6 Days In San Francisco: Here’s What We Did

At the end of February/beginning of March, we visited San Francisco for six days. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect given the bad rap San Francisco gets from some people and news outlets, but I really enjoyed our time there.

I think that was helped by the weather. San Francisco’s weather can be unpredictable and is often foggy as Shae found out last year. We got lucky during our visit though as it was sunny with blue skies nearly every day; one morning it was foggy, but we were both working anyway and so it didn’t matter.

Although it would’ve been cheaper to stay out by the airport, we booked a stay downtown so that we’d be within walking distance of a lot of things we wanted to see rather than having to drive in and out each day or having to use public transport. That was the right decision as it meant we had more motivation to get out and explore and had more time to do that.

Here’s a roundup of our 6 days in San Francisco with where we stayed, what we did and where we ate and drank.

Where We Stayed

Shae and I stayed all six nights at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins. It’s a purportedly luxurious property, but it didn’t feel particularly luxurious to me. The stay was fine, but it was expensive for what it was and so I’d likely choose somewhere different to stay on a return visit to San Francisco. Here’s a full review of our stay.

What We Did

We had a lot of fun exploring the city – here’s what we saw.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz was once a military fortification, then a military prison and then it had its most famous incarnation as a federal penitentiary. It’s now run by the National Park Service and is a fascinating place where you can learn much more about its history.

It’s definitely worth a visit on a trip to San Francisco, so read more about our experience here.

Golden Gate Bridge

When Shae visited San Francisco with her friend last year, they got unlucky because it was so foggy that they couldn’t really see the Golden Gate Bridge. We were much more fortunate during our visit as we had beautiful weather.

One day during our stay we drove around to see the bridge from all kinds of vantage points, so check out our recommendations for 5 great places to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Riding A Cable Car

In 1947, the San Francisco city council announced that they’d be removing the city’s cable cars and would replace them with buses. Many residents were outraged about that and coalesced behind an effort by Frieda Klussman to keep cable cars running in the city.

That effort wasn’t entirely successful, but several cable car lines remained and so thankfully there are still cable cars in the city that you can ride today. Not only is it a great way to get up San Francisco’s steep hills, it’s a huge amount of fun too because you can ride the cable car while standing on the side of it. Here’s a post with a few videos sharing more about the experience.

Cable Car Museum

A block or two down from our hotel was the Cable Car Museum. This is a free museum that’s worth visiting because it has a lot of interesting information about the history of San Francisco’s cable cars. You also get to see the inner workings of the cables that pull the city’s cable cars. Check out Shae’s post for more about the museum.

Drove Down Lombard St

Lombard St is an unusual road because one block of it has eight hairpin turns as you drive downhill. When standing at the top of the hill, it’s hard to get a full view of the road:

Here’s what it looks like from above on Google Maps:

And here’s what it looks like when we’re driving down it 🙂

Fisherman’s Wharf

We spent an afternoon wandering around Fisherman’s Wharf which includes Pier 39 that features all kinds of restaurants, stores and other attractions.

Tony Bennett Statue

I’m not a huge Tony Bennett fan, but if you are then you’ll want to check out the Tony Bennett statue outside the Fairmont in Nob Hill. The Fairmont was right opposite our hotel and is where he first sang I Left My Heart In San Francisco.

Where We Ate & Drank

Seeing as we didn’t bring our portable kitchen into our hotel in San Francisco, we ate out quite a lot we there.

Boudin

Hands down, our best meal was from Boudin. Shae ordered their clam chowder bread bowl which was very good, but wasn’t the best thing there.

I’d ordered their French Dip Deluxe that comes with roast beef, provolone, caramelized onions and horseradish mayo on a toasted sourdough bun and served with au jus. I’m not a fan of cheese and so I ordered it without provolone and the sandwich was simply delicious – one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. The roast beef, horseradish mayo and au jus were all fantastic, but the toasted sourdough bread is what made it – Boudin’s sourdough bread is incredible.

Shae had a couple of bites and loved it too, so we ended up both ordering the sandwich from Boudin on Uber Eats on our final night after working that day and it was just as good a second time. I’d happily return to San Francisco just to eat this sandwich again.

Chowders

We were pretty hungry after visiting Alcatraz as we hadn’t had lunch that day, so we stopped at Chowders on Pier 39 for dinner. Shae ordered their shrimp sandwich which was OK, but wasn’t quite what she was expecting. I got their fish and chips which was good – I prefer breaded fish to battered, so I liked that they served it that way.

Ghirardelli

We couldn’t go all the way to San Francisco and not visit Ghirardelli! Truffles was excited about it too despite the fact that chocolate is dangerous for dogs.

Shae got a chocolate ice cream cone which she loved and I ordered a caramel hot chocolate which might have been the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.

Little Sichuan

After another of our work days, we ordered dinner from Little Sichuan. I got their special chow mein which was very good, while Shae got their General Tso’s chicken which she greatly enjoyed.

Temescal Brewing

One of Shae’s friends from school and his girlfriend live in Oakland, so we met up with them for a drink at Temescal Brewing in Oakland. I started with their Aw Shucks, a chocolate stout brewed with oysters. I was a little disappointed by it; it wasn’t due to the oysters, it just wasn’t that good of a stout. I followed it up with their Temescal Hazy IPA; that was better which I was surprised about as I normally prefer darker beers.

Diggy Dog’s

Temescal Brewing had a food truck on site that evening called Diggy Dog’s and so Shae and I both ordered hot dogs from there. They were tasty hot dogs, but at $9 for my 2am Dog (topped with peppers, onion and bacon), it was very pricey for what it was. Shae’s standard hot dog was $7 which was also overpriced. With tax and tip, the two hot dogs came to almost $25!

Top Of The Mark

The InterContinental Mark Hopkins where we stayed has a cocktail bar on their top floor, so we went up there on our final night for a drink as the sun set over the city.