5 Days in San Fran

[Engine09]

I had a lot of fun just bag driving the rental car through the streets of SF, that city is so much fun to drive in.

Coit Tower is quick and easy, decent view of the city.

[Machiavelli]

I just spent about 2 days in San Francisco on a California trip and I wish we had stayed there a lot longer. I absolutely loved that city, wow.

Did the whole Fisherman's wharf thing, Bay cruise, Lombard street (at Hyde), cable cars, Union Square, etc.

Gorgeous city with perfect temperatures. Sigh....

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

Oh, I think the Winchester house is in the area too...


And if you do make it down to Monterrey, check out their aquarium - stunning - watched a documentary on it on discovery HD the other night...

The Winchester Mystery House is in San Jose. Honestly, imo if you're here for only 5 days, skip San Jose. I LOVE SJ (I live here) but if you only have 5 days, there is a lot of other things to do as a tourist unless..its HOCKEY season!! San Jose is an hour's drive from San Francisco. Maybe I just take it for granted..

However if you are in SJ, Winchester House is nice and so is Santana Row, and upscale outdoor mall/bar/restaurant area. Go sit on a patio, people watch, and there are always Bentley's, Mazarati's etc parked. Very posh. The V-Bar at the top of Hotel Valencia is awesome, and I like the Sushi at Blowfish or the food at Strait's (sit on the patio).

So for San Francisco..if I had 5 days, this is what I would do:
-Union Square (in the heart of San Francisco, imo a must see for tourists
-Fisherman's Wharf

The above 2 can be done in one day.

- Watch an SF Gianta game
- Go to Lombard street (the most crookedest street ever)...

The above 2 can be done in one day.

Golden Gate Bridge/Golden Gate Park/Postcard row/SF Chinatown (the houses where the Full House episodes were taken)...these can be done in one day.

Napa...go to the winery with the Gondola..amazing views from the top. I LOVE NAPA. Stay there for 2 days so you can get everything you want to done. There is a casino within a half an hour of there.....

So that's 4 days worth of stuff to do in SF and Napa. For the other 2 days I would spend one in Monterey/Carmel (go to another winery and go to an aquarium in Monterey) or I would just spend that extra day in SF because there is so much stuff to do there.

[dustygoon]

I live here so might be able to help with some stuff.

- not a big fan of alcatraz; fisherman's warf is brutal; major tourist trap
- you can wear jeans to almost anything; very casual city

- stuff to go see/do
Presidio and walk around ILM's new studios on Letterman Drive; drinks at Pres a vie
Chrissy field to hang out at beach a bit
Sausalito is nice town
Go to Muir Beach and drive up around there
Point Reyes is nice
If you ride bikes, then this is road and mountain riding heaven
tonnes of great golf


- restaurants worth checking out:
Foreign Cinema - neat place in the summer with film showing, but this is a top restaurant first; not gimickie at all
Kokkari - i guess you would say greek, but high end; lamb is killer; financial district
Chez Papa - good french restaurant in Petrero
Dosa - highly rated Indian restaurant; no reservations; Valencia Street; grittier neighbourhood but chic restaurant
Swans Oyster bar - wicked. old cafeteria style; lines up at noon; freshest seafood ever; polk street
Betelnut - on Union street; asian food with nice bar on great street
Salt House - my new favourite

- bars
Eastside West - one of the main cool bars on corner of Filmore and Greenwich
Balboa - another of the cool bars opposite Eastside West on Filmore/Greenwich; owned by Plumpjack; Gavin Newsome the mayor and likely future Governor of California owns Plumpjack group
Final Final - casual sports bar
Redwood Room - looks cool; younger
Top of the Mark - old style hotel with great lounge up top


- wine country
I like Sonoma better than Napa; a little more rustic and less disturbed; most wineries in sonoma have been bought out by bigger groups (Constellation Brands), but their are a few family owned ones. Not many places do free tastings anymore. Many require reservations to do tours. Wear shorts and flip flops if you want. There may be some hob nobs, but 90% of the people up there are casual and not pretentious whether in napa or sonoma.
- Sonoma
Nicholson Ranch has excellent Pinot and Chardonnay.
Matanzas Creek is a pretty winery with nice mix of wines.
Arrowwood is decent.
Girl and the fig and fig cafe are EXCELLENT restaurants in Sonoma

- Napa
St Helena is the showy town; Calistoga is the more rustic town; drive up Silverado Trail to get away from tour buses and get the real nice feel of napa.
Heitz still has free tastings.
Bennett Lane is nice quiet winery with good bordeaux style wines
Artesa has tonnes of style points, with ok wines.
Joseph Phelps has a beautiful setting.
Cakebread is good.
Duckhorn is a little more uppity but good.
Miner is very high end and needs appointment....ultra nice wine though.

