Ferry Plaza farmers market especially on a saturday morning, other days are great but on saturdays more vendors are there. Boulevard Restaurant,Spruce Restaurant, Michael Mina in the Westin St Francis Hotel,Bottega in the wine country, near Yosemite there is a restaurant ??Elderberry house or in Yosemite the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room , a SF institution is Tadich Grill or House of Prime Rib, been to all of these and more these are outstanding

And I'll add the North Beach Restaurant. And make reservations NOW for Beach Blanket Babylon, which is almost across the street from North Beach Restaurant. You definitely need a reservation, especially for the weekend, so I'll recommend weekdays if that fits your schedule.

http://www.northbeachrestaurant.com/

Are you staying in Yosemite? We often go up to a casino/resort just south of Oakhurst on 41, stay there (good restaurants) and drive up to Yosemite for the day. Lunch in the bar at the Ahwahnee, on the patio, is more casual and cheaper than the grand dining room, but you have to your the whole hotel. Again, reservations required for the dining room.

Michael Mina's is another place that needs reservations, I think. People tell me that the Cliff House, way out on the beach, is quite good now. It's been there forever, and wasn't always good, you know how things used to be long long ago. I agree about House of Prime Rib and Tadich Grill. Closer to Union Sq., just behind Macy's, is John's Grill, which we like for lunch. And yes yes yes to the Ferry Building! I have heard that there is a wonderful place in Sausalito, but I can't recall the name. The ferry boat trip is worth it, and Alcatraz is fun, too.

There's a major Impressionist show at the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate park, check their website for tickets and information. We also love the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Both museums have very acceptable lunchrooms.

http://deyoung.famsf.org/

If you go into the wine country, I recommend spending a day in Sonoma, right in town There are tasting rooms around the Plaza (Jim's cousin is a wine grape grower, and puts in time in one of tasting rooms) and have lunch at The Girl and the Fig.

http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/html-sonoma/index.html

http://www.sonomavalley.com/index.php/Table/about-Sonoma-Valley/
We are down south near Monterey now, for the last 27 years, after many years in SF/Berkeley/Oakland.

But try to plan your trip so you can make reservations. It's the busy season! You'll have a wonderful trip.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beach Blanket Babylon

If you go to Alcatraz and see a tall (6'7") extremely handsome NPS Ranger.... tell him his mother says Hi! DS #3 is an Enforcement Ranger with the NPS and spends about 95% of his working days at Alcatraz.

We went out last fall and had a great time at John Muir Woods... that and Golden Gate (be sure to get up close and personal with the bridge!) are all run by the National Park Service.

Grace

Grace

We love SF and have always stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area. Our favorite place to eat there is Scoma's. We ate at a good chinese restaurant in China town, but can't remember the name. I don't remember a bad meal in SF other than maybe a breakfast at Denney's that was by the car rental place the first time we went!! It wasn't really bad, just $$$ for what you got!

The first time we went we did Alcatraz. I didn't want to but DH did, I loved it and highly recommend it, very interesting. We took every tour imaginable and then rented a car and drove through the red wood forest and Napa Valley to Reno and it was a nice drive, thorougly enjoyed it. We stayed the night in Reno and flew to Las Vegas and then a couple of night later flew home.

The second time we went to SF we took Amtrak to Yosemite and loved it. Then took the Muir Glen woods tour, I think was the name. The tour to Sausalito was great, as well as the boat ride under the golden gate birdge, the city tour, riding the cable cars and I know more things I can't think of now.

Have a great time and enjoy your trip.

You will love SF, or at least we did!

There are soooo many wonderful restaurants in San Francisco. My daughter lived there several years, and she took me to lots of good places. Some of them were tiny, but to survive, they have to serve yummy food.

I wouldn't recommend Michael Mina. We eat out a lot - our budget for dining is over $10K/yr - and our meal there was even worse than Madrona Manor/Healdsburg. Mina's lobster pot pie was as good as ever, but outside of that the trio concept is tired, the service is attentive but weirdly anxious, the food was oversalted (and Mina's RN74 is even worse with the salt shaker). Plus I loathe the decor of the space; he ruined the classic old Compass Rose bar by trying to make it look like the old Aqua where he first gained fame.

Instead, if you want great bistro food the way no other bistro makes it, I still love Boulevard after 15 yrs. Prospect, owner Nancy Oakes' sister restaurant, may be open full time when you get to SF; Boulevard's chef de cuisine will move to Prospect. Boulevard is where I'd take any visitor who wanted great food along with beautiful decor. It's cheaper than Gary Danko and the food is more familiar than Coi or Ame, yet still wonderfully creative.

