San Francisco, USA 2 Day Itinerary
San Francisco, USA 2 Day Itinerary
Two days in San Francisco is a test of discipline. The city is compact enough to walk significant chunks of it yet varied enough that you can spend the entire time in three neighbourhoods and never feel like you have wasted your time. The fog is real, the hills are steeper than photographs suggest, and the food scene is legitimately excellent once you move away from Fisherman’s Wharf.
Getting In from SFO
BART from San Francisco International Airport to downtown is the right call. The station is inside the International Terminal, connected to other terminals by the free AirTrain. The ride to Embarcadero takes about 30 minutes and costs $11.15 with a contactless card or Clipper card. Taxis from SFO to downtown run $45 to $65 and are not meaningfully faster during the day.
If you are renting a car, reconsider. Car break-ins across the city have dropped significantly in recent years but parking near tourist areas is expensive and iterative. Leave nothing visible in a parked car, anywhere.
Where to Stay
Fisherman’s Wharf is convenient for the ferry and the waterfront, but it prices you into tourist-facing restaurants for every meal. The better base is Union Square or Hayes Valley, both central and within walking distance of the BART network. Hotel Zeppelin on Cyril Magnin Street is a solid mid-range option. Hotel Via in SoMa has good views of the Bay Bridge from upper floors.
Day 1: The Park, the Bridge and the Waterfront
Morning
Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street in the Mission opens at 8 am on weekdays. The country bread and morning buns are justifiably famous. Get there before 9 am to avoid a queue that wraps around the block by late morning.
From the Mission, take the 5 or 21 bus to Golden Gate Park. The park covers over 1,000 acres and contains the de Young Museum (American art, strong textile collection), the California Academy of Sciences (aquarium, planetarium and natural history under one roof), and the Japanese Tea Garden. The Tea Garden is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States, opened in 1894. Budget for paid admission at whichever institutions interest you most.
Afternoon
Walk or take the 28 bus to the southern approach of the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge pedestrian path is free and the 1.7-mile round walk to the north tower gives you the scale of the structure properly. Fort Point, sitting directly beneath the south anchorage, is a Civil War-era brick fortification that is easy to miss and takes 30 minutes to explore well. The view up at the bridge underside from the fort is the best in the city.
Evening
Skip the clam chowder bowls at Fisherman’s Wharf and eat instead at Zuni Cafe on Market Street. The whole roasted chicken (served for two, prepared 45 minutes ahead) has been the benchmark dish since 1987. Book in advance. Ghirardelli Square is a pleasant ten-minute walk from the wharf for dessert if you end up in that direction.
Stay at Hotel Zoe Fisherman’s Wharf or Argonaut Hotel if waterfront convenience matters to you.
Day 2: Neighbourhoods and Culture
Morning
The Mission District begins its day early with taquerias and bakeries. Balmy Alley, between 24th and 25th Streets east of Guerrero, is a narrow block-long corridor of murals that has been painted and repainted since the 1970s. The murals address immigration, Central American politics and neighbourhood gentrification in ways that no museum exhibit does as directly.
Cafe Reveille on Clinton Park in the Mission does a reliable breakfast. The avocado toast and cold brew are their standards, but the sandwiches are worth considering if you are heading out for a long morning.
Afternoon
Chinatown via Grant Avenue is North America’s oldest, established before the Gold Rush. The Fortune Cookie Factory on Ross Alley is a genuine small operation that has been pressing cookies since the 1950s. Lunch at the R&G Lounge on Kearny Street (salt-and-pepper crab, clay pot dishes) is the honest local recommendation rather than the tourist-visible spots on Grant.
From Chinatown, walk up to Nob Hill. Grace Cathedral is a Gothicstyle Episcopalian church finished in 1964, and its exterior labyrinth is open to anyone. The Painted Ladies on Steiner Street (the row of Victorian houses facing Alamo Square) are a 20-minute walk west from here. They are photogenic and genuinely well-restored; the square itself is a good place to sit.
Evening
Lombard Street between Hyde and Leavenworth is worth walking down once. It is not actually the crookedest street in San Francisco (Vermont Street in Potrero Hill has a steeper pitch), but the landscaping is deliberate and the views of the Bay are good from the top. Pier 39’s sea lions are reliably present on the K-Dock; the colony arrived spontaneously in 1990 after the Loma Prieta earthquake and never left.
Dinner at Burma Superstar in the Richmond district is the most consistent local recommendation for a meal outside the obvious tourist zones. The tea leaf salad and rainbow salad are unlike anything else in the city. Book ahead.
Practical Notes
San Francisco’s climate is famously misread by first-time visitors. Summer is the coldest season in the city centre due to marine fog from the Pacific; pack a proper jacket even in July. The afternoon fog that rolls through the Golden Gate each summer afternoon is a weather pattern called the Throatcatcher by locals. Alcatraz tickets sell out weeks in advance during summer (book at least four weeks out through Alcatraz City Cruises, the only authorized operator). A Muni Visitor Passport covers unlimited bus and light rail travel. BART covers the outer corridors. Tipping at 18 to 20 percent is standard in restaurants.