San Fransisco is an amazing place to visit. The city is home to a little bit of everything. Set along the Pacific Ocean, with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, this is one of the most beautiful cities in the United States. It also has many wonderful family activities such as Alcatraz Island and Fisherman’s wharf. So it’s no wonder San Francisco is often dubbed the jewel of Northern California.

3 Day Ultimate Itinerary in San Francisco

We travelled to San Francisco as part of our Classic California Road Trip. We hired an SUV in Los Angeles and drove it North along Highway 1 to finish up in San Fransisco. There we booked a delightful Airbnb apartment for 5 nights and really soaked up as much of the atmosphere as we could from this laid back city. Here are a few of our main highlights.

Golden Gate Bridge

No visit to San Francisco is complete without a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge. As an avid Instagrammer, I have seen so many different photos of this bridge. I’ve always wondered how the same bridge can look so remarkably different in all those Instagram photos. Then, when I started to research the best place to see the bridge I started to figure it out.

There are so many different ways to view this bridge. In fact entire websites have been dedicated to directing sight-see’ers to the best vantage points. There are viewing points on virtually any level across a long stretch of coastline, on both sides of the bridge.

What we found to be the most fun was to actually walk across the bridge. There is no better way to appreciate the sheer magnitude of this massive structure than standing right below the giant towers. Hiring a cycle to ride to the other side is also a popular way to see the bridge, and quite safe due to the wide footpaths and barricades along the road.

Best Spots To See The Bridge

We sampled quite a few different vantage points, and our favourite by far was down on the water’s edge on the San Francisco side. Here you will find a large car park, and if conditions suit your will see many surfers in the water.

There’s a surf break almost right under the bridge where you can sit and watch the surfers with this scenic bridge as a backdrop. Another good thing here is that parking is free. Most of the other parking lots we tried had parking meters, which were fairly expensive.

The Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Centre is another great stop near the bridge. Parking here was limited to 2 hours, which gave us just enough time to walk out to the middle of the bridge, a quick wander around the ample parkland, and then enjoy a nice cuppa afterwards.

We stopped at the outstanding cafe right near the San Francisco end of the bridge, and really enjoyed the uninterrupted views of the bridge. It is a great spot but the food is quite expensive.

Fisherman’s Wharf

Fisherman’s Wharf is another icon of San Francisco that should not be missed. This is aimed fair and square at tourists, and contains a large collection of cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops and all manner of tourist ‘traps’. Here we also found some wonderful street performers strutting their stuff on the centre stage.

Prices here were quite expensive in my opinion, but then again the whole of San Francisco is expensive. We paid a small fortune for a simple lunch in a very crowded restaurant.. Being a pier, most lunches are seafood. Clam Chowder and fish’n’chips are the most popular.

We did however find a couple of cheap things here at the Pier.. Firstly a very cheap souvenir shop is right in the middle of all the expensive shopping. We purchased quite a few tee shirts and other souvenirs here.

Secondly it’s also a great place to get a cheap boat ride into the bay, there is a marina alongside Fisherman’s Wharf.

Sea Lions at Fisherman’s Wharf

At the pier behind the shops there is also quite a large colony of sea lions inside one of the marinas. They are only a few metres from the pier, and you will find quite a crowd of people watching the sea lions. And entertaining they are. Cuddling, fighting, playing, resting, barking, swimming,sleeping… They are doing all sorts of crazy stuff right in front of your eyes. This is another of the must see whilst you’re in San Francisco, great for kids and adults alike.

Twin Peaks

Another great free activity not to be missed is a trip to Twin Peaks. You will need transport to access this great spot, but once you arrive you are treated to uninterrupted views of San Francisco. Beware, it can be very cold and windy up at twin peaks.

We snapped off some great photos up there, and really enjoyed the scenic drive both up and down this small mountain.

Fine Arts Gallery

We went to the Fine Arts Gallery just to walk around the magnificent Roman style gardens. We only spent about an hour here but it was well worth the effort. It’s a nice, ambient place to chill out and soak up the beautiful gardens and buildings.

You feel like you’re in the private garden of Julius Cesar here! We found a lovely lake complete with white swans. It was rather crowded, but well worth the effort.

Getting around in San Francisco

San Francisco is undeniably an expensive place to visit. Our Airbnb was the most expensive for our entire California Road Trip, and we even stayed a “cheaper area” out in the working class suburbs!

Staying in a central location was prohibitively expensive for us, but that was no big deal since we had a hire car. Everywhere we went the prices seemed just a little bit higher than we experienced elsewhere in California.

Getting around was also quite difficult. By that I mean time-consuming. San Francisco is a hilly area right by the bay, and we found the road networks quite tricky to navigate. Lanes suddenly cut out, roads suddenly stop.

On the flip side, San Franciscan drivers are some of the most polite drivers I have ever encountered, and very forgiving to all my mistakes. Many roads are narrow, and it just takes a lot longer than you would expect to drive around.

Getting around can also be expensive. We caught 2 Ubers from our Airbnb into the city centre, both of them were near $30, which is quite expensive in my opinion. If you are driving over the bay bridges be prepared to pay a premium, the bridge tolls are also very expensive. Overall, public transport or cycling is probably the way to go in San Francisco, but you will pay the penalty of extra time.

Overall Impressions of San Francisco

There is just so much to see in San Francisco area. So much that we were fairly disappointed with how much we missed. There are a bunch of different precincts which are all well worth a visit, and each one is worth a full day trip. Then there is Muir Forest just across the Golden Gate bridge which I would have dearly loved to have visited. It is a magnificent forest of Giant Californian Redwoods. And there are the beautiful Pacific Ocean beaches and Golden Gate Park. So much to see in such a small time!

Overall this city has a clean and green feel about it. Even when you are looking for something to eat, we noticed many healthy eating options. Cycling is very popular, and there are plenty of cycling paths provided.

The city also has a laid back atmosphere, people are friendly and easy-going. I highly recommend a trip to San Francisco, however you probably should try to stay at least 5 days to see enough of it to really get the most this beautiful city has to offer.

Want to See More California?

If you would like to see other blogs or VLOGs from our California Road Trip, click on any of the links below.

• How to Hire a Car
• Whale Watching
• Santa Barbara
• Santa Barbara Whale Watching VLOG
• Morro Bay
• Santa Barbara VLOG
• Hearst Castle
• Yosemite National Park
• San Simeon Elephant Seals
• Sequoia National Park
• San Francisco
• California Wildlife Spotting
• California Road Trip Itinerary

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More Things to Do in San Francisco

By all means if you’d like to check out some different tour options in San Francisco, have a look at all the different tours available on GetYourGuide.com. We love using this tour platform, and especially their free iPhone app.