Things to do While Visiting San Francisco

San Francisco is such a great time; it is definitely a city that can be visited again and again.

On your first day at the bay area city, it is highly recommended to take a bus tour from Union Square to get to know San Francisco.  A tour is a great way to get an overview of the city and places you may not have gone otherwise.  If the weather is right, splurge and take a double-decker bus to be able to take in all the scenery.  However, keep the weather in mind, while taking a tour, as you may be disappointed in the visibility because if it is a foggy day as San Francisco is infamous for, you may not be able to see a while lot.  To find a bus tour to take, your best bet would be to go over to Union Square, in front of Macy’s as it seems most tours start there.

The largest Chinatown outside of Asia is located in San Francisco’s Chinatown.   This is a good place to go if you are looking for is some cheap souvenirs and great food.  One of the little known places to visit in Chinatown is the fortune cookie factory which can be found on the corner of Washington Street and Ross.  It is quite impressive to see how fortune cookies are made and of course, you get the opportunity to take some of these yummy treats with you.

If visiting Alcatraz isn’t close to being at the top of your list for places to see, it should be.  It is quite stimulating to learn the history the 100+ year old jail.  It was actually only a federal prison for 29 years and before that it was a military jail.  You will need to take a ferry over to the island to experience the tour and from there; you’ll receive an audio guide which has narrated by former inmates and prison guards to guide you through Alcatraz.  It is highly recommended that you book your tour at least two days in advance to the tours being sold out.

San Francisco has over 4, 500 restaurants in its radius. There are way too many restaurants to recommend but if a couple would have to be choose, they’d be the Slanted Door restaurant for its diverse choices of dining styles and cuisine and Ozumo which has the best sushi restaurants in town. Two other suggests is the Don Pisto’s, the best Mexican restaurant in Western USA and on Union Street, the Foreign Cinema, in the Mission District, where they project a foreign film on a wall for you to watch while you eat your meal from a California/Mediterranean-inspired menu.

Aside from the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable car is another iconic image which has been seen time and time again in movies.  In the more populated areas such as between Powell and Hyde Street, be prepared to wait awhile when trying to catch a cable car as there are always line ups for each stop.