San Francisco is a beautiful, world class city. There are numerous museums, places of nature beautiful, great food, and well known tourist spots. You could easily spend several weeks exploring San Francisco and only scratch the surface. The SF City Pass can be a good deal.  The greater SF bay area has more Michelin stars than NYC… for a list of them check out sf-eaters site. If I was going to try to stuff highlights of San Francisco into a few days I would recommend the following:

South of Market (SOMA) – Mostly

Take CalTrain to the city. Check out SF Modern Art. Thee are plenty of lunch options around the museum.  My favorite places are the Samovar Tea House and InSitu (closed) which is inside SF-Moma. If folks are worn out, head home, otherwise consider explore Chinatown and take a cable car ride. 

Golden Gate Park

Start by exploring the Golden Gate Req Area, Muir Woods (great redwoods), Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park.  In the park there are a number of museums such a California Academy of Sciences (wonderful for younger kids).

Unique Neighborhoods / Places to Walk

Each neighborhood is unique.

• Haight-Ashbury: for a flashback to the summer of love
• the Castro: for lively SF counter culture
• Russian Hill, Bernal Heights, Twin Peaks: for the views and the hidden stairways
• Glen Canyon Park

Pier 39 & Waterfront

The Pier itself is a tourist track and isn’t worth a lot of time, but it does provide access to the ferries which can take you to Alcatraz, Angel Island, etc.

Other Sites

Cable Car, Fine Arts Museums of SF, San Francisco Zoo, Exploratorium,  

Other Information

• Info about mid-peninsula (Mountain View centric)
• Recommended eats in San Francisco
• Other posts about the sfbay area