What to do on a day in San Francisco? (Stockton: real estate, neighborhoods)

[elinyc]

Hi Californians! My sister and I are coming to SF for a few days and we'd like to spend some time exploring. We've both been to SF several times and as such, have done the typical tourist stuff - golden gate park, lombard street, fisherman's wharf, coit tower, union square, Can anybody recommend what other specific areas we should explore? We'd love to find some cute neighborhoods for strolling around, going into shops, beautiful parks, pretty beaches, any particularly nice hiking trails in the city (we don't want to waste time traveling to the areas outside of the city like muir woods), any particularly good restaurants/coffee places we should try? Any and all specific recommendations would be greatly appreciated. By the way, we are staying in the Mission in case that makes a difference. Thank you!

[mayorhaggar]

Ok here's some non-touristy things you can do:


- walk down Valencia in the Mission and look in all the indie bookstores. Then have a picnic in Dolores Park.

- walk down Stockton (not Grant which is very touristy) north of the tunnel in Chinatown to see all the grocery stores mobbed with Chinese people. Pick up some Chinese candy or moon cakes, then keep walking north to North Beach and Washington Square Park. Go to City Lights bookstore at least and buy a Kerouac novel.

- Take the 14 Mission bus down to around Cortland and hike to the top of Bernal Heights Park for nice views. Afterwards you can go to Zante's for a slice of Indian pizza, Emmy's Spaghetti Shack, or Mitchell's Ice Cream.

- Go to Land's End in Lincoln Park in the NW corner of the city and hike the trail along the coastline. Hands down the best hike in the city. Great views of the GG Bridge from way up on a steep cliff. Take the 1 bus to get into the NE corner of the park for the trail start there, or the 38 bus to get to the trail start in the SW corner of the park.

- Another thing to do is take the N-Judah to the end of the line at Ocean Beach and walk north along the coast to the Land's End trail.

- Take BART to Glen Park and wander around its nice little downtown area just west of the station, clustered along Diamond. Also if you go west I think on Bosworth you can go hiking in Glen Canyon Park, it's a weird little scruffy canyon sort of thing.

- Go to Japantown and eat some katsu curry, and go shopping for weird groceries at Nijiya.

[TurboTalon]

Food trucks maybe? I keep wanting to go to one of their events. Wow I feel lazy now.

[humboldtrat]

Walk around the Marina Green and Crissy Field and along the bay. Lots of shops, restaurants and bars. The Exploratorium is no longer at the Palace of Fine Arts. San Francisco's Marina Green and the Presidio Park

[elinyc]

Thank you, all! I'm looking forward to getting a break from these New England winters..

[dmode]

Walk in Pacific Heights and take in the real estate. Start from Filmore and California and start walking north along Filmore until you head to Broadway. Head West on Broadway until you hit Lyon. Then you can take the Lyon steps to Marina or continue to explore Pac Heights along Pacific and Jackson streets. Some unbelievable mansions and old school money

[cre8lite]

eat at the Stinking Rose! not sure if this is still there, but Ghirardelli chocolate in Ghirardelli Square was a nice tour.

[elinyc]

Originally Posted by Jgw1carcar

Since youre from NYC please skip Valencia St and the Mission Dist. Go to all the typical tourist places, youll love it!

I've been to Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower, Sausalito, Lombard Street -- what other touristy stuff do you recommend I see?
Thee Land's End/Presidio hike sounds lovely, so I think we'll plan on that if the weather cooperates.

[ccm123]

Head to the Ferry Building and take a ferry to Sausalito. Can be done in about 2-3 hours, if you have the time.

[elinyc]

Originally Posted by ccm123

Head to the Ferry Building and take a ferry to Sausalito. Can be done in about 2-3 hours, if you have the time.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've already been to Sausalito and looking for something new and within San Francisco if possible.