Trip report

First of all thank you for all the help we received from the forum - it was all of really value and my print outs were refered to was refered to numerous times throughout our stay.

We spent the 26th - 30th of April in SF, before moving onto Las Vegas and New York, arrived back at 6am this morning and it seems an age ago so I might get some of the roads etc wrong as I had to ditch all my maps and instructions to fit all the shopping in!

We arrived after an 11 hour flight with British Airways, our first time with BA and they were outstanding, we got a taxi from the airport (approx $38 if I remember correctly and completely easy and hassel free) to The Chancellor Hotel, where check-in was really quick and efficient. We went with my sister and had rooms next to each other on the 13th floor. The rooms were exceptional for the price; super-clean, well decorated and quiet, we made great use of the coffee in reception, the location was ideal, the staff were without exception incredibly helpful to our daily questions and the atmosphere was very welcoming: I couldn%26#39;t reccommend the hotel highly enough.

After a quick shower and change we went straight out and wandered around the Union Square area and to Chinatown, got back to the hotel exhausted and hungry. After another shower and change to wake us up (again) went John%26#39;s Bar and Grill for dinner on the desk staffs reccommendation, which was really good.

Thursday

Next day we bought our 3 day Muni passes, hopped on the cablecar (Hyde/Powell) and to the Cannery. That was excellent, and we really felt we were in SF, if you know what I mean! We had our breakfast at the Buena Vista Cafe, complete with Irish coffee and the view, just as good as was expected. Had a quick wander around Ghiralldeli Square, then back on the cable car to Lombard Street, walked to North beach loosely following the North Beach walking tour (which got from a link on here but was thrown out to accomodate more shopping) through Washington Park, up and down lots of hills, to Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower. We all really enjoyed this part of the day and with retrospect would have allowed more time there to explore, but were worried about distances and time which we in fact didn%26#39;t need to.

We walked to Pier 39 - very similar to Blackpool Pier (Brits will understand!), sat and watched the sealions for ages - if they weren%26#39;t so big, noisy and smelly and I didn%26#39;t shop such a lot I%26#39;d have had them in my case to take home! Then we walked down Fisherman%26#39;s Wharf - which is very similar to Blackpool Front (Brits will understand again) - it wasn%26#39;t what I had imagined at all and I%26#39;m so glad we stayed in Union Square. We had a Margarita in a Mexican restaurant in the Cannery to rest and anaethetize our feet which were by this stage the most painful they had ever been in our entire lives! We were booked onto the 4pmish Alcatraz trip - this was absolutely excellent and a not to be missed. We managed to get on the hospital tour whilst we were there which was great. We had a meal at the Mexican restaurant on the way back, then caught the cablecar back to Union Square and limped back to the hotel exhausted.

Friday

We got up early and walked (didn%26#39;t see the right bus until we were nearly there) to the AT%26amp;T park to go on the tour (we had planned to get tickets for the game that night but left it too late for the cheap seats so did the tour instead) It was really worth doing - bearing in mind we don%26#39;t have a clue about baseball - and we all enjoyed it, bought lots of bits from the shop to take home. We walked down the Embarcado to the Ferry Building - wished we had more time there it was wonderful and we could have spent the day and a fortune there. We caught the bus to Golden Gate Park, wandered round and went to the Conservatory of Flowers and Japanese Tea Gardens - both well worth the visit. We, yet again, limped to the bus and back to the hotel. Due to such sore feet we had burgers at Lories Diner by the hotel - diners are a big novelty to us as we don%26#39;t have anything quite like them at home!

Saturday

We had booked the Wok Wiz tour of Chinatown - we all loved every minute of it, and briefly forgot about the sore feet! Shirley and the guide we had (I can%26#39;t remember his name but he was very funny) were amazing and the Dim Sum lunch was excellent. We spent another couple of hours wandering around Chinatown afterwards doing a bit of window shopping. We went to the cablecar museum afterwards - which is really interesting, we had spent the previous 3 days wondering how they got up and down those hills. We finished off the afternoon wandering around Union Square looking at the paintings. In the evening we went to Brazenhead for dinner, good meal and a nice place.

