Must see in San Francisco (Corona, Napa: where to stay, for sale, rentals)

[phillies2011]

Hey, I'm sorry as I know there must have been a thread like this in the past, but I couldn't find one.

I'll be in San Francisco for a few days and although there's a lot of info on tourism sites and what not, I would love to get a local's perspective. If you only had a few days in San Francisco, what is an absolutely must see? I'm up for whatever so feel free to suggest anything, whether it be a well known tourist trap like alcatraz or some totally unknown destination. I'm just looking for your personal favorites.

[mbover]

Alcartraz is great but i would book about a month in advance to get tickets, You cannot just buy tickets on day.
We enoyed the bridge to bridge boat trip and the hop on hop off bus.
If you can plan it in a baseball game at at&t park is awesome.
Hope this gives you a few ideas.
A Go card can help save you some money but also has a great list of items to do
San Francisco Attractions Pass - Go San Francisco® Card

Hope you have a great time.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by phillies2011

Hey, I'm sorry as I know there must have been a thread like this in the past, but I couldn't find one.

I'll be in San Francisco for a few days and although there's a lot of info on tourism sites and what not, I would love to get a local's perspective. If you only had a few days in San Francisco, what is an absolutely must see? I'm up for whatever so feel free to suggest anything, whether it be a well known tourist trap like alcatraz or some totally unknown destination. I'm just looking for your personal favorites.

San Francisco is very compact, so it's easy to see a good chunk of it in a few days. I would recommend (not in order)...

Lombard Street - Famous curvy street, great views
Golden Gate Park - Huge, google to see what interests you, or you can just walk or rent some bikes
Ferry Building Farmers Market - Saturday is the best day to go 8am to 2pm
Crissy Field - Great views of Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz in a very nice neighborhood
Cable Cars - Ride the cable cars, they cost $5, but think of it as a short city tour
Fisherman's Wharf - Very touristy, but it's still a fun area to visit, you can't come here and not go
Twin Peaks - Highest point in SF, great 360 degree views
Bike from SF to Sausalito and take ferry back - Lots of bike rentals around Fisherman's Wharf
Walk some districts - You can walk from Union Square to Chinatown to North Beach (Little Italy) to Fisherman's Wharf very easily and going by foot you get a much better feeling for the different areas.
Coit Tower - Another good viewing point, I think it's $5 or $6 to go inside
Muir Woods - Beautiful Redwood forest

Yelp.com is a good resource for either finding restaurants or checking restaurants. San Francisco has more restaurants per capita than even NYC, however that doesn't mean they are all good. If you see a restaurant, type it in on your phone, "XYZ San Francisco Yelp"

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by mbover

Alcartraz is great but i would book about a month in advance to get tickets, You cannot just buy tickets on day.
We enoyed the bridge to bridge boat trip and the hop on hop off bus.
If you can plan it in a baseball game at at&t park is awesome.
Hope this gives you a few ideas.
A Go card can help save you some money but also has a great list of items to do
San Francisco Attractions Pass - Go San Francisco® Card

Hope you have a great time.

Good suggestions. I would also add Chinatown and then a boat ride to Sausalito, GREAT city. If you could make it, Napa/Sonoma is wonderful as well. Ferry building is cool (you can take the ferry to Sausalito), lots of cool food stores and one of my favorite burger joints, Gott's Roadside.

[ServoMiff]

What are you up for? Rarely do people mean "anything" when they say anything - especially when it comes to San Francisco.

Everything you've gotten recommendations so far are pretty touristy other than Twin Peaks. Here's one less touristy agenda suggestion:

Take the N-Judah train from downtown out to Ocean Beach in the morning and catch the surfers
Take an Uber or Cab from there up to the Cliff House restaurant and get a super nice brunch
Take Muni bus back into Golden Gate Park and take a jog around Kezar Stadium, the first home of the SF 49ers
Take the 37 bus (or walk if you're really in shape) up to Twin Peaks and/or Corona Heights Park for awesome 360 degree views of the city
Take Muni or Uber/Taxi into the Mission District and grab some dinner and awesome craft beer at Pi Bar, with a quick BART ride down to 16th & Mission to get some "secret breakfast" ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe

Other possible suggestions:

-Walk Haight st - see all the tourists/hippies/street kids - get offered dope on each block
-Visit the Tenderloin Museum - terrible neighborhood with an interesting past. Just opened.
-Take the L train out to the zoo
-last weekend of every month is a giant flea market on Treasure Island - great views of the city and very interesting stuff for sale (not your typical arts&crafts market, though there are a few typical booths there)
Science center and De Young art museum - this can easily take a full day and they're across from each other

[treedroppings]

Don't forget the epic stairways on Lyon and Broadway!

[green papaya]

buy a sandwich at Molinari's Deli in North Beach, SF, then after lunch take a hike up to Coit Tower.

explore Chinatown, visit the Chinese Historical Society Museum 965 Clay st. [free admission]

go over to the next block and visit the SF Cable Car Museum & gift shop on 1201 Mason st & Washington [free admission]

go on a Bay Cruise or go to Angel Island for a picnic , hike and to see the historical Immigration Station museum [Ellis Island of the West] Angel Island tickets are always easy to get, no need to make a reservation. They have bicycle rentals and the trail goes around the island about 5 miles.

[DMenscha]

Go to a Giants game! Just based on your nom de internet.

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

Go to a Giants game! Just based on your nom de internet.

Haha getting giants tickets was the first thing I did.

Wow, so many responses. Thanks so much everyone, these are exactly the type of suggestions I was looking for. Haha so many great ideas I think I might need more time.

A couple of follow up questions, I got a suggestion for napa and a couple of beach suggestions. While I'm more of the urban explorer type, my wife would appreciate a couple of days that were more relaxing in nature, so some time on the beach and a trip to napa seems like a good idea.

Any particular napa tips? A tour, a specific winery to visit, where to stay there etc?

And as far as the beach goes, we're aware that san Fran isn't southern California but what is the best beach town within an hour or so by car? Just looking for a place where we can relax in some sand with some nice views and maybe some type of interesting waterfront area with shops/entertainment/dining.

Thanks again to everyone that posted.

[bmw335xi]

You can see nature and beach at the same time. Go to Stinson Beach (weather is generally much warmer than SF) and right in Stinson Beach, you can hike the Steep Ravine Trail (just google it), beautiful, beautiful hike through the forest. Stinson Beach is less than an hour away.