Here is my 4-day itinerary for exploring San Francisco and Yosemite! Similar to our trip to Andalucía Spain, I last minute planned a trip to San Francisco (SF) upon finding out my husband was able to go to a conference there. While 4 days was kind of tight to include it, Yosemite National Park had been on my bucket list for forever and I knew I had to go. (Yes, reader, it was worth it!) You could honestly dedicate 4 days to San Francisco alone and not be bored. But, I wanted to showcase our itinerary: I thought we packed a lot in, but were not exhausted by it all.
Since my husband's conference was at the Muscone Center in SF, we were based in the Union Square neighborhood which I thought was very convenient and nice. We were at the Hotel G, which was nothing to write home about and I would probably consider other options; it felt pretty shabby. I met my husband in San Francisco, taking a flight after work from the East Coast and arriving around 9:30pm PST; a Lyft from the airport to my hotel on a Tuesday night cost me $54.
Our trip was in early May and we had great weather the entire time, usually mid-70s and sunny. The crowds were not bad at all, and we never had to make any dinner reservations. While my husband was at his conference, I was all over the city by myself and never felt unsafe. There were definitely areas I saw from Ubers/Lyfts that I was glad I did not walk through, like the Tenderloin district, but all the neighborhoods I was in felt fine. Also the people in San Francisco were so friendly! I had previously been to San Francisco very briefly a few years ago, so we skipped Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square this time around.
Day 1 - San Francisco
After flying in the previous night, I was getting used to the new time zone and took the morning pretty leisurely. After grabbing some coffee, I walked about a mile through the vibrant Chinatown neighborhood to check out City Lights Booksellers and Publishers. I love stopping by a bookstore in each city I visit, and this one was fantastic! Such a large and well-curated collection. My husband had some time to grab lunch around Muscone, so we met up at Buena Vida Cantina--he had the burrito and I had some tacos and it was all delicious.
After lunch, I was conveniently right near the Powell Street transportation hub so I hopped on the BART to the Mission district, getting off at 16th Street. The BART was super nice! I was able to purchase a transportation card and load it up at the station. Exiting the station at 16th Street made me feel a little anxious as there were a lot of groups of young people hanging around and men trying to talk to me, but I never really felt unsafe. I got off at this stop because it was a block away from the Everlane store and since I have always shopped online at Everlane, I wanted to visit in person. The store was large and well stocked and I had a great time trying things on and buying a few items. From Everlane, I walked down Valencia Street towards 18th--there were a lot of cute shops here and a ton of great Mexican restaurants (this is where the Mission-style Burrito originated after all) and beautiful murals. I had my Kindle with me and wanted to lounge in the sunshine at Dolores Park, so I stopped at Bi-Rite Creamy for some ice cream. It was delicious! The park had gorgeous views and is an off-leash dog area; I was able to make a lot of fluffy new friends.
I returned to Powell Street station by taking the light rail stop at Dolores Park and met up with my husband. We had purchased tickets for the 7:05 Alcatraz tour, so we opted to take the cable car from Powell Street down to Fisherman's Wharf. We easily purchased tickets for this via the Muni app. This is such a fun and unique way to get around the city! At the end of the line, you are a block from Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf; we walked about 15 minutes the opposite way of both of these towards Pier 33 for our Alcatraz ferry tour.
There is only one way to visit Alcatraz: through the official provider Alcatraz City Tours. The tickets say get there 30 minutes early, but we walked up 5 minutes prior to boarding and were fine. The ferry is quite large and sells refreshments, but the trip is short--maybe 15 minutes. On the way there, they have a guide on a sound system giving instructions, which we found hard to hear from our place on the upper deck. The views were great, though! Because we took the last tour of the day, our ferry was arriving close to sunset which made for beautiful light. Once off the boat, you have to make your way to the cell house, which is about a ten minute walk uphill; they do have a golf cart tram if needed. At the cell house, you are given an audio guide that takes you through in 20 minutes; though I am largely not the biggest fan of audio guides, this one was very well done. The prison closed in the 60s, so the audio is presented by former inmates and prison guards and was very informative. There are National Park employees posted throughout to help with any questions. After the cell house, you are free to explore the island. There are several optional in-person informative presentations that you can choose to attend. Taking the 7:05 tour, we had two ferry options to return on: one around 8:45 and the other closer to 9:30. We enjoyed roaming the island and reading the signs while watching the sun go down. To catch the 8:45 ferry, we ran down the hill from the cell block in the dark, which made us feel like escapees (lol).
