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Last active August 29, 2015 14:12
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Things to do in SF

Weather

So the SF pasttime isn't baseball or anything like that, it's laughing at tourists who wear shorts. All the visions of warm, beachy California are lies spread by the Los Angeles tv industry. SF can be cold and windy even in summer (actually especially in summer, the land warms up and causes the fog to roll in) and the fog is beautiful but it's FRICKIN COLD. I always bring a jacket to SF no matter what time of year it is. It can be 30 deg C maybe 20 miles away and 10 degrees C in SF. No joke.

Food

SF has awesome food, with a lot of Asian and Mexican influence. Here's a great list from all price ranges: http://www.sfgate.com/food/top100/2014/

Pay particular attention to Mexican/Central and South American food, since I know the UK has great Asian food but not Mexican. The burrito is a Californian staple. Try the al pastor and the carnitas.

If you like dim sum, try Yank Sing on Spear St. It's good and they're used to tourists.

Music

There's a number of smaller venues that are fun. The Fillmore is out of '60s SF and is just fun to hang out in. The Great American Music Hall is similar. There's lots of bars that have live music, too.

General touristy stuff to look at & do

de Young Museum. London's museums are better but this is a gorgeous modern building.

Asian Art Museum. I forget exactly where this ended up (it moved) but it has an amazing collection if you like this kind of thing.

Exploratorium. It's a kids science museum, but it's super fun for adults too.

Fisherman's Wharf. It's a tourist trap and honestly nothing exciting. You can go look at sea lions, who like to sun themselves there. You can catch a boat here to go out on the bay, which is spectacular when it's sunny and boring if it's foggy.

Alcatraz. Everybody wants to go here. It's interesting, but it's a prison, so adjust your expectations accordingly. The views are amazing.

Golden Gate Bridge. You can walk across it (about a mile and a half I think) which is awesome when it's sunny. If it's foggy, you'll see nothing.

Powell St. This won't be funny to anybody who isn't in software but if you stand on Powell and Market and look up Powell, you're looking at approx. a billion startups.

Getting around

Our public transit sucks compared to yours, and while getting around SF is pretty easy, getting out is difficult if you don't drive.

We have BART, which is okay if not stellar, and there's Muni which can be gross. Check out http://www.511.org/ for getting around, or just use Google Maps. I might just take taxis or Lyft. They're no london cabbies but it works.

Outside of SF

Napa Valley. Napa is gorgeous. It's about an hour drive north of SF, and I know there's plenty of groups that will take you around for a day. Sonoma is prettier and cheaper imho if you have a choice between it and Napa. Don't fall for the Wine Train, you don't actually get off the train.

Yosemite. Yosemite is about a four to five hour drive from SF and there's no way to get there other than drive AFAIK. I honestly haven't been since I was a kid (need to fix that) but everybody I know says it's worth it.

Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is about an hour and half drive south from SF and sort of the epitome of california hippie culture. It's a cute town with a lot of stuff to do, lots of bookstores and good food and all that. They have a real beach that you can walk on (the water will still be freezing cold) You can do this via public transit, I believe there a few busses that run between SF and Santa Cruz.

Tahoe. This is about a four to five hour drive and it's the state's main ski area. We've been in a drought for like four years so check the resort status if you actually want to go skiing.

@catermelon
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@jenbreese
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If you are into shopping, check out Union Square.

The Asian Art Museum in at the Civic Center and reachable on Bart. There are some cool buildings at the Civic Center. It can be a bit rough so don't go alone at night.

Golden Gate Park is neat with lots of museums and there is a bison paddock.

The Legion of Honor is cool and has great views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

City Lights Books is a landmark of the Beat Poets. http://www.citylights.com/

Haight Street is a hippie mecca but is really just shopping and a lot of panhandlers.

@coderanger
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Other stuff I like:

  • CalAcademy is across the plaza from the de Young and has an awesome aquarium.
  • Computer History Museum in MV, lots of nice stuff to see. Technically reachable via transit, but annoying.
  • The Tech in San Jose and just SJ in general. Can take Caltrain.
  • Chabot Space Center in Oakland. Also Oakland in general is very reachable by BART.
  • Further south, but Monterrey has a nice aquarium too, with sea otters!
  • SF Zoo is nice but definitely take Muni because parking is terrible.
  • Ferry building, overpriced everything, but its a gorgeous building and there is a farmers market Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Plus you can take a ferry!
  • Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, because pinball.

@catermelon
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My other friend suggested: japanese tea garden if at de young. also valencia street in the mission is pretty cool. odd shops, burritos, coffee, and more food

@garym
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garym commented Jan 8, 2015

As I promised elsewhere, some suggestions one of my friends gave me in an irc conversation:

will you have a car in SF?
if on foot, walk along the embarcadero all the way to fort point, golden gate bridge, etc
check out the sea lions on the way on pier 37
take a trolley car up to haight ashbury an check out the silly shops, etc then the de Young museum in the park
mission district is a good wander on sunny day for the murals and ethic food
you can rent a bike from blazing saddles down by the swimming beach
cycle over the golden gate bridge to sausilito, ferry return included
or check out the view from the scenic pullout above the north end of the bridge at sunset
if you are driving, I'd go to muir woods and mount tam before napa (closer too)
and then if weekend, yosemite, even in winter
(although check road conditions as you need tire chains if snow and rental cars can be a pain about that)
also drive south down the valley and do the geek tour - HP garage, palo alto, google, apple, etc
computer history museum is good
standford and berkeley in easy reach too
if you can do both, go to yosemite one weekend then drive to monterey (1h 45m -ish)
check out 17 mile drive
then drive south down scenic highway 1 (pacific coast highway - pch)
awesome drive down to hearst castle and cambria
that would keep you pretty busy without going further afield
(CA is huge)
heh. that ended up longer than I expected ;-)

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