SF Tips from Kim!

June 20th, 2008

Intro: I’m a big fan of Kim’s Kitchen Sink. Kim’s awesome. She works at Google, she likes lists and she makes me laugh. And as a Cali native, Kim was quick to help me out with San Francisco tips for my upcoming trip. PLUS: even though she’s on her big NY trip, she was also quick to help me out with a guest post. (Thanks, Kim!)

So here you go: tips from Kim on visiting San Francisco:

Grad Girl asked me to write a little guest post while she is on vacation, so here it is: a list of my favorite touristy and non-touristy, pricey and frugal-friendly places to visit in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ok, so I don’t know TOO much about SF, because I live in Berkeley, which is across the bay, and I don’t venture into the city all that often. However, here’s some of my advice…

Restaurants:

It’s very touristy, but you should visit the Boudin Bakery at Fisherman’s Wharf. Honest to goodness San Francisco sourdough, and I think there are factory tours and such. Even just checking out the store is cool — they have the bread in baskets circling around the ceiling on a track.

Of course, Ghirardelli square (which is very close to Fisherman’s Wharf) if you like chocolate…again, touristy, but omg their ice cream sundaes…

The Carnelian Room - at the top of the Bank Of America building, it’s the highest public viewing point in SF. There’s a bar, where drinks around all in the $8-$10 range (I recommend the “Girl Scout Cookie,” and The Boy says they also make a very good “Perfect Manhattan”), but the view is spectacular on a clear night.

If you like seafood, and want to splurge on a very expensive meal, I’d go for Farralon. You can easily spend $80-$100 per person (entrees in the $20-$30 range), but the food and the atmosphere are spectacular.

Cool attractions/things to do:

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The Exploratorium (a lot of it is geared towards kids, but it’s in an absolutely stunning area, and the exhibits are really fun)

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the de Young and the Legion of Honor)

Theatre Bay Area has discounts and information for all kinds of theatre in the bay - you might want to check out a show or two, and this is a good way to find cheaper tickets.

You’ll probably want to check out Haight/Ashbury, if you’re interested in the whole hippie side of San Francisco.

It might be fun to do a walking tour, or even a bus tour, just to get acquainted with it all. There are a ton of options for tours, depending on what your interests are.

Golden Gate Park - museums, gardens, and it’s also just generally a lovely park.

Hotels:

Hotel Diva - a friend of mine stayed here and liked it; very sort of modern glam, and kind of fun.
hotels will sort of vary depending on what neighborhood you want to stay in…SF is geographically small, but there’s just a TON crammed in there. I’d recommend planning sort of what you want to do, and then staying somewhere that’s central to those activities.

And of course, if you want to venture across the Bay to Berkeley/Oakland (it’s only about a 25-35 minute BART ride, depending on your start-stop points), I would recommend Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Zachary’s Pizza (deep dish deliciousness), The Albatross (a bar with board games, $0.25 popcorn, and pub trivia on Sunday nights), Fenton’s Creamery and Top Dog.

Enjoy your trip to the Bay Area!!