Need help with a trip to San Francisco

[Soccermomm]

We are thinking of heading out to san fran visit next week. It will be during DS spring break. its about a 7 hour drive for us. Any advice on where to stay, places to eat, etc would be great.

Thanks!!!!

[Soccermomm]

Bumping.

Anyone???

[Mommy_Mea]

We just spent a few days in San Francisco. We stayed at the Radisson on Fisherman's Wharf, but that is because I had loyalty points to pay for it. It was a very nice hotel, but I know others have recommended staying in Union Square, and the Chancellor Hotel gets great reviews for families on Trip Advisor.

We didn't have a car and took public transportation everywhere, thank goodness for Google Maps telling us what to do :)

We had lunch at the Crepe Cafe on Fisherman's Wharf when we first arrived, very tasty. We then spent a lot of time eating in North Beach since it was a really fast bus ride from our hotel and we loved the vibe of the neighborhood. Henry Hunan for Chinese and then Golden Boy pizza. With the pizza we took it over to Washington Square and ate it as a picnic and did lots of people watching. When we went over to Golden Gate Park, we had brunch at Park Chow, big thumbs up.

We were sightseeing with a 2 and 4 year old, and our itinerary was:

Day 1 - Took BART over from Oakland (we flew in and out of Oakland), wandered the Piers and Fisherman's Wharf, took the cable car up to the Cable Car Museum, then went over to Lombard Street, and wrapped up with the Aquarium of the Bay (a little pricey, but the boys loved walking through the tunnels).

Day 2 - Took the bus across the Golden Gate Bridge and walked down to the Bay Area Discovery Museum (perfect for my boys, but I would say the max age would be 5 or 6 years old), then took a cab to Sausalito and took the ferry back to Pier 41. Watched the street performers and people.

Day 3 - Golden Gate Park, DS1 could have played on the slide at the Koret Children's Quarter all day. We then returned to Oakland to have dinner with friends and catch our flight in the morning.

We had an amazing time!

[mackmama]

There are a lot of past SF threads, some very recent, that might also help. No hotel recs, but I'd suggest going to the Exploratorium and the Academy of Sciences. You might also enjoy renting a car and going to the Marin Headlands for a hike and/or beach day depending on your DC's age. It'd also be fun to head over to Sausalito -- go the Discovery Museum with the kids then have lunch at Poggio. Have a fun trip!

[jse107]

We're leaving on Saturday for our first SF trip. I've gotten lots of good advice on TripAdvisor. Here is my general run-down for our week with two kids--6 and 9, and my parents:
Been doing lots of planning to narrow down activities and see what things can be grouped together. Here's a quick "10 Things" list:
http://content.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1845230,00.html


Here's what I've got going on so far...(lots of walking to be done, so wear comfy shoes)

Arrival day--take shuttle to hotel (Onmi), drop bags, and head to Fisherman's Wharf--see seal lions, Musee Mechanique, Maritime Museum, Ghiardelli Square, all sorts of "touristy" stuff

In no particular order:
Day: Exploratorium, Ferry Building (farmers market on Tuesdays),
Day: San Francisco Shuttle Tour--two options: http://www.sanfranshuttletours.com/
Muir Woods/Sausalito (only) $65 adult/62 senior/$57 child 4.5 hours
Muir Woods/Sausalito/City tour: $120/115/97 8 hours

Day: GG Bridge, GG Park, Academy of Sciences

Day: Neighborhood touring--Chinatown (maybe a professional tour??), North Beach, Cable Car Museum

Day: Neighborhood touring--Mission District, Haight-Ashbury, Castro--maybe (if only the kids weren't with us: http://www.yelp.com/biz/hot-cookie-san-francisco)

Day: Alcatraz/Angel Island tour


To fit in, just not sure where: USS Hornet aircraft carrier (I already got 1/2 price tickets for all of us through Groupon), Giants Game (I'm thinking one of the evening games either Tuesday or Wednesday

[jenmcadams]

We did a trip to SF for Thanksgiving week two years ago. I grew up in Northern California and worked at Lawrence Livermore (East Bay) every summer in college, so I knew the city, but my kids hadn't spent any time there. We ended up staying across the Golden Gate in a cute hotel near Sausalito (Mill Valley). Our hotel was about 1/2 the cost of the ones we looked at in the city (and included free parking) and we like Muir Woods and the stuff over on that side of the bay too. We drove in to the city several days (and paid to park which was still cheaper than parking at some of the hotels we looked at) and also did a few days around our area. My kids love having a pool when we're on vacation and our hotel had that as well.

