pier 39… no surprises there. The hotel has a net connection in the lobby that I am posting from right now. One thing we did stumble upon that nobody mentioned. Some kind of Chineese new year thing going on…Chinatown is one giant street fair (or is that normal). Got all day passes and cruising around on the cable cars all day…
Gonna go kick it in the room for a bit and recover for tonight…what to do in SF on a sat night…the options are limitless…
D’oh I didn’t see your earlier reply until just now. Give us some more warning next time! (Judging from the Raider hysteria going on today though, I think I’m going to stay indoors where it’s safe.) Hope the rest of your stay is fun – sounds like you already covered some fun territory!