San Francisco is a great city to start your California trip. But start at your trip on a Saturday otherwise you might belief only tourists live in this city. And actually this might be true. Rents are high and most jobs are in Silicon Valley. People work more long hours and the Hippie culture is not as present as it used to be. Nevertheless wandering through the streets you can almost taste the smell of weed. I think in order to change the emptiness of the city during the week the city started programs to connect regional needs with the Start Up Culture (https://startupinresidence.org/).
You can find some cool Start Ups near the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; https://www.sfmoma.org/artists-artworks/), but not only there.
This would be my first recommendation for you. But this is personal. If you LOVE modern art, than this is the place to be. Duchamp, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte, Matisse, and a lot of the great Pop Art pieces are exhibited there.
If you don´t love modern art then don´t spend the 25$.
Besides going to the Golden Gate Bridge – which is a MUST – you can also go and see Alcatraz. I did´t. I can only tell you that every bigger tourist attraction is about 50$. This is a lot and if you only have so much time, you have to decide whether it is worth it…
I would really recommend, that you spend some more time at the Golden Gate Bridge and look around the Fort Point under the Bridge the view from there up the Bridge is amazing (and free).
From there you can see and feel the power of the pacific ocean. Sometimes one might even forget that the city is so close to nature.
If you are an individualist and vegan is not your first choice for lunch then look around Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and eat a typical California shrimp cocktail (or something else with fish). But please do this just once if you are not a big Fish-and-Sea-Lover, because along your trip there are a lot of wharf’s that are much cooler (e.g. in Monterrey).
One big advantage of San Francisco vs. other cities like L.A. is that you can go around easily by public transportation like bus or cable car (http://www.sftodo.com/cable-car-san-francisco.html). The latter is a absolute MUST experience in San Francisco.
And this is a list of other things that are FUN to DO in SF:
- Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point
- Cable Car
- SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Alcatraz
- Fisherman´s Wharf
- China Town (grab some lunch)
- Russian Hill/Lombard street (if you love funny streets, great cars and/or play video games)
- Have a walk South of Market (there are a lot of homeless people there, just be careful and you are fine). Have a walk around some non tourist corners and you might find a much cooler SF than the other tourist.
If you have some time, then go to…
- Golden Gate Bridge Park (there are some museums and a Japanese Garden there, but only go there if you have the impression you did already do everything there is in SF). And it´s 8$…
- You LOVE NATURE? Near SF you can find old Redwood trees in Muir Woods (they are really high, but not as big as in other parks, so go if you have time and love nature, don´t if you don´t.
- Japantown? If you LOVE Sushi an original Japanese cuisine – that´s the place to go!
- Near the Civic Center are some cool coffee shops as well as the Asian Museum of Art and stuff..nice place to take a walk and some cool pictures.
Here are some practical tips for your San Francisco trip:
- Don´t take a rental car at the airport!! The parking fees are crazy in SF (around 30$ a day) and most hotels don´t have a free parking lot. Furthermore you don´t need a car in SF, because you can easily go by bus or by foot between South Market an Golden Gate Bridge.
- And you can save some money and spent it on a better hotel in SF. Even 150$ per night are not an assurance to NOT get stuck in the elevator (which YES happened to us!).
- If you need to find a cheap parking space then park at the Civic Center. Belief me or not this central parking lot is the cheapest we found – and we spend a lot of time looking for the best one.
- You are afraid to go around in unsafe neighborhoods, that homeless people and drug addicts call their home? Don´t stay at a hotel near South Market. If you like hip and exciting neighborhoods, well…
- The weather is better in October, if you go earlier (like September or August) than always always take a jacket, because the temperature differences do get crazy!
- Never spend any money on breakfast at a hotel. Go outside, spend some money in cool american diners. And if you don´t want to spend to much money go to a Dennys 🙂
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