Three days in San Francisco was the perfect amount of time to see all of the famous sights, walk around the best neighborhoods in San Francisco, and visit some of the awesome places that people had recommended to me. Since we had flown from Vegas to San Francisco, we had three days in San Francisco without a car, which at first was daunting, but ended up working out perfectly.
Three Days in San Francisco
After a quick flight from Vegas (if you want to read that post, click here), we took an Uber to our hostel (we used the code THEFLAMINGO for $20 off our Uber and it worked every time we were able to use a new account…FYI).
We stayed at The Amsterdam Hostel near Union Square in San Francisco and while I would love to say it was a great choice, honestly it was the most disgusting place I have ever stayed in. #neveragain. The blankets, the beds, the towels, the rugs, the kitchen, the wifi strength, the staff…I could go on. 
We checked into our hostel, dropped off our things and then headed out to find food. We bought yummy sandwiches and then hopped in an Uber to the Golden Gate Bridge.
When we asked the front desk about how to get to the bridge via public transport, they were like “ummm, yeah, ummmm, not really sure” so Uber was the way to go. He dropped us off near the bridge and we slowly made our way across (on foot), stopping periodically to look at the sea animals down below and to marvel at just how BIG the thing is.
Once we made it across, we realized just how long of a walk we had to go to go BACK, and since the sun was setting and it was getting pretty chilly, we decided it would be best to try to find wifi (which happened to no avail), but then saw the big red tourist bus and the kind driver offered to take us back across the bridge with a 1 hour tour for just $10 per person, so we hopped on! What a guy 🙂
It was FREEZING on the bus, but it ended up being an awesome ride. We got to see parts of San Francisco that we wouldn’t have seen on our own including the California Academy of Sciences as well as other parts of San Francisco, like Haight Street which is this up-and-coming area of San Fran, and the Full House house. Pretty cool, especially as a former die-hard Full House fan.
We drove past Union Square and then got dropped off right near China Town. (In our Uber earlier that day from the airport, the driver heard us saying we wanted to visit China Town and he kept saying ‘why you go to China Town?? Nothing in China Town!’)
We walked around China Town with plans to eat there, but ultimately decided to head to Trader Joe’s and make a nice cozy dinner in that disgusting hostel. After dinner, we were all exhausted and went to sleep with prayers that those bunk beds wouldn’t come tumbling down in the night (they didn’t…).
The next morning, we got up early to make pancakes!
The only saving grace of that sh!t hole hostel was that they offered pancakes for breakfast (that you have to fight Hunger Games style to make since everyone and their mother ALSO wants to make some, but…I have sharp elbows, so it was fine). Luis made pancakes while Ouka and I made sandwiches for the day. Once we finished and cleaned up, we sped-walked to the water because we had a reservation to visit Alcatraz!
Since we were the last ones to arrive, we didn’t need to wait very long and hopped on the boat within no time.
The boat to Alcatraz only takes a few minutes and once we arrived, we picked up headsets are started the 45 minute walking tour (headsets included with ticket).
I have been to Alcatraz before, but we all still agreed that it was super interesting to see and the audio guide is very well done!
We were there for a couple hours and all decided that had we been in Alcatraz, we probably would have tried to escape. I mean, it doesn’t look that far does it?!
We took the boat back to the mainland and headed straight for Pier 39, which I LOVED! It was totally touristy, but also a lot of fun and we had some yummy Biscoff coffees there. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t totally drawn in to the fact that they give you a free Biscoff cookie with every purchase.
The rest of the day included a visit to Fisherman’s Wharf and to see the famous Sea Lions that live there (did you know that there have been up to 2,000 sea lions living there at one time!?)
We also visited Lombard Street (the “crookedest street in the world”).
And then took another Uber to the Painted Ladies (which, in my opinion, were not as impressive as I had remembered, but we did find it interesting that all of the house owners keep their blinds tightly pulled shut).
From there, we walked back to Haight Street (where we were the day before), but we went a little too far down the street and ended up in a not-so-great area. We turned around and walked to Castro, which I thought was really great. Very clean and fun and bright, and some ‘interesting’ window shopping if you know what I mean.
We stopped for a quick bite at La Tortilla and all really loved the burritos we had.
We ended the night by walking all the way home while trying not to get robbed. There are definitely some seedy areas in San Fran!
On our last morning in San Francisco, we took a walk down to Union Square and did some window browsing.
Love this picture!
Mid-afternoon, we packed up our things and headed towards the airport to pick up our little Ferrari that we had for the rest of the trip!
Our next stop was Yosemite (our favorite part of the trip!)- coming tomorrow!
Tips for 3 Days in San Francisco
- Visit The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island (buy tickets in advance), Haight Street, Castro neighborhood, Union Square for shopping, China Town, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf
- Bring warm clothing- it gets really cold!
- See my post with our itinerary for amazing recommendations of places to eat and things to do (friends who have been to and lived in San Francisco sent them to me).
- I would try to stay closer to Union Square than to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge area only has the bridge, while Union Square has everything else within walking distance.