My husband had never had In-n-Out, so after we got back we walked to Fisherman's Wharf to the only In-n-Out in the city. Fisherman's Wharf was quite dead at this time of night on a weekday in early May, but In-n-Out was still poppin'. The burger was good, but our Midwestern hearts are still partial to Culver's. We caught a Lyft back to our hotel afterwards.
Day 2 - San Francisco
For my second day in San Francisco while my husband was at his conference, I took an Uber to Alamo Square, most recognized for its view of the Painted Ladies featured in the TV show Full House. Alamo Square was a stunning park with amazing views, and I enjoyed lounging and reading on my Kindle a bit before setting off on a walk.
I walked to Haight Street and took that to Golden Gate Park, which was about 1.5 miles and had some hills at the front end. I was a bit tired this day and not equipped with the best walking shoes (a big mistake!), so I opted not to stop by the Four Seasons Houses (prettier than the Painted Ladies) or the Grateful Dead House, but both are about a block detour off of Haight. Walking along Haigh Street, you will reach the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. This neighborhood was the birthplace of the counterculture movement and has very cool retro, hippie vibes. Lots of fun stores and cafes to pop into!
Golden Gate Park is beautiful and huge. It's over 1,000 acres--which is around 200 acres larger than Central Park in NYC. From my starting point to the park at the end of Haight, there was a Whole Foods and I picked up some snacks for a little picnic. I walked another mile or so through the park, ending up at the Hamon Observation Tower. The tower is connected to the De Young Fine Arts Museum but is free and has nice views. The park overall has tons of museums, play areas, disc golfing, gardens, a bison paddock (?!?!), sport fields, and eventually ends at the beach. I barely saw a sliver of it and wish I had a bike to explore more, but after the tower I was tired, my feet hurt, and I was honestly a bit sun poisoned. I walked around the Richmond District a bit before calling an Uber back to my hotel.
After recuperating a little, my husband was out of his conference and we took a Lyft down to the Palace of Fine Arts. We got there after 5pm when it technically closed, but we just wanted to explore the grounds which were open. It was so beautiful! Originally built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (a world's fair), it was set up to be temporary but later reconstructed to be permanent. It really makes you feel small! From there, we enjoyed walking along Crissy Field Beach for a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and caught the sunset. By now we were hungry and walked to the Marina District--specifically Chestnut Street--which was so cute and vibrant. We eventually settled on L'Mida for dinner for delicious Middle Eastern cuisine in a lovely setting. It was honestly some of the best I have had!
San Francisco options I will do next visit:
Lands End hike: 3.4 miles, moderate, some stairs (500ft elevation gain)
Batteries to Bluff hike: 2.3 miles, easy
Battery Godfrey for view of Golden Gate Bridge
Bakers Beach for view of Golden Gate Bridge
Fisherman's Wharf for sea lions and Musee Mécanique--an old-school, vintage arcade
Sam’s Pizza & Burgers--serves what was one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite burgers, which he said was one of his “top three in the world”
If rainy, the SF MOMA museum
Day 3 - Yosemite
We were lucky that a Hertz rental car location was less than a block away from our hotel in Union Square, so we picked up our car around 9am and headed right out of the city. There are two main routes to Yosemite--both take 580 out of the city, then you can either take 120 through Groveland (usually faster) or 140 through Mariposa. We ended up taking both, but on the way there we went through Mariposa based on how our electric vehicle routed us for charging. The ride overall is 3.5-4 hours either direction into the mountain valley. The first half or so of the drive isn't very pretty and has a lot of flat, arid land. On our route there, after passing Mariposa, it became very pretty with lots of olive farms, hills, and mountains in the distance.
