What sights in San Francisco on a short trip?

I have visited the California metropolis of San Francisco several times, but the city is still worth a visit. Before my departure, I had something to think about due to the strong air pollution caused by the forest fires in the immediate vicinity (November 2018). You can find out whether my worries were justified and which sights in San Francisco I saw on the short trip in the following travel report.

Together with Robert von robisintheair.com I travelled to San Francisco with SAS Scandinavian Airlines in November 2018. You can find the trip report in SAS Economy Class here for further reading.

What to see in San Francisco - Day 1

Our first day in San Francisco began with a look out the window of the 14th floor of the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. We were shocked to realise that Coit Tower was not visible in the immediate vicinity. However, this was not due to the air pollution from the forest fires, but simply because of the fog drifting into the city from the Pacific. Nevertheless, we left the hotel after a great breakfast for an all-day sightseeing trip.

We walked along Grant Avenue, through the outskirts of Chinatown, until we came to Columbus Avenue. We followed this, past the National Shrine of St Francis of Assisi, until we reached the waterfront or Bay Street.

The first place we visited in San Francisco was the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. I remembered that there used to always be something to try when you entered the shop. This has apparently been abolished. A real shame! Slowly the clouds moved away and so we decided to take a little break in the blue sky and sunshine.

After our break, we walked further west and entered Fort Mason. This former US Army barracks is located in the Marina District along San Francisco Bay. For more than 100 years, Fort Mason was a military post, initially for coastal defence and later as a military port. During the Second World War, most of the military cargo for the war in the Pacific was transshipped from here. In the upper part, known as Upper Fort Mason, we took some pictures of the large villas. We then searched for a geocache in a neighbouring allotment before heading back to the bay. However, our hopes of seeing one of San Francisco's most important sights, the Golden Gate Bridge, from there were dashed by the incoming clouds.

We walked along the promenade and watched the yachts and ships of various sizes. For professional reasons, I was fascinated by the historic trams squeaking along the extended tracks through Jefferson Street. We drifted along the colourful shops selling souvenirs and tourist paraphernalia through Fischermans Wharf to Pier 39.

We paid little attention to the restaurants, including Bubba Gump, which is famous from the film "Forest Gump", and the souvenir shops. Our first destination was the end of the pier, from where we had a marvellous view of the destroyed Alcatraz prison complex. We then paid a compulsory visit to the famous sea lion colony.

As sightseeing also makes you hungry in San Francisco, we walked back from Pier 39 to Fischermans Wharf. There is a branch of the In-N-Out Burger restaurant chain there. It is one of my personal top 5 fast food restaurants in the USA. Because I was so hungry, I ordered a double-double burger with fries.

At the end of the day, we went to the Municipal Pier. This pier was built in 1929 to provide a tranquil environment for San Francisco residents to swim in the Aquatic Cove. Today, the pier is an endangered landmark in need of major repair. Although it was elaborately constructed, decades of resilience to winter storms and wave action have significantly weakened this 1400-foot (0.43 km) pier. Nevertheless, it is still worth a walk for the great views of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge.

What to see in San Francisco - Day 2

For our second day in San Francisco, a Monday, we had reserved a hire car. We decided to hire a silver Audi A4 from the car hire company Silvercar because of the favourable overall package. I have already explained what exactly Silvercar is in a Report from Chicago summarised.

We left San Francisco heading south and our first destination was the new Apple Campus. Unfortunately, we were only able to visit the visitor centre, including the Apple Store. The actual newly built complex, which resembles a landed UFO, can only be entered by employees or invited guests. But we still had a view of the unique architecture of the "mothership" from the roof terrace of the visitor centre.

Our tour of Silicon Valley took us on to neighbouring Mountain View. This is the centre of the search engine giant Google. We were a little disappointed by the poor condition of the site, especially the sculptures of the individual Android versions. The visitor centre and the company store were not really convincing either.

After a quick stop at a Tesla dealership and lunch at Carls Jr, we headed to the San Francisco Premium Outlets. We picked out a few shops and bought one or two items of clothing at a considerable discount.

As it was already late afternoon and we wanted to use the remaining daylight for planespotting, we drove straight to San Francisco Airport. From Bay Park, we had a good view of part of the apron and the two parallel runways.

As it slowly got dark, we packed up our camera equipment and drove to a nearby shopping mall. There, we ate a juicy burger at Five Guys, another one of our favorite restaurants. Afterward, we wanted to take some night photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. So we drove to Fort Point, below the famous bridge, before we had to return the rental car near Union Square.

The very next day we had to leave San Francisco and flew home with SAS. Nevertheless, we saw many sights in San Francisco during those two days. No matter how long or how often, San Francisco is always worth a trip for me!

Which travel guide would you recommend for a city trip to San Francisco?

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