After living in the Bay Area for 33 years, I’ve entertained a lot of guests, so I thought it would be helpful to make a list of ideas for out-of-towners. I’ll try and update this with new ideas when I get them. A Google Doc with links in it can be found here, the links didn’t copy over when I cut and pasted it.

  • San Francisco City Guides do donation-based walking tours all over the city, you can find the schedule here. They are run by a non-profit and the guides are volunteers, they are usually very good.
  • Rent a bike and ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, have lunch, take the ferry back (you can bring the bike on the ferry). You can also just take the ferry both ways.
  • You can also just take the ferry round trip to any destination, it has really nice views of the bay. It’s public transit so it is relatively cheap.
  • Take a one-hour Bay Cruise that goes around the Bay for sightseeing and has better views than the ferry.
  • Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. If you have a car, it’s much easier to drive to the Marin side and park there. Check the website because the parking lots are sometimes closed.
  • Visit the Clare-Lilienthal House to see a Victorian mansion preserved with period-appropriate decor. You have to join a guided tour, they only take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
  • Musee Mechanique has a unique collection of vintage, coin-operated mechanical games.
  • Go to the SF Museum of Modern Art, eat lunch in Yerba Buena Gardens if the weather is nice.
  • Visit the Legion of Honor for mostly 16th-20th century European paintings and sculpture in a beautiful building.
  • The Exploratorium is more kid-oriented and has hands-on science displays that are really interesting.
  • I haven’t personally been to the Walt Disney Museum (run by his family) in the Presidio, but I know it’s popular.
  • Rent a bike and ride through Golden Gate Park along JFK Promenade from east to west, then south through Sunset Dunes Park. Stop at the Rose Garden and the Bison Paddock along the way.
  • There are a lot of beautiful mosaic tile staircases that aren’t necessarily worth seeking out on their own, but check to see if one is nearby a place you are already visiting. If you visit the one in Glen Park, the Burnside mural and stairs, see if you can find the tile with our names on it (for donating to the project!).
  • Visit the beautiful plant collection at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.
  • Take the ferry to Alcatraz. Note that the ferry tickets must be booked a few weeks in advance.
  • The two best places for views in the city are Twin Peaks and Bernal Hill. Twin Peaks can be a pain to get to if you don’t have a car. Bernal Hill is closer and accessible via multiple bus lines, and you can check out the cute neighborhood of Bernal Heights on Cortland Ave. Stop in the backyard of Wild Side West for a drink in the early evening.
  • Riding in a GoCar (little open-air motorized trike) is pretty fun. They do guided tours, or you can go on your own with a GPS-guided route.
  • Walk south down Valencia Street in the Mission for shopping and look at the murals in Clarion Alley, turn east and walk down 24th Street, with detours along Balmy and Orange Alleys for more murals. Dolores Park is great for people-watching if the weather is nice.
  • Walk along the Land’s End Trail for spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
  • Visit the Cable Car Museum.
  • Have lunch at The Ramp in Dogpatch, then walk through Crane Cove and Bayfront Parks. There is some nice shopping walking south along 3rd St.
  • Walk up the Filbert Steps to Coit Tower and then check out the WPA murals inside. If you want, watch the documentary “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill,” which is about the origins of our little green parrots and the original home in the area.
  • Go roller skating at the Church of 8 Wheels.
  • Visit the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier.
  • Walk along the Embarcadero and stop at the Ferry Building for lunch.
  • Check out the sea lions at Pier 39.
  • Visit the California Academy of Sciences, where they have a walk-through butterfly aviary, a planetarium, and a good aquarium. They have 21+ nights 6-10pm every Thursday.
  • Combine the Japanese Tea Garden with the SF Botanical Gardens, both are right near the California Academy of Sciences.
  • If there is a special exhibit that interests you at the DeYoung Museum, it might be worth visiting, but the permanent collection isn’t that great.
  • The Asian Art Museum has one of the largest and most extensive permanent collections of Asian art in the world.
  • Walk around the North Beach neighborhood, which is “Little Italy.” The show “Dear San Francisco,” in a theater there, is supposed to be a very entertaining circus-oriented performance, but I’ve never been.
  • Presidio Tunnel Tops Park has great views (and you can walk about 15 minutes to Crissy Field Beach, which does too, and you can watch people kite surfing).
  • The Wave Organ is a cool acoustic sculpture out on a jetty, it has good views of Alcatraz and downtown.
  • If visiting during Easter, the sunrise service at the giant cross on top of Mount Davidson is a popular experience.
  • City Kayak does kayak tours of the Bay, which are fun if the weather is nice. They leave from along the Embarcadero near Oracle Park.

OUTSIDE OF SF

  • You can do tandem paragliding from Mussel Rock Park (about 10 minutes south of the SF border), usually from around October through March/April.
  • Companies do half-day bus trips to Muir Woods National Monument (about an hour north) to see the giant redwoods. Reservations for parking are required (and book up in advance) but walk-ins do not require reservations.
  • There are companies that do one-day bus tours to Yosemite, but this is a LONG way (3+ hours by car), maybe desirable for people coming from out of the country.
  • Filoli historic mansion and gardens is a beautiful place to visit, down Highway 280.

UNSOLICITED ADVICE

  • DO NOT drive. SF is a pain in the neck to drive in, parking is impossible, and your car will get broken into. If you’re in the middle of a road trip, plan to store your car in a secure garage and use public transit to get around.
  • Put the Clipper Card app on your phone, it can be used on all transit in the city.
  • Avoid hotels west of Taylor St. downtown, and south of Market St. in the 6th-9th St. area. There are some cheaper hotels there, but the area is pretty grungy. Not unsafe, but you will see a lot of homeless people and drug use. For more affordable hotels, stay near the airport (or anywhere to the south within walking distance of a BART station) and take BART into the city. It’s very quick and trains run frequently.
  • San Francisco is cold and windy all the time, especially in the summer. Nicest weather is March-early May and Sept.-Oct., but it’s never that warm. It’s always cold at night.