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Calling all San Franciscans - need some trip guidance (1 Viewer)

BeTheMatch

BeTheMatch

Footballguy
Driving down to SF in July with my wife and 17-year-old son to see a Giants game and spend a couple days in the city.

First off, I see hotels near the stadium are like a grand a night. So that's pretty special. Any recommendations on where to stay? I'm not paying a grand a night for a hotel, so what would be mass transit options to get to the game from a little further away?

Wife went to SF once several years ago and did Alcatraz, etc. But I've never been. Any must-do's for us? How about some places to eat more off the beaten path that won't cost us a million dollars?

Any guidance from the locals (or recent visitors) would be greatly appreciated.

 
Alcatraz is a must 

Wharf is worth a visit 

Eta: woops thought you meant Levi stadium that's horrible

 
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SF is very compact so getting to/from the ballpark from Union Square hotels or even Fisherman's Wharf is pretty easy via streetcar or Uber.  The walk to the ballpark via the Embarcadero is nice especially on game day.

The Alcatraz tour is great-get your tickets early and build your itinerary around it and the Giants game.  On your Alcatraz day, the Wharf is a tourist trap but the Musee Mecanique is a fun way to spend an hour.  I like the Cartoon Art Museum in the same general vicinity.

There are tons of restaurants to choose from depending on your location and culinary tastes.

 
If you want to rent a bike to ride across the Golden Gate bridge, it's best to get an early start before the wind picks up.  The ride from the Wharf is manageable with two moderate hills.  If you approach the bridge from Golden Gate park, the hills are much steeper.

 
Last time was 20+ years ago. Alcatraz was worthwhile. When we went the water got rough enough that our return trip was delayed significantly. You might want to consider this possibility when scheduling. Don't know what it's like now but even though we didn't always know where we were we never felt unsafe.

 
Eephus said:
If you want to rent a bike to ride across the Golden Gate bridge, it's best to get an early start before the wind picks up.  The ride from the Wharf is manageable with two moderate hills.  If you approach the bridge from Golden Gate park, the hills are much steeper.
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We did this when I took the family years ago and loved it. We went through Golden Gate park and then across the bridge. Reward was the awesome fruit pancakes at the Lighthouse cafe. It’s a good bike ride one way. You can either ride or ferry back. Alcatraz is a must. Book early.  Theatre in SF is really good to if it’s opened by up. Book some great dinners, find a play or concert you like. More than enough for. Great weekend

https://yelp.to/fl1hjbZUkmb

 
BeTheMatch said:
Driving down to SF in July with my wife and 17-year-old son to see a Giants game and spend a couple days in the city.

First off, I see hotels near the stadium are like a grand a night. So that's pretty special. Any recommendations on where to stay? I'm not paying a grand a night for a hotel, so what would be mass transit options to get to the game from a little further away?

Wife went to SF once several years ago and did Alcatraz, etc. But I've never been. Any must-do's for us? How about some places to eat more off the beaten path that won't cost us a million dollars?

Any guidance from the locals (or recent visitors) would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
What type of stuff do you most enjoy doing?   Do you like cities?  Nature?  Museums?   Touristy stuff?

What type of food do you most enjoy?

I lived there for awhile and still love SF more than anyplace on earth.  Will put together a list of stuff to see and food to eat.

 
brun said:
Last time was 20+ years ago. Alcatraz was worthwhile. When we went the water got rough enough that our return trip was delayed significantly. You might want to consider this possibility when scheduling. Don't know what it's like now but even though we didn't always know where we were we never felt unsafe.
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There are a lot more homeless and crazy people than there were twenty years ago.  Tourism is important to the local economy so the tourist areas are pretty heavily policed sometimes at the expense of neighborhoods where residents actually live.

I never feel unsafe here but visitors should observe normal urban awareness rules like in any other city.

 
hotels- i haven't checked prices recently, but usually kimpton hotels (Buchannan, and Alton) are reasonable. Sir Francis Drake.  

Do you have points or miles you would want to use (hilton, marriott, etc)

Many fun things to do in GG park. Alcatraz is a good tour. I still like the warf and pier 39. 

Food options are pretty vast.  one of our board members asked me for my favorites several years ago.  She posted my long list, but i cannot find that thread. This might be dated:

Spanish: cha cha cha, b44, picaro, esperpento

French: plouf, bastille, le central, atelier crenn

mexican: la taqueria (is the icon), el farolito, nopalito, 

seafood: tadich grill, sam's, pier 23, hog island, swan oyster depot,

Asian: E&O asian kitchen, yank sing, city view... i am a very big fan of ppq dungeness crab (residential area... excellent crab 5-6 different options), le colonial, slanted door, wing lee (for dim sum)..on lower clement st with many other small places for dim sum

Burmese: Mandalay, B star, burma superstar, 

house of prime rib, harris' 

in general, the ferry building is a fun place to just roam and graze on misc food

edit: for kitchie... the tonga room at the fairmont is fun, overpriced Polynesian.

there is a little alleyway with 5-6 restaurant that has a european feel to it (b44, bastille, plouf, and sam's are right there)

 
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Drunken knight said:
hotels- i haven't checked prices recently, but usually kimpton hotels (Buchannan, and Alton) are reasonable. Sir Francis Drake.  

