3 Days in San Francisco

Last Updated on August 1, 2024

There’s a lot you can do in 3 days in San Francisco, one of the most beautiful cities in the world…

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

By Jim Ferri

Whether you’re visiting for three days or a month, you’ll find few other places that can match the experiences you’ll find in San Francisco.

Built on 43 hills on the tip of a peninsula and surrounded on three sides by San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, it’s a city overflowing with postcard views, all compacted into only 49 square miles.

What sets San Francisco apart is not its spectacular geography but its spectacular neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is a unique and colorful little pocket of local culture, from the Presidio to the Embarcadero, the Mission District to Haight-Ashbury, and North Beach to Chinatown. Together, they infuse the city with style and ambiance found nowhere else.

Add some of the best restaurants in America, and it’s little wonder why people worldwide leave their hearts there. And during a long weekend in San Francisco, you can see a lot of the city.

Tour Alcatraz During Your 3 Days in San Francisco

While it can take weeks to see much of what the city has to offer, plan to spend at least 3 days in San Francisco to get a good taste of the city. One place you don’t want to miss is “The Rock”; leave yourself a half-day for the trip.

Ever since it opened to the public in 1973, millions of people have visited Alcatraz. They’ve realized It’s one of the most intriguing and unique places they’ve visited anywhere.

The one-mile ferry ride out to the former penitentiary provides great photo ops of the city and the bay. But it’s only when you near Alcatraz that you sense its isolation.

Once you disembark, you pass the faded “Indians Welcome” sign—a remnant of the island’s occupation by Native Americans in 1969—and begin your walk up the ramp to the prison entrance. It’s then you learn you’re walking in the footsteps of every prisoner ever incarcerated in the infamous prison. That includes Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and hundreds of others.

The prison tour is fascinating. It can also be depressing when you think what it would be like if you were ever locked up there. Take one of the audio tours and wander about for a few hours—it’s an experience you’ll have nowhere else.

Tickets for the tours often sell out during the popular summer months, so book as far in advance as possible.

Enjoy The Embarcadero

The ferry to Alcatraz departs from the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street. That’s fortuitous since the late-19th-century building is culinary heaven inside, making it a great place to get a bite to eat before heading over to Alcatraz, or after you get back, during your 3 days in San Francisco.

When you exit the building on your return, turn right and walk along the Embarcadero towards Fisherman’s Wharf. At Green Street, you’ll find the Exploratorium, an interactive science museum, on piers 15 and 17.

Not long after, at Pier 39 in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, among the scores of restaurants and shops, you’ll find the Sea Lion Center, where you can learn more about the California sea lions that make their home at the end of the dock. Also, don’t miss the colorful carousel, hand-painted with famous San Francisco landmarks.

Further on, you’ll find the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and the famous Ghirardelli Square. The latter is chockablock full of restaurants and shops.

Hop Aboard a Cable Car During Your 3-Day Visit

Just a block away from Ghirardelli Square, near Fisherman’s Wharf, is the northern terminus of the Powell/Hyde cable car. It’s the most popular of the city’s three cable cars because of its views of the city and the Bay. For the best views, sit on the left-hand side of the car as you set off (one-way fare is $6.00).

Along the way, hop off at the small but fascinating Cable Car Museum on Mason Street. There you’ll see the giant wheels, the “sheaves,” that pull the cable through all of San Francisco’s streets. It’s fascinating to see how it’s done and learn how the cars grasp the cable, stop, etc.

There’s also a small exhibit showing the city after the 1906 earthquake, particularly what happened to the cable cars.

Dine in North Beach at Least Once During Your 3 Days in San Francisco

The neighborhoods of North Beach and Chinatown are adjacent, making it relatively easy to wander through both in a few hours. They are fascinatingly different, and you’ll likely pass through both several times during your 3 days in the city.

Thoroughly Italian, North Beach is crowded with restaurants, sidewalk cafés, coffee houses, and eclectic bookshops. During your three days in San Francisco, have lunch or dinner (or both) at one of the fabulous Italian restaurants throughout the neighborhood.

In addition to its restaurants, North Beach is also famous for its “beatnik” heritage, which, in some respects, still exists today. Another claim to fame was the lively and irreverent musical revue Beach Blanket Babylon, popular with San Franciscans and tourists. Unfortunately, it closed after 45 years of performances.

