SAN FRANCISCO FALL & WINTER GUIDE 2008/2009 The best places to eat, sleep and play in San Francisco this fall and winter With more than 20 million reviews and opinions, TripAdvisor makes travel planning a snap for the 25 million travelers visiting our site each month. INTRODUCTION TripAdvisor, the most trusted source for where to eat, sleep and play in thousands of destinations around the world, has collected the best insider tips from its 25 million monthly visitors to produce a unique series of travel guides. In addition to the best hotels, restaurants and attractions for every type of traveler, you’ll get great advice about what to pack, how to get around and where to find the best views. Be sure to check out the guides at www.tripadvisor.com. You’ll find reviews for more than 230,000 hotels, 76,000 attractions and 435,000 Inside restaurants on TripAdvisor.com. Learn from other travelers what to expect before you make your plans. SAN FRANCISCO Diversity is the name of the game in San Francisco. Diverse citizens: one of the most liberal centers in the U.S. today, the PACKING TIPS city is the second most densely populated in the country and is home 1. A backpack—“Backpacks abound among to significant Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Italian, Irish and locals. They are handy for carrying the Russian populations. Diverse architecture: almost destroyed in an layers of clothing that you will need, due to earthquake in 1906, the city was rapidly rebuilt and remains one of the the changing temperatures of the day.” —TripAdvisor Member, San Francisco most architecturally interesting cities in the United States with building styles that range from British Victorians to modern skyscrapers. Diverse 2. A coat—“Be prepared, S.F. can be very chilly! Always bring a coat.”—TripAdvisor landscape: here you’ll find calf-cramping hills, the mind-soothing Pacific Member, Pacifica, Calif. and the funny-bone-tickling Lombard Street, the “most crooked” street in the world. 3. Comfortable shoes—“Bring good walking shoes! Even if you do minimal walking, For the most part, there is little diversity in San Francisco’s weather and you’ll be climbing BIG HILLS.”—TripAdvisor Member, San Francisco temperatures seldom dip below 40 degrees or exceed 90. In winter, the surrounding waters tend to keep the city from getting as cold as other 4. “A good solid guidebook for visiting San Francisco and Marin County is the Golden parts of the Bay Area. Gate Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Walk, In the summer, the opposite effect occurs. No one knows who said, Bike in San Francisco and Marin. It includes the ferry system, all the coastal “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” But trails and is written by San Francisco savvy travelers know it’s true. natives.”—TripAdvisor Member tripadvisor.com 2 Top VIEWS SAN FRANCISCO’S BEST VIEWS “Coit Tower is a must. The views are remarkable! Cross the Golden Gate Bridge by foot, The summit of Twin Peaks is a good place A small fee to ride the elevator to the top, but bicycle or vehicle to see San Francisco’s to witness a beautiful sunrise or sunset, and well worth it for the 360-degree panoramic skyline, the mountains, the ocean, Alcatraz get an overview of the city. “Market Street view of San Francisco. You will see the Golden and many of the area’s other landmarks. “One is laid out before you, and the Bay Bridge Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Lombard Street, the of the most beautiful places in the world.”— stretches to the East Bay. You can see the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz all from high up in the TripAdvisor Member, Gedera, Israel University of California campanile and the tower.”—TripAdvisor Member, Durham, Calif. Golden Gate Bridge, Lincoln Blvd., near Mormon Temple on a clear day and the Coit Tower, 1 Telegraph Hill Blvd., 415 362 0808 Doyle Dr. and Fort Point, Golden Gate tops of the Golden Gate Bridge towers.”— Bridge Plaza, 415 921 5858 TripAdvisor Member, San Francisco Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks Boulevard to Where Christmas Tree Point to PLAY TOP 10 Attractions 1. Alcatraz, Pier 41, 415 561 4900 6. Fisherman’s Wharf, Jefferson Street between Hyde and Powell streets, 888 WHARFS 2. City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave., 415 362 8193 7. City Segway Tours, 505 Beach St., 415 409 0672 3. Golden Gate Bridge, Lincoln Boulevard near Doyle Drive and Fort 8. USS Pampanito, Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf, 415 775 1943 Point, Golden Gate Bridge Plaza, 415 921 5858 9. Bay Quackers - San Francisco Duck Tours, The Anchorage Mall @ The Fisherman’s 4. Pier 39, Beach Street and The Embarcadero, 415 705 5500 Wharf, 415 431 3825 5. Mr. Toad’s Tours, Departs from Fisherman’s Wharf, 2698 Mason St., 10. Ferry Building Marketplace, 1 Ferry Building, Embarcadero at Market Street, 650 401 7708 415 693 0996 FAMILIES Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory makes “Filled with nickelodeons, vintage pinball Fisherman’s Wharf “was buzzing with fortune cookies by hand and is a real treat. “It’s a games and all mechanical amusements of families, friends and strangers. Loads of bit hard to find, but you can handwrite your own days gone by,” the Musee Mecanique restaurants and shops and nice to sit and fortunes and the lady will put them in a fortune “doesn’t cost you a thing unless you want take in the vibe. Yes, it’s a tourist area, cookie right in front of you.”