As far as attractions, my kids' favorites were Alcatraz, the Exploratorium and Golden Gate park (in that order). SF is busy, but I don't think it's that bad to drive in (but I grew up going there, so have some familiarity with the Bay Area). We're not huge on professional tours, so did things like Muir Woods, China Town, etc. on our own.

Edited to Add: If you're planning on Alcatraz, you should definitely get your tickets ahead of time!

[meggie t]

I recently moved from SF. Lived there for 9 years. Here are my faves for when we had family in town. Will also list some great restaurants (we are big food people):

Hotel: The Omni, as a PP mentioned. Great hotel, close to Union Square. Mostly business people during the week, so rates might be higher, but weekend rates are usually very low for SF.

Attractions: Alcatraz - by far my favorite. Well done and the ferry over has great views; Academy of Sciences - kids love it, well done museum; Cable Car Museum; Golden Gate Park

Restaurants: Pizzeria Delfina - locations in the Mission and Pac Heights (we went to this one weekly), really excellent food, usually a wait at peak times; Rose Pistola - North Beach, lots of seating but a reso is recommended; La Taqueria - in the Mission, excellent CA style tacos and burritos, very popular, could be a wait, line moves pretty quickly though; Park Chow, as mentioned above, great for families; Mama's on Washington Square - North Beach, excellent brunch/breakfast, long lines; Dottie's True Blue Cafe - excellent brunch/breakfast, downtown area; long lines

For more food recs, check out Chowhound on the SF board. Lots of great non-touristy recommendations.

[lyt202]

We have stayed at the Westin St. Francis, the Palomar and the W in the Union Square/SoMa area. I would stay at either the Palomar or the W again.

As for attractions, we always enjoy catching a Giants game at AT&T park. We usually combine Golden Gate park with dim sum at Ton Kiang in the Richmond district. I also find that many good restaurants in San Francisco are casual enough, or loud enough, to take kids. We love Zuni Cafe for the roast chicken with bread salad. We also like Tartine, A16 and SPQR, many of the places in the Ferry Terminal (oysters at Hog Island, tacos at Mijita). San Francisco is such a great food town.

http://www.zunicafe.com/
http://www.tonkiang.net/
http://www.hogislandoysters.com/
http://www.tartinebakery.com/
http://www.a16sf.com/
http://www.spqrsf.com/

[meggie t]

+1 to all the food recs from lyt202

[csnoop]

I live in SF for the last 10+ yrs. I second many of the recs listed above. The thing with restaurants is that it really depends on what you want to eat, how much you want to spend and where you will be. There are endless #s of very good restaurants in the city. There are literally a least a restaurant on every non-residential block. I can easily list 5+ for each category of cuisine. For instance, if you go to the Exploratorium, you should probably eat at the Ferry building. Gott's Roadside cafe is a great child friendly eatery. Definitely have a latte at Blue Bottle Cafe. But if you want to go high end, go to Slanted Door (you will probably need a reservation). If you are at the Academy of Science, you can go to Park Chow, or Pacific Catch. Yelp is pretty helpful is helping you narrow down your choices. I can give more specific recommendation if you have something in particular you want.

There are also a lot of really great playgrounds. If you want to go to Delfina Pizzeria, I would take the kids to Dolores Park playground. Half of the park is under renovation but the playground is still open. Then afterwards, have ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery or pastries at Tartine (right next door to Delfina Pizzeria). If you want to go high end, then make a reservation at Delfina.
CC

[essnce629]

The BBB helped me plan my SF trip during Spring Break 2 years ago. At the time, DS1 was 8.5 and DS2 was almost 3.

This was my itinerary:

Day 1: Golden Gate Park-- playground, historic carousel, Japenese Garden, Golden Gate Express Train; Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square in afternoon/evening

Day 2: CA Academy of Sciences in morning (opens at 9:30am); Muir Woods in Marin; The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito 3pm tour

Day 3: Exploritorium; Alcatraz

Day 4: Cable Car Museum; Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in Chinatown

Day 5: Ferry Building to eat before leaving and get food for the road

The only thing we didn't get to do was go to Chinatown because we ran out of time and it was raining. I would skip the cable car museum, as the kids weren't all that interested. The kids' favorites were the playground at the park, Ghirardelli Square, Alcatraz, the Exploritorium, and the CA Academy of Sciences. Muir woods was super pretty too and you get to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to get there. We didn't get to ride a cable car or go down the crooked street, which I had wanted to do.

[rlu]

USS Hornet aircraft carrier (I already got 1/2 price tickets for all of us through Groupon)

Along with the Hornet (which is in Alameda), I also suggest the SS Jeremiah O'Brien (Liberty ship) which is at Pier 45 in SF. The Pampanito (submarine) is right next to it, but I haven't been in it so can't comment.