In the middle of North Beach is Telegraph Hill, dominated by the 210-foot-tall Coit Tower, named for an eccentric 19th-century philanthropist. The Tower is known both for its great view of the city and for its beautiful 1930s murals inside.

Walk About Chinatown

Cross Broadway on the southern edge of North Beach, and you’ll immediately be immersed in the hustle and bustle of Chinatown, one of the most colorful and popular neighborhoods in San Francisco and the oldest Chinatown outside of Asia.

The famous “Dragon’s Gate” entry is at the intersection of Grant Avenue and Bush Street. Walk up Grant, and you’ll quickly become immersed in a maze of herbal and tea shops and many markets. Stop at one of the restaurants or tea houses and enjoy dim sum, or buy a moon cake in one of the bakeries you’ll pass in the area.

It’s a fascinating area that’s best seen and understood on a guided tour.

View the Golden Gate from Crissy Field and the Presidio

Along the bay, in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, is Crissy Field, a former Army airfield, now a favorite haunt of dog walkers, joggers, kiteboarders, and those who just want to soak up the sun.

Above it is the Presidio, a former U.S. Army post, which still retains its barracks, officer’s quarters, airplane hangars, etc., all scattered throughout the area. Many of these old buildings, and a few newer additions, now house businesses, both commercial and nonprofit, including the Disney Family Museum, an homage to the life of Walt Disney.

Take the 49-Mile Drive on Your Long Weekend Vacation

Rush-hour traffic in San Francisco is horrendous, but if you want to see many sights beyond downtown and San Francisco Bay, you’ll need to rent a car. It’s well worth it – just time your tour so you’re not caught downtown after 4 pm.

One of the best things to do is take the city’s 49-Mile Drive, which guides you past many of the top sites by following a series of blue “seagull signs.” (One caveat: some of the signs can be blocked by foliage or trucks, so a GPS is quite helpful.) It’s a perfect way to see the Presidio.

When you leave the Presidio, continue southward to nearby Baker and China beaches for a beautiful view of the headlands and the Golden Gate Bridge. Be aware, however, that San Francisco’s notorious fog, which you’ll encounter primarily in the warmer months, can obscure the bridge, so make your trip for the late morning when the fog begins to burn off.

Visit SF’s Great Museums During Your 3 Days in San Francisco

The 49-Mile Drive is also perfect for visiting three great museums during your long weekend.

The first is the Legion of Honor, modeled after the Paris Palais de la Légion d’Honneur. It’s a beautiful little museum in an equally splendid setting that contains works by Rembrandt, Monet, Rubens, and Rodin.

Further on is beautiful Golden Gate Park, one of the city’s treasures. Across from the park’s Music Concourse, a concert venue during the summer months, is the de Young Museum, home to one of San Francisco’s finest art collections.

Directly across from the de Young is the California Academy of Sciences, which, in addition to its planetarium and many other fascinating exhibits, has a four-story rainforest inside the building. All three museums are top-notch.

Visit the Groovy Haight-Ashbury and Mission Districts

The Drive also takes you through two well-known neighborhoods of San Francisco: the Mission District and Haight-Ashbury.

Mission, a Latino/hipster neighborhood, is home to Mission Dolores. Built by the Spanish in 1791, it is still standing despite the region’s continual seismic activity over centuries.

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You may also enjoy: Photo Essay: San Francisco / Top Chinatowns in North America / The Alcatraz Tour

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The area attracts tourists and locals with funky boutiques, Latin-flavored restaurants, and outdoor murals. A favorite local pastime is grabbing a take-out lunch and heading to Mission Dolores Park for an alfresco picnic while you enjoy the city’s vista below.

If you’re looking for the remnants of the hippie culture of the 60s, head for Haight-Ashbury, where Tibetan gift shops and boutiques painted in psychedelic colors do their best to keep a hippie flavor in the air.

Most of the folks you’ll find there now are tourists, but you’ll still encounter some teenage and twenty-something hippie wannabes hanging around on street corners.

Walk around and then amble over to the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets for ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s, where the sign above the door still reads “Peace, Love and Ice Cream.”

If You Go:

San Francisco Travel
900 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 391-2000
www.sanfrancisco.travel/