Guest Services

Concierge Recommends

Neighborhood Restaurants

Breakfast

  • Sear’s Fine Foods 439 Powell@ Sutter 415 986-0700
  • Roxanne’s  570 Powell St.  415 989-5555    
  • Café de la Presse  352 Grant @ Bush  398-2680

Lunch

  • Rotunda at Neiman Marcus (view of Union Square)   150 Stockton @ Geary 362-4777
  • Mocca            (Take lunch and sit outside on Maiden Lane) Maiden Lane @ Stockton
  • Tadich Grill      (Classic seafood) 240 Clay @ Battery
  • R&G       (Casual Chinese) 631 Kearny @ Clay 982-7877
  • Cotogna   (Rustic Italian)   490 Pacific Ave @ Montgomery 775-8505

Casual Dinner

  • Aliment (American)  786 Bush @ Mason  829-2737
  • Mason Pacific   (American Bistro) 1358 Mason @ Pacific 374-7185
  • Venticello   (Italian)   1257 Taylor @ Washington  922-2545
  • Gaspar Brasserie (Modern French Bistro) 185 Sutter  576-8800

Elegant Dinner

  • Farallon (Seafood)  450 Post @ Powell  956-6969
  • Michael Mina (Cosmopolitan/elegant bar) 252 California @ Battery   397-9222
  • Waterbar   (seafood with a view of Bay Bridge) 399 Embarcadero @ Folsom 284-9922
  • Big Four (super club/ piano bar and dining room) 1075 California St 474-5400

Loved for touring its enchanting hills, cable cars, Victorian “painted ladies” and glorious Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is sure to steal your heart away! Because it is one of the smallest (seven by seven square miles, hence one of our monikers, the “7 x 7” City), most compact and ethnically/culturally diverse of the world’s great cities, you will find San Francisco a joy to explore.

Many of San Francisco’s most exciting districts, such as Chinatown, North Beach, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cow Hollow, Noe Valley, the Castro and Japantown, are best seen on foot. Armed with a map, you can walk around San Francisco with ease, drinking in exotic sights, sounds and flavors at your leisure. If fatigue sets in, you need only to hop a cable car, taxi cab, MUNI bus or historic streetcar to reach your destination.

DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOLLOWING WALKS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE SFS STAFF. FEEL FREE TO ASK AND THEY WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A WEBSITE ORIGINATED HANDOUT FOR ANY OR ALL OF THE SEGMENTS LISTED. (Disclaimer: be prepared for some errors—some sites may no longer exist, some ‘numbers’ don’t match, a ‘turn left’ direction may actually be a ‘turn right,’ etc.)

SAN FRANCISCO’S GOLD RUSH TRAIL. This walk contains 49 specific sites in six sections, totaling about 3.7 miles, and is comparatively flat. Area maps are included.

  1. Yerba Buena district: includes 7 site areas; from Third & Mission to New Montgomery, across Market at post (0.6 miles).
  2. Commercial district: includes 8 site areas; from Lower Market to Embarcadero Center (0.5 miles).
  3. Embarcadero district: includes 6 site areas; from the foot of Market, South to Harrison (0.7 miles).
  4. Financial district: includes 9 site areas; from Montgomery to battery, Bush to Sacramento (0.5 miles).
  5. Jackson/Portsmouth district: includes 13 site areas; Jackson to Commercial, Sansome to Kearny (0.7 miles).
  6. North Beach district: includes 6 site areas; Kearny & Columbus to Stockton & Filbert (0.7 miles).

EIGHT PLUS WALKS THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. Each walk includes directions to the starting point (including on public transit, if needed), precise walking directions (but no maps), and very brief descriptions of dozens of points of interest and buildings of architectural interest. No mileage is available.

