PackThePJs has recently returned from a short break to San Francisco, California. We visited this city, for just 24 hours, many years ago – before the children came along – and we always said we’d return one day. Well the opportunity came along, and we jumped at it!
Getting There
We flew from London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic. It was a 9-10 hours-long direct flight on one of their Boeing Dreamliners. The outward journey was a very pleasant experience; the return (night) one, less so. I will review the flight separately in a new post.
When we arrived at San Francisco International Airport, we quickly found the transfer that we’d booked through Hoppa before we left the UK. We were then driven to our hotel, located right in the heart of the action – in Fisherman’s Wharf. Being budget-conscious, and knowing we’d not spend much time in our accommodation, we booked The Wharf Inn. Our Junior Suite room was functional and comfortable, but it was all about the location really.
We had 5 days to explore as much as we could, and this is how we got on …
Day 1: Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour
The Hop On/Hop Off bus is a great way to quickly learn your way around a new city. Straight after breakfast we headed for the bus stop. We sat upstairs in the open-top bus, which travels in a big loop. We planned to travel to the furthest point before we hopped off. This meant we got to see – from the comfort of the bus – a portion of the seafront, as well as Chinatown and Union Square. We hopped off at the Golden Gate Bridge. After some obligatory photos we decided to walk across the bridge to Sausalito on the other side. From here we rejoined the bus for a tour of Sausalito and back over the bridge, where we picked up the main city loop bus again.
We travelled back to central San Francisco via the Golden Gate Natural Park and the Haight-Ashbury District, jumping off in Chinatown. We walked through Chinatown back to Fisherman’s Wharf and to our hotel.
Day 2: Exploratorium and Cable Car Museum
We took a lovely walk to Pier 15, past Pier 39 and the sea lions and the Cruise Terminal. It was a lovely warm day. The Exploratorium, which we will discuss in a separate post, is a fabulous educational facility for children. Sensory overload comes to mind because there’s just so much to see and do! We all loved it, and the children came away with new knowledge of how things work.
From Pier 15 we walked (uphill – do not underestimate the steepness of the San Francisco hills!) all the way up to the Cable Car Museum. Our legs had just about enough energy left in them to tour the museum (which has free entry), but then we waited for one of the famous cable cars to take us back down the hill to Fisherman’s Wharf!
Day 3: Alcatraz Island and the Aquarium of the Bay
Today just so happened to be Valentine’s Day. Booking a tour of Alcatraz for this day wasn’t coincidental as I had planned to lock up and leave Huw there if he forgot to get me a card/gift. (As it turned out he had forgotten, but they wouldn’t let me leave him there. Oh well 
) Alcatraz was a fabulous visit, again in beautiful weather. The children loved the audio tour.
A short walk from the Alcatraz Cruises landing is Pier 39, where the Aquarium of the Bay is located. This is a fabulous aquarium that focuses on educating visitors to the species in the Bay. We love aquariums (we visit lots), and we’re so pleased we visited this one.
After visiting the aquarium, we took a stroll down Pier 39; this famous landmark is chocked full of eateries and tourist stores. We visited Bow Wow & Kitty Too! for cuddly gifts for our dogs back home, and we sat and finished off a bucket of mini donuts, oh, and ice cream!
Day 4: A ‘day of leisure’!
Well, not really! It was just the day we had not planned in advance for. So, after breakfast we walked along the front towards the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. We walked around two ships and visited the museum. As it was such a lovely day we also sat on the small beach there – Millie even had a paddle (her first ever in the Pacific Ocean).
Afterwards we headed to Ghiradelli Square for, of course, ice-cream and to look in the chocolate shop.
After that we headed around the headland and up to Fort Mason … and then the long walk back to the hotel!
Day 5: Golden Gate Natural Park: California Academy of Sciences and de Young Museum
After breakfast we called an Uber to take us to the California Academy of Sciences. This is an awesome place, with lots to see and do. A rainforest biome, an aquarium AND a planetarium – as well as lots of science/natural history exhibits around these three main features … It’s a huge place – can easily spend a whole day here.
A short walk through the gardens outside the Academy brings you to the impressive building of the de Young Museum. After a quick refreshment stop at the café here, we spent time looking at the exhibits and took the elevator to the top of the Hamon Tower, for incredible views over the city.
We then, reluctantly, had to call another cab to get us back to the hotel in time for our transfer back to the airport.
What else?
Well, we couldn’t fit EVERYTHING into our five days! Around the corner from our hotel was a Madame Tussauds, as well as The San Francisco Dungeon, and a Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Alongside the de Young Museum is the Japanese Tea Gardens – a lovely place to visit in the summer I would guess. We never had time to see the famously steep, winding road that is Lombard Street. A little further away is Muir Woods where you can walk among the Giant Redwoods. It was off-season when we visited, but from spring through to autumn the Bay is a fabulous place to do some whale watching. And then there’s lots of tours – tours by boat, tours by bicycle, tours by foot, tours by Segway … and a helicopter tour that, while we walked over it, went UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge!
If my FitBit is to be believed, we walked 37 miles over our 5 days in San Francisco. There is just SO much to do, for the whole family. The children loved everything about our visit. We had an awesome time 🙂
What an adventure, how exciting. When I can afford it I’m definitely going to do what you have done. Such a lovely clear post with an amazing selection of places to visit.
Aww thank you! We had a great time – it was very hectic though, so got home in need of another holiday! Over the coming weeks we’ll write about each of the things we did in more detail x