What to do in San Fran?

Go to chinatown or Pier 39. Those are both huge tourist places. You could also go and walk the Golden Gate Bridge!

There is so much to do and see in San Francisco that I don’t know where to start. When I lived there in the early 90s, my favorite place to go and to take visitors was Fort Point. It’s an old fort built in the early 19th century, and it sits directly below the Golden Gate Bridge.

My second favorite place to go was the Cable Car Museum. It shows you the working of the cable car system. It’s really interesting.

I recommend the site tripadvisor.com for checking out attractions and other things.

Have fun and happy anniversary!

They have a tourable Balao-class submarine at Fisherman’s Wharf. Golden Gate Park is also nice. The zoo, the Botanical Gardens, and the Japanese Tea Garden are good places to visit. The Academy of Sciences is fun, or was fun, though I hear that its grandeur is somewhat diminished. I don’t remember enough about North Beach to be able to recommend it, but you could always go have a look.

Ghirardelli Square!

Funny you should ask.

I just heard good things about “Clue” at Boxcar Theatre

I find that walking the neighborhoods interests me the most. Walk around the Castro, Haight/Ashbury (right next to Golden Gate Park), the Mission, etc.. I love love love Valencia St. between 16th and 24th (beyond there is good too, but these streets are my daily walk and I love it). There are a ton of used bookstores, cafés, vintage clothes shops, taquerías, etc. It’s not a touristy area so you’ll get a true feeling of the city on this street.

I find the touristy areas (such as Pier 39) to be boring. Tropical-themed restaurants and lame “funny” t-shirts don’t represent San Francisco. What sets this city apart are the people in their natural habitat, the palm trees, the beautiful houses, and the hills. Definitely walk up some hills(bring a water bottle)!

Definitely check out Golden Gate park (it’s really big!). On Sundays the roads are closed to traffic so if you have bikes or roller blades or whatever this is the time to bust them out.

Definitely eat Mexico food while you’re here. In the Mission. La Cumbre (16th and Valencia) and Can-Cun (Mission and 19th) are both really good. And get Sushi.

Chinatown’s cool, but it’s no different from the Chinatown of any other city, so if you just have a weekend it’s not essential.

If you see Street Musicians, give them money! I’m here for the winter busking, and although I’ll be gone by then, my fellow street musicians will still be out and could use donations from friendly tourists:)

Have fun!!

[deleted because I think my question should be its own question, so as not to be unfair to asawilliams.]

[deleted because @neuroticdavid did his own question:)]

I think it is wonderful to go to Muir Woods. You could stop for brunch in Sausalito on the way.

Hike the redwoods.

Muir Woods is really pretty, as @marinelife said. But, just so you know, they aren’t the GIANT giant sequoias found farther north in California. I was under the impression they were, and was somewhat disappointed to find out I had to drive another 4 hours to see them.

For something a little funkier, the Albany Bulb is really cool to check out….It is essentially a pile of trash from the earthquake in 1905 (I think…1904 maybe?) topped off with dirt that now has abundant life growing on it and a ton of interesting sculptures made out of rubble and garbage and graffiti…..I have a lot of pictures if you’re interested send me a message. If you are really terrified of homeless people, hippies and dirt then the Bulb might not be for you though.

It depends vastly on your style and such, but I always use yelp.com whenever I want to figure out what to do in a new city.