Here are, according to us and our local team, the things to do and see in San Francisco in order to get the real vibe, real essence of the city.
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1. Of course you could do all of the following or just register to our cultural scavenger hunt!
2. Take a look to this map of the city, to have a real idea on how it is built and organized.
3. Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a California icon gracing San Francisco Bay. It is the most photographed site in the city, with the orange structure backed by blue water, or in many cases, peaking through low lying cloud. At night, the flood-lit structure is equally striking.
Connecting San Francisco with Marin County and other districts further north, the Golden Gate Bridge was, at one time, designated the greatest man-made sight in the United States by the U.S. Travel Service. Opened on May 28th, 1937, the bridge took four years to build and at the time of its completion, was the longest suspension bridge in the world, measuring approximately two miles in length.
If you want to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, the road is US Hwy 101, or SR 1, and walkways on either side of the bridge are open to pedestrians and cyclists. The walk begins at the start of the bridge (accessible from the Presidio shuttle) and ends with a viewpoint in Marin County. Many locals enjoy biking across the bridge to the nearby waterfront town of Sausalito. Pedestrian access is on the East Sidewalk; bicycle access is on the East and West Sidewalks. The bridge is only open to pedestrians and cyclists during daylight hours.
For a great view of the bridge, or for anyone interested in photographing the bridge, there are a number of ideal vantage points. From the San Francisco side, Nob Hill, an area known for its posh old mansions, offers some beautiful views over the bridge. On the opposite side of the bridge, in Marin County, Golden Gate National Recreation Area is another good spot. Also, if you are planning on taking a tour to Alcatraz, there are completely open views from the boat and island.
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4. Alcatraz Island
The historic and notorious Alcatraz penitentiary, located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, is one of America's most infamous prisons. It operated for almost thirty years, closing in 1963 and re-opening as a tourist attraction in 1973. Some of America's most well-known criminals were inmates here, including Al Capone and the "Birdman," who would later form the basis for the fictional movie The Birdman of Alcatraz.
You can take a ferry over to the island and tour the site while listening to an exceptional audio recording that offers a glimpse into life in the prison, rather than just a historical list of the facts. The narration is even voiced by former inmates and guards of Alcatraz.
In the course of its 30-year existence, the penitentiary received a total of 1,576 convicts. There were never more than 250 at any one time, even though there were 450 cells measuring about 10ft x 4ft. At times the number of guards and staff was greater than the number of convicts.
While most people come for the history or the novelty of seeing a former prison, the island is now a prominent area for nesting seabirds.
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5. Fisherman's Wharf
Some of the main attractions in the area are Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and Ghirardelli Square. Restored 19th- and 20th-century ships line the waterfront at the Hyde Street Pier, which is now the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. The USS Pampanito, a national historic landmark, is a WWII submarine and part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. Pier 39, located in this general area, is home to more than 130 stores and unique places to eat. It also offers great views looking back onto the city.
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6. Cable Cars
Cable Cars were introduced in 1873 to help locals contend with the many hills the city is built on. Today, the few remaining cable cars offer tourists a great way to explore the city in historic fashion. Since 1964, these tram-like vehicles have had the unique distinction of being the only public transport system to be declared a historic monument. The Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde are the most scenic routes. The cable cars will also get you to the major attractions such as Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, the Ferry Building, Nob Hill, and Lombard Street. If you are planning on more than a couple of rides or are going to be sightseeing for a few days, you should consider buying a pass.
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7. Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, home to gardens and museums, is a fabulous green space in the heart of San Francisco, often considered the "lungs" of the city. Before development began in 1871, this was an area of arid dunes. Today, the park has a network of walking trails and cycling paths, more than 5,000 different kinds of plants and dozens of species of trees, several lakes, bridle paths, and a buffalo paddock. The main attractions include the de Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences Museum with Steinhart Aquarium, the Japanese Tea Garden, and the San Francisco Botanical Garden.
Golden Gate Park is one of those places that can just as easily take up a couple of hours as a couple of days. Bike rentals are available, and this can be a good way to explore the park, rather than trying to do everything on foot. Alternatively, try an organized Segway Tour with a local guide and hit all the major highlights.
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8. Chinatown
You may have been to Chinatown in other cities, but San Francisco's Chinatown is a whole other realm. It is both the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and the oldest of its kind in North America. Almost completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, Chinatown was rebuilt entirely in the Chinese style and was soon even more attractive than before the disaster. Now with its temples, theaters, workshops, small businesses, stores, antique and souvenir shops, teahouses, and traditional pharmacies, Chinatown has become one of the major sites of San Francisco. If you are traveling through San Francisco during an important Chinese holiday or event, you can expect to see an elaborate celebration. Chinese New Year celebrations are often considered the best in North America. The main street in Chinatown for tourists is Grant Avenue, with the Chinatown Gateway at Grant Avenue and Bush Street.
