Last summer I went to California and travelled to San
Francisco and Los Angeles. This was a big dream of mine, so when I finally
had the opportunity to visit these two amazing cities, I couldn’t resist!
I wanted to write about my favourite experiences from San
Francisco because it is such a unique city and somewhere I would definitely
recommend. Compared to other cities I have been to in the USA, it is very
distinctive and has a completely different feel to it. Therefore I thought I’d
share my top six things to do in San Francisco from my trip in August 2016!
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
Could you go to San Francisco without visiting the Golden
Gate Bridge? The answer is no. The iconic image of SF is a must-see and absolutely one to
tick off your bucket list. However, the only slight issue is that San Francisco
is often known as 'fog city' because the fog often covers the view of the bridge and much of the city. So for the
ideal photo, it is best to aim for a day that’s reasonably clear! Don’t be too
disheartened if the day you go to the bridge it’s too misty to see all of it,
as the weather changes day to day and often the fog begins to lift, so if you
have the time you can go back at a later date.
A great opportunity is to walk/cycle/drive across the
bridge! The bridge is very windy and not the warmest, so I opted to take the
City Sightseeing bus over the bridge as this was included in my bus ticket. I
then got a little souvenir badge from the gift shop saying ‘I crossed the
Golden Gate Bridge’!
I recommend standing on the cycle path that curves down
towards the information centre as this provides a spectacular view of the whole
bridge. Many people go down to the beach below to take photographs too.
Also standing right at the end of the bridge looking across it creates some great
shots!
ALCATRAZ PRISON
Alcatraz Island is the home of an abandoned prison that held
some of the most renowned criminals in history, such as gangster Al Capone. Hearing
the tales of how prisoners tried to escape from the prison and swim back to San
Francisco, or how the prisoners were sent to Alcatraz for being the criminals
who posed the biggest threats, is something I found very fascinating and
intriguing. The history behind the prison and its prisoners is incredibly intriguing
and a definite must-see if you’re one for history and crime!
Booking tickets to Alcatraz in advance is key because they
are near enough impossible to get on the day, particularly in the height of
summer! Make sure you book with a reliable website/company - for example we booked
ours with our City Sightseeing bus tour tickets as a package.
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| Alcatraz Prison |
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| The Prison and watch tower |
CITY SIGHTSEEING BUS
TOUR
I'm a big fan of the classic 'hop on, hop off' city
sightseeing buses that you see in nearly every tourist city, and San Francisco
was no different! These bus tours are great because they offer several
different routes around the city so that you can see as much as possible. I
particularly loved the bus tour in SF because the city is full of the steepest
hills I've ever seen! Some are honestly nearly vertical... So being able to get
from place to place on a bus proved to be the perfect way to get around as it
meant we could avoid walking up the ridiculous hills! Or I'm just really lazy,
but either way, totally recommend!
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| Typical San Francisco Victorian style houses we passed on the bus tour |
We had a 3 day bus ticket which was ideal. There are 4 different bus routes and we managed to do them all and get off at all the destinations we wanted to stop at. We ended up using the buses as general transportation around the city to take us to different locations which I recommend doing!
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| Sister bridge to the Golden Gate bridge which we passed on the 'night tour' |
My favourite thing about the tours was the fact the tour
guides spoke to us live at the top of the bus on a mic. This made hearing all
of the interesting facts and history about the places we passed SO much more
entertaining compared to other sightseeing tours I've been on where you have to
listen to a boring voice through headphones. All of the guides were funny and
made the trips really enjoyable!
City Sightseeing three day bus tickets and Alcatraz package:
http://www.city-sightseeing.us/tour/san+francisco/doubledeckeralcatraz3day
http://www.city-sightseeing.us/tour/san+francisco/doubledeckeralcatraz3day
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| Union Square - the main shopping area where one of the main bus stops for the tour was, how handy.. |
SAUSALITO
Sausalito probably isn't somewhere people have heard of or
are usually recommended to go to when visiting San Francisco, but for me it was
without a doubt a highlight! Sausalito is a small quintessential city on the
other side of the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco. I loved it because it
reminded me of a European Spanish or Italian seaside town with its cute shops
and cafes. We only stayed for a few hours but it was so nice to wander around
soaking up the sun and get away from the busy city for a while! We stopped off
at a small independent pizza restaurant which was soo yummy! We got there as part of the sight seeing bus
tour. The bus stopped on the San Francisco side of the GG bridge where we then
transferred to a small red American school bus which drove us over the bridge! This was so exciting, and pretty cool to have a ride in an American school bus
for some reason?!
Info about Sausalito:
http://www.ci.sausalito.ca.us/
Info about Sausalito:
http://www.ci.sausalito.ca.us/
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| The street we had lunch down, in Sausalito |
PIER 39
Fancy seeing a load of random, noisy sea lions? Then Pier 39
is the place to go! A whole group of sea lions have been going to Pier 39 since
1989 and don't seem to want to leave. They've created a huge attraction now in
San Francisco, making it one of the top tourist attractions, because who doesn't
want to see some cute sea lions whilst on holiday? There's a nice boardwalk
area behind where the sea lions are based, consisting of lots of shops and
restaurants. It's quite an expensive area to eat at, but the ‘Hard Rock Café’
is there and ‘Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant and Market.’
Things to do and see at Pier 39:
https://www.pier39.com/
https://www.pier39.com/
LOMBARD STREET
'The crookedest street in the world', formally known as
Lombard Street is pretty unique! With amazing views both looking up the street
and also down it, it really is such a distinctive place to go. The street is so
picturesque with colourful flowers surrounding the winding road and incredible
views of the city, including Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, from the top!
We walked from the bottom of the street to the top which was interesting as you
get to see the panic in driver’s eyes as they shift round every corner. Driving
down the street is of course an option also, but queues to get down it are
often quite lengthy! Conveniently there is a cable car stop at the top of the
street which we then hopped on, but that's an experience I'll leave for another
post…
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| View from the top of Lombard Street |
Overall San Francisco is one of the most interesting and
unique cities I've ever been to! Particularly compared to other cities, it is
completely different to any I've seen before which made the experience all the
more interesting. With there being so many things to do there, I couldn't list
everything in this post, so these are just a few of my favourites! However I
hope to at some point post a more detailed guide to San Francisco including
more tips on what to do, where to eat and where to stay!
Thank you for reading and I hope this helps anyone wanting
to know the best things to do in San Francisco :-)
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