San Fran for a fast trip - need recommendations

[lecach]

Never been before. Will be my husband and me - we are in our early 40's.

Husband has to go for work. He works for the Carolina Panthers NFL team and will fly on the team plane. He gets there Friday, Nov. 8 in the afternoon and will only have that evening and all day Saturday. I will get there at lunch on the 8th and will have until 7:00 Sunday night. So a few hours to myself on Friday and all day by myself on Sunday.

I will have a rental car and we are staying in Palo Alto (free hotel so I can't complain).

I think we'd want to check out Fishermans Wharf and Alcatraz together. I've always been fascinated by Haight/Asbury so I might go there on my own. What else would be good for me by myself on Sunday - and is there anything that my husband and I should do on Saturday?

 

[Itinkso]

Taking the cable car to Union Square or Chinatown is fun. Golden Gate Park has a lot of interesting things to see and do. We have yet to visit the Disney Family Museum but our DD enjoyed her visit there.

So much to to do in San Francisco, have a great time!

 

[larina]

I second the part. So much to do there: Japanese tea garden, Conservatory of Flowers, Rose Garden, Tulip Garden. It's just full of great stuff!

 

[usnuzuloose]

My suggestion would be if you want to visit Alcatraz , buy your tickets online in advance, as they are usually sold out when trying to buy tickets of the day you want to go.

 

[podsnel]

We were just there for 5 days- our favorite things were Segways in Golden Gate Park (that park is INCREDIBLE!!!!) and we had a great time on a private tour with a guy named Holgar on Silver lion Tours- he took us all over the city, provided snacks, dropped us off, picked us up- he tailored it to whatever we were interested in, was extremely entertaining, and $75/hour for a minimum 4 hours- but because he was in a van, he was able to do things tour buses can't do, like drive down Lombard st, fly over hills too fast for a SF near death experience ,etc- we also went to Haight ashbury, among many other places-- we were able to see alot with him in a short amount of time, so that was a huge plus!

It is a beautiful city- we loved our time there- hope you do too!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Some of the things I've done around San Francisco are found in this thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2451585


Hope it helps.

 

[wiigirl]

My suggestion would be if you want to visit Alcatraz , buy your tickets online in advance, as they are usually sold out when trying to buy tickets of the day you want to go.

Alcatraz isn't s short trip.....my sugestion would be a bay boat tour. You get to see the whole bay, Golden Gate Bridge, and you go around Alcatraz...

 

[dthogue]

We were just there for 5 days- our favorite things were Segways in Golden Gate Park (that park is INCREDIBLE!!!!) and we had a great time on a private tour with a guy named Holgar on Silver lion Tours- he took us all over the city, provided snacks, dropped us off, picked us up- he tailored it to whatever we were interested in, was extremely entertaining, and $75/hour for a minimum 4 hours- but because he was in a van, he was able to do things tour buses can't do, like drive down Lombard st, fly over hills too fast for a SF near death experience ,etc- we also went to Haight ashbury, among many other places-- we were able to see alot with him in a short amount of time, so that was a huge plus!

It is a beautiful city- we loved our time there- hope you do too!

can you tell me what company you used for the Segway tour? Sounds awesome and something we definetely need to do!

tammy

 

[lecach]

Since I will be on my own on Friday and Sunday, I am thinking that maybe on Friday I should do a tour. Is there a location where you can see the offerings and just start one without advanced planning? Like in Vegas - they have booths where you can see the offerings and sign up with no notice. Or do I need to plan in advance, and if so -does anyone have a recommendation?

I'll get the rental car at SFO around 1:00 and will have til 6:00 when my husband arrives. I thought a good general tour would be nice so I could get an overview of a lot of stuff and then see what I might want to do more in detail on Saturday with my husband.

 

[Purrkins]

+1 Japanese Tea Garden.

Ferry Building Farmers Market is also fun.

Chinatown.

My wife and I like looking at all the street art in the Mission but we're weird like that...

 

[Disneykatz]

Go to Pier 39 (just down the street from Fishermans Wharf), there are tour ticket booths there. Alcatraz is the only thing that needs to be booked in advance as it is always sold out. You could get the bay tour there the same day or my recommendation is the City tour on the double decker bus. There are about 4 tours during the day at specific times & last about 2-1/2 hours. It takes you past some popular places in the City so you can see where they are & go back later (Some of the places it takes you are through Chinatown, past the cable car museum (cool place also), past Lombard Street). They stop & let you sightsee for a little bit at the GG Bridge. They go past GG park which is a fun place to see also on your own because there is the rose garden & a walkway around a lake with a cool waterfall & the CA Academy of Science Museum.