THREE DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO

If you have three days in San Francisco, you’ll be able to grab a real sense about what this city is all about.

If you are spending a few days there, it will be easier if you concentrate on a different area each day.  This way, you won’t wear yourself out too much.  That being said, we still ended up walking 20km on average per day. Call us crazy!

San Francisco Tip: If you plan to travel to San Francisco during the Summer and want to visit Alcatraz, you’ll need to book your tickets at least 2 months in advance.  I had looked at the tickets and decided to purchase them 1 month prior to our trip. Unfortunately, everything was booked for the whole 5 days we were there.  You can learn more about where to purchase tickets HERE. Blondie Bear was so disappointed that we couldn’t go to visit it.  However, you can somewhat make up for it.  Find out how in our article Day trip from San Francisco.

Below is what we did in one day on foot in San Francisco. However, when you have three days in San Francisco you can either add our Day 1 and our Day 2 itinerary to your three days in San Francisco itinerary. Use the Bart from where you are staying to get to your first stop and then only use it to get back to where you came from at the end of the day. This is a good way to save some money.

Area Covered: Golden Gate Bridge – Golden Gate Park (22km)

Our third and last day of family travel in San Francisco was spent walking around, what else.  We went to the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park.  We took Uber to get to the bridge as there are no Bart stations nearby that are walking distance. No, we didn’t want to take the Muni.

This was by far the coldest and windiest day of our trip, but we had dressed accordingly, well sort of. I wore my 20-year-old sundress and I think I might have flashed one or two by-standers due to strong winds…Oopsy Daisy.

The Golden Gate Bridge is fiery orange impressive and imposing but of course when we saw it up close it was in the clouds.

Fort Point

We walked down to Crissy Fields and then to Fort Point.  From Crissy Fields, you get a very clear view of the bridge and are by the water.  From Fort Point, you get up close and personal with the bridge as it is right above the Fort.  The access to the fort is free and worth the walk.  

While we were there, the area was very animated as a walk against breast cancer was taking place.  It was fun encouraging the walkers and watching them with their crazy attires.  We had an improvised brunch at Crissy Fields with our Whole Foods leftovers since we had to empty out our fridge as we were leaving early the next morning.  Nonetheless, it was fun and good.

After the Fort, we walked on the Golden Gate Bridge a little.  The entire bridge is walkable on the eastern side and runs for about 1.7 miles one way.  We didn’t do it as we had a lot of walking to do as is. It would have taken us way too long to do the roundtrip and we were fed up with the wind.

Coastal Trail

We headed towards The Golden Gate Park by taking the Coastal Trail.  I’m glad that we took it from the bridge and not the other way around as it would have been quite a hike. During our walk, we saw a vulture, pelicans, and an old WWII bunker.  Had it been a clear day, we would have had a great view of the bridge.  We passed by Baker Beach and finally made it back into the city.  We walked through Central Richmond an odd hood I found it to be.  There are nice houses, the streets are large but it was oddly quiet with not much going on.  It was a tad bit depressing actually.

Golden Gate Park

Arriving at last at the Golden Gate Park we were all sort of confused.  Where are the park limits?  I was very disappointed by The Park as it is hard to feel in nature when you are breathing in fumes from all the surrounding roads going through the park.  The park in itself can be beautiful at times with beautiful trees.  However, what is the point of renting a paddle boat and having cars circle around you?  

Be warned that The Park has excessive amounts of Pokemon Go markers.  Therefore, you’ll see loads of people in the park staring stupidly into their phones while walking, barely looking up at their surroundings.  What a shame!  

We stepped out of The Park to grab a bite to eat as we were once again starving and cold (9th avenue and Irving St.).  With our bellies now full, we stepped back into The Park heading North to a Whole Foods in Haight to order a Uber to take us to a Bart station.

However, we stumbled upon a drum circle and checked it out. In doing so, we got ourselves off track and lost because of all those damn roads sweeping through.  We passed by Japanese Garden that seemed nice, but you have to pay to visit it. Apparently, from I later on read, it is not worth visiting.  Although the trees are nicer, personally I prefer Central Park in New York City in terms of a big city park.

So that was how we spent three days in San Francisco if you also read our Day 1 and Day 2. Hopefully, this overview will have helped you figure out what you can see in San Francisco in one day or two and make you want to hang out a little longer there. If you need travel tips for San Francisco, we got that covered in Once Upon a Time Travel to San Francisco.