San Francisco

[Enright78]

DH has surprised DD and myself with a trip to San Francisco in Feb!!
Any tips, links etc?

 

[Penny12]

WOW...you lucky thing!

SF is a WONDERFUL city Do you know where you'll be staying yet?

Things that are a MUST do in my book (off the top of my head)....

Alcatraz
Ride a Cable car
Walk up - doh! Can't remember what hill it's called - it has a tower (like a mini light house shape) on it...blast...it'll come back to me. It's a killer to walk up, but the views over SF are fab.
Go to Lombard St (the ultimate z-bend road!)
Take the bus across the Golden Gate Bridge and walk back (especially wrap up though - in Feb it'll be c-c-c-cold and the bridge, obviously, is very exposed)
Pier 39 & Fishermans Wharf
Chinatown
Touching the Pacific Ocean
Visiting the big park - can't think of the name of that either but you can't miss it - it's SF's equivelent of Central park and is huge!

Depending how much time you have there, and whether you have a car, there are also some nice places to go an hour - hour 1/2 from the city (though I'm sure if you didn't have a car, you'd be able to do an excursion to say Monterey (The best aquarium I have EVER been to in my life, which also just happens to be opposite a factory outlet, LOL) or north to Sonoma Wine country and the great Sequoia trees etc.

I just loved SF when I went - and one day I WILL go back! It is a compact city and has real character - you'll love it

 

[lilboo]

Diser deno2 asked about San Fran recently; here's the link...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=270467

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Another vote for San Francisco. Generally I'm not a 'city person', but I'll happily make an exception for SF. I thought it was wonderful, although I didn't have too much time for sightseeing (business trip). Maybe next time...

If you are feeling adventurous, what about spliting your time between SF and LA (fitting in a side visit to Disneyland)? The drive down Hwy 1 (the coastal road) is spectacular.

Regards

Rob

 

[Astrid]

Well Penny seems to have covered most things with her post and I can only echo what she says!

Pier 39 with the Sealions is great as is walking along Fishermans Wharf, though I must admit it was a bit 'tackier' than I imagined.

Going on one of the trams is a great experience, watch them get turned around when they reach the end of the track!

We had dinner in a great restaurant on Pier 39 based on Alcatraz (the name escapes me now - could have been called Alcatraz!) and also went in the San Francisco Experience which has an Earthquake simulation on the Pier as well which was very good! Mind you, we were there in 1991 so things could have changed now!

We accidentally got on a bus going the opposite direction from where we wanted ( )and ended up at Golden Gate Park which was lovely and had a walk around the Japanese Tea Garden where we also had tea!!

It was a great experience - have fun!!

Astrid

 

[Penny12]

Oh lord yes...Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 are a bit tacky - it's a real tourist trap! If you are looking for a musical box that looks like a cable car and play's "I left my heart in SF" then you'd probably find a couple of thousand around there, LOL. All in good fun though.

Ahhh....Golden Gate Park - obvious now

And the 'lighthouse' on the hill - I'm pretty sure it was Coit Tower. I have nice memories of that place as I saw a real live Hummingbird there - beautiful and so small! I do like to see those critters you see, hehehe!

 

[WDWfan uk]

I saw some wonderful photos friends of ours took on their most recent visit in Summer( They are regulars to the area!)

Certainly from what they were saying, all of the above, and they particularly like to visit Sausolito too which yo can get to by ferry or by crossing the bridge.

They really love the Monterey Aquarium and visiting Hearst Castle further down Highway 1.