#urbanfamilyinsanfrancisco
San Francisco has always been on the list for me since before having children. After working for companies like Apple, I have always been inspired by the creativity and free thinking of San Francisco society and culture. San Francisco is a relatively small city in terms of land area (half the size of Newcastle, NSW, and 1/10 the land area of our home town, Brisbane). This makes getting around the city very easy. The wider Bay Area makes up a much larger place to explore and that’s for another blog.
We have a basketball mad 10 year old who is a huge fan of the current NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, so taking in a Warriors game for us was a highlight of our trip.
Be ready to see a hugely diverse culture in San Fran… there are extremely rich, tech billionaires with incredible homes. However, in downtown San Fran the homelessness is ever present and difficult to avoid. So be ready for those conversations with your children.
Accommodation
After much research and recommendations from friends we discovered that most tourists stay nearby to either Union Square or the Waterfront. Both these locations are very touristy. These are cliché tourist destinations for a reason, as they are excellent. We chose to stay in the financial district on advice that this area was a little less busy and also the homelessness was less obvious. We found this to be excellent advice, and it would also be our recommendation.
We stayed at the Omni Hotel - On California St in very safe area with the cable cars at the hotels door step and everything you need within easy walking distance. The rooms were simple studio style with two queen beds, however larger than others available in the area, as they are an older hotel. They also provided milk and cookies every night for the kids with their down turn service.
Another bonus in this neighbourhood is that you can find proper espresso style coffee, the way we like it in Australia, amongst the notoriously terrible coffee you find elsewhere in The States. This hotel cost us approx. $500 dollars a night over the peak new year holiday period.
Getting Around
The public transport system in San Francisco is not easy to understand when you’re not a local. You can catch cable cars, trams, buses and trains if you want the authentic San Fran experience, however with a family of 4, in most cases it was cheaper and easier to simply Uber your way around. Your Australian Uber App and account will work, the Uber App is internationally recognised, so no need to set up a new account. Just have roaming access on your phone or call from the free wifi which was available almost everywhere.
One tip with the Cable car rides, they cost $7US for individual trips per person. This is a wonderful experience that you shouldn’t miss, but I don’t recommend it as a mode of transport while in the city. You can buy tickets from the local pharmacies and a 3 day pass is around $50 AUD. The train network is called the BART – do your research on the safest stations and use this mode of transport carefully. There are definitely parts of San Francisco you should not venture to.
Eats/Dining Recommendations
We ate at all of these places and they were all awesome.
Tony’s Pizza – In little Italy, world famous always has line ups . My tip is to go at Lunch and line up from around 11.30am… they open at Midday.
Scomas lunch - first famous seafood chowder not to be missed.
Biscuits & Blues – very cool traditional blues dinner and show. They are an all ages club at all times, although our children were the only ones in for the show we saw. But it was an authentic experience.
In and Out Burger - you just can’t visit California without doing this. My tip is that whilst it is not on the menu, you can order a lettuce burger and they are delicious!
R&G Lounge – in China town, famous for Obama visiting every time he went to San Fran. The food was authenic Cantonese with the freshest ingredients.
Bob’s Steak & Chop House – is part of the OMNI hotel. The restaurant is high end and quality food, 25 years in San Fran, the bar also has great snack food, and is a fantastic place to take in live sports (like NBA games) with the locals.
Sightseeing
Vantigo Private Tour: Our guide Chad was aweome.
Meet at Union Square and take in all the sights of the city including:
· Port of San Francisco
· Union Square
· China Town
· Italian neighbourhood
· Coit Tower look out – great vantage point to see the Golden Gate Bridge.
· Fishermans Wharf & Pier 39
· Twin Peaks lookout – also amazing views of the city and the bay from here.
· The famous Painted Ladies
· Haight & Ashbury area
· Palace of Fine Arts
· Presidio
After doing our tour with Chad, we picked a few places to go back and spend more time.
The California academy of science was at the top of our list and a huge hit with the kids.
· Earthquake simulator
· Domes - Kinda like The Eden Project in UK.
· Planetarium with great shows
· Ice skating rink at Christmas time was fun.
Twilight Cruise in the Bay
The Golden Gate bridge to Bay Bridge. Beautiful clear night. Stunning views.
Treasure Island
We did visit, but theres nothing much there right now. This will be a destination of the future. There are massive re-development plans for this place. Will be interesting to see this in 10 years time.
Magic show at Marakesh Magic Theatre
The magician is Jay Alexander. The show was awesome, fun for the kids and good food. Highly recommended.
Muir Woods & Sausalito
Across the Golden Gate Bridge and well worth a visit. We decided on a private car for the day so we could see this at our own pace. The car cost about $600US for 8 hours and we enjoyed this. You can also do this via ferry from the Port of San Fran.
The Apple Store in Union Square
The store is an architectural marvel and well worth a visit if you appreciate that sort of thing.
Alcatraz.
It’s everything you want it to be and more. A visit to the Bay area is not complete without doing Alcatraz. Book tickets early as they always sell out. Book direct through Alcatraz Cruises to avoid disappointment with reseller issues. It was about $200 for a family of 4 and the cellhouse audio tour was included as was the ferry over. The audio tour is excellent and must not be missed.
Silicon Valley.
We Ubered to Silicon Valley from San Fran. It is about a 75 min drive, and we visited Google HQ, Apple HQ & Facebook HQ. We were lucky and had some contacts to get access at Google and if you do, we highly recommend it because it was awesome.
However, the only place worth visiting if you don’t have a contact that can provide a visitor tour, is The Apple Visitor Centre. Incredibly beautiful and inspiring place to visit.
The Warriors.
If you are a basketball fan like our family, and want to take in a game. The best advice is buy tickets direct, and book early. They are expensive. Don’t be tempted by the cheaper ‘too good to be true’ reseller tickets because they probably are not authentic. If you do buy reseller tickets, there is an authentic re-seller sight for ticketmaster.