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

I live here so might be able to help with some stuff.

- not a big fan of alcatraz; fisherman's warf is brutal; major tourist trap
- you can wear jeans to almost anything; very casual city

- stuff to go see/do
Presidio and walk around ILM's new studios on Letterman Drive; drinks at Pres a vie
Chrissy field to hang out at beach a bit
Sausalito is nice town
Go to Muir Beach and drive up around there
Point Reyes is nice
If you ride bikes, then this is road and mountain riding heaven
tonnes of great golf


- restaurants worth checking out:
Foreign Cinema - neat place in the summer with film showing, but this is a top restaurant first; not gimickie at all
Kokkari - i guess you would say greek, but high end; lamb is killer; financial district
Chez Papa - good french restaurant in Petrero
Dosa - highly rated Indian restaurant; no reservations; Valencia Street; grittier neighbourhood but chic restaurant
Swans Oyster bar - wicked. old cafeteria style; lines up at noon; freshest seafood ever; polk street
Betelnut - on Union street; asian food with nice bar on great street
Salt House - my new favourite

- bars
Eastside West - one of the main cool bars on corner of Filmore and Greenwich
Balboa - another of the cool bars opposite Eastside West on Filmore/Greenwich; owned by Plumpjack; Gavin Newsome the mayor and likely future Governor of California owns Plumpjack group
Final Final - casual sports bar
Redwood Room - looks cool; younger
Top of the Mark - old style hotel with great lounge up top


- wine country
I like Sonoma better than Napa; a little more rustic and less disturbed; most wineries in sonoma have been bought out by bigger groups (Constellation Brands), but their are a few family owned ones. Not many places do free tastings anymore. Many require reservations to do tours. Wear shorts and flip flops if you want. There may be some hob nobs, but 90% of the people up there are casual and not pretentious whether in napa or sonoma.
- Sonoma
Nicholson Ranch has excellent Pinot and Chardonnay.
Matanzas Creek is a pretty winery with nice mix of wines.
Arrowwood is decent.
Girl and the fig and fig cafe are EXCELLENT restaurants in Sonoma

- Napa
St Helena is the showy town; Calistoga is the more rustic town; drive up Silverado Trail to get away from tour buses and get the real nice feel of napa.
Heitz still has free tastings.
Bennett Lane is nice quiet winery with good bordeaux style wines
Artesa has tonnes of style points, with ok wines.
Joseph Phelps has a beautiful setting.
Cakebread is good.
Duckhorn is a little more uppity but good.
Miner is very high end and needs appointment....ultra nice wine though.

I agree with everything you said about Napa. i really like Calistoga. However, I think Fisherman's Wharf is enjoyable for tourists....two CPers came to visit me last summer and I took them there, and they really enjoyed it. The seals you can see off the pier are fun to watch too.

[flamersfan]

Wow! Thanks guys!

I appreciate all the suggestions... I expected maybe 1 or 2 replies.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Enjoy your time there, I LOVE that city, and would move there in an instant if I had a job that would allow me to afford it!

Most of the stuff has been nailed - fisherman's warf, Must-do is Alcatraz, if you're renting a car last time down there we had fun driving to find the steepest St in San Fran... I think we found it, LOL but no idea what St it is, sorry.

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

Enjoy your time there, I LOVE that city, and would move there in an instant if I had a job that would allow me to afford it!

Most of the stuff has been nailed - fisherman's warf, Must-do is Alcatraz, if you're renting a car last time down there we had fun driving to find the steepest St in San Fran... I think we found it, LOL but no idea what St it is, sorry.

Lombard Street is the most crooked (and very steep too) but I dont know what the steepest street is.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

Lombard Street is the most crooked (and very steep too) but I dont know what the steepest street is.

yeah I know Lombard St very well.

This one street we went down, if you were sitting in the back of a car, just normally you would see the moon and the sky through the moon roof it was that steep.

LOL if San Fran ever gets some ice, it will put insurance companies out of business.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

yeah I know Lombard St very well.

This one street we went down, if you were sitting in the back of a car, just normally you would see the moon and the sky through the moon roof it was that steep.

LOL if San Fran ever gets some ice, it will put insurance companies out of business.

I think it is Filmore....jonny moseley did an event a few summers ago where they put snow on Filmore and he skied it. Pretty funny. Keeping going north on filmore and you run into some great bars.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...AGUAF0D2P1.DTL