When visiting Yosemite in early May, reservations were required for Saturdays and Sundays only. In high season, every day requires a reservation--make sure to plan accordingly! The main part of the park--where all the visitor centers, restaurants, and lodging are--is in Yosemite Valley. The park extends up into the mountains on either side of this valley and these mountains have gorgeous roads (Glacier Point Road, Tioga Road) and hiking, but unfortunately we missed the official opening of them by a week! (but gives us a great excuse to come back) They are closed in winter and most of spring while they work to clear the snow. Because of this, and it being generally early in the season, we did not find the crowds to be overwhelming--we found parking at every destination, hikes were not crowded, etc. We were there on a Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11.
Upon driving in, we went right to Bridal Veil Falls, which was a very easy 0.8 mile paved walk to get close to the waterfall itself. A perk to being there early in the season was that the waterfalls were very full from melting snow, making them extra pretty! Getting close to these roaring falls, you will get wet. We did not bring the recommended rain jacket and were fine since the weather was warm and our clothes were not soaked by any means. Afterwards, we drove up to Artist Point overlook and did the 2.0 mile hike. When I had read about this hike, I heard it had a bit of elevation gain and was moderate. But for us, it was maybe more moderately challenging and that "bit" of elevation gain was over 700ft. You basically walk up hill the entire time to the view. We did enjoy it though, and maybe our bodies were adjusting to being higher than normal (the trail starts around 4,400ft above sea level). Our only complaint was that the view at the top was not very good and blocked mostly by trees--the views along the trail were far better!
After the hike, we grabbed some snacks from the Village Store, charged our car a bit, and then drove to our accommodations at sunset which was such a stunning time to see the park. Unfortunately, when I had started booking just a few weeks before the trip, all the park accommodations were full and everything nearby (like El Portal) was also booked or crazy expensive for what you got. That left us with either Groveland or Mariposa as options, and we chose the former. This meant we had at least a 40 minute drive from the valley (but still through the park, so it's gorgeous!) to Groveland. We stayed in one of the best Airbnb's we have ever had--it was extremely well-appointed and very comfortable.
Day 4 - Yosemite
Groveland is a cute historic Gold Rush town. We grabbed breakfast at the saloon while our car charged up and set out for the drive back into the valley. We had ambitious plans to do a longer/harder hike today that was accessible from the valley (Vernal & Nevada Falls/Mist Trail or Yosemite Upper Falls), but our plans changed. Driving back into the park from Groveland, you pass through the Tuolumne Sequoia Grove and we decided to stop. Some older hikers just finishing their walk told us the hike to the Dead Giant Tunnel Tree was easy (despite the signs warning it is all downhill and you have to come back up), so we decided to do it. The path is paved a significant portion of the way and is gorgeous, about 1.0 miles down then 1.0 right back up. The path is not steep, but more of a steady decline; the last quarter mile or so was steeper. We saw absolutely massive sequoias and the tunnel tree itself was cool, though sad that it was dead and originally made just to attract tourists out west back in the late 1800s. After the 400 elevation gain hike back, my husband and I were pretty tired and decided to nix a big hike.
Instead, we drove to the Mountain Room restaurant and enjoyed an honestly delicious lunch before renting some bikes for 2-3 hours. You are allowed on most paved trails or the road, so we had a great time riding around and even doing the 5 mile road around the valley, occasionally stopping for views and rest. Bringing a picnic blanket, some snacks, and a book would have been a good idea as well! Each bike was $30 for a half day rental. Once returned, it was approaching 4pm and we had to start our 4 hour drive back to San Francisco, but we grabbed some ice cream and decided to do the quick paved path to Yosemite Falls viewpoint (accessible from the same parking area.) It is one of the tallest waterfalls in North America and was one of our favorite spots (better than Bridal Veil in our opinion). You also get a lot more water spray here, but again we survived without rain gear just fine. We were surprised to see a bobcat and a bear on this hike, especially considering it was the most crowded one we did.
We then drove back to the San Francisco airport area, this time via the route through Groveland. This was a gorgeous drive and the one I would take into the park next time. We stayed at the DoubleTree San Francisco Airport in Burlingame (there are two DoubleTree San Francisco Airport hotels, both off of Airport Blvd... so make sure you go to the right one). It was very nice and even had a mini gym in the room, which was a first for me.
Day 5 - Fly home
We had an early flight, around 8:45am, and the hotel was very convenient for dropping off the car and getting to the airport in time. Looking forward to our next visit!
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