For the more creative, slightly fusion, younger vibe, Coi or Ame are excellent. They are perennials on the Top 100 list by Michael Bauer of the SF Chronicle, the leading local food critic.

For classic, upscale, 3-hr long multiple course French-style dining, Gary Danko in Ghirardelli Square.

If you want a spectacular gourmet experience you can't get anywhere else in the US, go out to the Richmond district and eat at Aziza. It's Moroccan food but modernized to a bistro menu; amazing, yummy, small plates menu. The entrees are sized with the idea you will get several small plates to share, so don't skimp. And don't miss dessert; their pastry chef was listed as a Rising Star Chef last year and she makes the most ethereal desserts to match the unusual food. We ate there with some foodie friends and all four of us agreed this was one of the greatest meals we'd had in the last 10 yrs.

SF has one of the great tapas restaurants, Zarzuela in the impossible-to-park Russian Hill neighborhood. No reservations so get there early. True Spanish tapas, the empanada is served as a wedge-shaped pie slice, and sometimes the owner will break out into song (and he's got a great voice!).

There's decent Chinese dim sum at Yank Sing in the Embarcadero area, Mission St. But really, most of the middle-class Chinese live out in the Richmond and Sunset districts, not in Chinatown. So the everyday restaurant food is much better in those neighborhoods, especially on Clement St. or Geary St. in the Richmond, where they have just as many Asian grocery stores as Chinatown does. The wealthy Chinese live south of SF in the Peninsula, so the restaurant food is also very good in the suburban cities of Millbrae, Burlingame, Daly City, etc.

The finest Sunday brunch bar none is the Ritz Carlton Nob Hill. It is expensive enough to make you faint but everything is housemade; they even smoke their own fish and it melts in your mouth. If you don't want to spend so much, the SF Hilton has a restaurant on the top floor that offers a very nice buffet brunch with a good view of the city.

Do not eat at tourist traps like Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, the Cliff House, Beach Chalet. A drink, maybe, but save your taste buds for something better.

If you want an old-time seafood bar experience, Maye's Oyster Bar on Polk St. is the last of its kind, and 2/3 the price of the branch in the Ferry Bldg. The freshest raw oysters and a lovely bowl of chowder. Walk along Polk St. and you'll be flabbergasted by the stupendous variety of everyday local restaurants; there can be 25 or 30 different cuisines crammed side-by-side in a single block on both sides of the street.

Driving or not, remember this: Parking in SF is extremely difficult. Garages are expensive but sometimes the only option. Valet parking runs from $15-50 (yes, that's correct; the Ritz Carlton Nob Hill charges that much). Taxis DO NOT CRUISE in SF; they hang out at the downtown hotels. If you are going into the neighborhoods without a car, talk to your hotel concierge to make sure you are safe using public transportation - SF is not as safe as it used to be - or call for a taxi. Keep a couple of taxi phone numbers in your cell; SF limits the # of cabs and at peak times it can be a wait to get one.

SF folks eat late. ALWAYS make a reservation, however; even for lunch. And do it in advance; good restaurants fill up even on weekdays. Weekends need at least 1 week or more in advance. We locals eat out a lot, more than any other city - on average, 4.7x a week. Register with OpenTable (it's free and they don't spam) and you can easily find a restaurant. It's useful as you can check out each restaurant's website and look at the week's menus to see if they're serving something interesting. Users also can add reviews, which is helpful when deciding where to go.

Redwoods are all along the coast so it isn't clear how far up you are going. Pt. Reyes Station has excellent food, and if you are near the Russian River winery area, travel inland a bit to Healdsburg to eat at Barndiva, a marvelous bistro just off the city square. They make what my DH calls the best onion rings he's ever had, and they have a lovely outdoor patio.

If you get all the way up Hwy 1 to the Fort Ross area, St. Orres B&B has a top-notch restaurant. Not cheap, but beautiful (the owner built all the buildings himself) and excellent food. If you are going as far as Mendocino, our best meal was at Cafe Beaujolais for dinner, and MacCallum House for breakfast (we were just there in early May).

Have a wonderful time! And don't forget a medium-weight jacket; coastal weather gets very cold when the afternoon wind comes in off the Pacific.

Thanks everyone for the great information.
We'll try to include some of these places in our travels.
I all sounds kind of intimidating to a couple of mid-western country bumpkins, but we'll do our best to get around. we are renting a car, and the hotels do charge to park even though the prices of the rooms are higher than I've ever seen. But I had to get a room with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay. After all, this is going to be our California trip of a life time. Wish us luck,(I think we're going to need it!!!) Thanks again, Sally

Don't worry, I'm from Chicago originally and there are a lot of Midwesterners out here!

