San Francisco Travel Forum

i,

we will be reaching SF in the morning, any idea where we can visit on the first day?

as we will be very tired after 18 hours of flight (from Singapore) so i would prefer a very relaxed first day, hoping to visit some places of interest near our hotel at Post Street.

any idea where is within comfortable walking distance or short bus ride away?

suggestions?

thanks!

You can easily access Union Square and the myraid shops if you want to do that, or you could head towards Civic Center and the SF Museum of Modern Art (8 blocks +/-, or the Asian Art Museum (11 blocks +/-) at Civic Center Plaza.

Go to Powell Station, it's right next door to you and ride a cable car to Ghirideli Square. Have a warm sundae there then take a short walk to Fisherman's Wharf and watch the Seals.

A drink and perhaps, dinner at the Carnelian Room on the 52nd floor of the BOA bldg on California and Kearney, three blocks from your hotel. No better way to see all of San Francisco, for the first time. Here is a link

http://carnelianroom.com/index.asp

I second the recomendation for the Carnelian room, although I'd opt for lunch because there is less chance of it being fogged in. The food is decent, but best feature is the view. Over lunch you can casually plan where to go because you can see almost all of SF. ( IIRC, here isn't much of a view to the south, but then you probably aren't going that direction anyway. )

the Carnelian room seems like a great place to dine but unfortunately, it's not really within our budget to dine there.

i like the idea of catching the cable car to Ghirardeli, but after Ghirardeli, beside F.Wharf, where else can we go?

Because for F.Wharf, we intend to go there on our second day as we also have a trip to Alcatraz booked on our second day :)

Cable car ride is nice bec you'll be part of something historic at $5/way/person. Try Cable Car Museum - free. Presidio park (don't forget fabulous photo op showing GGate bridge and you can rent a bike to tour whole area). I went to Yerba Buena Gardens and visited Museum across, too.

Surf chowhound.com to check dining styles recommended by locals. Use opentable.com to reserve spots in restos and get points for doing it and best thing is membership is free.

Hope this helped..... :)

You could make reservations at Asia SF, it's a must for all people who visit or move to SF. The most ideal time would be 8:00 pm and plan to stay until 10:00 pm. Ask to get a good spot at the bar, reservations are a must. $30 for a 3 course meal.

www.asiasf.com - don't read the details on the website, just call the number and make the reservation and show up.

I can't quite second the AsiaSF rec.

A drink at the Carnelian Room may be 20-25% more than other places, but, what a view! True, dining there can be a stuffy experience (and expensive). Instead, take the Express Elevator down (52 floors in 30 seconds, it seems - whoosh!) One block away is Chinatown, where you will find a hundred Chinese restaurants, and two blocks away, is Columbus Avenue (See, you know all this, because you were just up on the 52nd floor and saw it al from there), which is chockfull of Italian Restaurants and lots of shops. All of this is within a few blocks from your hotel. And, you will be hard pressed not to 'window shop' at all the fancy stores on Union Square.

This way, you keep Suckermans Wharf and Alcatrash (I'm joking) for the next day. Good Luck.

Agree with topotheworld - keep all your Ghirardelli/Alcatraz-y things for one day. Have you already gotten your Alcatraz tickets? You MUST. This always sells out in peak season.

Once done with that tour, I'd suggest walking down thru Fishermans and Ghirardelli, but press on over the hill past Maritime museum and you'll get knockout views of Golden Gate. Keep walking along the Marina Green and walk all the way to Ft Point (free). Walk or bus back.

For the the first day, Union Square is the obvious choice and if its a week day, it might be worth wandering down Market Street to see all the high-flying financial types. IF a Saturday, you've got to check out Ferry bldg Farmers market. You can also catch a muni bus or underground train to Castro street station and check out the life there although its best on a weekend.

One more decent cheap eat is King of Thai noodle house, near Macys