San Francisco tips and must dos!

[FitnessFad]

Myself and my partner are planning to spend 3 nights in San Francisco later this Summer.
Is 3 nights enough? And are there any 'must dos' or tips that anyone could pass on please?
Keen to make sure we don't miss anything!
Thanks so much for your help!

Only from research I've done on a potential trip...Alcatraz...book well in advance...golden gate bridge....the zig zag street...

Definitely book Alcatraz in advance, it sells out fast.
The zig zag street the PP refers to is called Lombard St. The cable car from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf takes you right past it.
The food market in the ferry building is excellent.
Haight-Ashbury is worth a visit if you have any interest in the history of music/hippy culture. It's pretty tacky though.
Head up to Twin Peaks for amazing views.
Ride a bike over Golden Gate Bridge.

I am going this summer for 10 days. I have booked Alcatraz in advance as I have been told that it sells out really quickly. Someone told me that the night tour was brilliant, but i just went with the day time tour.

We have also booked a baseball game in advance. We plan to cycle Golden Gate Bridge and also visit the Japanese Tea Gardens.

Rushholm has said everything I would have said. Love the ferry building market!

Sausalito. Bike there and ferry back!
MOMA
The Stinking Rose restaurant!

Avoid Fisherman's Wharf. Utterly dreadful tourist trap.

We found three nights just about enough time to get a really good flavour but definitely want to go back. By chance our weekend was the Pride weekend so that added to the spectacle . Rusholme and Naked's posts are very much on the mark in my opinion

Bought a 3 day travel pass as soon as we arrived which was great value as we rode the buses and trams constantly We split our days into segments and did about four things each day . The Trip Advisor forum pages have loads of specific info. Lombard St was huge amounts of fun for photos and we walked up a spectacularly steep street to get to it which was tough but unmissable....

We stayed at the Omni and it was really central and booked direct so got a reasonable rate

If you like museums, the one in golden gate park is pretty good (can't remember what it's called, might be the natural history museum), it has a great planetarium and a rainforest dome and real penguins! It also has a brilliant cafe/food court.
I found a cafe recommended in the lonely planet which I think was called dottys true blue cafe which did a authentic 'sit at the counter' American breakfast really cheap, however it's a few years since I've been, it may not be still there!

We had a great time with 3 nights/four days. San Fran is really great but is very down at heel at the moment (lots of homeless). 100% agree about booking everything in advance. When we went to Alcatraz the next tickets were for four weeks away.

We enjoyed climbing the Coit Tower, Alcatraz, Cal Science (Natural History Museum), down by the Golden Gate, shopping in the centre, eating in the Italian area (down the hill from the Coit). I have to say I enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf for an afternoon - yes it is very, very touristy but it's also quite buzzy and fun.

The sea lions at pier 39, if you're at the right time of year.

We had the San Francisco Card which combines transport and entry to attractions, we definitely got our money's worth out of it. Alcatraz is definitely worth doing. We also liked the exploratorium, the cable car museum and the wells Fargo museum. The last two are small and, I think, free. The science museum near the golden gate was heaving with bus loads of small children when we were there which spoiled it somewhat. The Exploratorium is more interesting for older children and adults. We went whale watching which was brilliant but take sea sickness pills.

We are going early July - Alcatraz booking opens 90 days in advance. We booked the night tour, did look at doing an add on to it 'behind the scenes' tour, but it was double the cost and 4-5hrs, which we thought might be too much. We also planning to hire bikes and there are also places across the GG bridge in Sausalito where you can book kayak trips under the bridge.

Dont want to hijack the thread, but can someone advise the easiest way to get into downtown SF from the airport? Not adverse to getting a taxi (esp after an 11hr flight) but if there is straightforward public transport we will do that.

Kath the underground terminal is in the airport, takes you straight there.

Alcatraz.

It's the on,y thing I really remember

Thanks Hullabaloo

The highlight of our visit which we didn't plan but heard about once there (many years ago) was hiring bikes, cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito then taking the ferry back across the bay. Was simply amazing, do this!

Alcatraz didn't do much for me, we were organised, pre-booked and went and IMO it was a tourist-rammed jail that stank of bird shit. But others rave about the experience.

Loved just riding the cable cars/trams and walking up some of the iconic city hills. Chinatown is very cool.

And be prepared for how oddly changeable the temperature is. Don't get caught out, you always need sunscreen and a cardigan for the up and down fog!

Alcatraz is an absolute must but book well in advance! It books up weeks ahead.

Also, take warm clothes! It's pretty cold! We went in August from Las Vegas at 103 degrees to 62 in SF!

Alcatraz the behind the scenes is brilliant.

Dd and i did the Walt Disney Museum, very interesting if you like Disney.Not really for young children, its more a proper museum.

There are certain times when places like the Japanese gardens and the art museum are free.

Definitely don't forget the sunscreen. I was there in August and when I was walking to the bridge it was freezing and cloudy, I was wearing a fleece and contemplating buying a beanie but later that evening I had a face like a tomato.

kath6144 we took a limo (a glorified people carrier) in from the airport as we were coming in from a long flight. It was bliss and took us right to the door. Lots of operators if you google. Cost the same as a taxi and was much more comfortable.

Uber is cheap in San Franciso. We used it a couple of times.

It's not as warm as you think it's going to be! They call August "Fogust" - we didn't see The Golden Gate Bridge once during the four days we were there last year, as it was continually shrouded in fog.

Recommend Alcatraz Night Tour (very atmospheric, with all that....fog!), Coit Tower, cycling to Sausolito, Japanese Tea Gardens, riding the trams (tip - walk one stop up from where everyone else is queuing to get on), Cheesecake Factory....all the usual stuff.

Fisherman's Wharf was a bit tacky, except for a really cool (and free!) museum on Pier 45 - the Musee Mechanique. Loads of amazing vintage amusement arcade stuff to play with: Victorian Fortune Tellers, Pianolas, Cinematographs, 1950s Boxing Machines, right through to 1980s Space Invaders. Brilliant.

Agree with the cold weather comments. Don't be like us and end up buying naff touristy hoodies because we were so cold (July)

I paid $12 to see a baseball game by getting tickets on StubHub and that included a margarita in the price! People who have season tickets sell their tickets on all the time, it's one of the biggest bargains I've ever got but there were loads similar available. The stadium is right on the water and it was a brilliant experience!

Dinner or Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor of Macys in Union Square, and chowder in a breadbowl at Boudins Bakery at Fishermans Wharf

Take heed of the (misattributed) Mark Twain quote: "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco". You can be absolutely chilled to the bone when the fog rolls in even if it was shorts and t-shirt weather in the sun.

Cycling over the GG bridge to Sausalito is well worth it but arrive at the ferry terminal in good time as they can reach capacity on bikes - we made this mistake when we had to be back in time for our booked trip to Alcatraz and ended up having to cycle back over the bridge at top speed as we couldn't get on the ferry.

Alcatraz night tour is well worth it.

Avoid Fishernan's Wharf.

Great place for foodies - it's a good few years since we were there so it's worth researching what is current

Cocktails at the Top of the Mark at sunset.