I’m taking my kids to discovery kingdom/great america (ages 1 1/2 & 5) in mid april & planning to stay for 4 days and explore the san francisco/oakland/san jose area. I’ve never been there. Any suggestions on how to make the most of out of my trip, hotels, restaurants or any tips on places to visit, what to do & what not to do, areas that i should stay out of…etc are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your input.
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You’re going to make your 5 yo ride the rides alone? Sounds like a terrible idea. Since the 1. 5 yo will get absolutely nothing out of this trip I would see about leaving him with relatives.
*_~ So glad that you’re considering San Francisco for your vacation.
Try to stay in Union Square.
When you arrive at the airport, take the SFO air train that goes around the airport, then you’ll get off when you see Bart, take Bart to Powell Station (should be about $6-9 and it takes 20 mins ) that’s Union Square.
http://www. bart. gov/ for schedule. .
I just love the weather and the diverse culture here!! Traffic can be hectic but still bearable. Public transport is great! You can always take Bart, ferries, bus, taxi or cable car etc. However, if you don’t have much time or want to travel beyond the city – I think a car would help a lot. Yes, you have to pay for parking, but save you time to go more places faster. .
Try the “City Sightseeing Open Top Bus Tour” which is about $30. “This unique open-topped bus tour of San Francisco includes four different routes, the Downtown Loop, the Golden Gate Loop, the Park Loop, and the Night Loop. ” You’re free to hop on and off as often as you want on the downtown loop.
Embarcadero is wicked nice, and it’s not THAT far, so you could really just walk down it to the Ferry Building. http://www. ferrybuildingmarketplace. com/
On Saturdays they do a nice farmer’s market and you can get lots of good stuff. Walk down to Pier 39.
Check out : Magowan’s Infinite Mirror Maze- very cool at Pier 39.
GET THE San Franciso POPOUT Maps—
I loves these POPOUT map- you get to see where you are-
=) No Thinking required, especially on vacation. (Look at the pictures. )
I have about 20 of these map of different cities. . It was so useful when I was in Europe!
On a budget : http://www. bayareaonthecheap. com/
http://sf. backpage. com/community/classif…
http://www. bestofbayarea. com/home. html
To Save money: get the “Go San Francisco”,
http://www. smartdestinations. com/san-francisco-attractions-and-tours/_d_Sfo-p1. html?pass=Sfo_Prod_Go
Cable Car
Ferry Building
Pier 39
Alcatraz or Angel Island
Japan town
Lombard Street
Chinatown
Coit Tower
Fishermen’s Wharf
Union Square for Shopping
Golden Gate Park – Walk across the bridge
Academy of Science
Union Street
Ocean Beach
Exploratorium
Palace of Fine Arts
San Francisco Zoo
Westfield Shopping Centre
DeYoung Museum
Yerba Buena Gardens
SF Giants Fair at AT&T Park
Take the ferry to Tiburon or Sausalito
Segates is a great way to travel around the city.
Gray Line’s Yosemite in a day- Daily depart 7am
San Francisco Giants- Baseball Game
49ers- Football games
Winchester Mystery House Mansion- overrated.
Gray Line’s Motorized Cable Car City Tour
*_~ Unique places in San Francisco
-à Must be Open minded and bring your camera for tons of pics. !! We always bring our guest from out of town to these places. Have early dinner at Asia SF about 6pm and then a show at Beach Blanket Babylon. . They loved it and never forget SF.
à Teatro ZinZanni -http://www. zinzanni. org
à Beach Blanket Babylon at Club Fugazi -http://www. beachblanketbabylon. com/
à For half price shows/comedy/sports etc. . Try www. goldstar. com (Teatro and Beach are usually discounted. )
à Academy of Science during the night time- $10 buy ticket in advance.
San Jose- Winchester Mystery House and Great Mall outlets in Milpitas.
Santa Cruz area- 30 mins from San Jose and less than an hour away south of San Francisco
Santa Cruz Beach Boalkwalk – http://www. beachboardwalk. com/
The Mystery Spot : http://www. mysteryspot. com/
Another 20 mins away- The famous Monterey Bay Aquarium/Pier- stay overnight. (Romantic)
check out the beautiful shore of Carmel to view Pebble Beach.
