One of the best ways to explore a city is by walking its neighborhoods. You get to discover so many things, see places that can't be found in famous travel guides, and have the opportunity to see how locals live.
Here at RTE, we love to experience a city by walking around, eating out, and enjoying drinks at local bars. We prefer to bump into things instead of having a planned route. We might end up at a touristy spot, but it's not always our aim to walk and see a tourist highlight after another. We try to avoid crowds.
So, if this sounds like you, follow along as I share with you how we discovered San Francisco on foot. You might get some inspiration for when you plan your own route.
β
I have broken this activity down into two routes.
Route # 1
In this route you will:
- Discover Cow Hollow and Union St.
- Visit Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39
- Enjoy a cocktail at The Buena Vista
The map above is just an example of how you can walk. Feel free to freestyle and discover beyond that π.
β
Discover Cow Hollow and Union St.
We started our journey from Hostel International San Francisco. We were going to spend a night there, so we decided to explore our surroundings. We checked-in at around 4pm.
As we were quite hungry at this point, we made our way to Union St., which is located in the Cow Hollow section of town. This street is filled with different restaurants, boutique shops, trendy coffee shops, and juice shops.
We found Roam Artisan Burgers and had a delicious meal there.
Since this was the first day where we would not be active hiking or driving the next day, we decided to relax and try to find cool bars to enjoy the city as locals would do.
We found a bar called Solstice. We headed to their upper section and sat at their bar. There was a game of baseball being shown on TV. You can't get more American than this π. We ordered a few local beers and some extremely delicious sliders.
At the bar, we met an older man. He started to tell us about his experience of living in San Francisco his whole life and how he was scared and excited about moving to Las Vegas soon. We had a fascinating conversation, and a few hours later, we left the bar with some cool memories.
Visit Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39
We slowly started walking towards Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf at around 7:00 pm. We stopped and took some pictures of the hilly streets and just enjoyed the walk.
To our disappointment, by the time we arrived at Pier 39, almost everything was closed, and there were hardly any people there. A few restaurants were busy, but other than that, it was quiet. We were there on a Wednesday at roughly 9 pm.
We made our way to find the famous sea lions. As it turns out, at the end of Pier 39, a few sea lions like to hang out. As you are approaching the famous spot, you can start to hear the sea lions making some loud noises. We stayed for a few minutes, watching them play around with each other.
Since it was dark, we were unable to take any nice pictures or videos. I found one online to show you the number of sea lions chillin' at Pier 39.
We found one shop at Pier 39 that was still open, and we got two new hoodies. They have become our favorite hoodies ever since.
After Pier 39, we were still in the mood for one last drink. So we Googled what could be around and discovered The Buena Vista.
Enjoy a cocktail at The Buena Vista
As it turns out, The Buena Vista is an iconic place. It was founded in 1916, and it has a saloon feeling to it. It serves its famous Irish Coffee alongside other old school cocktails.
After drinking the iconic Irish Coffee, which unfortunately we did not take a picture of, we ordered a second round. Yvonne enjoyed a New Orleans Fizz, and I took a Moscow Mule (my old-time favorite).
That marks the end of Route #1 in the city of San Francisco.
Route # 2
Route #2 has some more walkin'. Here is what you'll do:
- Take the cable car up to Lombard Street
- Explore Fillmore District - the home of The Painted Ladies
- Bar hop in Lower Haight, Duboce Triangle, The Castro, and Mission District
The map above is just an example of how you can walk. Feel free to freestyle and discover beyond that π.
Take the cable car up to Lombard Street
The cable car system in San Francisco is the last manually operated one. The first line started to operate in 1873. Out of the 23 original lines, only three are still running.
Yeah, yeah we know. This is quite a tourist attraction, but c'mon, it's the last manual cable car in the world! Plus, we enjoyed the ride very much, and it saved us from walking up some really hilly streets to check out Lombard Street.
We start this route at the first stop of the famous San Francisco cable car route: Hyde Street & Beach Street.
We paid US$8 each for a ticket and waited roughly 30 minutes to be able to get in one. The cable car took us up the very hilly streets of San Francisco towards Lombard Street.
We got off on the fourth stop:Β Hyde St. & Lombard St. Lombard Street is famous for a steep, one-block section with eight hairpin turns. Cars go down this street very slowly, and it's quite cool to see these winding roads being in the middle of a city.
Explore Fillmore District - the home of The Painted Ladies
The next stop is The Painted Ladies, 7 houses famous for their Victorian and Edwardian architecture. You can walk and discover shops and streets along the way. Japan Town is en route, so you can also stroll through this neighborhood.
Once you reach The Painted Ladies, you can admire the architecture and take some beautiful pictures with cherry blossom trees (if they are blooming).
The cool thing about these houses is that they are in front of a really big park. As you take some nice pictures of these houses, you can later take a stroll through the park and see how locals enjoy it. We saw multiple couples and families having a picnic.
We decided to restaurant and bar hop around the different districts nearby. We discovered Lower Haight, Duboce Triangle, The Castro, and Mission District. We finished our tour at around 11 pm.
Our highlights were :
- Drinking a craft beer at Black Sands Brewery while watching life pass by in this city. We sat by a window and observed as business people drove around after a hard day's work. We also saw tons of cyclists fighting the San Francisco hills. Since we love bikes ourselves, we always commented on the different models and setups we observed. It was a very entertaining beer.
- The Detour, was my personal favorite spot. Its a brewcade, as they call it, which allows you to drink and play arcade games. We played a game at each of the super cool retro pinball machines they had. Although I'm the geek, Yvonne is the one who got hooked! It was hard to unglue her from the machines, evidence is below π.
That ends our second route. We hope we have inspired you to go and explore San Francisco's neighborhoods and create your own adventures.
Do you also enjoy exploring cities by walking, eating, and drinking? If so, let us know in the comments below if this guide has helped you out in planning your next city trip.β