If you are not a super-foodie, then I'd recommend the following, modifying my original post:

Lunch or dinner at Boulevard, near the Ferry Bldg so you can visit the food vendors there. Park in the #4 Embarcadero Center garage; it's closest. Boulevard is what CA bistro cooking is all about. The building is historical; it is the only bldg in the area saved from the post-1906 earthquake-caused fire that devastated the city of SF. It was a saloon at the time, and the owner promised the firefighters all the beer they could drink if they saved his bldg. They did! The restaurant was designed by Pat Kuleto, who partnered with Nancy Oakes to open Boulevard. It is his first, and I think still his best, interior design. If you are around the Ferry Bldg mid-day, the big Farmers Market outside is on Saturday, but there is a smaller one on Tuesdays that I used to shop at when I worked downtown. The vendors inside the bldg are open every day in the Ferry Plaza bldg.

Lunch at: Maxfield's, Palace Hotel in downtown SF. Walking distance just outside Union Square (Macy's, Neiman-Marcus) and two long blocks straight down Market St. from Bloomingdale's. Park at the Mission St. garage between 4th and 5th Sts. (there are both numbered streets and avenues in SF, so don't get your neighborhoods confused). The Palace Hotel was the "grand hotel" of SF in Gold Rush days. It was where Enrico Caruso was staying when the 1906 earthquake terrified him into leaving. The elegant Garden Court restaurant is the former carriage entrance to the hotel, the stained glass produced by SF Renaissance Glassworks, a Tiffany competitor now long gone. However, the service is better and the hamburgers just as good in Maxfield's, its smaller sister restaurant. You'll walk through the Pied Piper bar to enter Maxfield's, and the big mural over the bar is indeed an original Maxfield Parrish painting, commissioned by the hotel when it was rebuilt after the '06 earthquake. Maxfield's has a magnificent mosaic tile floor and 16' tall walnut paneling, along with its own priceless stained glass ceiling panels. It's always been one of my favorite lunch places, a magnificent old interior of the type no longer seen, with excellent salads and sandwiches. Also, dont miss any chocolate dessert. The pastry chef has refused for 25 yrs to give out the secret of his chocolate mixture and the taste is divine. Different cook/menu at dinner, lunch is much better.

An outstanding small plates restaurant is Perbacco. They do serve lunch but I prefer dinner here. They are in the Financial District, which is located in between the Embarcadero and Union Square areas. Closest parking garage is #2 Embarcadero Center. Perbacco has amazing food and even better service. It is neither stuffy nor intimidating, and it is definitely a place I would take out-of-town visitors to with full confidence they would enjoy both food and atmosphere.

If the weather is nice, take a walk along the Marina. On one side you'll see expensive, multi-million dollar homes (this area is built on landfill and suffered considerable damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake); the other has a spectacular view across to Marin and San Pablo, if there's no fog. You can walk all the way to Fort Hood, at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. There's many excellent restaurants in the Marina neighborhood, although again parking is a real issue.

Remember to layer your clothes, In summer you always need a light jacket in the mornings and evenings. Midday is usually okay but pay attention to the wind chill; 5-10mph is no biggie but 10-25mph will have you shivering. This is not a place where you wear shorts in the summer, unless you're jogging!

If you bring your laptop, most hotels have free wi-fi so use Yelp and Google to find places you want to visit. If you've got a GPS, use it; lots of one-way streets around the city make it difficult to get places otherwise.

Thank You so much jkom, I'm going to print out your post and use it as a guide. I really appreciate the advise. We are staying at the Comfort Inn by the Bay so we can just leave the car parked most of the time and walk where we need to go. Are these restaurants fairly close to Van Ness Ave? I really need to find a city map, don't I? We do have a GPS so I'm sure it will be a life saver.
Thanks again.

One of our favorite places in SF is a tiny (and I do mean tiny) place called Canteen. Their website isn't the best at providing up to date menus (if at all) but check out the Press information and also the reviews on Yelp. This will give you a good idea of what delights you will be in for. I had to strong arm my in-laws to go there on their last visit and they loved it so much they went twice during their 4 day stay.