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9. Legion of Honor
An impressive Neoclassical Beaux-Arts building in an amazing setting, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor is San Francisco's most exquisite museum. The Legion of Honor was the gift of the socialite, philanthropist, and patron of the arts Alma de Bretteville Spreckels. Because of her love for all things Parisian, the museum was designed as a replica of the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur in Paris. The Legion of Honor museum has a superb collection of European decorative arts, sculpture, and paintings, along with antiquities from the Mediterranean and Near East.
The museum is in Lincoln Park, a gorgeous green space with a golf course and coastal woodlands and a wonderful place for a leisurely walk. Just outside the museum, visitors may follow the path along Lincoln Highway, which boasts spectacular ocean vistas and perfect outlooks onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Those seeking a more adventurous hike can head to the Land's End Trail. This winding cliffside trail in a wild, rugged terrain offers sweeping Pacific Ocean views and panoramas of the Golden Gate Bridge.
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10. California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences, in Golden Gate Park, is an architectural marvel as well as a multifaceted museum. This state-of-the-art "green" building with a sustainable design has a 2.5-acre Living Roof, covered with native plants and even rolling hills to match the natural surroundings. The roof also has solar panels to generate electricity, and the soil acts as natural insulation. The walls are largely made of glass allowing for natural light.
Inside is an incredible natural history museum, planetarium, aquarium, rainforest, and more. The Steinhart Aquarium includes some 38,000 live specimens and a 25-feet-deep coral reef. The rainforest is four stories high, with all kinds of animals and amphibians in a fantastic layout. You can descend in a glass elevator to the deepest depths and look up through an acrylic tunnel to see fish swimming overhead. The Kimball Natural History Museum has skeletons of a T-Rex and blue whale, along with an array of interesting exhibits.
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11. de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
In Golden Gate Park, the de Young Museum is a fine arts museum, and one of the largest public art institutions in San Francisco. Exhibits cover a variety of time frames and geographical locations. While art and period interiors from North America feature strongly in the collection, there are also many exhibits from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Near East. British art and folk art from Africa, America, and the Pacific Islands, are also well represented.
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12. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
After an extensive renovation, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) reopened in the spring of 2016, with 170,000 square feet of exhibition space; nearly three times its previous size. The museum now has 10 floors, with 45,000 feet of ground floor gallery space open to the public free of charge. In addition to the new space, the museum has also acquired thousands of new pieces. The museum features a full range of exhibitions, some from the museum's permanent collection and others specially commissioned for the opening.
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13. Twin Peaks
These two unique and uninhabited hills, more than 900 feet high, are not in fact the highest of San Francisco's 43 hills, a distinction belonging to Mount Davidson, which is 33 feet higher. They do have one of the finest views out over the city and bay, they're undeveloped, and they're easy to access. You can drive to the north peak parking area for fine views and hike along trails over the north and south peaks.
The Twin Peaks are the only hills in San Francisco not to have been built over and remain in their original state. The Spaniards called them "Los pechos de la Chola" or the Breasts of the Indian Maiden. Even on warm days, strong, cool breezes blow in from the Pacific, especially in the late afternoon. Warm clothing is recommended.
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14. Asian Art Museum
The Asian Art Museum is unquestionably one of the most important museums in San Francisco. The museum opened in 1966, with the basis of the collection coming from art collector Avery Brundage. Brundage built up a private collection, which in 1959 he offered to the city of San Francisco "to bridge the gap between East and West." The museum building was constructed, and on his death in 1975 at the age of 88, the museum also received the rest of his collection of works of art in the form of a legacy.
Building on this, the museum has continued to amass various pieces and now contains an extensive collection of sculptures, paintings, bronzes, ceramics, jade carvings, and architectural fragments from Japan, Korea, China, India, Iran, and other Asiatic cultures. The works span more than 6,000 years. Plans are afoot for a substantial expansion, with the creation of a new pavilion.
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15. High Tea at a Historic Hotel
Enjoying high tea at a historic hotel gives tourists a sense of the city's grandeur during the Victorian era and the turn of the century. The Fairmont San Francisco on Nob Hill, opened in 1907, is renowned for its opulent lobby and elegant ambience. The Fairmont's Laurel Court offers afternoon tea service on Saturdays and Sundays. Also on Nob Hill, The Ritz-Carlton is well-known for its fancy afternoon tea service in The Lounge, a sophisticated reception room with splendid city views. One of the city's grandest historic hotels, the Palace Hotel was built in 1875 in the downtown area near Market Street. The Palace Hotel awes visitors with its magnificent Garden Court reception area, where a traditional afternoon tea is served complete with fine china, sterling silver, and classic specialties like finger sandwiches and handmade scones. Get Google maps directions>
16. Exploratorium
The Exploratorium is an incredibly popular science museum, with exhibits for both children and adults to enjoy. A huge number of diverse exhibits, and many with hand-on learning experiences, cover various areas of interest, all of which are designed to educate and entertain. Children tend to rate this museum very highly, with all kinds of experiments and interesting things to do, and whether they have kids or not, most adults also rave about the Exploratorium.
