First time in San Francisco. Any tips?

Girlfriend and I are visiting San Francisco for 7 days at the end of October, was wondering if anyone can give some sage advice? Pretty sure during the day we'll be doing the touristy things, Alcatraz at night already booked, walk across the bridge, Yosemite etc. But if anyone can suggest something a little different, particularly good bars just to sit and meet interesting people or just general advice I'd appreciate it.

I plan on going back and scraping some bombcasts for some locations and the recent discussion on tipping was extremely handy! =}

Cheers!

I'm going out there next Sunday as well. Staying at the Wharf and then driving up the coast to see the Redwoods.

I was just there for 7 days as well and did the touristy things. Alcatraz is recommended. We did it during the day. Audio tour is pretty awesome.

For something a little different you can go to free gold watch. It is a pinball arcade. Pretty fun.

There are interesting people all over San Francisco. We stayed in the Haight district. Lots of different people there.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic-31/things-to-do-in-san-fran-1766977/

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic-31/things-to-do-in-san-fran-1766977/

Go to the Winchester Mystery House, which is in San Jose. It's very much worth it.

What kind of bars and restaurants do you two typically like? There is everything you can imagine here, give me a general idea of what you like and I'll try to steer you in the right direction.

@paudle: that's were our apartment is too!

Thanks, will look into all these suggestions.

Run!

Go to the Foundry on Tuesday or Thursday nights. You've probably heard about it on the Bombcast, but it's a huge warehouse in downtown SF with lots of video games, a good (but expensive) drink selection, and tournaments. Also board games, magic, and even demos of new products (they were demoing the HTC Vive there this week).

Also SF is known for having tons of events every day. If you are a spontaneous person and are looking for things to do last minute, check out SF Fun Cheap to see what's going on in the city that won't blow your budget.

Also if you're driving, I highly recommend to NOT drive to get around in SF. Parking is the worst and extremely limited, so just take the MUNI (our bus system). Just use a car when you're getting out of town.

Let me know what sort of things you're interested in (museums, bars, science, hiking) and I can give you lots of options! There's way too much to do here :)

I went there for the first time a few weeks ago for a conference and did the whole vacation thing, so here's my probably worthless thoughts:

• Go to a Walgreens and get the "7-Day Visitor's Passport." It'll get you on the MUNI busses, the MUNI trains, the MUNI trolleys, and the Cable Cars. And, at least when I got it, it was only $35 for seven days. It's the easiest way to get around town for the least amount of money.
• Soda Popinskis -- That bar Dan always talks about beating Mike Tyson in -- is pretty cool. Cheap drinks and a cool setting to hang out in, and general it seems like other Giant Bomb people would be around there. It's also near a couple of other weird/cool bars like Zeki's Bar, or some nicer places like the Hi-Lo Club.
• If you're going to do the Wharf/Pier 39, go early. We got up and went around 8 a.m. (Mostly because the jetlag hadn't worn off yet) and there was nobody there. We got breakfast and some to-go coffee from a nice little Vietnamese place and sit almost by ourselves with the sea lions. I talked to a sea lion. It was nice.
• Coit Tower was the one thing I can say didn't feel like anything but a tourist trap. It's already a nice view from the base, but then you pay $15 and wait in line for hours to take an elevator up to a slightly nicer view. Whatever. Cool I guess.
• For some reason, San Francisco seems to adore breakfast. I've never seen so many non-assuming diner-type places in any city so close together, especially not when all of them were pretty damn good. We tended to get up early most of the trip just to go get eggs/bacon/hash at a new place. The best one we went to, hands, down, was Sears Fine Foods. It's a cool old place from the 1930s where the waiters still wear bowties and offer you coffee from a big silver pot. I had eggs and hash, and it was the best way to start the day.
• Yank Sing Dim Sum. Best $200 I've ever dropped on a meal. Green onion cakes, shrimp dumplings, egg tarts. The wait is rough, the bill is expensive, and it was worth all of it. We went on Sunday morning as they were opening, and waited only about 25 minutes to get in.
• Red's Java House, featured on one of Anthony Bourdain's shows, is as good as it looks on TV. A little dive burger/breakfast joint on Pier 30, previously a popular place for dock workers to get food after their shift. They start serving double cheeseburgers on sourdough rolls and pitchers of beer at 7 a.m. Science has shown that nothing but time really cures a hangover, but I think Red's is close.
• What's Up Dog is the place Jeff talked about wanting to go get corndogs at after the Cook, Serve, Delicious! Quick Look. Ryan said he'd take him there after to go get corndogs. I went and got corndogs there. They were really good corndogs.
• Finally, keep in mind that with BART, it's really easy to just go somewhere else. We went and hung out in Berkeley with some friends and got locally-sourced vegetarian pizza at a place near Cal, and it only took is about 45 minutes or so via train to get there. The pizza was damn good. It seems like, as meat heavy as everything I ate in San Francisco was, Berkeley is actually where the crunchy San Fran stereotype lives.