Here is the Yelp review page: http://www.yelp.com/biz/canteen-san-francisco

Here is a link that might be useful: Canteen in San Francisco

I would strongly suggest you buy a Visitor Passport which enables you to ride SF Muni transit any time, any day, any bus/light rail. It is valid only for SF Muni, not BART or SamTrans or Golden Gate Transit, which serve areas outside SF. Even if you intend to walk around, you will get tired and being able to take the bus will be a real lifesaver.

You can find out where to buy a Passport at: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfares/passports.htm

In your area you would take either the 41 Union or 45 Stockton buses. There have been major budget cutbacks in SF and the schedule times are tricky. You can check schedules and routes at: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/asystem/routelist.php

The 41 runs only during morning and afternoon commute hours; the 45 runs all day up till midnight. You can check all bus schedules and routes at: http://511.org/ - there is a trip planner that will help you plan your routes, once you have addresses to and from.

You should immediately print out all six links of "The Essential Toolkit" at the official SF tourist website: http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/ The SF Chamber of Commerce works only with business info, not tourist needs. The Toolkit should have most of what you need to know BEFORE you arrive.

If you want to walk, there are 2 main routes that avoid most of the hills when leaving your hotel to go downtown, which includes the Union Square, Financial District, and Embarcadero areas:

1) Walk down Van Ness towards Market St. (southwards, away from the water). In order you will eventually reach Sutter St., Post St., and Geary St., where you turn left on any one of them (I prefer Geary, its the flattest and easiest). Either one of these three always have people around so they are safe at almost any hour.

Following Sutter/Post/Geary, you will first reach Union Square (if youÂre on Sutter, itÂs one block to your right when you reach Powell St where the cable cars run). If you turn down Powell St., at the end (Market St.) is the cable car turnaround. More importantly this is Hallidie Plaza to your right, an underground area where SF Muni sells the Passport tickets and the Tourist Bureau mans a kiosk during daytime hours that has the standard tourist maps and brochures.

If you turn left on Market St. from Powell, you will go all the way to the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. You will be passing the Financial District to your left, and across Market St. to your right is the SoMa (South of Market) area.

Your alternative, much longer walk, is:
2) Walk 3 blocks towards the water to Bay St. and turn right. Follow Bay (it drops steeply) all the way to the Embarcadero, which runs along the inner side of SF Bay. Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery (both turned into shopping malls) and Fishermans Wharf/Pier 39 will be to your left as you walk down Bay St. When you reach the Embarcero turn right to follow it down to the Ferry Bldg and Market St.

Boulevard is on the Embarcadero, one block past Market St. on Mission St. Perbacco is a few blocks off Market St., on California St. MaxfieldÂs is 1/2 mile straight down Market St., about half-way to the Powell St./cable car turnaround, in the Palace Hotel at the corner of New Montgomery.

*****

Tip #1 Â ALWAYS get the cross street for any address you are trying to find. The street numbers start at Market St., but Market St. crosses at an angle to every street, so it throws the numbering off. For example, Geary and Post run parallel to one another, but 300 Post is at the corner of Stockton, whereas 300 Geary is one block further up at the corner of Powell St.

Tip #2 Â For something different that most tourists (and even many natives) miss, take one or more of the free City Guides tours offered in various neighborhoods, including the downtown area. Do make reservations; they will cancel a tour if no one shows up. They are great fun, and youÂll learn things about the city youÂd never learn otherwise. Website descriptions are at: http://www.sfcityguides.org/

Tip #3 - Do not EVER buy cable car tickets from anyone except the cable car conductor when aboard the cable car, or by using one of the kiosks where you can buy tickets. This is the greatest advantage of the Passport, you can bypass the ticket mess. A lot of tourists get scammed by people selling cable car tickets, only to find they're bogus. Also, pickpockets do a lot of 'slash and grab' on locals and tourists both, so stay alert and keep your wallet and valuable electronics hidden/tucked away.

Have a GREAT time!

(jkom, I'm clipping your posts for our next SF jaunt! Thats our kind of vacation, LOL!)

When you get to Yosemite, heads up, the food is pretty bad (DH and DS#1 just spend a little time there, Curry Village). Might want to check out the Ahwahnee's breakfast and fill up there, trying to skip lunch,or eat outside the park. I'm not totally sure.

I just want to mention something about the weather (in case it hasn't already been said)...

California is a big state with many micro climates. Many folks from other states think that all of CA is hot and sunny in summer. Not so! The bay area is often cool and overcast. Areas outside of there will be warmer, so dress in layers and keep a light jacket handy. Even here in southern CA, there are areas that are relatively cool in summer, e.g. the beaches and mountains.

