Touring San Franscisco in One Day

[river]

Hi San Francisco Experts,

Well, we made it to Emeryville! We took the California Zephyr from Chi to Emy and arrived today! Wonderful trip and so happy we did it! Everything went well including the weather. Our SCA was wonderful! The food was great! The views spectacular! You guys were right when you said I made a good choice when I decided to cancel the Texas Eagle (due to that bus bridge). I plan to write a detailed trip report later. We still have the Coast Starlight from Emy to LAX on Friday.

So here we are at the Hyatt House in Emeryville right across the street from the train station. We have never been to SF. There is a bus stop steps from the front door of our hotel that will take us into the city tomorrow. That was a happy surprise for us!

We are being told to take the F Bus and that will take us to the Transbay Terminal in SF. OK, so then we are going to get on the BART and get off at Powell Street. Then we are going to take the Powell-Hyde cable car north and end up at Fishman's Wharf (we hope). After we spend time there, we want to go to the Coit Tower and then to Chinatown. Are these good plans?

Questiona--can you walk to the Coit Tower from Fisherman's Wharf? And then we want to go to China Town. How should we get to China Town? Should we do a trolley tour?

Any other tips or suggestions on what we should do or not miss. We only have about 8-9 hours total. Thanks in advance!

 

[Railroad Bill]

From our two trip to SF in the past few years we learned:

Ride the cable cars early in the day as they become very crowded as the day proceeds. (May not be as much of a problem in winter as in summer).

There was a free bus that will take you to the Coit Tower. (We decided to walk up the long hill and that was a bit of mistake) :help:

Get a pass to ride all of the bus, trolley and cable cars. The old fashioned trolley cars are as fun and they go on many different routes.

Go up Market Street to Castro Street to get a different perspective on the gay community of SF.

Definitely, you can walk downhill from Coit Tower to China Town if weather is decent. A fantastic walk through another culture there.

Make sure you see the famous Lombard Street with its winding steep road used in many famous movies.

Stop at the Cable Car Museum to see how those cables haul the cars throughout the city.

By now you should be pretty worn out but what a great day in SF it was.

 

[river]

Thanks for the suggestions Railroad Bill. I checked out the one day transportation pass you mentioned--they say pass is good for Muni busses, street cars, and cable cars. Is a street car also known as a trolley car?

I think the cable car we are taking to Fisherman's Wharf passes Lombard Street so we can see the crooked street from the cable car. Is that correct?

 

[Trainmans daughter]

We usually start our SF experience from the Ferry Building, since we arrive either by ferry boat or Amtrak bus. It is just a block from the California Street Cable Car which is much easier to board than the more touristy Hyde/Powell lines. Buy a day-pass which allows you to jump on-off all day for one fee. This includes the muni F line (cool old sreet cars)which runs between Fishermans Wharf and downtown.

Take the cable car to the top of Nob Hill and tour the beautiful Grace Cathedral, then cross the street to the Mark Hopkins Hotel and get a drink at the "Top of the Mark". Get back on the Cable Car and jump off at Grant Street (China Town). Walk north on Grant, turn left at Washington, and right at Ross Alley till you get to the coolest little fortune cookie factory on your right. A hidden (and very quirky) treasure!

Have fun! Enjoy your day!

 

[smee]

If you are an AAA member they have downloadable eTourbook Guides. They have them for Apple devices, kindles, nooks and other devices. When I visited SF they had a walking tour in the tourbook that included Chinatown, Hoit tower, Lombard street, etc.

 

[river]

Thanks for the ideas! We are going to get the unlimited cable car/muni pass. Didn't know about that, so glad you guys mentioned it. We are going to get on the California cable car line as soon as we get into the city. Will let you know how it goes tonite!

 

[river]

We are back from our day in San Francisco. What a beautiful day--blue skies and warm enough to go without a jacket.

We started on the F bus essentially in front of the Hyatt House in Emeryville. That's the hotel nearest the Amtrak Station. (I had heard that transportation to SF from Emeryville was not easy, but it was very convenient and workable, we found. ) We traveled on the Bay Bridge across the bay. Needed to stop on the side of the highway to pick up stranded passengers on a broken down bus. That made for a tight squeeze. Glad the stricken bus was able to pull to the side of the highway as there was tons of traffic, not surprisingly.

Arrived at the Transbay Bus Terminal; went to get all day bus passes in a BART station and then hopped a cable car on California St. (You also can get a one day unlimited pass on a cable car.) Then we got on the Powell-Hyde cable car line, saw the crooked Lombard St. and then ended our ride at Fisherman's Wharf. We briefly toured the maritime pier (with the submarine), took a 1 hr. ferry tour that took us to the Golden Gate Bridge and near Alcatraz, toured Pier 39, hopped another cable car and went to China Town. Wow was that interesting as we walked down Stockton St. Quite interesting ethnic foods! We also went to the fortune cookie factory on Ross St. Now that was a little tricky to find, but the owner was so nice--and gave us quite a few warm flat cookies. We also bought some of the flat fortune cookies and almond cookies. We then briefly toured the Cable Car Museum. We then took a couple of different cable cars to get back to the Transbay Bus Terminal. All in all, a very interesting day!

 

[Dan O]

We are back from our day in San Francisco. What a beautiful day--blue skies and warm enough to go without a jacket.

We started on the F bus essentially in front of the Hyatt House in Emeryville. That's the hotel nearest the Amtrak Station. (I had heard that transportation to SF from Emeryville was not easy, but it was very convenient and workable, we found. ) We traveled on the Bay Bridge across the bay. Needed to stop on the side of the highway to pick up stranded passengers on a broken down bus. That made for a tight squeeze. Glad the stricken bus was able to pull to the side of the highway as there was tons of traffic, not surprisingly.

Arrived at the Transbay Bus Terminal; went to get all day bus passes in a BART station and then hopped a cable car on California St. (You also can get a one day unlimited pass on a cable car.) Then we got on the Powell-Hyde cable car line, saw the crooked Lombard St. and then ended our ride at Fisherman's Wharf. We briefly toured the maritime pier (with the submarine), took a 1 hr. ferry tour that took us to the Golden Gate Bridge and near Alcatraz, toured Pier 39, hopped another cable car and went to China Town. Wow was that interesting as we walked down Stockton St. Quite interesting ethnic foods! We also went to the fortune cookie factory on Ross St. Now that was a little tricky to find, but the owner was so nice--and gave us quite a few warm flat cookies. We also bought some of the flat fortune cookies and almond cookies. We then briefly toured the Cable Car Museum. We then took a couple of different cable cars to get back to the Transbay Bus Terminal. All in all, a very interesting day!

Sounds like a good and full day there in SF. Glad you enjoyed it.

Dan