San Francisco Travel Guide
Travel guide to San Francisco, California with comprehensive information about events, shopping, and major San Francisco sporting events to help you enjoy your visit more.
San Francisco Overview
Instantly recognisable landmarks, centre of California's wine region, a city that boasts the Golden Gate Bridge as its icon, San Francisco is a spectacular city of entertainment, cultural change and remarkable history. San Francisco is also a business city, where, the technologies of the future are created in Silicon Valley, and the gold rushes of the past are remembered in the museums and street names.
San Francisco is the place to go to see the place where the hippie movement was born at Haight Ashbury, and also the legendary cable cars and Chinatown.
San Francisco offers plenty of sport, relaxation and culture to its visitors, but more than that, the city offers the chance to have some good fun.
There is no shortage of places to go out for the evening in San Francisco: the city boasts more than 2000 bars and clubs that cater to pretty much every taste and interest.
As such an eclectic place, there is a cosmopolitan feel to San Francisco that rivals even New York, and the city's reputation as a major arts centre means that there are lots of galleries to explore, which host regular exhibitions of local painters and sculptors.
Top San Francisco Attractions
If sightseeing is your bag, then a trip to San Francisco is a great idea. With literally hundreds of great attractions in and around the city, it is easy to see why San Francisco is one of the top tourist destinations in America.
Some of the most popular sights include Alcatraz - the famous prison island in the bay; Fisherman's wharf has some great restaurants; Chinatown is home to around 30,000 people, and is one of the most instantly recognisable areas of San Francisco.
For a great view of San Francisco, why not arrange a helicopter tour of the bay. You will see the famous Golden Gate Bridge from the air, and see the sight of Alcatraz from above.
Shopping in San Francisco
Unlike many US cities, there are not many large indoor malls in San Francisco, instead, the city tends to have clusters of shops. Union Square is the heart of the city, and the place to go for the big names like Saks and Macy's, while the nearby Metreon Centre is a great place to go for gadgets in the heart of Silicon Valley.
San Francisco chic is the name given to the shabby hippie look made popular by the city's more bohemian residents, and every weekend, there are flea markets all over San Francisco where you can get the look cheaply. If you'd rather combine the thrown together style of the hippies with the "right" label, head for Filmore Street where there are plenty of designer shops waiting to take your money.
San Francisco Sporting Events
San Francisco's most famous team are the 49ers NFL franchise, but you can also see the Oakland (formerly Los Angeles) Raiders close by. Baseball fans can watch the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's, while the Golden State Warriors are a top-notch basketball team.
If you prefer to participate in sport, hilly San Francisco has some great cycling trails, and there is an annual marathon you could enter.
