San Francisco Vacations

San Francisco is a ideal vacation location with activities and interests to keep any vacationer entertained, relaxed, and happy. San Francisco is located on the west coast of America. San Francisco is a historic city with much to do in and of itself. A vacationer could spent a week in San Francisco and have plenty to keep them entertained day and night. However, the beauty of San Francisco is that within just over an hour drive outside of the city in almost every direction there is more to offer and more to see.



We will start with just downtown San Francisco. When vacationing, visitors can enjoy top-notch restaurants of all types, authentic food in Chinatown, Ghirardelli Chocolate in Ghirardelli Square, all-day shopping in the shopping district, visit the Golden Gate bridge by driving over the bridge or be more active and job over the bridge via the walkway, and visit one of many other famous sites in the city. If top-notice dining, shopping, and exercising is not your nitch, then you can venture over to Pier 39 where you can again eat, drink, and shop; but also enjoy the atmosphere of the pier, watch the sea lions rest, take a tour of Alcatraz (highly recomended), you can usually listen to live music on the pier, and simply site back and watch boats come and go while sitting on the dock of the bay.

Now, once you are tired of the city, venture out of San Francisco a bit and you can quickly get to: the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world at Muir Woods - a 30 minute drive from downtown San Francisco, the amazing boardwalk and sites of Santa Cruz - a 75 minute drive down beautiful Pacific Coast Highway 1 from San Francisco, the wine country of Napa Valley - a 75 minute drive up the beautiful countryside and through vineyards from San Francisco, and Silicon Valley is only about 60 minutes outside of San Francisco.

So no matter what your interest, San Francisco and the surrounding area has much to offer you as a vacation. A recommended schedule would be to plan to spend a couple nights in the city, visiting Pier 39, Alcatraz, dining at delicious restaurants, and shopping during the day. Continue your stay in the city, but spend a day driving south and visit Muir Woods. Continue your travels south down PCH-1 seeing the sites and beautiful ocean views and stopping in Santa Cruz for a visit at the boardwalk, grab a bit to eat, see the sites, and head back view San Jose. After this, you can pack up your things, check out and head to Napa where you can spend a couple nights in a Bed & Breakfast Spa and spend your days visiting wineries and eating an one of the many cafes and bistros. This will make for a memory-filled vacation with many picture taking opportunities. But don't take our word for it. Visit San Francisco yourself and experience the many spleandors of this northern california city by the bay.

Comments from Roger in Arkansas
     Posted on: 09-07-2006
     Rating: Neutral

I recently travelled to San Fransisco and I was disappointed to find out that I could not get tickets to Alcatraz Island. It is a good idea to buy tickets for Alkatraz Island ahead of time. You can buy them online.

---

Comments from Marc in St. Louis
     Posted on: 09-07-2006
     Rating: Positive

Yes, we ventured down to Pier 39 in the mid-afternoon and were lucky to get tickets to Alcatraz, the staff said it is usually a good idea to buy them ahead of time.

Alcatraz is definitely a great attractive to check out while in San Francisco. If I ever get a chance to go back I will be sure to visit Alcatraz again. I hear the night tour is the best one to see. You are actually on "The Rock" after dark - you can look back at the city and see the lights.

---

Comments from Chris in Midwest
     Posted on: 09-07-2006
     Rating: Neutral

To the comment above, has anyone ever attended the After Dark Alcatraz tour? If you visit the Blue & Gold Fleet website (which is the company who handles the rides to Alcatraz); their website claims:

"The Alcatraz Evening Tour has been selected as "Best Tour of the Bay Area" by San Francisco Magazine and has also been highlighted by the Los Angeles Times, CSAA's Via magazine, Family Fun Magazine, and the television show "Bay Area Backroads.""

Sounds very interesting and fun - does anyone have any feedback or experience from the Alcatraz Evening Tour?

---

Name: You Live In: Comment Rating: Positive Negative Neutral Your Comments: (Max 1000 Chars) Verification Code: Enter the Code:   I have read and agree to the Terms of Posting