Visiting soon: where to spend time and money (San Francisco, Oakland: rental car, rental)

[yakimono]

Midwestern couple needing a jump on spring is going to be in SF and environs soon.

If you have recommendations or avoids for any of these activities, please fill us in!

• Places to stay -- WITH kitchenette (neighborhoods and/or establishments)
• Casual hikes
• Tasty food restaurants (moderately priced)
• Fun mini golf
• Must-see museums
• Parking tips
• Afternoon tea at fancy hotel
• Window shopping
• Offbeat stuff
• Gardens; botanical or other
• Your favorite place(s) to bring visitors

[AnythingOutdoors]

Avoid the Tenderloin.

California Academy of Sciences and de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park are must sees. Plus, lots of other great things to explore and see in Golden Gate Park, such as the Botanical Gardens and Japanese Tea Garden. You could easily spend 2+ days in this area.

The Legion of Honor museum is also recommended. Same with the Presidio, which should include a walk on the Golden Gate Bridge.

I'm not a shopper, cannot help in that department.

SF has a problem with tourists' vehicles being targets for theft. It doesn't matter if your rental car has CA plates, they know which vehicles have the good stuff to steal, and they can break in and clean it all out in under 60 seconds. AVOID leaving anything in your car, ever. Luggage in your trunk is not safe -- if your hotel room isn't ready when you arrive, or you have time to explore after checking out, have the hotel hold your luggage while you're out and about. AVOID leaving ANYTHING visible in the vehicle, no sunglasses, no grocery bags, nothing. It's a real problem, don't be a victim.

[Ruth4Truth]

RE: places to stay---we need your budget parameters.

Gardens: Golden Gate Park, and within the vast park: The plant conservatory (it's huge!), and the Japanese Tea Garden. If you go to the park, I recommend having lunch nearby at the Cinderella Bakery, on Balboa (runs parallel to the park about 2 blocks north of it) mid-block past 6th Ave. It's where the local Russians hang out. Russian food for lunch (tasty, mid-priced), and you can get special treats to go for later in the day, from the bakery. They have a Russian-style cheesecake which is fabulous, and you could get some piroshki (little meat pies, either fried or baked) to munch on later in the day, or to heat in the microwave in your hotel kitchenette for dinner, or for breakfast the next day. The baked ones are made with a nice crisp, flaky dough.
https://goldengatepark.com
http://cinderellabakery.com

Casual hikes: Twin Peaks will give you a view of the entire city from the top. I also hear Mt. Sutro is good for hiking in the city. Otherwise, I'd recommend you drive across the GG Bridge to Marin Headlands park on the other side. There you can take a choice of trails that go through the park, including one that goes to a beach on the opposite side of the park. Depends on how long a hike you want to do.
https://sfrecpark.org/Facilities/Fac...Twin-Peaks-384
https://www.nps.gov/goga/marin-headlands.htm

Visit the Presidio, the old fort from the days of Mexican rule. The grounds are beautiful, it's a historical site, and from there you could even walk partway across the GG Bridge or rent bikes to bike across and back. It's quite the experience to view the city from the mid-point of the bridge.
https://www.presidio.gov

GG Park and the Presidio could be done in an afternoon, as they're both on the west side of town. The Presidio is on the NW side. Leave time to walk the bridge at least part way.

Chinatown is great for window shopping. Exotic stuff (I don't think there's much Asian-themed consumer goods in the Midwest). I don't recommend the restaurants in Chinatown, if you want to try Chinese, but there are one or two good ones just outside of Chinatown, near the main entrance on Grant. There are also some on Clement Street, near the Presidio. Your partner might enjoy shopping for beautiful exotic (and very affordable) dishware sets in C-town. .

