San Francisco, has been my favorite travel destination for quick weekend getaway. In the past couple years I’ve visited 3 times, and still haven’t covered everything. For me, it’s the city of love. My boyfriend and I became official when he asked me out at the top of Marin Headlands after a scenic bike ride across the Golden Gate. We have our top food spots that we absolutely have to visit every trip. It’s a tradition! Enough of the love story though. Clam Chowder bowls, big bridges, chilly weather, and lots of places to discover is just a short list of things you can try out and explore in SF. Here are some suggestions that you can add to your itinerary that we have experienced and loved. For accommodations, our last trip was an airbnb in the Mission District. For transportation, we basically uberPOOLed everywhere, which only cost $7 per trip. If you don’t want to stress out about navigating through the city, finding parking, or parking on hills, uber is your best bet.
Things to Do in San Francisco
- Union Square Shopping | Marvel at the huge Macy’s and then take pictures with the Hearts in San Francisco installations. There are many stores to visit and browse! We love the Uniqlo store.
- SOMA Streat Food Park | Rotating food trucks in an urban space filled with dj sounds and good vibes. The decor in this place is super cute and they have nice clean bathrooms! Sometimes they have live bands playing. Its great to try multiple things and just share with your group so can have a variety of tastes.
- Temple Nightclub | They generally play edm, but the night we went they played old school hip hop which was so much fun. Two floors, lights everywhere (pillars, bar, walls), amazing music, lasers, best of all: strong drinks!
- Peasant Pies | The vanilla flan pie is a yummy treat before heading into Golden Gate Park.
- Golden Gate Park
- California Academy of Science
- San Tung | Their fried chicken (dry) is AMAZING! Get it, don’t ask questions.
- Fisherman’s Wharf
- Boudin | Sourdough Bread Factory!
- Chowder Hut
- Rocket Boat
- Ride the Ducks
- Ghirardelli Square | must try one of their sundaes! you get free chocolate too just for stopping buy.
- Musée Mécanique | Cool place to walk around and see antique arcade games, if you have some spare change try out an old pinball machine!
- The Buena Vista | Stop here and warm yourself up with an Irish Coffee at the bar.
- Pepples Donuts | all organic, we tried the matcha green tea and the philz coffee donuts!
- Blue Bottle Coffee
- Hog Island Oyster Co | Since it was our first time eating raw oysters, we decided to be adventurous and tried out the oyster bar mix. each one of them was delicious. Also if you want to try a different type of clam chowder, try it here!
- Exploratorium | So many things to see here, we spent about 2.5 hours and couldn’t get to everything. A lot of fun for the kids and kids at heart.
- Clarion Alley Mission District Walls
- Anthony’s Cookies
- Ike’s Sandwiches | awesome sandwich combinations and names!
- Bike the Bridge | rent a bike for a day and ask about the Golden Gate route, it’s so fun riding down the bridge
- Twin Peaks | super cold at night but the view is totally worth it.
- Bi-Rite Creamery
Japanese Tea Gardens - Philz Coffee | Must try the Mint Mojito Coffee!
- Palace of Fine Arts
- 16th Ave Steps
Here's a recap video of our latest trip!
