San Francisco Travel Itinerary

I had a fun trip to San Francisco (my fourth time visiting), the last trip was almost 10 years ago and this time I did most of the same things as I did that trip because that trip was so perfect. The weather in April was a high of 60 degrees. I've never been to Napa because I always have so many things to do in SF. Important note: locals don't want you to call the city San Fran or Frisco, it's San Francisco or SF. I hiked the coastal trail, visited the Museum of Modern Art, ate delicious food in Japan Town, walked through Chinatown, went to rooftop bars, enjoyed Golden Gate Park, ate at vegetarian restaurants and walked the entire city. If I were to move anywhere in America, it would be to SF!

Important Facts

SF is beautiful and dirty; culturally diverse; so expensive; and has an increasing unhoused population visible throughout the entire city. There's a correlation between homelessness, psychiatric issues, and drug addiction. I mention this because I've seen a lot of people post online that they were unprepared or upset by what they saw in SF. I saw a lot of drug addicts just sitting on the sidewalk and it was so sad to see. With this in mind, avoid the Tenderloin district which borders Union Square. The Tenderloin is known for it street drug trade and its dense homelessness.

Yes it's California but don't come with shorts and tank tops. Summer is actually their winter. The highest it gets in summer is 70F. September and October are their warmest months but always bring layers for cooler nights. SF has microclimates and can have lots of fog so you're not always guaranteed a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. With its fog-kissed mornings, charming Victorian houses, SF looks like something right out of a Hallmark movie.

The hills are real! You will definitely get your calf workout in just by walking around the city. The benefit is you get views of the city and the bay from so many different vantage points. I walked down one street that was so steep I knew I could never walk there when it rains. From my hotel to dinner was a 30 minute walk and boy oh boy let me tell you I walked up a steep hill then down the same steep hill through a residential neighborhood.

I didn't do a tour, but saw this free walking tour that hit all the spots I went to.

California Coastal Trail: Lands End to Golden Gate Bridge Hike

This is my favorite hike in the world! It's a 7.2 mile hike that took me 3 hours. (My phone said I logged 23,481 steps for the entire day, so that day I walked a total of 9.7 miles!) This is the second time I've done this hike and I loved it! It's challenging but on mostly flat and wide paths but has a few stairs. I did this on a Wednesday afternoon when it was 66F and the weather was just perfect! I got the freshest air, cool sea breezes that was so incredible! Both times I did a different route in the Presidio so you can design your own route there: walk to the Golden Gate bridge on the California Costal Trail or cheat and uber in the middle.

On the first part I did the coastal trail starting at the Sutro Baths and I would say someone passed me every 5 minutes so while it felt pretty empty, I wasn't alone. The trail feels kind of remote and very peaceful and quiet. You walk on compacted crushed rock with an average slope of 7%. The hike offers some of the most spectacular views of the ocean and Golden Gate Bridge. The entire hike offers a mix of nature, beach section, and residential areas - see the middle of the hike is broken up where you walk through "billionaire row" of expensive homes. Overall, it is a popular, picturesque hike that is relatively easy with stunning views.

Crissy Field

At the end of the hike I ended up in Crissy Field which was originally a U.S. Army airfield. It covers 130 acres and has picnic areas, a tidal marsh, and an environmental science center. Below is an aerial view to show you what a stunning place it is to walk on a flat, hard-packed promenade with views of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. I had seen this in photos online of SF so I knew I wanted to find it.

At the end you end of the path I ended up at the Palace of Fine Arts, then I walked through the marina residential district ending up at the Original Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop.

Cable Cars

The cable cars are the world's last manually operated cable car system and have been in existence for 150 years! There are 3 cable car lines and a ticket will cost you $8. Yes only tourists ride this for fun so expect long lines at the Fisherman's Wharf to board. SF offers 4 modes of public transport: Muni buses, light rail Metro trains, historic streetcars and iconic cable cars. There used to be street cars everywhere but they modernized it with light rail trains like what you see all over Europe. The buses are powered by electricity from overhead wires, the power comes from hydropower (water).

