San Francisco, California, is no place for the sedentary. From the Mission District to Telegraph Hill, the middle of the bay to mid-season at the ballet, there are sights, sounds, tastes and adventures to explore. Poke around in an experimental science museum, chow down with a view in a restaurant that's good for you, retrace the steps of the Gold Rush speculators, search--and search some more--for the mythical Haight-Ashbury. When you run out of time, just plan to come back.
Step-by-Step San Francisco
The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society provides historical walking tours that you can download, map or see with a real tour guide. The 3.8 mile tour is fairly flat and takes you through Downtown, Union Square, Chinatown, Jackson Square Historic District, Old Barbary Coast, Beat San Francisco, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Fishermans Wharf, San Francisco Maritime Historical National Park, Ghirardelli Square, Nob Hill and more.
You may break the tour into manageable chunks, taking one afternoon to visit the Old Mint and Chinatown, another to check out the Jackson Square Historic District, the headquarters of the Pony Express and the Old Barbary Coast.
The last tour follows the Beat generation’s trail and takes you to North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill by cable car and the Hyde Street Pier historic ships. By the time you’ve finished, you’ll feel like Jack Kerouac--and you may want to move to a restored Victorian with a killer view over the bay.
Bridge Over Lots of Water
Hike or bike the Golden Gate Bridge for bragging rights to an easy adventure and--well, because it's there. The 1.7-mile span will use up the entire memory card in your digital camera. Just don’t get so lost in the fabulous views that you forget to stay alert.
The bridge can get crowded with cyclists and pedestrians sharing the east sidewalk and there are a few choke-points that call for concentration. Checklist: sunblock, layers, comfortable shoes.
Exploratorium
Kids--and big kids--love this place. The Exploratorium is the model for inventive, experiential science education masquerading as fun.
The museum has exhibits--nothing passive--film screenings, day camps, evening programs for adults, field trips and interactive encounters with astronomy and space, the material world, earth sciences, cultures, the human body, living things, everyday science and more.
Check out its website--25,000 pages--and then tear yourself away and get over to the museum itself. Wear sneakers.
Green Your Palate
You don’t have to be a vegetarian to love Greens. The famous eatery has been locally sourcing organic produce from small family farms since 1979 and changing the way Americans look at--and cook--their peas and grilled-delta-asparagus-with-shaved-andante-dairy-etude-mache-and-meyer-lemon-vinaigrette.
Visit for lunch, brunch, cafe dinner, fixed-price dinner, takeout and chocolate cream pie. Reservations, up to four weeks in advance, are accepted and suggested.
A Night at the Opera—or the Symphony or the Ballet
San Francisco has world-class cultural offerings, among them, the San Francisco Opera, the nation’s second-largest opera company, performing at the War Memorial Opera House. Catch the renowned San Francisco Ballet on the boards there when the opera isn’t performing.
And don’t miss the San Francisco Symphony playing on its home concert stage in Davies Symphony Hall. In the event you have arrived during a hiatus for everything, you can take a tour of the halls in the War Memorial & Performing Arts Center every Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the hour, holidays excluded.
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