Just wanted to dispel the myth about CA always being sunny --- NOT! :-)

Enjoy your trip.

thanks everyone for all of the information, I've been copying and pasting like crazy. I have a folder all made up of thing to do and not do!! I really appreciate all the help. I'll let you know how it turned out when I get back. I'm hoping to try out some of the local cuisine...all the way up the coast!
Sally

Don't forget to pull into an In N Out Burger when you see one. They're a favorite for good reason, and sometimes you simply want something quick and easy that's good! Here's a link to their ''secret menu'' that's not so secret. Animal style is the only way to go!

Made the same trip many years ago.

Not knowing the local situation, that all the gas stations close after sometime in the evening. We were down to the very last drop in the tank and found the last gas station which was still open while they were shutting down their pumps.

Almost had to sleep on the beach. :-)

Things may be different today.

Enjoy your trip.

dcarch

Well, not all gas stations are open 24 hours, nor do they all close in the evening. ;-o

Actually, it pretty much doesn't matter where you are in CA - once the sun goes down, it gets cold! That was my biggest shock when I moved from Chicago to Southern CA. In the Midwest, when it's hot during the daytime, it STAYS warm virtually all night long. And humid.

BTW, especially if you go on the Alcatraz tour, bundle up seriously. It is almost always really cold on the Bay.

If, after you visit the Yosemite Valley, and decide to drive over Tioga Pass, go all the way to Hwy.395 to Lee Vining and stop at Whoa Nellie Deli at the Mobil gas station.
Very, very good food.

(oh yeah NO gas stations IN Yosemite Valley...ask DH how he knows...)

Up the coast - drive up US 1 and take off through the Redwood Forest (Humboldt County) to the Lost Coast and Shelter Cove.

Nancy

Here's a little about In-N-Out Burgers that showed up on Serious Eats this morning. I think there's an In-N-Out near Fisherman's Wharf. Don't miss it!

nancedar, Humboldt County is gorgeous but I very much doubt the OP will have time to go that far? If she is planning only a 9-day trip with 2 stops in SF and 1 in Yosemite she will be lucky to have more than one or two days in the North Bay.

Dh and I want to take a similar trip someday so I am saving all this helpful info too. I hope it is still relevant when we get around to our who-knows-when trip.

You've gotten many great suggestions...
Here are a couple more:

San Francisco - North Beach Pizza - best in SF (IMHO)
Berkeley - Chez Panisse (the cafe is casual, incredible ingredients)

Will you visit the wine country at all?
A good way to spend the day is...
St. Helena - Tra Vigne (quintessential wine country meal - better service and availability at lunch)
Calistoga - mud bath and mineral pool swim at Indian Springs

I really appreciate all of the information. I've documented it all and have it kind of in the order that we will travel. I'm hoping that 9 days will let us cover the major attractions, and if all goes well, we plan on doing this again next year with another couple. I think the first day we will just head out of San Fransisco and up the coast taking 3 days for that and then to SF for 3 days and then to Yosemite for a couple of days. I'm hoping to get back in time to take a drive down the coast south of SF just to find a nice place to eat and see the sites. We'll pack a lot into 9 days, but I'd rather be doing or driving than setting in a hotel room!
Thanks again

There is a lot you can do in an day-trip from SF, as long as you're the type of people who can get up and out of the hotel at a reasonable hour. Starting day trips too late in the day just limits what you can do IMHO.

You can do a day trip from SF down to Santa Cruz or even Monterey. We are north of Salinas, and will easily go 100 miles for a lunch date. The freeways are good, if you miss the rush hours, it's not nearly as bad as Southern CA WRT traffic. When we had our last litter of puppies, one woman would bring her kids down from SF every week until their pup was ready to go home with them. You can make it to Monterey via 101 (highway one will take a lot longer) in a little more than 2 hours, like 2-1/4 (of course, a major highway accident changes everything for everyone). So leave the hotel early, and make a day of it!

Same goes for day trips to the north. We visit Jim's cousin in her shop in Sonoma Plaza, have a great lunch and then come home.

You can cover a lot of ground in a day trip.

Sally, if you need maps, drop me an email via GW and I can send you some. It'll cost ya....you will have to come to LA next time to visit with the contingent here bwhahahaa

Thanks Jesse, I leave Tuesday morning at 5:40 am so it's too late but Thanks so much for the offer. I'll be sure to take the GPS, so at least we'll have that. And I have printed out the addresses of the restaurants and all of the info from above.
I appreciate the offer.
Sally

I don't have anything more to add except - have a wonderful trip and I hope you'll post along the way to share with us.

Lee