Going to be spending Christmas and New Year in San Francisco, its our first visit. Any tips on things to do, places to eat, good bars etc appreciated muchly.

You could arrange a Piss up!!

If you want to go to Alcatraz book tickets before you get there.


I'll be in England.

I'm not normally so unavailable, honest

Buy theatre tickets at a reduced price from the booth in Union Square.

Buy a muni pass for unlimited use of the streetcars/cable cars/buses.

We'll give you a wave in passing at SFO. DH and I are headed out for a cold and wet Christmas in England.

I recommend the drive up to Twin Peaks and a ride on a cable car.

Have fun!

Are you staying in a hotel ?

I know a few good places .

Tadich Grill

Sam's Grill

Both of these places are quite old fashioned and have been in business for quite some time -- I think Sam's was founded in 1856 and Tadich is six years older. [I will admit that I miss the abalone steaks -- but an endangered species is an endangered species.]

BTW, yelp.com is often a good place to check out things. However, as a word of warning, yelp tends to get a lot of curmudgeony posts -- so exercise care in reading it. It is not uncommon to see a place with a plethora of 4 & 5 star reviews with a no or one star review. I have found the plethora of good reviews to be reliable.

Addition: one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants from the early 70's is still there! -- chapeau

Anybody know a good Indian or Bangladesh restaurant In SFO ? . I'll be there next week on business.

Fishermans Wharf is nice, I always go there when in SF

http://www.fishermanswharf.org

A second for Sams Grill
Lx

I will admit to a prejudice dating from when I lived in the City -- I avoid Fisherman's Wharf! However, there was also a prejudice against the Embarcadero Freeway! With its demise in 1989, the Embarcadero has comeback to life. Also, the Presidio and Fort Mason have become part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

An interesting place to visit is Fort Point. The Golden Gate Bridge made special provision to avoid its demolition. It was a "Third System" coastal fortification similar to Forts Sumter and Pulaski -- minus the remodeling by artillery.

Do play with Yelp. I like to find one out in the neighborhoods outside of the tourist area. San Francisco is actually quite compact -- and the Muni is quite usable.

Many thanks for that !

It's my least favourite area of the city - a messy tourist trap. There are so many nice areas to visit that it's kind of sad that so many tourists end up here. Of course, that means less crowds for us residents in the nice places

The difference is amazing from 20 years ago. Removing that freeway was the best thing that ever happened to the waterfront.

And walk up onto the top level. The wind's also pretty strong and the view north of the underneath of the GG bridge is cool.