San Fransisco 1-Day Itinerary Inspiration

I am baackkkk! Man, time flies huh. I didn't realize that I've abandoned this mini hobby of mine for 1 and a half years. Silly me, I made a promise to keep it up but what happened was the exact opposite. Oh well, better late than never!

I've been meaning to post several topics since I've been traveling and have taken a bunch of pictures in the hopes that I could write a blog about them. Hehe. In the summer of 2018, our travel gang (i mean my family) went to Canada and the US for our trip. I have lots to say and share about the first one but right now I feel like writing the easier one first.

Ordering Uber!

During most of our trips, we rely heavily on public transportation, especially metros or subways because they offer fixed and clear destinations which we prefer because of the feeling of 'stability' (or me at least, lol. don't really wanna get blamed for stopping at the wrong bus stop by those 3). When I learned that SF didn't really have the kind of transportation that we usually use in other big cities, I looked up whether the city is walkable. As it turns out, half of the places on my list are! I figured we could order Uber to the rest of the places and that's exactly what we did.

Before we get right into it, I just wanna share this amazing hotel that my sister found (she's mostly on hotel duty), the location is perfect, in the center of the Union Square with Trader Joe's next door! It's called Hotel Zelos and we only needed 1 room as they allow 4 adults to stay in the same room with 2 double beds.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Papa brought breakfast in the cafe nearby :3

#The Cheesecake Factory and The Union Square

We checked in around 2 pm the day before so we had time to walk around and have a pleasant dinner in the famous The Cheesecake Factory. It must be around 4 pm by the time we got there and it was so PACKED! We had to wait about 15 mins before the server called us. The main courses were okay, but the cheesecake was so good! We were quite skeptical at first and thought it was overrated. One bite of the cake had us raising our hands to order some more, lol.

View from the restaurant 

Opted for the raspberry one since we're not really big on cheesecakes; as it turns out we were just eating the wrong ones all this time.

Calamari for the appetizer, steak, and a few other dishes that were not pictured.

The restaurant was located in Macy's so we (obviously) stayed for some shopping.  We strolled around the square for a little bit and bought some snacks in Trader Joe's before getting tucked in for the night. Tomorrow's going to be a productive one!

The Union Square area is roamed by some homeless people but they are usually harmless as long as we didn't bother them.

The iconic heart statue + golden hour 

1 Day in San Francisco Easy Itinerary

#1 Ghirardelli Square store in Union Square

Tbh, I really want to stop by the actual Ghirardelli Square but we're a lil short on time due to my miscalculation :) Bought some really good dark chocolate squares only to snack, since we don't want to carry around huge shopping bags. Ordered some ice cream too!

The ice cream is really good, milky but not so heavy :p I'm running out of adjectives to describe food!

#2 Public Market

We're a big fan of markets since they usually have a variety of food and other goodies, and always visit 1 in every city. We ate brunch at Hog Island Oyster co. and stroll around for a little bit, taking in the change of scenery after our back-to-nature trip in the Rockies.

Tip: check for reviews and pictures for the menu before you order, I've linked it above!

I can't really remember the name of the sauce, but it tasted like garlic, butter, and salt. Approved!

Asian tourists 101

Bought some olive oil-based lip balm and body oil. Not a fan of the balm tho. 

The Blue Bottle Coffee is right across this ice cream stall and it's quite crowded, thankfully we found this ice cream :)

#3 The Golden Bridge and Crissy Field

No, we didn't walk here to save time. It is actually walkable, and I'll link it to my reference here. I decided to tell the Uber driver to drop us at Crissy Field because here we can get a full view of the bridge. Sadly, the bridge area was foggy by the time we arrived until we left. It was hella windy too, I almost thought SF was known as the windy city! Mama knows best since she already comes prepared with 4 scarfs lol. I was freeeezing. Ok exaggerating. Just something to keep in mind! Oh and, please watch your babies and little kids cos they can easily topple over (we certainly almost did), especially near the bridge. The field itself is quite safe.

This is where we almost lost our scarfs and had to walk around with our hair blowing on our faces.

#4 Palace of Fine Arts

We walked for approx. 20 mins from Crissy Field to the Palace of Fine Arts. 30 mins if you stop several times to pose, hehe. By the time we got there we were starving so we wanted to rush it. Nope. Got out 1 hour later, we're too mesmerized. Uber-ed our way to our next destination!

#5 Fisherman's Wharf Pier 39

Fiuh. Our bellies were screaming during the ride. Thankfully, we got a seat rather quickly at Fog Harbor Fish House due to the late lunch hour (around 3-4 pm). There was a queue when we finished tho, so keep in mind if you want to pay this place a visit. 

The platter was really nice; the clam chowder was not the best. The bread was too stiff for our liking, we had a better one at Vancouver's Granville Island market.

Hmm how to describe this.. it tasted like lukewarm ice cream but denser and more "gurih".

#6 Lombard Street 

There's actually nothing much to do here, except for driving through the street. There were real houses on the street, which we were so curious about. Our taxi driver was nice enough to wait and snap us some pictures. It was so bright we couldn't see a thing but so excited to be there, as can you can see. Either that, or we wanted to pose as quickly as possible since we saw a new wave of tourists coming down a bus, I can't really tell. The driver then took us to our next destination nearby.

#7 Painted Ladies

The taxi dropped us on the front of a park and we had to walk across it to find these houses. We were obviously too tired to explore after a very packed day. But it would be nice if there was some extra time to bring fruits and snacks since the park is not that crowded and full of tourists. I'm not sure if we went there on a lucky day or it's just a regular neighborhood park.

Tourist-free!!

#8 Japantown

Japantown is only a 5-minute-walk from the Painted Ladies. Careful when walking through the area, we were kinda creeped out since it was quite empty.....let's say we watched too many movies and have really advanced imagination skills. Also, we probably walked to the wrong road (not the main entrance to Japantown) so we were a little worried. Made it just fine tho! Oddly, even the Japantown itself is quite deserted in our opinion. We picked a ramen restaurant on the right side, Ramen Yamadaya, which seemed to be the most crowded. The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor and we had to take a number before seated.

Ok, I lied when I said it was an 'easy' itinerary. I totally forgot that we went to 8 spots in one day. Let's hope I don't make the same mistake. We were bone-tired by the time we had that ramen. Twas' still a really good day and I think those 8 could still tackle-able if you're pressed for time like I did. Oh and definitely try to ride Muni! I saw some of them in Union Square but didn't manage to ride one. 

Emphasizing on the tired part...

Till the next post!

Ciao. Xoxo, K.