San Francisco is popular among tourists due to Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island. The city is also known for its diverse culture and Victorian architecture. San Francisco offers a lot like Twin Peaks, Lombard Street, Painted Ladies, beaches, and parks.
I hope you all have enjoyed my Christmas destination post series, and you have plenty of options to choose from for your Christmas 2019. Before you enter the Christmas spirit, we must accomplish our travel goals for the year 2019. Since I moved to California, I have found many hidden gems here and keep adding to my bucket list. I have written a separate post for a California Bucket list. As I started my year with a trip to San Francisco and a Pacific highway drive to achieve my travel goal. Here is my itinerary for One day in San Francisco.
one day in San Francisco
We drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco through the Pacific coast highway. Those who have already done the pacific highway drive know it takes a long time due to the single-lane road, and ocean beauty makes you stop at various points to enjoy the view. We got plenty of time to rest and recharge as we reached there at night.
We didn’t have enough time to visit Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz Island, but I want to see those during my next trip to San Fransisco. For those who love chocolates, I recommend visiting Ghirardelli Square.
The next morning, we had a heavy breakfast, so we didn’t have to waste time on lunch. We directly headed to twin peaks because we mapped out the spots in the sequence.
Twin Peaks
The twin peaks are a perfect place to view the whole city and a slight glimpse of the Golden Gate too. Thank god it was not windy, so we had fun at the peak. My friend suggested winter is a perfect time to visit San Francisco because it’s less windy compared to summer. There are two ways to lead to twin peaks, so we climb up from one way and down from another. That way, we saw both sides of twin peaks.
Crooked Street
After the twin peak, we went to Crooked street. The crooked street is a zig-zag downhill street where they planted flowers on the sides of the road. Unfortunately, it’s winter, so we could not see the flowers. But experiencing the downhill drive was terrific.
Before we headed to the Golden Gate, we drove on the steepest street in San Francisco. The street was known as Albert street.
Golden Gate Bridge
Now it’s time to visit the most iconic Art Deco span of the United States. Before we drove on the Golden Gate Bridge, we headed to battery east park to get a closer look at it. We drove by the park, but it can be an excellent spot for a picnic and kids can have fun playing in the park.
The drive on the Golden Gate was incredible, but if you want to take pictures of a whole bridge, this is not a perfect spot. You can park your car at a welcome center and walk on a bridge if you wish to do so.
Sausalito town
From the Golden Gate Bridge, we suppose to go to Pier 39 and fisherman’s wharf, but I was done with touristy things, so my friend suggested visiting Sausalito. I was surprised by the name because I had no idea what he was talking about. Sausalito is a beautiful town across the Golden Gate and a great spot to escape from the city. Take a walk and enjoy the local bars and restaurants or go shopping—lovely little town for a weekend escape for sure.
Before our trip ended, I wanted to visit “Painted Ladies.” This was not crowded as other places because most tourists don’t know about it. These are the Victorian houses in a row and repainted in three or more colors that enhance their architectural details. I would advise going here during the daytime because at night you won’t be able to see architectural details.
The city of San Francisco has a lot to offer, and the Trolley ride is one of the must-do attractions. I didn’t get a chance to ride the trolley because there was one hour waiting to get the ticket so I skipped it. I hope I can come back shortly to cover all the remaining spots.