Going in September for 5 nights, is this enough? How much is the cheapest that you guys have got from YVR to SFO? Is $300 good?

$300 from YVR direct to SFO is pretty good, especially in September because of the school rush.

If you go to San Fran, definitely drive down Lombard street.

Thought I would bump this since the g/f just surprised me for a trip in a couple weeks for my birthday. Anyone have any other suggestions on what we can do there? we already booked the night tour to Alcatraz which will be pretty rad.

The wife and I went a few years ago. I went for business and she tagged along, so we only had a couple evenings and one saturday to do anything together.

We were staying at the JW Marriott in Union Square.

We spent most of our walking from there to and through the various neighborhoods (Checked out the Marketplace, fisherman's wharf, Coit Tower, The cable car museum, Lombard St. Walked all along the beach to the Golden Gate bridge).

Went to House of Prime Rib on account of this thread. Left disappointed, completely overrated.
It's the olive garden of steak houses. Would rather have gone somewhere a bit more upscale and higher quality. Quality > Quantity.

We had a great night at the starlight room, a night club on the 20th floor of the Sir Frances Drake Hotel.

As Great68 mentioned check out the various neighbourhoods. They each have something to offer. I last stayed in Japantown and while a bit gritty, it had a few good food places nearby.

Since you're going to Alcatraz, see if you can make it out to the Ferry Building nearby for a Roli Roti porcetta sandwich. I haven't tried Meat and Bread, but speaking to those who've had both say M&B is a travesty compared to RR. This was probably my most memorable meal in a city full of great options. The only downside is that they're open a few days of the week. Go early to line up because it can get pretty damn long.

https://www.yelp.ca/biz/roli-roti-go...-san-francisco

You can honestly spend a good chunk of your day at the different piers. When you finish, catch a cable car up the hill to Chinatown (I think it's the largest outside of Asia?). Then you can loop around to Lombard nearby and get that all out of the way.

Thanks guys, I'm always down to check out Chinatown in different cities, I'm leaving Friday after noon and flying back Monday night(in two weeks) so I don't have all that much time.

Do you think it would be worth it to spend Saturday at Six Flags? Both of us have never been to an amusement park before but there's so much to do in such little time.

If you like chicken and waffles and/or soul food, I'd highly recommend Farmerbrown. Stumbled upon here when I was in Frisco last year and wifey and I still semi-joke that we'd go fly back down just for their food.

Given your time constraint I'd say no. Concentrate your time in SF. Heck, if you're looking for something to do for an entire day try renting a bike and pedal across the GG bridge. It's a neat experience.

That said don't expect to use bathrooms on the other side. The rest area there had broken toilets every time I stopped by lol

Fisherman's Wharf is also a good place to get some good seafood chowder and other snacks. I went there back in late September 2013. There are sea lions at the wharf who bark a bit to entertain people there. LUL

If you had more time in Frisco, I would also suggest driving for about two hours to Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on the West Coast. There are beautiful Cypress trees near the shore.

The Monterey Bay area is beautiful. The small town is a tourist trap, so be prepared for that. But driving around the peninsula is amazing. Big Sur is just down the road, and if you're a golfer just being in the area as Spyglass and Pebble is enough to make you want to drop 1k in green fees :D

Going to San Fran for work this week.

Any recommendations on lunch/dinner spots in downtown that are must have. Saw Farmerbrown recommended and their menu looks awesome.

Any other must haves? Casual is better than fine dining for this type of trip.

I could spend an afternoon eating at the Ferry Building just outside Downtown (though don't if you are time constrained).

As I mentioned earlier, there's Roli Roti out front on select days. There's some deli meat and cheese available inside to pair with the very AWESOME Acme bakery inside that you can take with you to enjoy somewhere else nearby. If for some reason you find yourself near Japantown, there's an upscale place called Dosa On Fillmore. They had these great tastey tandoori chicken piecs as an appetizer. The Dosas are pretty good but for what it is and compared to places here, it's pretty pricey. The decor and overall experience is defiinitely more upscale than Dosa places here. All in all, Roli Roti was the most memorable meal of my trip there in 2014. Can't comment on anything more recent :p

Just got back on Monday and for breakfast Sweet honey is wicked with that millionaire bacon side. No question Crab house on Pier 39 is fantastic as well.

I always try and get a Senor Sisig burrito when I go down, it's my favorite food truck there.

I agree with Roli Roti! Really good porchetta sandwhich

Bumping this since I'm planning on doing San Fran during our Thanksgiving weekend (so basically Fri-Tues). Wanted to get some input on some potential sights I hadn't seen mentioned here. They're not really strictly San Fran but they're within driving distance:

*Redwood Forests or even Yosemite
*Sonoma Valley/Napa
*San Jose/Silicon Valley

I figured the giant sequoia trees in the Redwood forests might be pretty cool to see, but is there anything more outside of this? Yosemite is a bit further drive and I might consider it but will have to do more research as to whether it's worth the 4 hours each way drive.

Napa seem interesting but I'm not really a drinker. I like goofing around with the camera so I figured the scenery might be nice but is it worth the trip just for that? Sonoma Coast looks nice so perhaps I might add that to the trip.

Silicon Valley is probably the biggest maybe I have on my list. It's kinda cool to be around the big tech companies since I'm a bit of a tech nerd. However, you can't really tour the campus so you're really just loitering outside taking pictures or buying some fanboy merch at their stores. Anyone done this trip and can speak on whether it's worth the time?

Any other suggestions outside of the usual tourist attractions to visit?

^Head South young man.

SF> Santa Cruz > Monterey > Big Sur along Highway 1 (Pacific Coast highway)

The scenery there is beyond compare.

https://sevenrunner-img.rbl.ms/simag...N8FoIN/img.jpg

Napa is nice, but why bother if you're not into wine?

San Jose is pretty nondescript. But they do have the Winchester House. Maybe stop by on the way back from the PCH.

Yosemite is too far, you'll waste a whole day going back and forth. And the drive is thru some very flat and dull farmland.

Yosemite is absolutely worth the drive. It's gorgeous. The drive there is also interesting.

https://i.imgur.com/T0txJKSh.png

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely have to do the drive south. I've driven north from SF up the Cali coast, but I found it really monotonous and was foggy the whole drive. It seems going south is a whole different story.

I'm still on the fence about Yosemite. If I do go, I'll probably make it an overnight trip. From what I've read so far, it seems spring/early summer is the better time to visit Yosemite since the waterfalls will be in full flow from the snowmelt, while fall is when the flow is at the lowest. Did you do any hikes roastpuff? Any recommendations? I'd like to squeeze in at least one hike and possibly drive around to the car accessible regions of the park for the rest of the time.

Overnight would be best, a few days if possible. We went in early summer like you said so the waterfalls were absolutely amazing. Mostly drove around the car-accessible areas as my dad's knee isn't doing so hot, did the super short hikes like Lower Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls so I'm not much help unfortunately.

For sure hit the highlights - I wanted to go to Glacier Point but we ran out of time.

https://i.imgur.com/z0eoOkgh.png

It can get foggy anywhere along the coast even in September when the weather is supposed to be the warmest. Perhaps it'll stretch out and you'll luck out in Oct.