We have visited San Francisco on many occasions. Visits tend to consist of a mixture of old favourites (who can resist the lure of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge or a stroll along Fisherman’s Wharf?) and new attractions. Here is my pick of the best way to spend three days in San Francisco.
How to get to San Francisco
San Francisco Airport is 14 miles south of the city. You can catch the Red or Yellow BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the airport to San Francisco.
Getting around San Francisco
San Francisco has an extensive transport network. Much of my itinerary is covered on foot, with a couple of bus journeys. Another alternative is to hire a bike; this would be ideal for Days 1 or 3 of my itinerary. One mode of transport which visitors to San Francisco absolutely should not miss is a ride on the iconic cable car.
Where to stay in San Francisco
Choosing where to stay in San Francisco means weighing up what you prefer to be near and how much you’re prepared to pay. We opted for the Lombard Plaza Motel. It’s a typical American style motel. We chose it because of the location, which is midway between three of the city’s top attractions; Fisherman’s Wharf; Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. From here, it is 2.7 miles to Golden Gate Bridge and 1.7 miles to Fisherman’s Wharf. The walk in either direction is nearly all through bayside parks. Alternatively, there’s a bus stop right outside the motel. The price includes wifi and parking.
San Francisco in 3 Days Itinerary
| Flight to San Francisco Accommodation – Lombard Plaza Motel | |
| Day 1 | Crissy Field Palace of Fine Arts Golden Gate Bridge Golden Gate Park |
| Day 2 | Alcatraz Fisherman’s Wharf Pier 39 Lunch at Boudin Ghirardelli Square Powell-Hyde Cable Car Chinatown |
| Day 3 | San Francisco Bay Trail Oracle Park South Beach Park Bay Bridge Rincon Park Ferry Building Lunch at Gotts Exploratorium Lombard Street |
Flight to San Francisco
We fly to San Francisco and after the customary ridiculously long wait at US Immigration, catch the AirTrain, which runs round the airport complex. This free service runs every few minutes and has a red (clockwise) and a blue (anticlockwise) route, both of which stop at Garage G AirTrain/BART. From here, you can catch the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into San Francisco.
Accommodation – Lombard Plaza Motel
Our accommodation in San Francisco was the Lombard Plaza Motel. The large rooms are clean and comfortable with a fridge and microwave. There’s a nice supermarket (Safeway) a 10 minute walk away.
San Francisco Day 1
Day 1 covers two of the City’s most iconic attractions; Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. Plenty of buses stop at the Welcome Center on the south side of the bridge, however we opted to walk the 2.7 miles from our hotel, through Crissy Field.
Crissy Field
The former airfield of Crissy Field is now a public recreation area with bayside trails which offer spectacular views of both Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. At the far eastern end is the Wave Organ, an acoustic sculpture which utilises the sounds of the bay.
Palace of Fine Arts
Adjoining Crissy Field is the Palace of Fine Arts. This neo classical structure was built in 1915 to house art work for an exposition. The central rotunda is surrounded by colonnades and overlooks a lake.
Golden Gate Bridge
From here, you can catch a bus or walk through the park to the main attraction the Golden Gate Bridge. After a wander round the Welcome Center to learn more about the history and construction of the bridge, take a walk/cycle across the bridge.
Golden Gate Park
On to Golden Gate Park. Two things to note about Golden Gate Park. Firstly, It’s huge. The rectangular park runs for 3 miles through the city’s suburbs to the Pacific coast. You could easily spend days exploring here. Secondly, it’s not as close to Golden Gate Bridge as the similar names might imply. In fact, they’re 3 miles apart. Bus No 28 will take you from the Golden Gate Bridge Parking Lot to Park Presidio Blvd & Fulton St on the edge of the park.
Here are some of my favourite spots in Golden Gate Park, running from east to west:
Conservatory of Flowers
The Conservatory of Flowers opened in 1879, making it the oldest public wood and glass conservatory in North America. It is filled with rare and exotic flowers.
The conservatory is open daily except Wednesday from 10 am until 4.30 pm. Adult entry costs $11.
De Young
De Young is a Fine Arts Museum surrounded by an interesting sculpture garden.
The museum is open daily except Monday from 9.30 am until 5.15 pm. You have to pay to enter the museum ($20 for adults) but the sculpture garden is free.
Japanese Tea Garden
The Japanese Tea Garden is a beautifully landscaped garden with a tea house, pagoda, bridges and all the features you’d expect in a traditional Japanese style garden.
The Garden is open daily from 9 am until 5 pm. There is an entrance fee ($12 for adults) and may me quite a long queue to get in, but it’s worth it!
Bison Paddock
The Bison Paddock is, not surprisingly, a paddock with bison in. Whenever we’ve visited, the bison have always been either in their shed or too far away to photograph.
Queen Wilhelmina Garden
Queen Wilhelmina Garden comes complete with its own Dutch Windmill. It is best visited in spring when the tulips are in full bloom.
