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Old 08-05-2013, 09:43 AM
 
68 posts, read 82,555 times
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Hi, we are planning a few vacation days in San Francisco. We have never been to California and are excited for this opportunity and appreciate any advice/input.

So what are some must see/must do/must eat at restaurants in San Francisco? Also recommendations on a safe area to stay?

We enjoy museums, touring historic homes, antiquing, great food and taking in unique to the area experiences. We will have a rental car.

Thank you for your help!
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Old 08-05-2013, 11:22 AM
 
Location: New York City
675 posts, read 1,190,401 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emma2 View Post
Hi, we are planning a few vacation days in San Francisco. We have never been to California and are excited for this opportunity and appreciate any advice/input.

So what are some must see/must do/must eat at restaurants in San Francisco? Also recommendations on a safe area to stay?

We enjoy museums, touring historic homes, antiquing, great food and taking in unique to the area experiences. We will have a rental car.

Thank you for your help!
Emma,

Where are you guys from, and how many people (adults/kids ?) ? I would say, since you will be renting a car, I would definitely suggest a trip to Napa/Sonoma. It's beautiful wine country, and the scenery is just breathtaking. You don't even have to enjoy wine to enjoy the area.

Also, a short ferry ride (25 minutes) from San Francisco to Sausalito is something I always suggest, it's another part of the Bay Area that is just beautiful, and has some great shops and restaurants. You could always drive there as well.

There are great restaurants all over San Francisco, some of them legendary and old fashioned. I always have at least one breakfast at Sears Fine Food. I believe they are around for 75 years now, and serve their famous Swedish Silver Dollar Pancakes, just delicious.

Sears Fine Foods - A San Francisco institution since 1938

Also, in my opinion, San Francisco has the nicest China Town in America, and just check around online for suggestions. I really like R&G Lounge in China Town. And I also like Great Hunan for some great chinese food though the ambience isn't a key thing there. In fact, I prefer Great Hunan.

Home
Great Hunan - Financial District - San Francisco | Urbanspoon

If you like Italian Food, the part of SF famous for Italian Food is called North Beach. I personally don't eat there because I find it too touristy, I haven't found any great restaurants there, though I'm sure some posters here can point you in the right direction.

I always have Italian food in Sausalito, I eat at Angelino's.

Angelino Restaurant | Southern Italy's Cuisine in Sausalito

One place I suggest you visit is San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. Though VERY touristy, it's a really fun place to hang out, there's Pier 39 which has a ton of stores and places to eat (a lot of seafood). Fisherman's Wharf has been around for quite sometime, so there are some legendary restaurants there as well, like Alioto's, from the 1930's I believe.

http://www.aliotos.com/

You can always drive out to "The Cliff House", another legendary SF landmark restaurant. If you do it, I suggest you do it for lunch, because the views are amazing, if you do it at night, you'll be staring at reflections of yourselves.

CLIFF HOUSE: Sutros, Bistro, Terrace Room, Gift Shop

As far as where to stay, I would suggest Nob Hill (If you can afford it), or the Financial District, or Union Square, all relatively safe.

There are all types of museums in SF that are easy to google, so you shouldn't have a problem finding museums that fit your needs. Have a great time in my favorite city !!

Last edited by ttocs99; 08-05-2013 at 11:30 AM..
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Old 08-05-2013, 12:34 PM
 
Location: East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area
23,537 posts, read 24,029,400 times
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For museums, visit the De Young in Golden Gate Park. Well worth the visit.
If you like Japanese food/culture, I recommend visiting SF Japantown (near Geary and Laguna Streets).

I also recommend a walk at Crissy Field, for some great views. Cross the Golden Gate and visit Marin County also.

Welcome to SF and hope you have a nice stay!
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Old 08-05-2013, 04:50 PM
 
1,380 posts, read 2,398,227 times
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I visited last summer. The Palace of Fine Arts is especially beautiful! Parking is more trouble than it's worth in the city. Unless you're planning to visit outlying areas, you may want to skip the car altogether. Also, SF can get very chilly and windy, even when it's super hot in the rest of the country. Pack appropriately. Have fun!
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Old 08-05-2013, 06:05 PM
 
68 posts, read 82,555 times
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ttocs99 - Thank you for all the wonderful information, we greatly appreciate it! We (2 adults) are from the east coast and looking forward to this west coast experience. We had to change our schedule some so it looks like we will only be in San Francisco for 2 1/2 days and then heading to the Monterey Peninsula area for a couple of days. We've taken note of all your great advice on places we could drive and will save that for our next visit!

ccm123 - Thank you for the great recommendations! De Young is now on our list of things to do! :-)

eastmemphisguy - Many Thanks for your thoughtful advice! We will definitely pack jackets now, also we just put The Palace of Fine Arts on our list of things to do and we are now not going to rent a car for the 2 1/2 days we will be in the city. I imagine we can walk or take cabs and you are right that will be easier than trying to navigate a city we have never been to and find parking.