—TripAdvisor to feed the machines coins and watch their but that made all the fun.”—TripAdvisor Member, Little Elm, Texas neat movements. Better than today’s video Member, Brisbane, Australia Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, games!”—TripAdvisor Member, Toronto, Fisherman’s Wharf, Jefferson Street between 56 Ross Alley, Between Washington and Ontario Hyde and Powell streets, 888 WHARFS Jackson Streets, 415 781 3956 Musee Mecanique, Pier 45, Fisherman’s Wharf, 415 346 2000 ROMANCE Step out of the cold and into the “eye-catching” With “beautiful architecture, a lovely pond Catch a classic movie alfresco with wine and Conservatory of Flowers. “The water lilies with water birds and terrapins,” the Palace dinner at Foreign Cinema. “Make sure you were gorgeous and large. I also really enjoyed of Fine Arts is ”the perfect place for a call ahead for a reservation and get a table seeing all the different orchids. The rooms are picnic. Must take a camera!”—TripAdvisor outside. They show old movies on the wall quite warm, and the misting adds to the feeling member, Israel after dark.”—TripAdvisor Member, Dallas, of being in a tropical location.”—TripAdvisor Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon St., Texas Member, Modesto, Calif. 415 563 6504 Foreign Cinema, 2534 Mission St., Conservatory of Flowers, John F. Kennedy 415 648 7600 Drive, Golden Gate Park, 415 666 7001 Call an Expedia Travel Specialist now 877 633 3716 tripadvisor.com 3 Where to PLAY BUDGET “If you’re cheap and just want to sit back and San Francisco City Guides offer free At Cris on Polk Street you’ll find “really high- enjoy drinks, check out Holy Cow. It’s free, walking tours “featuring legends, history end designer pieces and they’re in amazing and it’s a bar with dancing.”—TripAdvisor and architecture and it’s run by trained condition. It isn’t really a ‘thrift’ store.” Member, San Francisco volunteers. It can be fun finding out stuff —TripAdvisor Member, San Francisco Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom St., 415 621 6087 about places you might not normally go.” Cris, 2056 Polk St., 415 474 1191 —TripAdvisor Member, Australia San Francisco City Guides, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., 415 557 4266 ADVENTURE “Take a look at the Kristi Yamaguchi Ocean Beach “is a great place to hang Rent a bicycle at Adventure Bicycle Outdoor Ice Skating Rink. Even if you out. It stretches forever, and there is always Company and freewheel across the city’s don’t ice-skate, grab a cup of coffee or hot enough space to run around and have most famous landmark. ”Allow at least chocolate, and just watch the people skate your own party. They allow bonfires (in half a day as once you cross the Golden (or fall)—HAHAHA! It’s actually a tradition authorized fire rings), which rocks because Gate Bridge. You can head down into of mine.”—TripAdvisor Member, California at night, even though it’s cold, you can sit by Sausalito, which is lovely and has its own Kristi Yamaguchi Outdoor Ice Skating Rink a bonfire and have a blast.”—TripAdvisor climate which is often warmer than SF.”— at Embarcadero Center, Embarcadero at Member, Petaluma, Calif. TripAdvisor Member, Hampshire, England Battery, 415 772 0734 Ocean Beach, On the Great Highway, Adventure Bicycle Company, 734 Lombard St., 415 561 4741 415 771 8735 EDUCATIONAL/HISTORICAL No trip to the city is complete without “Mission Dolores was my favorite San City Lights is “my idea of a true bookstore: a visit to the notorious island prison, Francisco sight. The old church is the oldest wooden shelves, chairs and stools combined Alcatraz. Opt for the after-dark tour, building in San Francisco, and the ceiling, with intimate ‘rooms’ and the feeling you can which is “fascinating and creepy. The views painted by Native Americans in traditional really wander and take your time to choose at sunset on the way out and the nighttime patterns, is a fascinating juxtaposition to the your book. A fantastic range of local books cityscape on the way back are awesome.”— European altar and art in this little Catholic and an amazing section on beat poetry.”— TripAdvisor Member, Mesa, Ariz.