San Francisco attractions - San Francisco - TravBuddy

It really depends on what you want to do. Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf are the touristy areas but are pretty fun to check out anyway.They are great place to get lunch or dinner with really fresh seafood. I like Alioto's for lunch or dinner. From that area you can also take a tour to Alcatraz. Union square has great shopping. Haight Ashbury has hippies, great bars and a fun brewery. The Mission district has fun bars to go to. Goldengate park is really big and there is lots of stuff always going on there. I like to use citysearch.com I had great luck with the San Fran top 10s the last time I went there. And a tip if you ride the trolly...dont get on at the station where everyone is waiting. Walk down two blocks and hop on at the trolly station. Then you dont have to wait.

Muir Woods (across the Golden Gate bridge) is exceptional (if you like redwood groves). It is beautiful. Everybody likes to ride on the cable cars. Coit Tower has great views of the city. Take the tour to Alcatraz and go through the prison. Walk through Chinatown and have some dim sum. Drive down Lombard Street (crookedest street in the world). If you like museums the new De Young is pretty cool (architecture is controversial, I love it); it is in Golden Gate Park which somebody else mentioned. Wine country (Napa and Sonoma) has great scenery and great wine. If time permits, Yosemite is worth a visit.

I'll tell you what the highlights were from my experiences going up to San Francisco. I've been up there a grand total of three times, but they were in totally different time frames of my life.

We were planning on having a late dim sum breakfast, so we picked Karen up from the inn and headed off. Before we ate though, we decided to take some pictures of the sights, such as the Golden Gate Bridge.

It roughly took us the entire afternoon, minus the walking... since it's so difficult to find parking around downtown. Shortly after, we made our way into downtown where we checked out some of the bakeries and other assorted goodies. Unfortunately we ran into a slight problem with the metermaids. In the middle of our tour, they towed our car away.... so technically we were stranded. It took us an hour to catch a cab, get down to the impound lot, and wait for the car to be ready. Not only that, but we had to pay $188 fine, which really put a dent in everyone's wallet. But at least we all offered to chip in for it.

Then we made our way to Ghirardelli Square for a nice warm brownie sundae. You can see we had a great time checking out the square before dinner.

We went to Ciopinno's for dinner, which was sort of pricy... but overall a good place to eat. I had a risotto, which you can never go wrong with. Then after dinner, we walked around the wharf and bought more souvenirs for our families.

Of course if you go to San Francisco, you have to go to Fisherman's Wharf. It is sort of touristy, but it is also the home of a lot of great restaurants and bars and the view of the bay from there is spectacular. You can pick yourself up a seafood snack at a street cart or sit and sip a beer while gazing out at the Golden Gate and Alcatraz.