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The museum has over 33,000 pieces of modern art and was the first art museum on the West Coast to feature contemporary art from the 20th century. I went to see the Kusuma exhibit which I had seen twice in DC! Yayoi Kusama is a 95-year old Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation. The exhibit has two small rooms with luminous color and endless reflections so you feel you are in a kaleidoscopic world. In the picture below you can see the dark room illuminated by vividly colored inflatable forms that extend from the floor to the ceiling. The picture on the right is a permanent feature of the museum, it is Olafur Eliasson’s One-way color tunnel which you walk through a dazzling arched walkway of prismatic color. There you can admire the fluctuating, vibrant hues refracted through triangular glass and acrylic panels

Painted Ladies

If you watched Full House as a kid, you will recognize these iconic houses in Alamo Square Park! Postcard Row is filled with beautiful Victorian houses with the skyline of SF behind it. Full House used this house for exterior shots for the Tanner family home. On the show the front door is red but when filming wrapped John Stamos took the door and the couch from the set. The house went on the market two years ago for $6.5 million! It's distinctly San Franciscan, with intricate moldings, bay windows, a brick stoop, skylight and a beautiful backyard. Let's sing the Full House theme song: “Everywhere You Look”. Talk about a picture-perfect moment. Here is a video of the interior of the house, the details are stunning!

Mission Dolores Park

The name of the park comes from a Franciscan Mission (the church next door) established in 1776 which makes it the oldest building in San Francisco! This is one of SF's most popular parks, situated on a hill and is 16 acres. It has a basketball court, six tennis courts, a soccer field and restrooms which are cleaned hourly on the weekends. Here you’ll find lush green lawns shaded by tall palm trees and tons of people having a picnic with their friends. The city view from there is one of the most amazing sparkling panoramas. Enjoy a laid back spot great for people watching and one of the most beautiful outdoor spaces in SF. It's extremely popular and I made time to sit and just enjoy the moment. The J Church streetcar stops right at the top of the park. The neighborhood is known for its Mexican food.

The grass I sat on

Golden Gate Park Windmills

SF is 7 miles wide and Golden Gate Park spans half of the city. It is larger than Central Park in NYC! On my last trip to the park I went to the Japanese Tea Garden but this time I wanted to see the windmills. There are two wooden windmills built in 1907 that were used to pump groundwater for irrigating the park’s lawns and gardens. Motorized pumps were first installed in the Dutch Windmill in 1913 to augment the power system, but the windmills were taken out of service around 1935. The park also has a botanical garden, a merry-go-round, JFK Promenade which is a 1.5 mile car free zone so people can enjoy biking or running there; the Conservatory of Flowers which has 1,700 species of aquatic and tropical plants; the California Academy of Sciences which is an aquarium (with penguins, tropical fish, turtles and an albino alligator), planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum. Also wild bison roam in one section of the park fly-fishing is allowed in another section. The ferris wheel closed last year and moved to Fisherman's wharf but is not open yet.

Union Square

Think of it as the equivalent to NYC Times Square. There's not a ton to do but there's a bunch of high end stores around it so you can window shop or go to the wine bar on top of Macy's. There's a heavy police presence in the park due to the drug activity. This always seemed like the center spot of SF but not a must see.

Chinatown

San Francisco Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia as well as the oldest Chinatown in North America. It has 48 alleys! It's home to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory which has been making the hand made cookies since 1962 and makes 10,000 fortune cookies a day. They have custom flavors and you can put custom messages inside it. The fortune cookie was invented in SF! All the banks have a beautiful Chinese inspired architecture that gave charm to the street with their curling roof edges. Red lanterns were strung across the street. There's a couple vegetarian Chinese restaurants there! I just walked around and peeked into all the great variety of shops that sold tchotchkes, jade, parasols, Chinese boxes. scarves, tea, apothecary, Chinese herbs, and kites. I saw a snack shop that only sold packaged snacks from China, I've never seen so many in one place. There was also a pastry shop with Chinese delicacies and dim sum.

Japantown

Only one of just three in the US, here you will find 200 small businesses offering everything from two Michelin-starred restaurants, handcrafted Japanese goods, a Japanese supermarket, sushi, and bento boxes. Next to my hotel was the Japan Center Malls so I went there to try out some Japanese desserts.

I went to Mochill Donuts which serves a savory Japanese street food cooked in a special cast iron griddle to get its signature shape. This addictively delicious bite-sized eat originated in Osaka. It has a slightly crisp shell, doughy inside and covered in a range of different flavored sweet glazes, I got matcha. Since they are made from rice flour they have a chewier texture than American donuts.

I also went to Jina Bakes because I wanted to get the famous sesame wheel. It's a croissant rolled in white sesame, filled with lemon curd, topped with sugar glaze. But what I enjoyed more was the banoffee croissant which is a croissant with toffee sauce, bananas, and thick whipped cream. I don't drink coffee but I noticed that everyone else was getting the honeycomb toffee latte. I instead got a matcha latte.

