San Francisco Travel Forum

Hi,
i'll be in SF for a total of 6 days.

we'll reach on 15th May in the morning and leaving to LA and Vegas on 17th. We will then be back again on 25th May all the way until 29th May.

My hotel is at Union Square, Maxwell Hotel.

on the first and 2nd day, i plan to visit:

Union Square
Lombard St
Chinatown
North Beach
Fisherman's Wharf??
Alcatraz??
Castro
Ghiradeli
Haight Ashbury

Can this be done in 2 days? are these places within walking distance from one another? in what sequence should i start and end?

or what can i do on the first day? and what can i do on the 2nd day? i'm at a loss.

on the remaining 4 days when i'm back, i plan to take a day to visit Muir Woods+Sonoma (taking a tour), another day at Golden Gate Park or something.
on my last day probably shopping and some last minute sight seeing.

is this itinerary ok?
how to fit in all those places i mentioned above?
do i have time to visit Sausalito too?

pls advise, thanks.

Wooo hooo ... the Bay to Breakers is on the 18th of May this year. If you are into running, even if you're not and want to have ***lots*** of fun and meet many people, I would strongly recommend signing up ...
http://www.ingbaytobreakers.com/main.html ... not sure when they will close registration.

This is a big event! I ran it with my son in 1995, and I did run the eight miles. You start at the bay, and end running thru Golden Gate Park - until you hit the ocean. Really worth changing your time around - this is a great experience!

You'll probably have more fun mapping it yourself ... here are some touristy maps:

(section maps)
http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/maps/ (section maps)

(transportation link w/more maps - scroll down to Routes/Schedules and Maps)
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mhome/home50.htm

San Francisco is a relatively small area. Ghirardelli is right by Union Square. You can easily get to Haight Asbury thru from the GG park.

When my son went to school there they liked going for pizza at the Front Room in Clement street - the food is quite good. There's a little place for dessert a block down called "Toy Boat" which is quite interesting.

This should be a nice trip!

... by the way if you don't want to walk or run the B to B, you could be a spectator. See a bit about SF, and all who come to visit. There's a custome contest ... and every year there are a couple of surprises ...

... sorry for all the reposts, but it just occurred to me that if you click on the main map for the Bay to Breakers site, you will get a pretty good idea of the size of the city, as it's around 12K across!

Shows the race route from bay - to ocean. Haight (or is it Asbury) runs parallel to Fell and Oak.

My son went to the school on Fulton and Schrader - it's the University of San Francisco. Their "Lone Mountain Campus" a block back on Turk is an awesome building with very long stairs, fun looking at.

If you're not into running........

I was in San Fran last week. You are trying to pack a lot into 2 days! I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Alcatraz, but that wipes out at least a half day (and I probably have an unhealthy fascination for prisons). If you do want to go to Alcatraz, you MUST book online a couple of weeks beforehand or you won't get a ticket. Fisherman's Wharf is VERY touristy - with the usual shops, restaurants and sourvenir shops - by May it will be even worse than it was last week (though it was the Easter break). Union Square is a great location (I was staying there also). It is a short walk to Chinatown from there - and if you ask your hotel concierge he will give you the 'route with the least resistance' - that is, the smaller hills. There have been a few requests for information on San Francisco recently on this website - scroll down and you will get information on wine tours and Sausalito, etc.

Niemann Marcus is an upmarket dept store on one of the corner of Union Square. They have a very nice bar and restaurant in the Atrium there which overlooks the square. Might be a bit pricey (don't know your budget) but nice place for a drink or meal.

San Francisco is a GREAT city - you'll have fun. Good luck.

One of the definites for visiting San Francisco is riding the cable cars. Check out the website at http://www.sfcablecar.com/. There is also a cable car museum that you may find interesting. As the previous responder mentioned be sure to book the Alcatraz tour in advance. I have been to SF many times, but have never been on the tour. Another possibility for you to see more of the city is to take one of the city bus tours. The Gray Line tour that we took was about 4 hours long and took us to some sites beyond walking distance. The city is easy to walk and you will actually get a great feel of the city by walking and taking the cable cars. Enjoy!!