I am taking my wife there from 8/25-8/28.

Of course we are going to eat at Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown and the Mission district.

Is the Alcatraz tour worth the 2.5 hours $38 per person price?

How about the boat cruises to the Golden Gate bridge and through the bay?

What else is there to do there?

Thanks!



We picked out these restaurants based on what we saw on the Food Channel and the Travel Channel

1. Sotto Mare Oysteria and Seafood Restaurant

MENU:

http://www.sottomaresf.com/Sotto_Mare_Seafood_Restaurant/Menu_files/Menu%20update%20%2011-14-13.pdf

Website:

http://www.sottomaresf.com/Sotto_Mare_Seafood_Restaurant/Home.html

YELP:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sotto-mare-san-francisco

Why GO there?

For the CIOPPINO





2. Swan Oyster Depot

MENU:

http://www.zmenu.com/swan-oyster-depot-san-francisco-online-menu/

Website:

http://www.sfswanoysterdepot.com/

YELP:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/swan-oyster-depot-san-francisco

Why GO there?

For the CRAB LOUIE SALAD



3. Taqueria La Cumbre

MENU:

http://www.taquerialacumbre.com/menu.html

Website:

http://www.taquerialacumbre.com/

YELP:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-la-cumbre-san-francisco

Why GO there?

For the 19 Oz SUPER MISSION BURRITOS



4. House of Prime Rib

MENU:

http://houseofprimerib.net/

Website:

http://houseofprimerib.net/

YELP:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/house-of-prime-rib-san-francisco

Why GO there?

For the KING HENRY VIII CUT of PRIME RIB

Don't live there, wish I did anyway.

Don't forget to throw empty bottles of beer at the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf while you are at it. It is a local tradition.

Not food-related but visiting the WW2 USS Pampatino sub should be everyone's priority. I enjoyed it quite a bit, even my wife (who is not a sub freak) did, it doesn't take too long.

I'll let the local HQers with better suggestions.

Cheers,
Slug

It's been some time since I was visiting San Francisco, but some of the things I really enjoyed were

- Golden Gate Park
- Presidio
- Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill
- Chinatown
- Haight Ashbury
- driving down Lombard Street
- USS Pampanito and the Liberty ship next to it

There right now. Kennedy's: Two pints for one. Indian restaurant upstairs that delivers downstairs. Very good chicken curry.

I would definitely love to take a vacation to SF and check out the city for at least a few days.

I would never live there of course.

Stuff to do: the locals seem to like to panhandle and urinate on the doorways of downtown businesses.

You visit the nuclear wessels in Alameda.



The Jedi Master

I took my kids to the Exploratorium. It was very cool, even for my wife and I. (Possibly because I'm still a man child). It was a highlight for all of us. http://www.exploratorium.edu/

Alcatraz is definitely worth the visit. We did the day tour. The whole place is interesting to visit. The view from Alcatraz to SF is great. The audio tour is really well done. I hear the night tours are really good too but I didn't want my kids (or me :-) to be too spooked out.

My son was sick this day but my daughter and I took a ferry then a cab to the USS Hornet museum. We had been to USS Intrepid in NYC as a family and everyone really enjoyed it to my surprise since I'm the only aviation and naval aviation aficionado in the family. So we were looking forward to Hornet. Hornet is definitely different than Intrepid. More museumish and less family friendly interactive. I always love seeing the aircraft and the carriers whenever possible so I still enjoyed it. It was a bit of bore for my daughter but bless her heart, she was a good sport and just humoured me for the trip.

We also toured the the Aquarium of the Bay. It's a bit small compared to other aquariums I've visited (New Orleans, Dallas) but it was interesting. We did a behind the scenes tour and got to feed the sharks and fish from above the glass tunnels.

We bought a CityPass for our trip and it was well worth it. We stayed on the edge of China town beside the Bank of America tower and took public transit everywhere. The pass was even good for street cars on the Embarcadero and the cable cars plus it had passes for most of the attractions we visited.

Wizard

First thing. Take a Jacket! Tourists don't realize that SF is COLD compared to the rest of the state. It stays in the 60's in the Summer, and the wind is blowing in off the Bay. So take a sweater at least.

Take the Tour of the Rock. Make sure you do the Audio. Really fun. The boat ride over to it fun.
When at the Wharf, be sure and have some of the Clam Chowder in the Sourdough bowl. Outstanding. And I don't like clam chowder. San Francisco is known for its Sourdough Bread, and Ghirradelli chocolate.
Drive down Lombard St.
Take a Trolley ride.

I'd say rather than take a boat under the GG Bridge, walk across it. I think that's more fun. Also, if you are a baseball fan at all, try to see a game at ATT Park. It's a nice stadium and the cheapest tickets are also the ones with the best views of the bay (if you're not a baseball fan).

Lumbard Street is cool
Trollies are cool
I thought Alcatraz was OK

If you guys are going to have a car you could head to Half Moon Bay or Pacifica for breakfast, lunch, or dinner one day, for a nice, less urban, activity.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

That sounds like a setup...



+1 on the USS Pampanito! Watch out for the friggin' seagulls though... I think they are working for the Japanese Emperor.

+ several on the USS Pampanito. If you have a car, Sausalito, just on the north side of the Golden Gate, is a nice place to visit. I loved it in SF when I was there in 2010, and I'm aiming towards a visit there next year again.

Thanks for all the suggestions,

We have seen the USS Nimitz in San Diego and since we only have
Half day Tuesday and 2 full days on Wed and Thu and flying back
On Friday at lunch time, we will pass on the USS Hornet.

I want to see Alcatraz and the Submarine. I haven't mentioned it to her yet. She may not be interested.

I know she may rather do one of the twilight cruises on the bay
than take a bay cruise to a prison museum.

Jacket? I have a heavy biker leather jacket. Is that too much?

We won't rent a car. My company has an Uber account. That's how we will get around most of the time especially
from/to hotel and airport.

By the way we are staying at a hotel in Fisherman's Wharf.

Which one of these jackets should I get?

This one rated COLD:

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/produc...;fg=Temperature

This one rated MILD:

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3956095&prodFindSrc=cart

Both are waterproof and windbreakers.

I plan to walk the entire 3 miles of the Golden Gate Bridge and one of these jackets got to keep me warm from the wind up there.

http://www.canada-goose.com/snow-mantra-parka-9501M.html#start=1

It's low in the 50's.

It's not the arctic there.

I am not going to Siberia.

Irony, man, irony.

Unless there's going to be a serious drop in temperatures, a T-Shirt and a light windbreaker (a good softshell jacket should also keep you reasonably dry in light, drizzling rain) should be more than enough.

I might consider taking a jacket such as that "mild" Northface jacket you posted on an Alpine hiking trip in November/ December. Certainly not when visiting San Francisco in August.

Unless you plan to walk at a snail's pace, the very fact that you are moving will keep you warm enough.

Depends where you're from. If it drops below 70, I wear my leather bomber jacket.



The Jedi Master

According to the 16-day forecast for SF, temperatures should be between 71 and 83, so you'd only have to bring the light version of that leather bomber jacket ("Iniana Jones" A2, as opposed to "Top Gun" G1?)

We visited in May last year. I typically wore shorts or cargo pants with zip off pant legs and a light wind breaker. When it got warmish, I'd tie the jacket around my waste. I think there might have been one time when I wished I had a fleece jacket under my wind breaker. We walked over the Golden Gate bridge on a sunny day and was comfortable with the windbreaker. Walking the bridge was a highlight for me. I'll also second the motion that clam chowder in a sour dough bowl is a must do.

Wizard