When it comes to drinking we (I) prefer a good bar over a club. Somewhere not to pretentious where you can sit and get a cold beer, chat random crap to random strangers and maybe a decent jukebox to listen to at the same time.

When it comes to food were both pretty adventurous and my GF can be a bit of a food snob so doesn't mind paying a little extra for quality food. I prefer my food with a bit of a kick, so Mexican or Indian that kind of food, as it is my first time in the states I also want to try some quality burgers. But to be honest when you are used to UK food 99% of what you eat abroad tastes fan-fucking-tastic.

My suggestions are therefore the following:

• Super Duper Burgers
• Red's Java House
• Jasper's Corner Tap
• Marlowe (It's a $16 burger that is worth every penny)
• Show Dogs (It's hotdogs not burgers but you're in America now)

As for bars that are cool, here's where I went that I think you'll like (Other than what I already listed):

• The Wayfare Tavern (Get drunk and order fried chicken)
• The 21st Amendment Brewery
• Jamber Wine Pub (If you're that close to Sonoma, might as well have some grapes)
• Louie's Bar
• Comstock Saloon
• Golden Gate Tap Room.

We spent most of our trip eating and drinking to be honest.

So when we are on holiday/vacation both of us are pretty lazy, so water sport, hiking cycling are generally out the equation. Usually we like to take in a few museums and art galleries and prefer thing a little left-field, which is one of the reasons we choose SF.

@pontoon_yacht - would it be weird if I just followed your suggestions to the letter and had the same holiday as you because I plan on spending most of my time eating and drinking too. I also want to speak to a sea lion now. Truly appreciate the tips bud.

It was a lovely time. I would ask one of them how they were doing, and they would respond with HONK HONK HONK HONK.

@coljae: Cool. Then you should check out NightLife. It's also on a Thursday night, but it's an awesome experience to be able to go to a science museum/aquarium while semi-dressed up and drinking fancy overpriced drinks. If you do it, go early and get an exploratorium ticket right away.

Other than that, there are art galleries galore. Best museums would be De Young and Legion of Honor (my favorite) for classical, Asian Art Museum, Walt Disney Museum is pretty cool, and the Cartoon Art Museum (though there are countless others).

Also I second dim sum at a nice place. The dim sum here is incredible.

have some clam chowder out of a bread bowl. that's what I did

If it's your first time in the US I'd keep an eye on what you eat, 'cause you'll probably come home heavier than when you went. Last time I went I put on about 6kg over 2 weeks 'cause the food's so fatty and kinda not very nice. We went to a nice Indian place though but I couldn't tell you the name or the location outside of roughly 15 mins walk from the Wharf. Also the city isn't hugely massive so most places are walking distance, unless you wanna keep it a lazy holiday.

Not nice as in not good quality? Or not nice as in too many calories?

San Francisco is pretty much identical to how it was depicted in the 1958 film Vertigo. Plan accordingly.

I'm going to be in San Francisco only for a day and I'm completely overwhelmed by the stuff to do. One member of our travelling party won't be 21 so I'm curious how the bars tend to work down there for minors. When I was in Montana when I was underage we could go to bars during the day with no issues but I don't know how that works in other states or cities.

Looks like the Folsom Street Fair is happening the same day I'm there, though.

So I'm in San Francisco now coming to the end of my trip. I'm going to head to The Foundry tonight, would be great to chat with any other Bomb fans who are heading there tonight. If you see a tall confused looking out of place dude in a Orange half life t shirt that'll be me.

Also SF is an QUALITY place.

Hahahah! This is exactly what I was thinking right before I saw your post.

@m16mojo2: too many hills for that ;)

Hoodslam! Doesn't matter when you show up. Stay for the biggest show in the Bay!

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