During our trip to the United States we started our tour with the beautiful city of San Francisco. San Francisco is definitely a city worth a visit! Be sure of that, you won’t get bored.
We propose you here a list of the 10 activities that are for us the must-see in this city!
Union Square:
Well, this is the shopping fanatic that speaks to you… Located in the heart of the city, this district is probably a shopping paradise. The Macy’s in this square extends over several floors, and I must admit that I’ve been walking around it quite a bit. But it is also the place from where you can borrow the famous cable cars.
Take a Cable Car ride:
Probably the greatest classic, but also a must-see in our opinion! Going up Powell Street and down to Fisherman’s Wharf on the other side is definitely an attraction on its own. As for us, we couln’t get enough of it!
Cable car is definitely an almost 100% tourist attraction. Indeed few locals use one because it is by far not the fastest way to go from point A to point B, but also because of the cost; a trip costs 6$… There are still three lines in service in SF. These are the last cable trams still in service! For the people of Lausanne, we will all remember the “ficelle”, our Lausanne metro that used to operate according to the same technique but was replaced in 2006 by a more modern metro.
Do you want to make several visits to San Francisco? So we advise you to take a look at the CityPass.We didn’t take it in San Francisco because we didn’t plan many paid activities, but we did take it in New York. These passes are great because they allow you to get a nice discount on museum and activity tickets. Our advice? Make a list of the activities you want to do and then compare the CityPass price (looking at how many activities are included) and the individual prices. You’ll see, it’s worth it pretty quickly!See the San Francisco cityPass
Alcatraz prison:
Visiting the prison is probably a must, and frankly it’s 100% justified! The adventure begins with a ferry crossing to the island. The cruise is very nice and offers a beautiful view of the city! We really enjoyed this day, but be careful in high season you have to book your ticket up to several days in advance. We had omitted this detail and it was therefore impossible for us to visit Alcatraz when we arrived.
Fortunately, we had planned to finish our road trip in San Francisco as well. So we were able to get a ticket for the day before we returned to Switzerland a month later.
The island is quite “invaded” by tourists (nearly 5000 daily visits), but there is the possibility of taking the first morning ferry, called “early bird” and thus be relatively alone for the visit. On the island you have the choice between taking the tour by yourself or taking an audio-tour. Personally I’m not a big fan of audio tours. I generally prefer to have my nose in my guide to read the information I am interested in, but I must say that the audio guide is worth it; we have a detailed tour with lots of anecdotes.
Activities
If you want to do activities in San Francisco such as visiting Alcatraz or taking bus tours or helicopter flights over the bay, we recommend that you book your tickets via the Internet in order to benefit from the best rates (and also avoid queues);)
San Francisco’s China Town:
Probably the most exotic experience of our stay in SF! China Town is located in the north of Union Square and is home to the largest Chinese community (excluding Asia) in the world! There are nearly 120,000 Chinese living in this neighborhood! It’s impressive, once you’ve passed through the famous Dragon Gates you’re immersed in what you might think is a completely different city!
Fisherman’s Wharf:
This district located to the north of the city is the starting point for a visit to Alcatraz, but not only. The surroundings of the port are certainly very touristic but a visit is still worth it. We recommend that you go through Pier 39 where hundreds of sea lions have made their home, and it’s really funny to watch some of these sea lions “fight” to get a spot in the sun but also the tourists who play elbows to take pictures of them.
Fisherman’s Wharf is also a fishing port. And so probably one of the best places to enjoy a good little lobster (well yes we did have fun) or crab. And guaranteed, the crab is fresh!
As I was looking at these poor crabs on a display, the salesman handed me one to take a picture. I’m not a fan of these babies at the base, but well it still looked pretty damn dead to me and it’s the symbol of the city so I gently grab the “thing”… It’s once in contact with my hands (maybe a little shaky) that mister Crab decided to wake up. Yes, because they do sell themselves alive…
Now that I think about it, I realize that I was damn naive to think it was dead, this poor animal… I let you admire my ridiculous change of head between the time I thought I was holding a surimi and the time I realized that this dude had pliers and that he had planned to use them against me.