San Francisco Day 2
Today covers some of San Francisco’s top attraction including the infamous prison of Alcatraz, a wander along Fisherman’s Wharf, a roller coaster of a cable car ride and exploring the streets of Chinatown.
Alcatraz
It’s an early start as we are booked on the first boat to Alcatraz. Ferries depart from Pier 33. From here, we cross to the island, with spectacular views of the city and bay in the process.
Once on the island, you are issued with head sets for a self guided tour of the prison and island. The old man can’t understand why prisoners would want to escape from a prison where the canteen had an all-you-can-eat policy.
Alcatraz tours run daily, with an adult ticket costing $45.25.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Fisherman’s Wharf is a very touristy area, which runs between Pier 35 and Pier 45. There are plenty of souvenir shops and restaurants as well as other tourist attractions, such as the Musée Mécanique, Madame Tussauds, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Pier 39
Of all San Francisco’s piers, Pier 39 is the most famous. You can walk along its wooden boardwalk past touristy shops and restaurants to a viewing platform at the end.
On the northern edge of the pier are pontoons where you can watch sea lions basking in the sunshine.
Lunch at Boudin
San Francisco is famous for its clam chowder in a sourdough roll. There are plenty of restaurants offering the dish along the bay, but our favourite is Boudin. This popular bakery has several branches spread around town, but their flagship store is on Fisherman’s Wharf. They also serve chilli and several vegetarian options in their signature sourdough rolls. I usually opt for the rustic tomato soup.
Ghirardelli Square
For the perfect lunch, walk to Ghirardelli Square for some seriously chocolatey dessert. Once the headquarters of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, this former 19th Century factory now houses various food shops and restaurants.
Ghirardelli has 3 outlets in the complex, including the Original Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop, where you can purchase the famous chocolate in many different forms, including bars, cakes, cookies, ice cream and drinks.
Ride the Hyde Powell Cable Car
Finally, a ride to Chinatown on the Hyde Powell Cable Car. You will probably have to queue and tickets cost $8 a ride, but it’s worth it for a fun ride – literally up and down the streets of San Francisco in the ancient tram, taking in the smell of burning as the brakes scream on the downhill sections.
Chinatown
Alight from the cable car to explore Chinatown. Start at Dragon Gate, which is at the junction of Bush St and Grant Ave. The closest stop is Powell Street and Bush Street. But we prefer to stay on the cable car until the end of the line near Union Square and walk back up Grant Ave.
Amidst the shops and restaurants, you may get a chance to see the lion dancers perform.
There are a lot of murals in Chinatown. My children don’t share my fascination with street art and get somewhat frustrated by the numbers of stops required to photograph various adorned buildings. They are particularly vexed when I stop to photograph a third Bruce Lee mural.
San Francisco Day 3
San Francisco Bay Trail
One of San Francisco’s unique attractions is dozens of historic piers which line the bay. The Ferry Building is considered the centre, with odd numbered piers running north of the building and even numbered piers running south. Spend the day walking along the San Francisco Bay Trail, which follows the San Francisco Bay coastline past these iconic piers and various other attractions. The route described below is about 2.3 miles along the trail. Add another mile to reach Lombard Street.
Oracle Park
Starting at Oracle Park, which is actually a stadium and home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team.
South Beach Park
South Beach Park overlooks South Beach Harbor, an area full of yachts, which sits between Pier 42 and Pier 40.
Bay Bridge
Look up between Pier 28 and Pier 26 to see the end of the Bay Bridge, which spans San Francisco Bay, via Yerba Buena Island, connecting San Francisco with Oakland.
Rincon Park
On through Rincon Park, which is dominated by the huge Cupid’s Span sculpture.
Ferry Building
The Ferry Building dates back to 1898. At its peak in the 1930s, it was the second busiest travel hub in the world, shuttling over 50,000 people to and from San Francisco every day. After the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1936/1937, there was a huge drop in ferry passenger numbers and the building was repurposed as a Marketplace.
The building now houses a popular Farmers Market plus a range of restaurants and bougie food stores.
Lunch at Gotts
Gotts Roadside is a chain of Californian diners. Gotts SF Ferry Building has indoor dining plus a bayside patio They are famed for their excellent burgers, but my favourite is the chilli cheese fries.
Exploratorium
Piers 15 and 17 are home to the Exploratorium, which describes itself as a public learning laboratory where you can explore the world through science, art, and human perception.
Continue following the trail past Pier 23, which is home to Pier 23 traditional American style diner and Pier 27, which is now is a cruise terminal, as far as Pier 33, and you are back where you started yesterday.
Lombard Street
If you have the energy, from here you can walk up the famous zigzag at Lombard Street. Most tourists choose to drive down the super steep Lombard Street and there is a constant stream of cars driving down, with phones and selfie selfie sticks hanging out of windows. But walking up it is more fun.
It’s actually not that tough a walk and we reach the top fairly quickly to take the obligatory photo.
I hope you found the above information useful. For guides to more destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full list of Independent Travel Itineraries here.
- Trip taken: Various
- Updated: December 2024
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