My favorite spots in the city by the bay for first-time visitors and locals alike!
This will be the first of many in a California blog series because I am feeling a little homesick after several years abroad <3
I was born and raised an hour from San Francisco, so it was always “my city,” and I have seen it transform so much over the years! I have lived just a short day trip away my whole life, and so still enjoy seeing it as a kinda local/ kinda tourist.
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SF as we call it for short, is a little bit of everything. The city is lined by a body of water on both sides, is among the hilliest cities out there, has vibrant multicultural neighborhoods and a huge gay scene, was a historical spot for immigrants to the western US, and has the infamous former Alcatraz prison. What you have heard on the news is also true, SF sadly battles with lots of homelessness while somehow having some of the richest tech companies on Earth, giving the city lots of inequality.
All this being said, it is a city you could spend a lifetime exploring, but here are just some places to start for 3 days and 3 nights in this city.
The city is fairly connected by public transportation but this itinerary also requires you to be willing to do lots of walking and biking and the occasional Uber!
NOTE: I am a very active, quick moving traveler that prefers to see a lot in a little time and prioritize outdoors over museums or sitting down for meals. If you consider yourself a more lax person (or have gotten exhausted in trips with me!), I would do about 50-70% of everything I am recommending each day ;) or split these things over 5-6 days!
WHAT TO BRING AND WEAR
Rain is fairly predictable throughout the winter months, but the rest of the year can surprise you with fog and wind. Even if it is a beautiful summer day, I would bring a comfortable jacket and if you wear shorts, a pair of pants to change into for the evening. Comfortable walking shoes are a must, it gets hilly out here!
WHERE TO STAY
Thanks to being fairly local and having San Francisco-based friends, I have never had to stay the night on my dollar here. That being said, the most affordable I can find are the San Francisco hostels which are top-rated, very well located, and have dorm beds starting at $50 a night, a deal by CA standards.
GETTING AROUND
Take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), Muni (light rail), and buses easily throughout the city. You can buy a Clipper card for $3 which will work for transit throughout the city.
To move short distances and assuming you get a comfortable weather day, I’ve also recommended quite a few stretches of biking in flatter areas. Lyft has bikeshare docks throughout the city costing $4.00/ 30 min ride or $15 for a day pass! It works easily with the Lyft or Clipper app.
To get longer distances, you can also take the Flixbus, Amtrak, or CalTrain.
DAY ONE: City Center, Chinatown, the Waterfront, and Golden Gate
Your first day is about getting your bearings. You want to start by seeing some of the most iconic landmarks.
Union Square - this is the shopping and commercial center of the city, and in Christmastime has the huge tree and an ice rink for lots of holiday cheer. Like the downtown of many cities, it is more of a symbolic place with lots of malls and name brands, so if you are over the shopping vibe you can just check it off the list and continue onward. Union Square also has a station for the iconic cable cars that once defined public transportation in this hilly city.
Chinatown- just walk a few blocks up from Union Square, you will find yourself in one of the biggest Chinatowns in the world outside of China! This has always been one of my favorite neighborhoods in all of California, despite not being a big fan of Chinese cuisine. Take in the colors, smells, and red lanterns that cover this bustling city blocks, and do not leave without buying a bag or two of treats from The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie factory.
Market Street- now you are getting into the financial district, which is evident from the wide roads and tall skyscrapers around you. The Salesforce Tower and Bank of America building are among the tallest, and the Transamerica building has a well-known pyramid shape that defines the SF skyline. Have a short stroll down this picturesque, brick-lined street and head towards the waterfront.
The Embarcadero and Ferry Building. Head straight towards the building with the clock tower and enjoy the gorgeous view of the Bay Bridge. (Don’t worry, the famous Golden Gate is coming up!) Eat lunch inside the Ferry Building, where there is a market with a bunch of local vendors and fresh produce. From here, you will want to either take a 30 minute stroll or better yet a short and easy bike ride with a bikeshare down to Pier 39. There is a big wide sidewalk along the whole waterfront, so don’t worry about cars!
Enjoy the touristy Pier 39. This is one of the most touristic parts of the city, with classics like Hard Rock Cafe and fun museums for kiddos. If you are looking for more free ways to enjoy the ambiance here, walk along the pier to see the sea lions, check out the tasty and cute ways they prepare sourdough loafs at Boudin bakery. Once you have gotten your fill of the tourism, you can hop back on the bike to Ghirardelli Square.