As in many cities, there is also an offer of free walking tour. These tours, which are generally done on foot, are an excellent way to discover the city with a local guide. The concept of these towers? An appointment time is fixed and we leave with a guide for about 2h30. These tours are always “free”. I voluntarily put quotation marks because if these tours have no price they work on the basis of tips. It is up to you to choose how much you think it was worth, but we love these tours and we do them almost every time we arrive in a city. The fact that it’s free allows, in absolute terms, to leave after 5 minutes if it’s really bad (it happened to us once out of the nearly 30 free laps we’ve done). Since it works for tips, the guides are often highly motivated and the tours are very qualitative!See more about these tours
Golden Gate bridge:
Probably one of the most famous bridges in the world! This is definitely a visit not to be missed when you travel to San Francisco. The bridge can of course be crossed by car (which we did when we left for our road trip) but also on foot or by bike. Notice to the dizzying, the bridge is moving! Benoit thought it was pretty funny. I admit that I was only moderately confident but the view is so beautiful that we easily forget it!
Be aware that it is possible to take a boat tour to discover the Bay in an alternative way! For more information and to book this cruise, please have a look here
Golden Gate Park:
With its 450 hectares, this park is even larger than New York’s Central Park. The walk in this park will lead you through several “attractions” not to be missed under any circumstances! Whether it is the Japanese tea garden or the flower conservatory, you will be charmed by this magnificent green space that stretches from the city centre to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
In the park is 10 km of cycle path. Cycling is therefore an excellent way to take a nice ride, and then why not take the opportunity to cross the bridge!
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- To have the most beautiful view of the Golden Gate and San Fracisco, we recommend that you visit the Golden Gate Recreation Area. This is a large green space located on the other side of the bridge, and whether it’s for a walk or just to enjoy the breathtaking view of SF and the bay it’s really a must.
We chose to go through there when we left town once we had taken possession of our rental car for the road trip, but if you like walking, this tour is quite feasible on foot by crossing the bridge and then leaving on the way up the hill.
- To have the most beautiful view of the Golden Gate and San Fracisco, we recommend that you visit the Golden Gate Recreation Area. This is a large green space located on the other side of the bridge, and whether it’s for a walk or just to enjoy the breathtaking view of SF and the bay it’s really a must.
A stroll on Telegraph Hill and visit the Coit Tower.
Telegraph Hill is a residential area of San Francisco, and we strongly recommend that you climb to the top of the hill through the harbour. You will pass through beautifully maintained houses and flowered gardens. Once at the top, a short tour on the Coit Tower is a must! The view of the city and the bay of San Francisco is fantastic, and you can fully admire the typical American architecture with its perfectly straight streets that intersect at right angles, an American standard, but funny enough for Europeans.
Lombard Street:
The most tortuous street in the world! Lombard Street is actually a road that extends from the Presidio to the Embarcadero. But for tourists Lombard Street often refers to the winding stretch between Hyde Street and Leavenworth Street. This section, whose photos have probably already been taken around the world, is composed of 8 tight bends that have been placed there to reduce the slope a little. This street can be used by car, but only in one direction (in the direction of the descent).
- Accommodation in San Francisco is relatively expensive, unfortunately…. But don’t worry, there are still some good alternatives, especially in terms of youth hostels.
- Youth hostel does not necessarily mean dormitory…. In San Francisco many hostels offer double rooms with private bathrooms, in short it’s like in a hotel but cheaper!
- Our advice: Take a look at Hostelworld and search for accommodation with the map option. Everything near Union Square will be an ideal location to discover the city on foot!
The last alternative would be to rent an apartment. We usually do this in the cities, because if in the end it doesn’t necessarily cost less than a hotel room, we find it more comfortable and above all we have a kitchen! Having a kitchen allows you to save money on restaurants and to have small meals “at home” from time to time. Then I wouldn’t hide from you that in San Francisco it’s expensive… very expensive even! 🙁
To get an overview of all options available you can also use the map below. It shows you all available hotels and apartments. Simply enter your dates and adjust the filters to refine your serach:
If like us, you plan to do a roadtrip in the States, the best way is to rent a car. We also rented ours in San Francisco. To find the best offer we recommend the website Rentalcars.com
Rentalcars is not a rental agency, but an online compressor. Basically you enter your departure place, your dates and the return place if different and it offers you offers from many agencies. From our experience this is the best way to find the cheapest car online. Tips for finding a cheaper car:
- If possible, try to make a loop and return the car to the same place where you took it. Drop off your car in another agency is always more expensive!
- Have at least one driver over 25 years old if possible!
- Vary the hours of vehicle pick-up a little. If you put for example 8am in the morning and an agency opens at 8:30am then it will not be displayed… however many rental companies are flexible on the schedules.
Have you ever been to San Francisco? What did you like best? Feel free to tell us if you think we forgot something!)
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