A glimpse of a city that takes a lifetime to know (San Francisco)

Member Name: Sweetheart

Product:	San Francisco
Date:	04/10/01 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautiful city, friendly & acessible, so much to see and do

Disadvantages: fog, never enough time, homeless on market

Whatever your idea of a good time is, I guarantee you'll be able to find it in San Francisco. I feel that I have only touched the surface of the city, but here are some of my recommendations for places to visit and things to do whilst on holiday there. Things like a trip on the cable cars and shopping in Union square are in all of the tourist guides, so I'm going to hopefully stick to the lesser known joys of SFO.

San Francisco is a pretty safe city, just avoid going deep into the Mission (below 22nd), Western Addition, and Civic centre at night. And avoid the Tenderloin district.

One of the first things which you will find invaluable is to get a pass for the transport service. This is called the Muni, and you can buy a day, four or seven week pass at the tourist infomation centre on market street at Powell. You can buy them cheaper from small shops, so look out for the Muni sign in windows.

So once you've got your pass you're ready to go off exploring. One of the most popular areas to visit is Fisherman’s Wharf, and even if you want to avoid the usual tourist route, a quick trip up here is worth it if only to see the sea lions on the pier. However, I would avoid the cable car and take the number 30 bus which goes from the top right of union square. This is a real experience taking you right through china town, past coit tower and the wiggly road (Lombard), and a few streets away from Fisherman’s Wharf. Here you can take a trip to Alcatraz, but if you want the night trip (the best one) then book ahead - this can be done on the internet.

Coit tower itself is also worth the trek up a steep slope off Columbus (Kearny at Lombard). Around the inside of this tower are murals by Diego Riviera and contemporaries (go to the Art school for more of these). You pay a couple of pounds to take a lift to the top of this tower, where the views over the city are beautiful. If you're hungry from here, then head
down a huge flight of steps towards the coast (Embarcadero), walk through the Levi centre and head towards the Fog City Diner. This is not easily missed! The food is good American food, under ten pound with good service.

You can catch the 28 or 29 bus that takes you right up to the base of the Golden Gate bridge. Take the same route back, and get off at the Palace of Fine Arts which houses the Exploratorium. This is a strange mixture of ruined columns and architecture outside, and interactive museum inside.

Another great place to go is the Merry Go Round at the Yerba buena Gardens, these are on 4th, off Market. SFMOMA is also here, the Museum of Modern Art, and this is worth a visit if only for the coffee shop.

The final area which I will mention is North beach. This is basically Columbus around Broadway. Here there are loads of restaurants and bars, try House of Nan king (see my other write-up), and for an Italian Bocce Cafe (478 green street). For bars try, the Hotel to the left on a tiny side street off Broadway at Columbus called Romolo place. For good service at bars tip a dollar with every couple of rounds.

Well think that is all I have space for. But before I go just remember that San Francisco can get chilly when the fog rolls in, so don't be fooled into thinking, "but it's California": take a jumper/jacket or end up looking like all the other tourists sporting their San Francisco fleeces. There is so much more to see and do in San Francisco, and many varied and fascinating cultural areas such as Mission, the Hispanic area - great restaurant here called Timo's on Valencia and 19th, and Castro which is predominantly gay, and so on. Well, hope that if you visit the city you'll find some of this useful.

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