Do you have points or miles you would want to use (hilton, marriott, etc)

Many fun things to do in GG park. Alcatraz is a good tour. I still like the warf and pier 39. 

Food options are pretty vast.  one of our board members asked me for my favorites several years ago.  She posted my long list, but i cannot find that thread. This might be dated:

Spanish: cha cha cha, b44, picaro, esperpento

French: plouf, bastille, le central, atelier crenn

mexican: la taqueria (is the icon), el farolito, nopalito, 

seafood: tadich grill, sam's, pier 23, hog island, swan oyster depot,

Asian: E&O asian kitchen, yank sing, city view... i am a very big fan of ppq dungeness crab (residential area... excellent crab 5-6 different options), le colonial, slanted door

house of prime rib, harris' 

in general, the ferry building is a fun place to just roam and graze on misc food

edit: for kitchie... the tonga room at the fairmont is fun, overpriced Polynesian.

there is a little alleyway with 5-6 restaurant that has a european feel to it (b44, bastille, plouf, and sam's are right there)
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Awesome list!

 
We stayed in Oakland right by a BART station that we could walk to.  That took us right into the city.  Went to a Giants game and Alcatraz and walked around in between.   The hotel was much cheaper that way and getting around on  Bart was easy.   

I would say Alcatraz is a must.  Get the audio headphones for the self tour.   Definitely worth it.  I think you have to make reservations ahead of time or you may have trouble getting on the boat to get over there.  

 
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Alex P Keaton said:
Burma Superstar?

edit:  just saw the update.  Nice adds to a great list.
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For visitors, I'd recommend the Burma Love downtown location. It's owned by the same people as Burma Superstar and is a block away from the Powell St. cable car turnaround. 

The inner-Richmond location of the original Superstar is off the beaten track of most tourist itineraries.

 
Alex P Keaton said:
What type of stuff do you most enjoy doing?   Do you like cities?  Nature?  Museums?   Touristy stuff?

What type of food do you most enjoy?

I lived there for awhile and still love SF more than anyplace on earth.  Will put together a list of stuff to see and food to eat.
Click to expand...
We're going to make a separate trip down over spring break I think where will hit Redwoods and some other stuff in the area. 

Would for sure want to go to a nice seafood place. And we all love Italian too. What's nice is my 17-year-old will eat anything, so going someplace nice isn't wasted on him.

We pretty much want to ditch the car at the hotel and find cool stuff in the city to walk around (or street cars) and see. 

We'll get into town on a Monday late afternoon or early evening. So thinking maybe a nicer dinner that night.

Then Tuesday we'll probably hit Alcatraz on the first ferry over in the morning. Then the plan would just be to slowly walk our way over to the stadium for the game that night and see as much stuff as we can along the way. Then Wednesday we've got that morning and afternoon before heading out.

 
CurlyNight said:
In terms of restaurants:

Favorites from fam who are restaurant connoisseurs:

like grabbing a drink at Pier 23

italian:

fior d' italia

firenze by night

rose pistola

*worth hitting union for*... pan e vino

Asain:

yank sing

golden river (geary)

misc places have excellent dim sum on lower clement

for asian crab- ppq dungeness

hakka

if you want to be near china town... city view

for burmese:

mandalay

burma star

burma superstar

misc:

A&E Asian kitchen

el castellino (mission), just a taco stand but excellent

cancun

picaro- tapas

there is an allyway near union sq called belden place. i like all of the restaurants down there: plouf, b44 stand out

san francisco feel:

sams (near belden)

taddich grill

alfred's

those are mostly casual.  for finer dining:

le coloniel

le central

gary danko

incanto

la folie

cotogna

atelier crenn

spruce

crustacean

farallon

anything from michael mina

foreign cinema

coi

delfina

a16

perbacco

town hall
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…  there it is.  This was my list from 4 years ago.   Still so many more great restaurants 

 
If you do the GG bridge bike into Sausalito thing...

Be aware the road down to Sausalito from the bridge is steep and you're on the shoulder of a busy, 45mph major two lane road. Stay on the shoulder and ride single file to be safe. The shoulder minimizes as you get to the edge of town, so be even more aware and safe. And once you get to town, stay riding single file...there's a major issue with locals (I grew up there, my mom still lives there) trying to drive safely with tourist bikes literally all over the road. And unless you take the ferry back, don't forget that long and steep hill you came down from the bridge is now a long and steep climb at the end of a long day.

 
BeTheMatch said:
We'll get into town on a Monday late afternoon or early evening. So thinking maybe a nicer dinner that night.

Then Tuesday we'll probably hit Alcatraz on the first ferry over in the morning. Then the plan would just be to slowly walk our way over to the stadium for the game that night and see as much stuff as we can along the way. Then Wednesday we've got that morning and afternoon before heading ou
Click to expand...


