San Francisco - First to SF and I need advice on what to do for 1.5 days.

I'll be arriving in San Francisco at around noon on January 9th, 2011. This will be my first time going to the city. I know there are lots of information around, but can someone here give me some recommendations on what to see? I do love sightseeing and I want to spend as much time out there checking out the city instead of relaxing in my hotel.

Any tips and or advice on where to get cheap meals? I'm on a budget and it would be ideal to keep my meals at around $10 per meal. I'll be staying at the Mosser Hotel and I believe the location is quite central.

Can someone also tell me which is the biggest shopping mall in the downtown San Francisco area?

Thanks!

Well, the Mosser is right around from the San Francisco Centre (mall). You will not be able to miss it. http://westfield.com/sanfrancisco/

For food, there are lots of inexpensive options if you wander around; we have never been very disappointed. There are the food courts in the Centre (the Bristol Farms grocery near the bigger court is a bit pricey). We like Cafe Madeleine on O'Farrell for quiche. If you head out to Fisherman's Wharf for sightseeing, there is the In-N-Out Burger out there and you can get a good sized takeway sandwich at Molinari Delicatessen on Broadway between the Wharf and the Mosser. If you are around City Hall/Asian Art Museum, there are a couple of different banh mi places up Larkin around Eddy (we like Saigon more). If you go out to Golden Gate Park and ride the N-Judah to 9th, there is Park Gyros just outside the park and they make a good falafel wrap.

For sights, it depends on what kind of sights you like to see. Do you have any preferences? Did you check out the first thread in this forum?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/san-francisco/735353-things-do-places-go-san-francisco.html

BillJ

For a good, cost effectve time in SF, check out the following:

For Good food and destination - you should stop at Fisherman's Wharf and get a breadbowl full of chowder ($5). For more of a dinner, you sould go to the North Beach Area (Italian section, righ next to China Town). For low-cost, good food, check out Bocce's on the corner of Grant and Green. This used ot be the old spaghetti factory. They have a main seating area and a pattio in the back. Cool place to eat and plenty of pasta options in the $10 or less range. I also really like Puccini's on Collumbus. This is a great restaurant, that shares a kitchen with Pinocchio's. The latter has white table cloths, and is more expensive, but both share the same kitchen and have same food options, while Puccini's is cheaper.

After dinner, you should really head by the Saloon (the oldest continuously operating bar in SF), it turns 150 years old this year. Great live Blues every night and starts at 4:00 on Th, F, Sat, and Sun. It also has some of the cheapest drinks in town and the bartenders who have all been workign there for over 20 years, have a very heavy pour, so it is almost like getting two for one. The Saloon is located a block away from eithe Bocce's or Puccini's, on 1232 Grant Street, at the corner of Grant and Fresno. If you head there Sunday nigth, Blues Power is playing 4:00-8:00 and Johnny Nitro and the Door Slammers are the late show from 10:00-2:00 am. Christine will be bartending during the day and Augie at night. This is a DO-NOT-MISS kind of place.


Enjoy !

Some of my favorite places

Legion of Honor--art museum, but one of the most spectacular views of the city. There is also a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin headlands.

Golden Gate Park. Huge park with the Academy of Sciences, and lots of other neat stuff.

China Town, get a recommendation for a restaurant. I can't remember the name of the one I liked. Fortune Cookie factory.

The Marina area--the park, the Exploratorium

Coit Tower

The Old Mission

The Castro

I'm not terribly fond of Fisherman's Wharf

Ferry ride to Sausalito and wander around there

Just wandering around San Francisco

I don't know much about public transportation in San Francisco--I've usually had a car and have driven to one or more of my favorite spots. I usually stay in Marin or across the bay when I visit.

Any advice on where to take the family for only 1 day in SF. I have business in Napa then we are flying down to LA, but I wanted to atleast show my wife some of San Fran for a day. Should be go to the Warf and see the bridge or is there somewhere my daughter would love to go I don;t know about? Thanks for the advice!

I give a strong recommendation to the California Academy of Sciences in GG Park.