1, Do you want an inexpensive BOAT RIDE, subsidized by the high Golden Gate Bridge car tolls ? Then for about $10 go to the Ferry Building and take "second most scenic FERRY BOAT ride in the World , after Shanghai" to SAUSALITO, have lunch at Poggio or Scoma's or Hamburgers or Napa Valley Burgers. Ferry back.
2, Want a free guided city tour, no charge-donations accepted, instead of the usual $40 each ? Go online and look up SAN FRANCISCO CITY GUIDES, they have a nice brochure at most good sf hotels also. Lots of different walking tour, EASY EXERCISE slow walking, such as the Victorian Houses and the Barbary Coast from the dangerous gold rush. Hint: Watch the dvd "gold fever 2014" , as the California gold rush history has been completely rewritten, less Sacramento Mr.Sutter&Mr.Marshall and much more lying greedy merchant Sam Brannan(the huge lie was "I saw lots and lots of gold all over the ground near the American River,"said just to sell 1000% overpriced supplies) , first millionaire. Cal has seen lots of booms:gold, redwood 96% gone, salmon and ocean fisheries near dead, oil as the world #1 producer for a time, fresh water for farming and far distant suburbia growth,,, now privacy info worthy $Trillions with .com companies. Great PBS documentary on those.
3, SF has many backyards, from thousands in the SW quarter the Sunset District, to fancy one in the rich NW quarter. But Frisco (if you only knew sf stole its name from Benicia) has many lovely FREE PARKS !! In the NE or Downtown Quarter, I recommend the Transamerica Insurance co. private redwood tree park and pond with frogs in memory of Mark Twain sometime drinking, sometime working nearby. Save the cost and time of tour bus-ing to MUIR WOODS IN MARIN. (Morning opening time is the best.)
From the ugly duckling, sore thumb of the T.A. building, a senior for 75c can take the steel twin rails and overhead electricity of the F-line street cars in many colors to Fisherman's Wharf and the lovely WPA depression era park , AQUATIC PARK, where you can watch brave souls swimming in speedos in the 54degree "bay", the Sacramento River, the biggest river in the State. Go West to the also scenic MARINA GREEN with lunch on Chestnut or Union Street.
Sunny? Maybe a great view and sunbathing at ALAMO SQUARE PARK or DELORES PARK, surrounded by all those fab murals and good Mex food. Now Latino, this use to be the big German neighborhood in sf.
The about 1500 acre federal lands of the old Army base, the PRESIDIO is good for a visit to CRISSY FIELD and the pre-Civil War fort under the GG bridge, FORT POINT, and go inside and to top on open weekends. The private for-profit but not well done Presidio Trust manages this Federal land.
Around to one of the best neighborhoods , Sea Cliff, and the most popular Black's Beach? Don't miss historic Cliff House and the famous indoor swimming pools ruins of the Sutro Baths !
Next up, GOLDEN GATE PARK, larger than NYC's Central Park, and maybe should be renamed Yerba Buena ,"lots of weeds", Park since it was made from "western wasteland " sand dunes and many carts of manure and various plantings.
Great art, mosaics and murals inside Beach Chalet, and good place to watch the sunset over the Pacific with a draft beer and some squid-calamari maybe from Monterey Bay.
I like the bison herd, the toy yacht pond Spreckle's, and the fine friendly folk at the Flycasting Pools. Wish the Japanese were running the Tea House Garden, good reparations long past ww2; They need to serve fortune cookies where they were invented, again. The aquarium and roof top garden of the Cal Academy of Science are a hit, tho que is odd. Hear the great food court mgmt co left. Then the no longer free formal gardens of Stribing. And the private money expensive redo of the white building, the Conservatory. JFK Drive is partially closed on Sundays for roller skaters , bicyclists, and babybuggy walkers.
TWIN PEAKS in the geographic center of the city, but not highest hill, all under 1000', is a good view, except on freezing cold windy zero vis, most Summer days.
Nearby is upper and lower Haight Street and the much improved Hayes Valley restaurant scene.
Beware of the Western Addition projects w bars on windows and high crime, and Tenderloin whores and drug dealers and the entire SE quarter, too poor, high crime, too few cops.
