San Francisco is a city known for many reasons such as its popular landmarks: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Penitentiary, and Fisherman’s Wharf. It is also internationally renowned for its science hub located in the Bay Area. The city’s rolling hills and gorgeous architecture make up for some really good photography tour. In this blog post, I’ll be sharing all the details of my 2-day itinerary.

Where to stay?

San Francisco is a very expensive city, I believe your best bet if you’re travelling solo (or not) is to rent a place through Airbnb. I chose to stay in a shared house in Daly City, which is located just outside of San Francisco (15-min drive) on the way to the airport.

Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco - California - USA — San Francisco

Top Things To See

Day 1

North Beach

This district is where you’ll find the departure pier (33) for Alcatraz Penitentiary. Unfortunately, I thought I could just show up there, and buy a boat tour to go visit the prison, but I travelled to San Francisco during a long weekend and all tickets were already sold out. Therefore, if you want to take a trip to the island where is located Alcatraz, I’d suggest buying it in advance. Total duration of the standard visit is about 3 hours. Instead, it gave me more time to walk around Pier39 and stare at the sea lions!

Fisherman’s Wharf

If you are down for a little walk, you can just continue walking from Pier39 until you reach Fisherman’s Wharf harbour.

Lombard Street

And if you are still motivated, you can walk up to Lombard street. Note: you will have to walk uphill at some point, and it can get pretty steep. Lombard street is very famous because one section of the street has 8 hairpin turns.

Palace of Fine Arts

The palace of Fine Arts isn’t necessarily on most tourists’ list of things to do, but it really caught my attention and I’m glad I went. It is situated in very quiet residential area, the architecture is absolutely stunning, and it’s surrounded by a beautiful park. Perfect place to enjoy a bit of sun, or read a book.

Battery East

I then drove to Battery East, one of the many places from where you can admire the Golden Gate Bridge. By the time I got there, some fog had started appearing over the bridge, which gave it a dramatic look, but kind of prevented me from seeing it clearly. Cloudy skies in San Francisco also means that the weather can get dramatically cooler because there’s no sun and there’s usually a lot of wind. I attempted to cross the bridge, but felt too cold for that.

Sutro Baths - Land’s End

Instead I decided to head to Sutro Baths, which was a bit more isolated from the wind that day. The Sutro Baths used to be the world’s largest indoor swimming pool establishment in the late 19th century. The building was destroyed inn 1966 due to a fire, and now all that’s left is the concrete walls of the old pools. From there, you can access a coastal hiking trail, which I did. There are numerous viewpoints along the way. I decided to walk until I reached Land’s End labyrinth.

Ocean Beach

Shortly after I was done with my little hike, I decided to head to Twin Peaks. On my way, I drove by this beautiful beach and I got amazed by its size so I stopped and did one of my favourites things to do when I go to the beach: watching surfers do their thing.

16th Avenue Tiled Steps

Second stop before reaching Twin Peaks was the Tiled Steps at 16th avenue, a sea to star mosaic community project built in the early 2000s.

Twin Peaks

When I finally arrived on top of Twin Peaks, clouds started coming back in full force. I just had time to snap a few shots of the city center before I was surrounded by fog once again.

Mission District

For dinner, a friend of mine had recommended checking out Mission District and had suggested a few restaurants. The one that appealed to me the most is called Gracias Madre, a plant-based Mexican restaurant which I highly recommend.

Day 2

Alamo Square

When I woke up the next morning, there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky! I had breakfast with my Airbnb host, and then headed to Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies, an escalating formation of Victorian houses.

Nob Hill Cable Car

I then drove to the most beautiful place to watch San Francisco’s iconic cable cars: Nob Hill. I patiently waited for a car to pass by, which took between 5-10 minutes.

Mr. Holmes BakeHouse

Afterwards, I wanted to go grab a few pastries from Mr. Holmes Bakehouse because I hadn’t had the time to try the one in Los Angeles, and it is located very close from Nob Hill. I chose to buy a box of 6 donuts which were really tasty.

Battery Spencer

Next on the list was to cross the Golden Gate Bridge to go to Battery Spencer and get another viewpoint over the bridge. That was definitely the highlight of my trip. I was so lucky that there weren’t any clouds, I could perfectly see the city in the background.

Marshall’s Beach

Lastly, I decided to end my short trip to San Francisco at Marshall’s Beach. The view there is just sensational, although the access isn’t very simple. You’ll need to park in Langdon Court parking lot, and start walking along the coastal trail. Keep an eye open for a little path that looks like it’s going towards the edge of the cliff. The hike down takes about 15 minutes. Note: it is a clothing optional beach.

For more San Francisco recommendations from locals & travellers, I would highly recommend checking out Redfin’s blog!

The Ultimate 2-Day San Francisco Itinerary