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| Ranking Among U.S. Cities / Regions: #4 |
| Venturers: 9 |
| Mid-Venturers: 10 |
| Centrics-Venturers: 10+ |
| Centrics-Authentics: 9 |
| Mid-Authentics: 8 |
| Authentics: 7 |
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| • An average of 39 million vehicles cross the Golden Gate Bridge each year |
| • The 1906 earthquake killed 3,000 people and destroyed 28,000 buildings |
| • San Francisco has an estimated 14,000 Victorian homes |
| • It’s the Gold Rush effect: The city’s population was 800 in 1848; 25,000 in 1849 |
| • The city’s cable cars, which carry 7.5 million passengers a year, travel 9.5 mph |
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Location, location, location
San Francisco sits on a peninsula with water on three sides: the Pacific to the west, San Francisco Bay to the east and the strait to the north — called the Golden Gate — that links the larger bodies of water. The city’s physical appeal is further enhanced by a hilly terrain and its large store of Victorian homes. Tourists love the look of California’s City by the Bay.
Other winning features, for travelers and residents alike, are its weather — considered almost perfect by some — and the good food and wine on offer at its restaurants.
About San Francisco
As with other popular U.S. cities, this one wins high marks for its beauty and fine weather. However, there is more to do in San Francisco than doff your jacket and gawk at gorgeous scenery and pretty Victorian houses.
Even for the least venturesome, taking to the sea is particularly pleasant. Choices include comfortable boats with narrated tours highlighting the landmarks in the city and its associated islands (Alcatraz, the most notorious) or trips to watch whales and other marine creatures. For the more venturesome, there are sailing and kayaking, not to mention sightseeing from the air in helicopters, biplanes and the like.
Back on the ground, visitors are entertained when seeking out links to this area’s fascinating past. The fine harbor was reason enough for founding a city here; however, San Francisco was made by the Gold Rush which brought settlers by the thousands. It brought crime and mayhem, too. Some of the flavor of the past is captured by tour guides, particularly on the best of the walking tours.
However, the much-loved cable cars, dating from 1873, are the most tangible reminder of life here in the 19th century.
In its modern iteration, San Francisco is one of America’s culture capitals, noted for its performing arts center, museums and other similar facilities. Its ballet company is the nation’s oldest (1933), and its opera company, founded in 1923, is the oldest major company in the West.
Asian-Americans account for nearly a third of the population; as a result, the city has the country’s largest Chinatown, and tourists regard it as a must-see.
Food and wine top visitors’ lists of reasons to come to town. Restaurants are noted for quality food, particularly given the city’s access to fresh produce and seafood. In addition, the city is only a short drive from the Napa/Sonoma wine-growing region, an area that continues to grow in stature in the world of oenophiles.
It is easy to get around the city on public transport. It is hard to think of downsides to a visit to the City by the Bay.
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• Do your sightseeing atop a bicycle seat. You can do this on your own or on a guided tour. Itineraries can include riding over the Golden Gate Bridge, then returning to San Francisco by ferry.
• See Napa Valley from a hot-air balloon. Then, visit a few wineries. If you have time, add on a look at Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, a new cultural museum and educational center on Napa’s waterfront.
• Choose a water-level view of San Francisco Bay in a kayak. If you are a novice at this, you can join a guided excursion.
• Stick your neck out and take the Vampire Tour of San Francisco (www.sfvampiretour.com).
• Have a drink at the legendary Top of the Mark. For more on current options for nightclubs and the like, see www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com.
• Attend a tasting of sakes, plum wines and mirin at Takara Sake USA Inc. in Berkeley. An on-site museum highlights the making of sake.
• Book a walking tour from a company called Foot! The guides are comedians and the itinerary choices look like these: Drugs, Thugs, Crimps & Pimps: San Francisco's Original Red Light District and Nude, Lewd and Cruse: The Rise of Strippers, Comedians and Beats in San Francisco's North Beach. There is more where those came from (www.foottours.com).
• Take to the skies for sightseeing either by helicopter, seaplane or in an open-cockpit biplane. One vendor, SF Air Tours (www.sfairtours.com), offers the opportunity to combine the flight over San Francisco with a pilot’s lesson.
• Attend the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival. The free event features dragon boat racing, food and entertainment.
• Charter a sailboat Pier 39 for your own tour in San Francisco’s waters. Or, sail the bay in a sailing catamaran, also available at Pier 39.
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• Reserve your space on a boat to Alcatraz Island, site of the infamous prison and now a part of the National Park Service.
• Spend at least a day at Fisherman’s Wharf. At the Aquarium of the Bay, walk through 300 feet of crystal-clear tunnels, a journey that replicates an underwater dive for the view of the bay’s waters and its marine life.
Then, there is the rest of Pier 39 with its views of the city, the antics of resident California sea lions, street performers (the human kind), plus more than 110 shops and 13 restaurants, for a tasty midday break or dinner.
• Sign on for a cooking class at the California Culinary Academy, then let others cook for you when you make the rounds of top restaurants.
• Take a guided tour of the waterfront while moving about on a Segway, the wheeled self-balancing electric transport mechanism that lets you get around more briskly than usual. You will be provided with a 35- to 45-minute training session so you can easily use the Segway. Similar Segway-powered tours are available in Sausalito.
• Ice skate at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating and Bowling Center at Yerba Buena, one of the city’s islands.
• Choose a guided sightseeing tour with the conveyance in mind. Options include a Land Rover, fire engine, GPS-guided GoCar, Jeep Wrangler and vintage touring car.
Or, travel by land and by sea in a Duck, a refurbished World War II amphibious landing craft.
• Picnic and hike in Golden Gate Park. Make it a horticulture day, and view the flowers and other plants in the Conservatory of Flowers and the San Francisco Botanical Garden, both in the park.
• Go on location. Take a tour that lets you visit movie locations in the city and watch relevant movie clips on the motorcoach.
• Learn more about Japanese culture when attending the April Cherry Blossom Festival of Northern California. Features include calligraphy, dance, flower arranging, martial arts and the tea ceremony.
• Do some wine tasting without leaving the city, at Wattle Creek Winery on Fisherman’s Wharf. There are several places for tastings in and near Oakland, as well.
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• Take a cruise to Farallon Islands, a marine sanctuary for endangered whales, white sharks, dolphins, elephant seals and orcas (large dolphins).
• Take the free tour of city hall. Look for more free things to do for families here or for everyone here.
• Ride the cable cars.
• Depending on season, attend a San Francisco 49ers football game or a San Francisco Giants baseball game. Or, see thoroughbred horses race at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley.
• Picnic and walk in the Presidio, a former military post and now a national park.
• Choose a walking tour in the city where a walking tour could seem like a climbing tour! However, one vendor calls itself On the Level San Francisco Walking Tours (www.onthelevelsf.com) for a reason.
In any case, there are plenty of walking tours, often focusing on a neighborhood, its history and architecture, such as the fashionable Nob Hill or Pacific Heights. Others feature Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury (of hippie fame) or South Beach.
• Choose a narrated boat tour of San Francisco Bay, either in the daytime or at sunset.
• Select a golf course and play all day.
• Visit during the spring San Francisco International Film Festival for access to the best in world cinema.
• Learn about beer brewing during a free tour of the Anheuser -Busch Consumer Hospitality Center in Fairfield, across the bay, then sample the goods.
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For more information, consult San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com
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