Napa Wine Country is about 2 hours north of San Francisco.
They have wine tour that brings you there form any SF hotels. Visit their outlet and Wines tours. Yummy!
HOTELS:
1. Hilton San Francisco Downtown/Financial District – Downtown. Affordable and cheap.
2. If you have a car, Best Western Grosvenor Airport Hotel – Budget Hotel, parking $3, free breakfast buffet and shuttle to airport/bart. (Remember it’s a budget cheap hotel. )
3. If you have money, Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Le Meridien San Francisco.
=) I stayed at Sir Francis Drake for New Years eve and love it!
Since you have young kids this could definitely be more of a difficult trip for you! There aren’t as many rides for little kids at those parks but I think they have added more since I last went. A lot of places in Oakland are not very nice areas, known for being a prettty rough area. If you’re driving, it might be faster to get some places in San Francisco than taking public transportation but if you’re not familiar with the area & the parking it could get confusing. The kids might like to ride on a cable car (I wouldn’t generally use it as a mode of transportation but it might be cool if you’ve never been). It’s easy to get it on it at Powell & Market St (Union Square) and it can take you down to Ghiradelli Square and near the Wharf. Depending on where you’re staying, you could take Bart right to Union Square, shop around or eat and then hop onto the cable car. There’s not really a whole lot to do at Ghirardelli Sq. though, there are some shops & things & Boudin’s bread making factory is right around the corner. (It’s been a while since I’ve been there but I’m pretty positive you can walk from there to Pier 39 (Fisherman’s Wharf). Boudin’s is a good place to eat near there and pretty much anywhere on the pier has good seafood. At Golden Gate Park there is California Academy of Sciences which includes an Aquarium, a Planetarium, a ‘Rainforest’ and some Natural History. It was recently redone & when I went there were people of all ages, though the older ones understood more there was still plenty for the young ones to look at if you want to include something educational.
This was my response to someone in their 20’s: (just for extra info)
Seriously, if you can’t find something to do here then you aren’t going to find anything to do anywhere else! Even though there is really something for everyone, I think it’s especially a great place for young adults. If you like to party then there are always the nightclubs & raves. If you’re into music there are always tons of concerts to go (from big names to the little ones) of every style. There are even a lot of free music events, festivals, something is always going on and it’s cool to just walk around Haight. There’s Fisherman’s Wharf (Pier 39) which is pretty touristy but it’s still something to do and the place to go if you like fresh clam chowder in a bread bowl. There’s tons of shopping to do, mainly around Union Square. Right near Union Square there is Chinatown which is a good place to go if you want some real Chinese food & to see the shops. There’s the Ferry Building which has a farmers market and is close to AT&T Park (Giant’s Stadium). There is always Ocean Beach, not to be confused with North Beach(which is actually Little Italy and has no beach). There’s the Presidio if you like historical stuff and plenty of art museums to go see. The marina is pretty if you walk down there and there’s grassy areas where people hang out, it’s pretty expensive to live there though. You can also see/walk/drive the crooked street in the world (Lombard St. ). If you like science then there’s the new California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium. There’s also a bunch of places to go in Golden Gate Park besides the CA of S, like Japanese Tea Garden and the DeYoung Museum. There’s also Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge to see (boring in my opinion. . guess it’s cause I’ve seen it so many times). If you’re not into touristy stuff and you just like to hang out then there will still be tons of things to do. There are tons of great restaurants everywhere so you’ll find something even for the pickiest eaters! There’s always parades and unique city events. & you can always check out the nearby cities (like Berkeley. . . great place!).
Hopefully this helps. . . good luck on your trip!
definately stay out of oakland. although theres good parts, you definately wouldn’t want to end up in a bad one, thats a nasty city. excluding of course the oakland hills! check out the Lawrence Hall of Science, totally fun for the kids! website: http://www. lawrencehallofscience. org/ also check if there are any plays playing at the Woodminster in Oakland. i went to a few plays there when i was a kid and i will never forgett it! website: http://www. woodminster. com/ if your family likes italian food: check out Montecatini’s located in Walnut Creek.