Keep in mind a lot of restaurants are closed on Mondays. 

Tuesdays are the day of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. It's located along the Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street almost halfway between Fisherman's Wharf and the ballpark.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Exploratorium yet. It's a hands-on science museum that still kept my kids entertained when they were teens. You'll pass it along the way to the ballpark just before the Ferry Building.

 
  • The Tadich Grill is an institution. Great food, service, location. Get a drink at Per Diem beforehand, or an after work locals place like the Royal Exchange or Schroeder's. 
  • For excellent tapas-style food, eat at Coqueta. My first time there, we celebrated my mother's birthday several years back. Stef Curry and his wife stole her thunder as they were eating at the bar. One of the best dinners out I've had in San Francisco.
  • The Slanted Door is also a famous SF asian-fusion place. It's closed now but should reopen in 2022. This'll be a hard ticket, but worth it.
  • I second getting a drink at Pier 23. If the weather is great, nothing beats sitting on that back deck.
  • The California Academy of Science is outstanding, as is SF Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).
  • The homelessness problem is severe here. I lived in SF in the 1990s and it was bad then. It's exponentially worse now. 
  • So is non-violent crime. Not head-on-a-swivel bad, but use your streets smarts or defer to someone else who has them.
  • Surprised to see so much love for Fisherman's Wharf. IMO, skip it. Yuck.
  • IMO, since you're here for a weekend, also skip Sausalito, Tiburon, Oakland/East Bay. You don't have enough time to spend on BART or stuck in traffic somewhere.
I live in the Oakland hills now. If you find yourself leaning this way, let me know and I'll pass along some ideas. Lots of great food and stuff to do here too.

 
I went to Alcatraz at night during Thanksgiving weekend when the weather was good and the sunset views were tremendous. You'd have to get into town mid-afternoon on Monday to make it for the 4pm ferry. That would give you more time on Tuesday.

My daughters and I enjoyed the Asian Art Museum. Walking the nearby Tenderloin district would be educational for your child.

And walking up the hill to Coit Tower we saw some nice homes and a group of wild small parrots feeding on a fruit tree right in front of us. There's a small Beat Generation museum if that's your thing.

Golden Gate Park has lots of nice small things such as a great disc golf course if you're into that, Buffaloes, wind mill, etc.

 
Haight Street hippie district might be worth-while. Bookstores, vinyl stores, cafes, breweries. I don't have any specific food recommendations. It's an hour and 15 minutes walk to Oracle Park. A map would help you plan a good walking tour of SF north of Oracle Park. 

 
My wife and I took the boys (7 and 9) to SF to watch the Niners/Colts SNF game, and then spent a few days after to explore SF.

We stayed in Santa Clara and just drove in each day, it worked pretty well. Never had an issue finding parking. As others have said, Alcatraz was awesome, make sure you buy your tickets in advance. I'd also recommend driving down the Lombard street. Golden Gate park is awesome. My boys loved it, and the flower conservatory was pretty neat.

We went to the Wharf, and the boys enjoyed that, too. I'd also visit Ghirardelli Square if you're in the area. Definitely go see the sea lions. 

Make sure not to leave any bags in your car that are visible. When walking back to our car on the last day we saw a guy breaking windows and snatching things out of cars on the side of the street. Their car drove up, he hopped out, looked in the windows and would smash the glass if he saw anything. This was in broad daylight at like 4pm on the road one block from the Wharf area. Some people started yelling at them and they just continued down the road checking a few cars before hopping back into his car and they drove away. 

 
I see that Stars closed... recently*.

* note- "recent" is the last time I was more actively living or staying regularly in SF. 

 
Spin said:
My wife and I took the boys (7 and 9) to SF to watch the Niners/Colts SNF game, and then spent a few days after to explore SF.

We stayed in Santa Clara and just drove in each day, it worked pretty well. Never had an issue finding parking. As others have said, Alcatraz was awesome, make sure you buy your tickets in advance. I'd also recommend driving down the Lombard street. Golden Gate park is awesome. My boys loved it, and the flower conservatory was pretty neat.

We went to the Wharf, and the boys enjoyed that, too. I'd also visit Ghirardelli Square if you're in the area. Definitely go see the sea lions. 

Make sure not to leave any bags in your car that are visible. When walking back to our car on the last day we saw a guy breaking windows and snatching things out of cars on the side of the street. Their car drove up, he hopped out, looked in the windows and would smash the glass if he saw anything. This was in broad daylight at like 4pm on the road one block from the Wharf area. Some people started yelling at them and they just continued down the road checking a few cars before hopping back into his car and they drove away. 
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Levi stadium is horrible to get too imo

 
Eephus said:
For visitors, I'd recommend the Burma Love downtown location. It's owned by the same people as Burma Superstar and is a block away from the Powell St. cable car turnaround. 

The inner-Richmond location of the original Superstar is off the beaten track of most tourist itineraries.
Click to expand...
true, but you can always dip into The Plough & The Stars for a quick pint if the line at BS is too long. 

 
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