Off-beat stuff: Check out this video first. If this sounds interesting, you can take this walk to see the parrots of Telegraph Hill. SF has all kinds of intriguing, out-of-the-way walking paths that cut through neighborhoods, that can be a fun way of getting to know the city. At the top of Telegraph Hill is Coit Tower, which will give you a magnificent view of the Bay.
https://www.amazon.com/Parrots-Teleg...tv%2C97&sr=1-2

Lots of other "off-beat stuff". Walking through the Fillmore District and window-shopping there. Lots of funky shops (hopefully most have survived the Covid restrictions). You can get there by catching the California Street cable car from Market Street, if you're in the vicinity. It will take you through Nob Hill, one of SF's poshest nabes, cuts through Chinatown, and passes through the Fillmore. DO NOT ride the Powell St. cable car. It's usually jammed with tourists, there's usually a long waiting line, and you can get stranded at the other end, again due to the long waiting lines to get back on. The California st. car is used by locals.

The Fairmont Hotel downtown has a long-standing afternoon tea tradition, but perhaps due to Covid, it's not offering tea at this time.

You could try this:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/crown-and-c...+afternoon+tea
This is near Japantown, which is at one end of the Fillmore District, which I mentioned earlier. You could combine a stroll through the Fillmore with your tea-time stop. The colorful shops are a few blocks north of Japantown, along Fillmore.

The Japanese Tea Garden in GG Park normally has a tea concession, too. I suppose you should check in advance all potential tea venues, to see if they're open. The Fairmont not offering theirs was a surprise.

Please let us know how you enjoyed your trip, when you return.

[Ruth4Truth]

P.S. You REALLY should nail down your hotel reservations ASAP. Everything books up months in advance. That's especially true for summer, and spring-break season (you said you're going "soon", so I'm guessing March/April.)

[nj526]

If comfortable driving across the Bay Bridge, recommended the University of California Botanical Gardens in Berkeley and hiking in the East Bay Hills (Redwood Regional, Tilden)

[Teacher Terry]

I enjoyed taking a tour of both Alcatraz and Angel Island. I also took a city tour that was great. Fisherman’s Wharf is fun to go through the shops and have lunch.

[Ruth4Truth]

The Cable Car Museum and the nearby Cable Car Barn, which displays the underground workings of the cable cars, are both very interesting historically and in terms of engineering/mechanics. A uniquely San Francisco thing.

San Francisco Cable Car Museum

https://sfcablecar.com/barn.html

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by nj526

If comfortable driving across the Bay Bridge, recommended the University of California Botanical Gardens in Berkeley and hiking in the East Bay Hills (Redwood Regional, Tilden)

OP, if. you have a day or half day to spare to go to the East Bay, this -^^^ is a good idea. The UC Botanical Gardens focus on plants native to California, which is interesting. The location is on UC property up in the hills. Hopefully, your phone GPS can guide you.

Then over in the Oakland hills (freeway travel involved, from Berkeley) is a large redwood forest. If you're coming all the way from the mid-west, you really should see at least one redwood forest. There are none in San Fran itself, so you have to leave the city and go north, south or east to Oakland. The Oakland redwood park will be far less crowded than the closest one to SF on the other side of the GG Bridge, in Marin County.

Both the GG Bridge and the East Bay bridge have toll booths, btw.

[ccm123]

In terms of museums, my favorites include::

Oakland Space Museum, reachable by car.

Oakland Museum of California, reachable by car or via BART (two blocks from Lake Merritt BART.) One of the most underrated museums, many exhibits about California history and culture.

Computer History Museum, in Mountain View (Silicon Valley.)

[ccm123]

In San Francisco, I would steer clear of the Hunter’s Point/Bayview and Tenderloin neighborhoods. Those are notorious for criminal activity and sketchy. As a tourist, you probably have no reason to go into Hunter’s Point/Bayview, but you could potentially unknowingly venture into the Tenderloin, if you’re not careful.

If you like Mexican food, there are a lot of excellent and relatively inexpensive taquerias in the Mission District. A notable one is El Farolito. You can take BART to the 24th Street & Mission BART station and walk there. There are other taquerias also in the area. A local tasty favorite entree is the “Mission style” burrito.