We all really enjoyed our visit, the main highlights were Alcatraz and the Wok Wiz tour, we wished we had allocated more time in North Beach and the Ferry Building and less time at Fisherman%26#39;s Wharf and regret we didn%26#39;t have time to fit in the Swan Oyster Bar (never in the right place at the right time, although we tried to be). The transport system is amazing and really easy to use, the Muni passes were a bargain, also it was nice walking and the distances were shorter than we imagined, so we ended up walking more to see more. The city was beautiful and just as we expected, extremely clean and we felt very safe throughout the stay. I will be critisized (sp?) for saying it no doubt, but we were quite shocked at the number of people begging on the streets, although they weren%26#39;t in the least aggressive or intimidating as in other places we%26#39;ve visited.

Once again thank you for all the information, it really did make a difference to our stay.

Lisa.

Trip report

Thanks for the great report! We spent the entire day in San Francisco on Sat. The Ferry Building really is great. We wished we would have sampled some oysters from the Hog Island Oyster Co. but we were saving our appetites for our lunch at the Ritz Carlton which was amazing! Cheers! :)

Trip report

Sounds like a nice trip! I agree, the Alcatraz tour is a lot of fun. We go to SF to visit family, and some had never been to Alcatraz before, but now take all their visitors there. The Buena Vista is always a stop for us as well. I can%26#39;t remember the name of that mexican restaurant, but we have enjoyed margaritas there as well. We are lucky to have family live there as it is always a good excuse for a visit, lol!

Great report Lisa. You seemed to realize some of the charms that lay here, in SF. These revelations are indeed valuable to others. It is a compact city, so it is not that hard to get around. And yes, we do have a very large number of homeless here, always difficult for people to deal with. It%26#39;s been a problem for a very long time. Lots of programs underway, but it is a difficult problem to solve. Like you said, most are harmless, and some of them are real characters.

Glad you enjoyed your stay.

Glad you enjoyed your visit. Thank you for posting a report!

Great report!

I used to live in San Francisco and you brought back some good memories ! The first time I ever went out for a drink in SF was to the Buena Vista , where I had my first Pimms Cup LOL

It is nice to hear how enjoyable a visit to San Francisco can be..as to the begging, that is happening everywhere these days, sadly.

Yes, isn%26#39;t the Ferry Building wonderful?! You can just put it down on your list of places to Go Back To :)

Loved reading your report. I have to say that I think Fishermans Wharf and the pier are far nicer than Blackpool ! Your mention of Lori%26#39;s brought back memories of my first trip as that was the first diner I%26#39;d ever been in. You%26#39;ve really made me more excited about my September trip now..thanks.

Great report i really enjoyed it. Gave me some ideas for our trip in October. Where do you buy the muni pass? am now going to price up the chancellor for our trip. Is it best to prebook Alcatraz. Really i would appreciate any help and advice you can give

Thanks J.

Clarissa, your trip sounded excellent :-)

Alcatraz usually sells out, so yes, definitely book ahead of time. The Blue and Gold Fleet is who runs the tours. Also, be sure to pay the extra $2 or so for the audio tour as it really helps.

This is a really rich and detailed report, so I%26#39;m really glad you posted it. I especially liked the comparisons, and the insights about diners (Y%26#39;know, I went to England exactly once in my life and didn%26#39;t even noticed there was nothing like a diner there).

I was glad to see your comments about Wok Wiz, the AT%26amp;T Park tour and the Conservatory of Flowers and Japanese Tea Garden. The ballpark tour, in particular, is a good thing to know, since we forget that some people don%26#39;t necessarily want to see the game, just the park. If it%26#39;s more economical to take the tour after the cheap seats are sold out, that%26#39;s worth mentioning to tourists from non-baseball playing countries.