TRAVEL-202609-uswest/sf_sights.md

# San Francisco — Places to See

*Candidate menu of sights. The chosen, day-by-day version lives in [`days/`](days/) (Sep 20–21).*

> **Getting around:** car for the Marin side (no transit there); BART + cable cars / F-line streetcar for the downtown core (parking is brutal). Base is Daly City, ~20–30 min south.

## Marin side (car only)

- **Marin Headlands / Battery Spencer** — the classic Golden Gate Bridge panorama; best at sunset, stay for blue hour. Tiny lot

## North Waterfront

- **Golden Gate Bridge** — Welcome Center + Fort Point underneath
- **Lombard Street** — the crooked block
- **Fisherman's Wharf / Pier 39** — sea lions
- **Ghirardelli Square** — chocolate + waterfront dining
- **Coit Tower** — city + bay views from Telegraph Hill
- **Alcatraz** — ferry from Pier 33, ~2.5–3 hrs round trip. *Book weeks ahead — sells out*

## Downtown / Central

- **Ferry Building** — marketplace, food. *Farmers market Tue/Sat — misses our Sun/Mon*
- **Cable cars** — California St or Powell lines
- **Union Square** — shopping core
- **Chinatown** — Dragon Gate, largest outside Asia
- **North Beach** — Little Italy, cafés

## West / Parks

- **Alamo Square** — the Painted Ladies
- **Golden Gate Park** — de Young Museum, Japanese Tea Garden. *de Young closed Mondays*
- **Lands End** — coastal trail, Sutro Baths ruins
- **Twin Peaks** — panoramic city viewpoint
- **Ocean Beach** — Pacific coast, sunsets

## Silicon Valley (car, ~45 min south)

- **Apple Park Visitor Center** — Cupertino; rooftop view of the ring, AR model, store. Campus itself is closed to the public
- **Google Visitor Experience** — Mountain View; store, café, Android statues
- ~~**Computer History Museum**~~ — Mountain View; closed Mon–Tue, doesn't fit our car day. ❌ Skipped
- **Stanford campus** — Palo Alto; Hoover Tower view

## Mission / Castro

- **Mission District** — murals (Clarion Alley, Balmy Alley), Dolores Park, best burritos in the city
- **Castro** — historic gay neighbourhood, Castro Theatre