What to do in San Francisoco

I’m getting married in April, and at the weekend we booked the honeymoon. Gonna be spending a week in San Francisco, and then a week at Lake Tahoe. Will be flying APril 25th.

So what should I be sure to see and do whilst I am in these locations? Where are the best places to eat? anywhere that should be avoided? All tips greatly appreciated.

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

If you like sushi, go to Japantown. There’s a little sushiboat place in the basement of a mall there that served the best sushi I’ve had.

Other than that, the best night I’ve had in SanFran was wondering around one of the seeder parts of town after dark, people watching. All the kooks come out at night, and they’re mostly friendly. There’s all the touristy stuff to do, like the golden gate bridge, sausilito, lombard street, and the coit tower, but to me these are not the essence of the city.

Look for my heart.

I left it there.

If you’re here for a wekk, you’ll get to see a lot of the City, both touristy stuff and other (better) stuff.

Touristy stuff to do: Visit Lombard @ Hyde and Twin Peaks. Fisherman’s Wharf & Pier 39 is a tourist trap, but there are some very nice restaurants and bars there. Pompei’s Grotto and Jack’s spring to mind. If you or the ife-to-be have any interest in baseball, visit SBC Park, which offers some nice views of the bay and even onto the field, even when the whole place is closed down.

I’ll recommend Ebisu sushi, at 9th/Irving for food.

As for other types of stuff… what do you normally like to do? Bar hopping? Because I can surely help you with that. :wink:

A trip to Santa Cruz may be in the cards; it’s a nice, if a bit beat-up surf town 75 miles down the coast. It’s a gorgeous drive along the coast to get there, taking about an hour and a half. There’s a nother way to go that’s faster but not as pretty.

Be sure to have plenty of clothes you can layer up. SF can get pretty chilly. What sort of food, and what sort of restaurant prices are you after? If you are both interested in Science then a visit to the Exploratorium. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is another great museum.

Go to Fisherman’s Wharf, rent bikes (or a tandum) and ride across the Golden Gate bridge. Keep going over to Sausalito and ride the ferry back.

I will never visit San Francisco again without eating at a restaurant called Three Seasons on Steiner St. It’s about a ten minute walk from Fisherman’s Warf, just off–I think–Lombard? the main street that Steiner runs perpendicular to. Yes, it looks pretty ordinary from the outside, but the food is anything but ordinary. Trust me on this one–I won’t bore you with superlatives; just go there and I am sure you’ll agree.

There’s just so much to see and do. I’m sort of new to the area, and have been enjoying doing many of the touristy type things in and around San Francisco (and I owe much of that to my favorite Tour Guide, Troy McClure.) :wink:

Some things we’ve done that I’ve enjoyed:
The Castro - One of the things SF is famous for is it’s gay/lesbian community, and The Castro is the heart of it. It’s a nice part of the city to visit, vibrant and active with some great restaurants.

Haight and Ashbury/Haight District- Another famous part of the city. Lots of neat little shops and boutiques to check out. Magnolia, a hippy/ode to Grateful Dead kind of brewpub has a delicious breakfast, and some pretty good beer. And Amoeba, the world famous record store. And next door, The Trophy Room, a bar with pool tables, great music on the jukebox, and the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.

**Mission Dolores **- Interesting California history.

Coit Tower - Great views of the city and the bay.
Golden Gate Park - All kinds of things, including a herd of buffalo, and a great restaurant nearby -The Beach Chalet.

Union Square - ride a cable car from Fisherman’s Wharf.
**Ghiradelli Square **- Chocolate!
Yerba Buena Gardens - The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. waterfall/memorial is one of my favorite places. The Metreon and the Museum of Modern Art are there as well. Pretty at night.

I could go on and on. San Francisco is such a fun, beautiful city. You’ll have a great time.

There’s also Napa and Sonoma Valley (wine country) not too far North if you are planning a day trip outside of the city.

I should correct myself, the cable car doesn’t actually pick up right near Fisherman’s Wharf, but a little walk away, past Ghiradelli Square, I’m not sure what that area or street is called, though. Whoops.

Also if you do visit the Wharf, don’t miss Musee Mechanique , a great collection of old penny arcade machines and the like. And, get yourself a crab or shrimp sandwich, or clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl (or all 3!) from one of the crab stations. Delicious!

Alcatraz is interesting, but if you don’t buy tickets in advance, don’t expect to make it to the island. It usually sells out.

And Lombard Street, the “crookedest street in the US” is fun to drive down.

Boudin Bakery

The bread of the Gods.

Drive to the top of Mount Tamalpais. This is very popular due to the incredible views. It won’t be the season for fog, but if there is any, it’s an added bonus to see it from above.

Visit the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Drive to Rodeo Beach. The road that gets you there takes you up the north side of the Golden Gate, and you get to see a great view of San Francisco which has been used many times in commercials and tv shows.

From Rodeo Beach you can hike up into the hills and see more great views and abundant plant life, including wildflowers. Check with them to see if they have a guided wildflower walk during your stay. If not, hike around anyway.

http://www.nps.gov/goga/pphtml/maps.html

http://www.nrdc.org/greengate/outside/adv4.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/greengate/outside/adventures.asp

Here’s an old thread with links to even older threads.
Be sure to take a map. MapQuest and like programs don’t always know about all the one-way streets, so using automated directions can be impossible.
Be sure to go to the Castro Movie Theatre.

Well, there’s a driving school where you can improve your driving skills. You can do the valet missions and turn the hotel into an asset. There’s that damn RC store. Lots of properties to acquire…

Oh, wait. That’s San FIERRO. My bad.

Tommy’s Joynt. I make it a point to go there whenever I’m in the Bay Area, but I kind of cringe every time I suggest it because—like the Oxford in Missoula—it is definitely not for every taste.

Thansk for the suggestions folks.

Well we won’t be out on the razzle EVERY night but i’d sure appreciate some tips for a night or two :wink:

We only pick up the car at the end of the first week to drive to Lake Tahoe, so we will be relying on public transportation whilst in San Francisco.

Seconded! Also, there’s a good Indian in Ghirardelli Square. The Gaylord, I think. A trip out to the hills and Muir woods was an afternoon well spent out of the city – there are plenty of tourist coach trips. Lori’s diner (chain of 50’s-stylee nostalgic diners) did good breakfasts, especially if you like chilli with your omelette.

I’d love to visit again. I enjoyed just pottering about and soaking up the atmosphere. Good brew pubs, good food to be had and the locals were pretty friendly. The old hippies around Haight/Ashbury had some interesting stories to tell about what they remembered of the 60’s.

Another good bikeriding area is Golden Gate Park, which, by the way, is nowhere near Golden Gate Bridge. There are places that rent bikes near the park, which is a long skinny rectangle running from east to west; the western end fronts the ocean. You can rent your bikes at the eastern end, which is in the Haight Ashbury district, and cruise along the length of the park. Along the way, you can stop at Stowe Lake and rent a rowboat.

You could also walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Exploratorium is a fun science museum.

But keep in mind the key word here is “layering”, because the weather is so changeable, and you can feel chilly in the shade but warm when you go out into the sunshine. In my experience, it’s best to have something like a good sweater that you can tie around your waist, rather than a coat that you have to carry when you need to take it off.

Too bad you’re not going to be there in May. You could run naked through town!