  1. Union Square – South of Market (about 52 sites)
  2. Financial District (50) – Chinatown (83)
  3. Haight-Asbury (79) – Golden Gate Park (53)
  4. Mission District (59) – Castro and Noe Valley (37)
  5. Union Street (10) – Pacific Heights (45) – Japantown (42) – Civic Center (15)
  6. Russian Hill (47) – Nob Hill (54)
  7. North Beach – Telegraph Hill (52)
  8. Northern Waterfront (59) – Marina & Presidio (17)

Additional Walks that you can print out and follow:

  • LITERARY HIGHLIGHTS OF SAN FRANCISCO-Greg Ohanneson click here
  • SAN FRANCISCO WALKING AND VIEWING HIGHLIGHTS click here

Located a quarter-mile south of the Suites is the Yerba Buena Gardens Complex. The major elements of the YBG are the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, the Moscone Convention Center, the Metreon Entertainment Center, and the Children’s Center:

  • Children’s Center – a unique urban destination for youth of all ages that includes an ice skating rink and bowling center, a child care center, the Children’s Garden, the Carousel, and the Zeum – a wonderful interactive center.
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art – The SF MOMA is a contemporary museum dedicated to abstract expressionist painting and sculpture. It is a striking visual landmark and the second-largest building devoted to contemporary art in the United States.
  • Yerba Buena Center for the Arts & Gardens – The Center for the Arts is a visual arts, media arts, and performing arts complex. It comprises the Forum and Galleries, and the Theater.
  • Moscone Convention Center – This is San Francisco’s premier meeting and exhibition facility. It echoes our inimitable sense of style in the drama of its design and its undeniable sense of place.
  • The Sony Metreon – a complex devoted to entertainment! This is the home of San Francisco’s IMAX Theater, the biggest screen in the area, as well as several restaurants, exhibits, and destinations for shopping that are found only here.
  • SOMA – South of Market has been transformed from vacant warehouses on industrial lots into a trendy community with upscale restaurants and cafes, theaters, retail shopping, and fashion outlets, and the finest museums and galleries. SBC Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants, stands proudly South of Market

Many of the City’s hills and sweeping vistas are best seen by cable car. The most spectacular ride is offered but the Powell-Hyde line, which runs from the corner of Powell and Market Streets (board right in front of the Suites) over Nob and Russian Hills to the Northern waterfront’s Victorian Park.

A real San Francisco experience wouldn’t be complete without a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the longest and most beautiful spans in existence (and one of the seven wonders of the modern world). Vista Point on the bridge’s Northern end will reward you with a breathtaking view of the City and San Francisco Bay. This destination is an ideal point for photographs and is mere minutes from the lovely town of Sausalito, a wonderful lunch or dinner destination.

Also not to be missed is Golden Gate Park, the ultimate haven from urban chaos. Here, 1,017 acres of trees, flowering plants, meadows, lakes, and recreational facilities are interspersed with some of the City’s most exciting cultural attractions. These include the Conservatory of Flowers, the M. H. DeYoung Museum, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Bison Paddock, Spreckles Lake (with the entertaining model boat races), the Shakespeare Gardens, and the Beach Chalet.

The San Francisco Civic Center is home to a veritable trove of history. Here you will find City Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the old central library (now the home of the Asian Art Museum) and the new central public library complex.

Other San Francisco sites worth a visit include the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, which commands a spectacular view of the City and the Bay from atop Land’s End in Lincoln Park. It is unique in America for its extensive collection of French Art. The Palace of Fine Arts, a Greco-Roman “castle in the sky” and last surviving remnant of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (bordered by a park and lagoon in the Marina District), houses a fascinating hands-on science museum called the Exploratorium. The San Francisco Zoo, a 70-acre park with over 1,000 animals in some spectacular habitats, includes the Koala Crossing, the Primate Discovery Center, Gorilla World, the Lion House, and African Savanna. Take a ferry ride to Alcatraz Island, originally a fort and then a notorious prison, known as “the Rock”, where infamous criminals Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and the Birdman of Alcatraz spent their final years: The Alcatraz audio tour is NOT to be missed.

A memorable adventure awaits you in our fabled “City by the Bay,” and our Concierge staff will be delighted to provide you with maps and detailed directions to assist you in planning an itinerary geared to the length of your stay. Enjoy!