Dining

SF has vibrant ethnic neighborhoods & fantastic restaurants. Here are all the places I ate at:

Wildseed A plant-based restaurant with a seasonal menu that changes often. Located on a lively street with lots of other restaurants and they have outdoor seating. I would go back many times as everything looked good on the menu.

Soulva A modern fast-fine Greek restaurants with 7 locations throughout San Francisco. I got the vegetarian option which was delicious with frozen greek yogurt for dessert. (side note what happened to all the frozen greek yogurt shops?)

Greens Since opening in 1979 Greens has been moving the art of vegetarian cuisine to the next level with new and exciting globally-inspired dishes. Located in a warehouse in the Fort Mason Center with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, lots of seals, and the Pacific Ocean. I've been here three times, I dine in every time I visit SF!

La Connessa A recently opened Italian restaurant located in Potrero Hill. La Connessa is a modern take on the classic trattoria that celebrates traditional Italian cuisine with an array of classic dishes with contemporary influences.

Boudin Bakery The flagship location is at the Wharf but they have 26 locations in CA. It's known for its sourdough bread. The bakery is recognized as the "oldest continually operating business in San Francisco". They are famous for their sourdough soup bowls, I wanted the Broccoli Cheddar which doesn't have its ingredients online, but at the bakery they told me it had chicken in it so I was disappointed I couldn't have it and just got a sandwich.

Cha-ya A Japanese vegan restaurant in the Mission district.

Rooftop Bars

All three are in hotels but you don't have to be a guest there to visit.

The View Lounge Located on the 39th floor of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis that charges $25 for a cocktail. Experience the San Francisco skyline through multi-story rounded window.

Charmaine's Rooftop Bar & Lounge

Located in the Proper Hotel's rooftop bar, has a city-inspired cocktail menu. The roof deck is 120 feet over Market Street, is decorated very stylish, but the vibe is laid-back. Make a reservation or else you will wait a long time in line outside.

Cityscape Lounge Located on the 46th floor of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Tallest Skybar in San Francisco with a stunning 360-degree views of San Francisco.

Bars on my list to see but didn't get a chance to go:

Cavana (SOMA) - new, hot spot, great industry bartenders

620 Jones bar

The rooftop at the RH store has great views. The Palm Court at RH San Francisco

San Francisco is famous for their tiki bars as they have quite a few:

Kona's Street Market bar – newly opened tiki bar, named one of the 50 Best bars in North America

Smuggler's Cove

Transportation

On my previous trips here I rode public transportation everywhere but for this trip I wanted to enjoy walking 30 minutes to the next stop so I didn't ride the Muni buses, light rail Metro trains, streetcars or cable cars. I did see how long the lines were for the iconic cable cars which are $8 a ride while the bus is only $2.50. I saw a bunch of the Waymo self-driving, autonomous cars for ride-hail service but you have to be invited to join them, and I didn't get invited to try it until after my trip. It was cool to see a car driving with no driver around the city.

BART is the underground metro which has the oldest subway station in America. BART is a cross between commuter rail and rapid transit. The Muni Metro is a streetcar-like network which runs underground in the city center with 8 underground stations. The trains run like street cars in the neighborhoods and light rail through the hills. Street cars can't climb hills. The subway goes to the airport but has atrocious coverage for a true urban metro, so not a lot of local trips. Thus has high prices and low ridership since the nearly non-existent return to work in the tech industry in the Bay Area.

Where to Stay

My plane arrived at 9am and my return flight left at 10pm so I had 5 full days in SF. When I have an extended stay somewhere it's nice to change hotels during your stay because then you get to know another neighborhood.

Hilton San Francisco Union Square

Located in the Tenderloin which is a neighborhood in downtown SF that is known for homelessness and open drug use. There is a lot of police around Union Square because there's a lot of characters there. The shopping around Union Square isn't that interesting, I would skip this neighborhood and not be out at night.

Hyatt Hotel Kabuki

Located in the safe neighborhood of Japantown is a cozy but cool hotel with a lobby that has potted plants and succulents with geometric cane-back chairs and brightly patterned throw pillows. My room was on the ground floor (but quiet) had traditional and contemporary Japanese art. There was a gym in the basement with a peloton bike. In the courtyard is a tea garden.

Next trip I'd like to see Lover’s Lane in Presidio and Muir Woods. Since I'm in my sauna era I would visit either Kabuki springs or Banya SF. I might be the only person that is not interested in seeing Alcatraz, you see pics online and get the whole tour. It's quite expensive to visit $53, cold on the ferry and takes half a day.

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