Walk or bike down to Ghirardelli Square. Yup, just like the chocolates! If you aren’t really into chocolate, you can probably skip this spot as it is all pretty commercialized. This is also another point where cable cars leave from. If the line is short, hop on a cable car and head up to Lombard Street. Otherwise, take the short walk up to this next landmark.
Visit the steep and twisty Lombard Street to take the iconic photo. This single block of Lombard street has to be among the most photographed in the world, as it weaves back and forth due to the steep angle of the street. Once you have got your photo and enjoyed the views, walk or take transit back down to the waterfront to continue onward. Bike or walk through the beautiful parks in Fort Mason to eventually get out to the Palace of Fine Arts.
Enjoy the Palace of Fine Arts. You must spend at least 30 minutes- 1 hour strolling the grounds of this palace, a beautiful and free open-air structure that was made for the World Fair in the 20th century. Continue onwards to Crissy Field, a big grassy space for sailors and kiteboarders, a good spot for picnics with friends or running or biking along the water front. If this itinerary is according to plan, you should be getting here in the late afternoon or early evening and hopefully get some sunshine!
Watch the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Now, if you want to walk or bike across the bridge, thats up to you! You will probably enjoy even more taking photos with this beautiful red-orange bridge BEHIND you. To get the hands down best shot of the bridge, you will need to walk about a mile from Crissy Field up to the old abandoned forts along the Golden Gate Overlook. If you only take one photo on your whole trip, this should be it!
To end the night, go out in the Marina District for fun bars and nightlife. This place is full of young professionals, which means all the millennial spots you can imagine!
DAY TWO: The Hippie Side of the City, Golden Gate Park, and Twin Peaks
This day is going to be active with a large part in the park and along the"Great Highway" where there are limited food options. Prepare accordingly by eating a good breakfast and packing some snacks and lunch you can pick up at any Safeway or Trader Joes grocery store.
Head to Haight and Ashbury - the neighborhood at the heart of the hippie movement in the 1960s. Although there is not one place to see in particular, you can enjoy the funky thrift shops, record stores, and relics of the Summer of Love. The neighborhood will let you out perfectly into Golden Gate Park, where you will spend the majority of the day!
See the DeYoung Museum OR California Academy of Sciences. If you prefer more history and the arts, you will probably enjoy the DeYoung Museum. I got to see King Tut's tomb on exhibit many years ago! If you prefer the natural sciences and want to learn about the state's rich biodiversity, the Academy of Sciences is probably your best bet. You could easily spend upwards of 3 hours in these spots, but I recommend capping it at 2 hours as the day is busy!
See the Botanical Garden OR Conservatory of Flowers. Just slightly farther down the park, you can check out one of these natural spaces with tickets running around $10. The Conservatory of flowers would be my top pick because the interior is just gorgeous. Plan for a 1 hour stop at either of these.
Bike through the entire park. Time to find a nearby bikeshare dock! Golden Gate Park is super duper long and downhill all the way to Ocean Beach at the end, so just find a bike rental and wheel on down towards the beach without a sweat. Before you leave the park entirely, pedal or stroll through Queen Wilhelmina Garden, a pretty spot with Dutch windmills and tulips just across the street from the beach.
Enjoy Ocean Beach. If you are lucky, hopefully you can nail a sunny and/or hot day at this beach, because it really is typically a chilly spot with even colder waters. If you haven't had time to eat, you can finally rest your feet and watch the waves or people watch. There is a surf scene here, but Ocean Beach is one of the most complex and difficult and unfriendly waves in California, so I would not recommend to most people.
After getting your beach time, you will wanna stroll a tiny bit further south to the Outer Sunset District, the neighborhood that runs all along the beach. Orient yourself towards Judah Street, an area with plenty of fun cafes and stores and where you can catch the light rail.
Take the MUNI to the Mission District. More time to chill, as it will take approximately 45 minutes to cut across the city on the light rail then the BART subway. Get directions to either 16th Mission or 24th Mission BART station, either of which will spit you out in the middle of this beautiful gem of the city.
