Visiting San Francisco for a few days, what should I see?

I'm leaving next week for a business trip and will be staying in the SOMA district area place. I'll only be there for three days but most will be checking out stores, restaurants, places, and things I can't see in Denver. The obvious are the Golden Gate, maybe Fisherman's Wharf, and of course Whiskey Media. So any locals or visitors have any recommendations? I want to get as much in as possible, but I won't have a car so it will have to be somewhere I can walk, bus, trolly, or float to. I'll be near 5th st and Mission st to narrow it down some.

Thanks duders!

Hey Kurtdyoung, GDC is next week, not sure if it's at all related to your business trip. I'm not from the area, but there is a ton of shopping to do on Market St, especially at the Westfield Center.

Get a burrito in The Mission at a taqueria. There are lots of good options and opinions vary greatly on which is best so it's hard to go wrong. There area can be a little sketchy late at night but there are plenty of places just a block or two from the BART stops at 16th & Mission and 24th & Mission. Pancho Villa, Taqueria Can-Cun (more of a late night after drinking place), El Farolito (sketchiest) are all good. Really though, just check Yelp on your phone and anywhere in The Mission with good ratings will do just fine.

Fisherman's Wharf is extremely touristy and not somewhere that I normally tell people to go. However, there is one really cool thing -- The Musee Mecanique. It's sort of an arcade museum. Most of it is old mechanical coin op machines from a century or more ago and also newer stuff from the days of Pong, Death Race, and even some newer stuff. There are only a handful of games from the last 20 years. It's more museum than an arcade where you go to play games, but I'm sure a lot of people on Giant Bomb can find some interest there. It's free admission but costs money to play the games. Almost all of the old stuff is working and usable. It might not be worth the trip up there alone, but if you head to Fisherman's Wharf you should check it out.

The Alcatraz tour is one of the better touristy things you can do in the city. It will take up an entire afternoon though because you have to take a boat out there. If you go dress warmly, it gets cold in the middle of the bay.

If you like outdoors stuff I really like Golden Gate park. From where you are you can take the Muni. Get on the N-Judah and get off at 9th & Irving which is my old neighborhood. There's an arboretum that's nice to walk around and the Japanese Tea Garden. There's also a couple of great museums, the de Young art museum and the Academy of Sciences. Just south, where the N-Judah stops are a bunch of good places to eat. There's Arizmendi, an amazing bakery. There's great Chinese food (some of the best in a city full of Chinese immigrants) at Nan King Road Bistro. There's the excellent Marnee Thai, Tom's Peasant Pies (hand pies, great for a quick lunch), a couple of Japanese places. Seriously, if you like Asian food you should eat as much as possible while in SF.

If you find yourself near the Castro go to Ike's. It's my favorite sandwich place in the entire world. They've had to move around due to landlord issues, but I think they're still in the Castro/Mission area. The wait can be crazy, especially when the weather is nice on weekends, so only go if you can do it at an off time. I was actually there the day that this was filmed, although I didn't make it into any shots.

I moved away from SF a couple of years ago, so some of my info could be a little out of date.

@Kurtdyoung said:

and of course Whiskey Media.

I would call them first, on This is only a Test podcast from last week, Norm said they are aren't taking visitor the same way the used to.