Planning to travel to San Francisco??
Here are some quick tips on how you can plan your trip to San Francisco and balance between a good experience, good food, and a good sleep. Click on each day to know more details.
Stay at
If you want to stay within a strict budget, prefer a hostel over fancy hotels, especially if you are in a city for more than one night. I stayed at Green Tortoise hostel which cost me around $150 for 3 nights with a pro-rated transport back to the airport.
More details on how to reach hostel and other pointers can be found here.
Day 1
Places to see
If you are staying in Green Tortoise hostel, you can visit Coit Tower very easily which is just a 15-minute walk from the hostel.
For rest of the day, you can plan to visit San Francisco neighborhoods, Muir Woods and Sausalito.
Places to eat at
San Francisco is known for its awesome food options. If you are in Union Square, you can try a huge variety of food, though my quick brunch at Cafe La Taza, an American breakfast cafe in Union Square was not very good.
I am personally very fond of Asian food and Day 1 was my Chinese food day. If you are staying somewhere near China town, you definitely have a lot of options to choose from. I had dinner at New Woey Loy Goey in China Town. If you are there, I would also recommend going to Chong Qing Xiao Mian. This is one place I really wanted to go, but couldn't because of a long waiting.
If you get a chance to have a meal Chong Qing Xiao Mian, do comment below on your experience.
Day 2
Places to see
If you are able to book Alcatraz island tour, that would easily take 5 hours of your day.
If you are not able to book the Alcatraz Island tour, and are still very interested you can look for tours that take you just around the island so you can still take pictures of the island from outside while enjoying the ferry ride. Details on other options can be found here.
Depending on what time slot you get for the Alcatraz tour, you can plan to stroll on the Golden Gate Bridge and visit the neighboring Fort Point. You can also walk around the much talked Union Square in downtown SF.
Places to eat at
I can recommend just one restaurant for Day 2 since it is the only place I had a proper meal that day. I stopped by Tuk Tuk Thai Cafe for lunch (or an evening meal, whatever). It was a small cozy restaurant with a seating place for about 10-15 people. I had Pad Thai noodles and some Iced coffee which was good enough to keep me full for rest of the evening.
Day 3
Places to see
I kept my 3rd day in San Francisco a little less rushing. In the first half of the day, I toured Botanical Garden and Japanese Tea Garden, both of which are part of the Golden Gate Park.
I stopped by Palace of Fine Arts for some time after that and spent rest of the evening walking around the Japan Town and the Fisherman's Wharf.
Places to eat at
I had lots to eat on my last day in San Francisco (at least as compared to the previous two days). I had a heavy juice and bagel breakfast in the hostel and Japanese rice and curry at lunch. My day ended with a hearty S'mores crepe at Crepe Cafe (in Fisherman's Wharf).