"The Mission" is a grungier part of the city, but not necessarily unsafe especially during the day. If you see lots of folks living in the streets here or anywhere in SF for that matter, it is definitely really sad to see but just remember they are a big fabric of this city as well and we are all just humans. For context, the Mission has long been a predominantly Latino community but has rapidly gentrified in the last 15 years, affecting many residents for the worst but also creating investment in community projects.
One very visible community project is beautiful murals! Clarion Alley is full of colorful messages with social justice themes, and Balmy Alley is my personal favorite. You also have to get some kind of Latin American dish somewhere -- whether you are craving a California style burrito, a Salvadorean pupusa, tacos estilo Yucatan, Guatemalan or Venezuelan food etc. etc.-- this is your spot! You will find the greatest density of Latino population and restaurants along 24th Street, a lively area decorated in papel picado just like the motherland :)
Catch the sunset at Mission Dolores Park. Take your dinner to-go and head up to Mission Dolores park to watch the sunset like a local. This hilly grassy park faces the water and the tall buildings of downtown, so it is truly the best way to soak in this city. Pack in a few cans of beer if you want to perfect the vibe and hopefully get a perfect pink sunset.
Go out in the Castro District. Once it is dark, you will probably want to leave the urban Mission district for the more quaint area of the Castro: the heart of gay culture in California, and one of the first gay neighborhoods in the country. Even if you are not on the spectrum, you will appreciate the abundance of color and rainbows, nightlife, and the iconic Castro theatre.
Be cautious in the city after dark and preferably use Uber and stay in lit areas.
DAY THREE: Choose your own adventure
There are more than enough ways to fill a third (or fourth or fifth!) day in the city.
Visit Alcatraz Island.
At one point the iconic home of the nation's top criminals, Alcatraz was believed to be inescapable, and yet some prisoners did anyways! This is such a fun, interesting excursion and lets you see the city from the water on the ferry ride to and from. (As a "local" myself, I actually never visited Alcatraz until I was 20 -- oops!)
See the Painted Ladies and the more upscale residential neighborhoods.
A beautiful, albeit hilly, area to explore! This row of homes known as the Painted Ladies became instantly recognizable after being in the opening credits of the Full House TV series.
Visit Civic Center Plaza. Here is the political center of the city, with the city hall and opera house and their stunning architecture. It also is one of the grungier parts of the city and you should be mindful as the surrounding Tenderloin district is one of the highest crime areas in the city and unfortunately faces a big challenge with drug addicts and homelessness.
Hike through Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve. In the heart of the city just behind the UC San Francisco medical school, you can hike through the most beautiful natural area with plants like these towering Eucalyptus! You can combine a short hike here with a visit to the mosaic 16th Avenue Steps.
Visit Japan Town.
While not quite comparable to Chinatown, Japantown is a really fun indoor shopping center full of Japanese goods and foods, framed by a beautiful towering pagoda.
Walk or bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's pretty incredible but a long distance, so I wouldn't recommend walking all the way across, both ways, unless you are looking for that and have the time. The bridge’s name refers to being the literal gateway to the west once California became a state in 1850. Don't forget to bring a windbreaker!
Go to a Giants Game. The SF baseball team has pretty cheap nosebleed seats and a beautiful view of the water behind.
Hike around Lands End and Sutro Baths. Nestled between Ocean Beach and the Golden Gate Bridge, Lands End is a natural area with cliffs you can hike around, and ruins of an old public bath house that you can climb and take pictures on.
Visit Coit Tower.
This 210 foot tower is an another more residential but beautiful part of the city. You may want to pay to go up and see the views, but I think the views are better from the ground (considering SF hills means you already get lots of aerial views of the city!)
See more museums. SF MoMA, Cable Car Museum, Asian Art Museum are just a few.
Watch day turn to night at Twin Peaks viewpoint. Located next to Mount Sutro tower, the tall radio tower in the middle of the city, this is considered for many the best 360 view of San Francisco. Most folks drive up the windy road to the top, so this might be somewhere you need to Uber.
IN SUM
PHEW! That is just uncovering the surface of San Francisco, sorry if I left out anyone’s favorite spots in the city. Comment below if you think there is something major I am missing.
Considering the hills, traffic, one-way roads, and crazy geography of the city, I genuinely think It can be more enjoyable to see on public transportation than renting and driving a car. Hope you enjoyed this little guide and hit me up if you’re ever in my area, in the chance I am, around too ;)