Many Thanks to you all for the great helpful advice and well wishes!
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Old 08-05-2013, 06:07 PM
 
68 posts, read 82,555 times
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Since we are only going to be in San Francisco for 2 1/2 days we have decided to not rent a car for that time period. Is there a nice safe neighborhood that we should stay in that is walkable to a lot of museums/parks/restaurants? Many Thanks!
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Old 08-05-2013, 07:07 PM
 
24,407 posts, read 26,956,157 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emma2 View Post
Hi, we are planning a few vacation days in San Francisco. We have never been to California and are excited for this opportunity and appreciate any advice/input.

So what are some must see/must do/must eat at restaurants in San Francisco? Also recommendations on a safe area to stay?

We enjoy museums, touring historic homes, antiquing, great food and taking in unique to the area experiences. We will have a rental car.

Thank you for your help!
Welcome!

I am sure you will fall in love with San Francisco. It is definitely a unique place!

Hotels: I would recommend Fisherman's Wharf or Union Square. Fisherman's Wharf is touristy, but it's very easy to walk to the best neighborhoods San Francisco has to offer such as Marina District, Pacific Heights, North Beach, Telegraph Hill and Russian Hill. The scenery is also very beautiful around Fisherman's Wharf. You can walk along the water to the Ferry Building where they have a great Farmers Market. If you want a more urban NYC environment book a hotel in Union Square. It is also very easy to walk around to different neighborhoods from here, but you will see lots of homeless people etc. You will border Tenderloin, which is one of the worst neighborhoods. However, it's still relatively safe. This area is the heart of shopping and borders Chinatown and the Financial District. It's also an easy walk to the Ferry Building and public transportation.

Food: What kind of cuisine do you like? We have more restaurants per capita than NYC. Is there a specific type of food you want or perhaps you want to try something entirely new? Pretty much everyone uses Yelp.com, so if you are wondering, hmmm this place looks good, check it out on yelp first.

Sights: You should really walk around and see the city on foot. It is quite easy to do a loop from most areas. Some points of interest... Crissy Field, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Washington Square Park, Union Square Park, Golden Gate Park, The Ferry Building, Alamo Square... there are so many more, but if you visit these POIs, you will also see different kinds of architecture, stores, restaurants etc.
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Old 08-05-2013, 07:08 PM
 
Location: East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area
23,537 posts, read 24,029,400 times
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ttocs9's recommendations of Nob Hill, Financial District or Union Square are good recommendations. They are central locations and have access to good public transit (via Muni) to most areas/attractions of the city.
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Old 08-05-2013, 07:26 PM
 
339 posts, read 516,023 times
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North SF (North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Marina, Russian Hill, Pacific Heights) are pleasant neighborhoods and great to live in, but if you don't visit South SF, you're really missing out on some of the city's most unique neighborhoods.

Mission District is currently the restaurant and nightlife center of SF. Dolores Park on a sunny day is incomparable. A bit sketchy around Mission St., but Valencia and west are perfectly safe. It's a combination latino/hipster/techie neighborhood with endless things to do.

The Castro is SF's historic gay neighborhood and is now quite gentrified (as the gays will do), but still has lots of unique aspects to it.

Haight (especially corner of Haight & Ashbury) was the center of the Summer of Love in '69 and the hippie culture. Still retains a lot of stores dedicated to that lifestyle.
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Old 08-05-2013, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Santa Monica
157 posts, read 218,693 times
Reputation: 230
Don't miss the beautiful Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. It is an outstanding museum surrounded by a golf course and great hiking trails, with unbelievable views of the Golden Gate. From there, it is an easy walk to the ruins of the Sutro Baths, the Cliff House, and Ocean Beach.
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