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17. Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco is the last remaining structure from the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this classical looking building is beautifully situated on a lagoon that reflects the mirror image on the surface of the calm water, while ducks and geese drift by. The palace has been restored, along with the grounds, and today hosts art exhibitions and performances. The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre seats approximately 1,000 patrons.
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18. Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, not to be confused with Golden Gate Park, is a huge natural area located across the Golden Gate Bridge from downtown San Francisco. This 600-square-mile park in Marin County is home to a myriad of attractions but is also a beautiful place to enjoy nature and relax. Walking trails, campgrounds, picnic areas, and beautiful beach areas are in the park. Some of the beaches have fabulous views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The park is also a place of history and home to the historic Fort Baker, a former US Army post from the early 20th century.
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19. Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square is in a restored factory area, surrounded by shops, galleries, and restaurants in renovated industrial buildings. The square was inaugurated in 1964 and was the first of a number of projects designed to give new life to abandoned factory complexes. Ghirardelli's old red-brick chocolate factory has been turned into a center for shoppers, art-lovers, and those in search of entertainment or a good meal. Its belfry (built in 1916) is modeled on that of the Château of Blois in France. Later additions are rose gardens decorated with fountains and terraces with fine views.
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20. Angel Island State Park
A 25-minute ferry ride away from Pier 41 in San Francisco, Angel Island State Park is a wonderful escape to nature. The largest natural island in the San Francisco Bay, Angel Island has astounding views of the surrounding bay. Tourists can enjoy the lovely scenery while hiking or biking on the well-groomed trails. It's possible to hike up to the island's summit, Mount Caroline Livermore, at 788 feet, where the views are sensational. The island also has five picnic areas, eleven campsites, and several sandy beaches that are pleasant for walking and sunbathing. Well designed for visitors, the island has a café that is open all week long during most of the year (except winter) and a casual restaurant that's open on the weekends and features live music performances.
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21. Lombard Street
Lombard Street is an east–west street in San Francisco, California that is famous for a steep, one-block section with eight hairpin turns. Stretching from The Presidio east to The Embarcadero (with a gap on Telegraph Hill), most of the street's western segment is a major thoroughfare designated as part of U.S. Route 101. The famous one-block section, claimed to be "the crookedest street in the world", is located along the eastern segment in the Russian Hill neighborhood. It is a major tourist attraction, receiving around 2 million visitors per year and up to 17,000 per day on busy summer weekends, as of 2015
The street was named after Lombard Street in Philadelphia by San Francisco surveyor Jasper O'Farrell.
Lombard Street's west end is at Presidio Boulevard inside The Presidio; it then heads east through the Cow Hollow neighborhood. For twelve blocks, between Broderick Street and Van Ness Avenue, it is an arterial road that is co-signed as U.S. Route 101. Lombard Street continues through the Russian Hill neighborhood and to the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. At Telegraph Hill it turns south, becoming Telegraph Hill Boulevard to Pioneer Park and Coit Tower. Lombard Street starts again at Winthrop Street and ends at The Embarcadero as a collector road.
Lombard Street is known for the one-way block on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, where eight sharp turns are said to make it the most crooked street in the world. The design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and built in 1922, was intended to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade, which was too steep for most vehicles. The crooked block is perhaps 600 feet (180 m) long (412.5 feet (125.7 m) straightline), is one-way (downhill) and is paved with red bricks. The sign at the top recommends 5 mph (8 km/h). The segment normally sees around 250 vehicles per hour, with average daily traffic reaching 2,630 vehicles in 2013. During peak times, vehicles have to wait up to 20 minutes to enter the Crooked Street segment, in a queue that can reach Van Ness Avenue.
The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block on Hyde Street.
Today, the Academy of Art University owns and operates a building called Star Hall on the street for housing purposes.
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22. Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley
Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are the two best-known and largest grape-growing areas in California. Situated at the southern end of the valley of the same name, some 52 miles from San Francisco, Napa is one of the largest Californian towns north of San Francisco. This is an incredibly scenic area with a drier climate than the coastal regions. It was founded in 1848 and bears the name of the long extinct Napa Indians. The western boundary is formed by the Napa Mountains. The Howell Mountains form the eastern boundary of Napa County and they also protect the valley from storms.
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Shawn is our San Fransisco local representative, we asked him what an ideal day of leisure in San Francisco could look like, what would he suggest doing from early morning to late at night?
Here is what he suggests. Don't hesitate to contact Shawn on Twitter @bigcitychase #Shawn #questionforShwan if you have questions for him, we may publish your conversation in this blog if he thinks it might be useful to other San Francisco visitors.
Shawn from San Francisco for Big City Chase San Francisco:
"Hi guys, my name is Shawn, I was born in San Francisco, grew up in Livermore, a small town about 40 minutes away from San Francisco city center, today I live in downtown San Francisco and I will be happy to make a few suggestions so that you spend a great relaxing and fun day in San Francisco. Fun and relaxing, this is how I like to spend my days off, I will suggest that first thing in the morning.
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