San Francisco, USA

San Francisco highlights

Exploratorium
Cable Cars and Fisherman’s Wharf
Haight-Ashbury
Golden Gate Park
Academy of Sciences
Chinatown
Civic Centre

Why visit San Francisco?

For a vibrant city with famous landmarks, great views, and excellent museums.

Getting there and around

At the start of September 2022, after our stay in Virginia, we returned our hire car to Washington DC’s International Dulles Airport (IAD) and flew to San Francisco Airport (SFO) with Alaska Airlines. The flight took 5 hours.

We purchased four Clipper cards and loaded them with credit. Kids travel for free on Muni buses and streetcars but not on BART or cable cars.

We took the yellow line BART from the airport to Powell Street (a 30 minute journey). From Powell Street it was a 5 minute walk up hill to our hotel.

We used a mixture of buses, street cars and taxis to get around the city. We also walked a lot.

Laundry

We took our laundry to La Post Cleaners on Post Street. This was a great service and the person working there was friendly and helpful. We paid £17 for a 1 bag wash and fold service.

Accommodation

Chancellor Hotel

Exploratorium

We purchased a Go-City pass knowing what we wanted to visit and having worked out in advance whether it would save us money. The pass cost us £170, saving us about £45 across the two attractions (Exploratorium and Academy of Sciences).

We took the F line streetcar from Market Street to Pier 17. The street cars are all historic vehicles from cities around the world that have been restored for use in San Francisco’s tramlines. The car we rode in came from the Boston elevated railway system.

Tickets for the Exploratorium cost £25 per adult and £18 per child. However, we used our Go City pass to visit the Exploratorium.

The Exploratorium was full of machines, gadgets and models to play with that demonstrated various scientific and mathematical concepts including optical illusions, probability, sound, light, colour, forces, and magnetism.

The kids particularly enjoyed playing with light, mirrors and bubbles; and learning about square numbers using a ball bearing catapult!

We had a lot of fun but there was so much to do it was quite overwhelming and even though we spent a few hours there we didn’t manage to see it all. The signage and displays were clear but we felt our experience would have been enhanced by more interaction with and engagement from the staff as we made our way around the museum.

Cable Cars and Fisherman’s Wharf

San Francisco has three cable car lines. The cars are pulled by clamping on to moving cables underground (whereas street cars are powered by overhead electric cables). The cables move at 9mph. It’s a slow and bumpy ride but considering the gradient of the hills, the engineering is amazing.

Two of the lines run between Powell & Market Street and Fisherman’s Wharf, and one runs along California Street from the Embercardo to the top of Nob Hill. Tickets cost £7 per trip per person (no child discounts).

We took the Powell and Hyde Tram to Fisherman’s Wharf and got great views of Coit Tower, Lombard Street and Alcatraz.

The kids stood on the outside step holding on to poles - the best seat!

We walked around Fisherman’s Wharf looking in some of the tourist shops and getting hot dogs for lunch. This area is very touristy and pretty tacky, but we enjoyed walking along the sea front and watching the sea lions sunbathe.

We booked a boat trip from Fisherman’s Wharf with the Red and White fleet. The one hour Golden Gate Bay cruise cost £33 per adult and £25 per child. The boat was crowded but very comfortable with lots of indoor and outdoor seating, toilets and a snack bar.

It was really nice getting out onto the water and seeing the city skyline from a different perspective. There was a good audio commentary explaining what we could see and some of the history about the area. The boat sailed up to and under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz before returning to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Haight-Ashbury

This area has lots of Victorian houses and tree lined residential roads. In the 60s and 70s it was home to artists and musicians including Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and the Steve Miller Band.

The area still retains a chilled-out vibe. All the shops were still closed when we walked past at ten thirty in the morning but when we returned in the afternoon the area was more alive, with head shops, buskers, and clothes shops selling harem pants. It reminded us of Camden before it’s recent redevelopment.

Golden Gate Park

What a wonderful park! The park is well maintained and clean. Mindful of our budget we decided not to pay to enter the Japanese Garden and Botanical Gardens but nonetheless found plenty of great spaces to explore for free with rare plants, landscaped grounds, open playing fields, ponds and intricate flower gardens.

We loved the AIDS memorial garden and redwood grove which was a tranquil and poignant place.

The kids enjoyed the Koret playground which had a good range of play equipment for all ages.

California Academy of Sciences

The California Academy of Sciences is a research centre with an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest and natural history museum in Golden Gate Park.

Tickets cost £35 for adults and £30 for children. However, we used our Go City pass to visit the Academy. Proof of covid vaccination was required to enter. This was a splendid museum and well worth a visit. Useful information on all the species was available via touch screens.

The aquarium had over 900 species of coral, fish, reptiles and amphibians which were grouped by geographical zone and habitat zone.

The rainforest dome was full of butterflies and macaw birds. We also enjoyed the Planetarium show ‘Living Worlds’ and even though some of the detail was lost on our kids, their interest in astronomy meant they were engrossed throughout.

Chinatown

We really enjoyed our walks through Chinatown and the meals we had there. We were in San Francisco during the Autumn Moon festival and there was a great vibe with families celebrating.

We ate at Osmanthus Dim Sum Lounge which was nice but not fabulous, and a bit pricey; and at City View which had great quality dim sum and was excellent value for money.

Civic centre

We went to the Civic Center because the kids wanted to visit another playground. We had planned to visit the new playground at the Presidio but chose this one as it was within walking distance.

The walk from Union Square to the Civic Centre took us through the Tenderloin area of the city. This was the area where we saw the greatest concentration of people on the streets by far and we felt as though it probably wouldn’t be safe to walk through at night.

The two small playgrounds outside the Civic Centre were ok, with interesting climbing apparatus and structures to play on. They weren’t as nice as the playground at Golden Gate Park and lacked shade, but our kids enjoyed themselves anyway. Security officers were stationed at the playground gates which we found heightened our sense of fear rather than reassuring us! In hindsight we should have made the effort to get to the Presidio instead.

Final Thoughts

Our experience of San Francisco included an array of fun transport options; two excellent science museums; a warm (not too hot) climate; famous landmarks; and views around every corner.

We were warned that San Francisco might not be safe to visit. Yes, there are homeless people (including over 3000 rough sleepers), beggars, and people with mental health and substance use problems; and yes some of them sadly showed some violent behaviour which was difficult to witness.

Many tourists stay for 2-3 nights, see the best (and safest parts) of the city and then leave. We spent 5 days in San Francisco which meant we explored in more depth; but that also meant that we saw more of its shadier side. We felt jaded and full of sadness for the people on the streets. We were ready to leave the city after 5 nights.

Nonetheless San Francisco should be praised for providing sanctuary to vulnerable people where other cities (and people) turn their backs. These people deserve our help and compassion, not shame and anger.

There were times when we felt unsafe and less comfortable than in New York or London (for example). We would therefore only recommend visiting San Francisco for those who feel confident dealing with nuisance behaviour and are ‘street smart’. Overall we found the city to be vibrant and diverse, and we enjoyed the activities we did there.