Visiting SF - What to do?

Hi Jonathan,

Not really sure what you are into, but since you will be in the Southbay for Stanford, drive up a few miles to Santana Row in San Jose. It is our version of Rodeo Dr.

Santana Row

Also in San Jose is the Winchester Mystery House.

Welcome - The world famous Winchester Mystery House? in San Jose, California, is an extravagant maze of Victorian craftsmanship ? marvelous, baffling, eerily eccentric, and undeniably, haunted.

Great America and Levis Stadium are also close by in Santa Clara:

https://www.cagreatamerica.com/


As for Berkeley, there's Telegraph Ave. and Bay St. in nearby Emeryville. If your willing to go up north a bit to Napa, there is always wine country and an authentic Medieval Castle which is a winery.

Castello di Amorosa

Hope this helps, enjoy!

 

Ferrari store is closed, alas. For Chinese food, try R&G lounge, especially the Peking duck.

Cable car is obvious, but in my opinion worth doing at least once.

Rue Lepic in Nob Hill is good for French food.

I like Union Square area for shopping...T

 

And... if you like good Itailan food... go to North Beach which is considered "Little Italy", great place to eat in SF.

 

Driving down Lombard Street is good for a couple of laughs & cheap thrills. 😄

 

There are a few places I point visitors toward.

San Francisco is a great walkers city. Walking along the waterfront west of Fort Mason toward the Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful. So too is walking (climbing!) up some of the hills such as Nob Hill. You can take a cable car to the top though and most tourists don't know that you can just jump on to the cable car wherever it's stopped. The conductor will (maybe) charge you the $5 fare. Another great walk is around the Ferry Terminal building ("Pier 0") at the foot of Market Street. Going south gets you to the Ball Park; going north gets you to Fisherman's Wharf.

A nice (long) walk is from Union Square to Grant Street, through China Town to Columbus Avenue. Walking Columbus Avenue (North Beach / Little Italy) is great fun for people watching, eating, sightseeing. If you make it all the way to the Ghiradelli Square end, you are within walking distance of the steep Lombard St block. (You would also now be a long way from Union Square).

You are New Yorkers, so probably shopping on Union Square will not be that interesting. San Francisco Shopping Center has curved escalators though, so there is a bit of fun. I wouldn't tromp too far SW of Union Square. The City Hall is interesting, but there are better areas to spend two days.

Regarding the three places you list, Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39 are difficult to have an "authentic" experience there: extemely touristy. I try to steer people away (but they always end up there anyway). The Alcatraz tour is highly recommended, but you need advance tickets for it and you might already be too late to get them for your time here.

... so there are a few ideas within the population 750,000 city of San Francisco. There are 8 million people in The Bay Area, so there is lots of other stuff to see. Buy a travel guide book. Berkeley is cool. The Blackhawk Automotive museum is associated with the Smithsonian Institute is cool. The Napa Valley is cool. Monterey/Carmel-by-the-sea/Pacific Grove/Pebble Beach is cool. Gold country is cool. Yosemite is cool.

There is a lifetime of stuff to do here.

 

I'm guessing if you're on this site you must like cars. How about a tour of the Academy of Art collection? Schedule a Visit

Here is just one example from their collection.
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Whoa!! I've visited SF abt 10 times in my adult life & learned some new things there. Thanks, Need4Spd!!
That auto museum looks great.
Now you've made me want to go back!

T

 

You can see 2,000 year old giant redwood trees at Muir Woods (a little north of SF) or at Big Basin State Park (South Bay).

 

About Berkeley (my school, by the way), after you are done with the Berkeley tour, head to the top of the hills, just follow whatever road that leads up the hill behind the stadium, to Grizzly Peaks. Drive along the peak, look out over the expansive view of the entire Bay Area and understand why we call this place home. That road is also the road where hundreds of motorcyclists hang out, and where I got my first bite of the bike bug.

Descend to Rockridge, walk the streets, have dinner at Olivetto Restaurant, and see the part of Oakland nobody ever shows you on TV. There is more to Oakland than the high crime rates.

About Stanford, well, Palo Alto is a nice and boring place. When you are done with it, head north to San Francisco along I-280 and see the backside of Stanford, the rolling hills, the wonderfully green landscape all the way up to San Francisco. That body of water on the left hand side, that is the new water front when the San Andreas fault finally lets go. Stay along the coast once you make it to San Francisco (use your maps app), go straight up Ocean Beach, drive up Geary and turn left into Lincoln Park, follow the road and it spits you out to Sea Cliff neighborhood, and then into the Presidio, and stop at the city side of the Golden Gate bridge. Rent a bicycle, or just walk to the middle of the bridge and walk back while contemplating why many poor souls have leapt over the side to their demise. Drive back into town, and turn left into the Marina, and continue down to the old Safeway, where Steve McQueen filmed the car scene in Bullit. Head toward Union street and stop to have lunch or dinner at the many walkable places there.

Then, drive up Lombard to the very top of the hill, have your son get out, walk down all the way to the other side, and film you in your car driving down the Crookedest Street in the world. Once in a while, you may even find me in my Ferrari blipping the gas on the way down.

Continue down the other side, straight to Italian and Chinese part of town. Have coffee, dessert, Hunan dinner, and call it a day.

There are your 2 days. Sorry Raging Bull, ignore the meat market known as Santana Road.

 

Blackhawk auto museum in danville. Not far from Berkeley.

In SF, Chinatown is fun / interesting.

 

At night? Attend Beach Blanket Babylon!

SV

 

Or sit at the People's Park in the Mission and take in the view.
Top of the Mark, a bit overated but full of history.
Go to Treasure Island over the Bay Bridge, and look back at the city.

 

The MBA program at Berkeley is in the top 10 in the nation. Their undergraduate program is not far behind. All that from a public school, with Nobel prize winners, former politicians and leaders, and a campus packed to the hilt with the youngest and brightest minds in the world.

 

i went to school at St. Marys down the street

 

Sounds like a great time!…T

 

Wow! Sounds like a write up for the United Airlines magazine!

 

Glad the Bay Area treated you well.

 

We showed you a good time, didn't we? Come back soon.

 

You could kill two days easily with just eating and sight seeing in SF. Check out the North Beach area--lots of good pizza & Italian places.