Can't-miss sights/experiences in San Francisco?

[midjd]

My mom, sister and I are going to the San Francisco/Oakland area to visit my brother next week. My sister is the planner and is filling the schedule up quickly, so I thought if there's anything I really want to see, I need to bring it up now. What should I add to the list? 

Day 1: 
3-hour whale watching boat ride, drive up the coast a bit

Day 2: 
Go into SF for the day -- this is where I need ideas! 

Day 3: 
Drive around and hit some wineries so I can get good and tipsy before my red-eye  
 
My mom and sister are staying an extra day and getting a hotel downtown, so I won't feel too bad if some of the stuff they want to do on Day 2 gets bumped. 

[justme]

The cable cars and street cars were really fun and get you to a lot of the places. You can buy an unlimited pass for a day that lets you ride them as much as you want plus the buses and subway. I want to say it was like 10? I rode it to whatever that curvy street is called and then continued into the wharf and rode the street cars along the water.

Golden gate park was really nice, but a bit if a pain to get to. Had to take the subway and walk a bit. If you have a car it might be easier? There's lots of things to do there. The Japanese tea garden was beautiful. We didn't really get to see the museums there because they were closing at 4 in April and we didn't know. I wish I had more time to enjoy the park - there's so much there!

I actually took a tour bus that hit a lot of the sites and recommend it. I think it was around 4 hours just in the morning. So I got to see the full house houses, China town, ride over the bridge, etc etc, hang out in Sausalito a bit and take the ferry back.

Sausalito is a cool little town, it would have been nice to hang out there more than three two hours I did.

Muir woods is spectacular and I wish I had more time there (April so it was still short hours). I heard the hike to the Pacific there is cool.

[simser]

I went to the ghiradelli store in Oakland and the jelly belly factory in Fairfield when I went to San Fran last. They are a drive but I loved them!

[kittensaver]

Little Italy  (aka, my peeps. Great restaurants, beautiful churches, awesome pastry and chocolate shops).

If you like history, don't miss Mission Dolores. Also Alcatraz - "people" complain that it's "touristy" - but it has a fascinating history.

Take a stroll down Grant Avenue in China Town.

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is beautiful.

Take a car or bus and get out on the Golden Gate bridge and take your Christmas card photo .

Take a car or bus and get up to the top of Twin Peaks - it's in the middle of town and you get breathtaking 360 views of the entire city and surrounding areas.

As a matter of fact, here's a pretty nifty website with lots of info:

www.inside-guide-to-san-francisco-tourism.com/twin-peaks-san-francisco.html

Have fun - I'm jealous. SF is an awesome town .

[kittensaver]

midjd : If you have a few bucks to drop and want to experience a really old, traditional SF restaurant, I highly recommend:

www.tadichgrill.com/history.php

They like to brag that they are the third oldest restaurant in the country. Their food is awesome.

Also check out this place for breakfast: www.searsfinefood.com/

[midjd]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I know Golden Gate Park and the tea gardens were on their list so that'll be good. I definitely want to check out the Ferry Building marketplace and Chinatown. 

Kittensaver, I'll have to send that restaurant link to my brother. My mom and sister are happy eating at McD's*, but DB is a bit of a foodie (and loves seafood), and they tend to defer to him more than they do me  

It makes me sad for our future travels, but I am almost relieved DH won't be with us on this trip... we are set to do a LOT of walking and his knee is in terrible shape. 

*Every time they came to visit us when we lived in NYC it would drive me insane. Literally every type of cuisine in the world and we'd end up eating at a chain place in Times Square. 

[justme]

Well, it's actually hard to find a chain in San Francisco. At least a chain restaurant, I actually can't remember seeing any of the crappy nation wide ones.

I might have just stopped visually recognizing them though.

[greeniis10]

I was in San Fran for 4 days for Super Bowl weekend but there were over a million people in the city that weekend and most of what we did was football related, such as the NFL Experience and Super Bowl City.

We walked everywhere. Due to congestion it was the easiest way to get around. Even with that many people though Uber was great! Never waited more than 5 min. for a car. We walked all over downtown and went to the Bay Bridge, AT&T Park, Fisherman's Wharf, Fisherman's Grotto, etc. From what we were told Fisherman's Grotto is where you go for authentic seafood. But, obviously being on the water the seafood is great just about everywhere.

At the end of the day on Saturday I checked my phone to see how many steps registered and it was a little over 28,000! My legs were killing me Sunday morning and I still had to get through 2 more days. Take comfortable shoes!!!

As far as the chain restaurants go I think there was an Old Chicago near our hotel but we didn't go to any chain or fast food places.

[justme]

Seconding the comfortable shoes. It's not necessarily the steps that kill you - it's the hills!!!

I actually lost weight even though I ate a ton and drank a ton.

[engineerdoe]

If you are there on a Thursday get VIP tickets to Nightlife at the California Academy of Science.  I also recommend the night tour or Alcatraz but if your trip is soon there may be no tickets left for that.

www.calacademy.org/nightlife

[justme]

May 10, 2016 16:12:08 GMT -5 engineerdoe said:

If you are there on a Thursday get VIP tickets to Nightlife at the California Academy of Science.  I also recommend the night tour or Alcatraz but if your trip is soon there may be no tickets left for that.

www.calacademy.org/nightlife

Yes! I totally wanted to do that while I was there but couldn't.