48 Hours from: San Francisco

The hilly city's quirky ways and fascinating cultural mix never fail to charm

By Lucy Gillmore
Saturday, 7 September 2002

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Why go now?

The tangy expanse of the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars' clang, Victorian houses in cheery pastels, near-vertical hills and the crookedest street in the world are just a few of the things that make San Francisco one of the most captivating American cities. And September, when the chilly fog that perversely sidles in from the Pacific during the sum-mer dissipates, giving way to an almost tropical autumn, is the perfect time to visit. Temperatures simmer in the 70s, and the sunny city, a rich cultural and ethnic mix, celebrates with a harvest of festivals: fringe theatre (until 15 September), Vivas Las Americas (Hispanic music and dance, 14-15 September) and the San Francisco Blues Festival (28-29 September) for starters. Contact San Francisco CVB (001 415 283 0177, www.sfvisitor.org).

Why go now?

Beam down

Three airlines fly non-stop from London Heathrow to San Francisco: British Airways (0845 77 333 77, www.ba.com), Virgin Atlantic (01293 747747, www.virgin.com/atlantic) and United Airlines (0845 844 4777, www.uk.ual.com). Fares are usually lowest through discount agents. Trailfinders (020-7937 5400) has flights on British Airways until 31 October (must be booked by 1 October) from £345. The gleaming new airport (www.flysfo.com) completed in 2000 (there's an aviation museum on site and the airport hosts regular art exhibitions), is 14 miles south of the city. A new BART station (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is due to open this winter, cutting the journey time to downtown San Francisco to 30 minutes. In the meantime, you can catch bus 292 for $1.10 (70p) or use a door-to-door minibus service such as Super Shuttle (001 415 558 8500, $12-20/£7.70-13). A taxi costs around $35 (£22.50).

Get your bearings

San Francisco is on a hilly peninsula, lapped by the (particularly icy) waters of the Bay on one side, the crashing Pacific Ocean on the other. It's connected to Marin County to the north by the Golden Gate Bridge, and to the East Bay (Berkeley and Oakland) by the Bay Bridge. Its geography means that, unlike many US cities, San Francisco is not an intimidating sprawl. Quirky neighbourhoods squashed next to each other, from the Italian café culture of North Beach to posh Pacific Heights, from Castro's gay scene to the gritty Tenderloin, create a vibrant mosaic. There's affluent Russian Hill, Chinatown, the Marina District with its lovely Mediterranean-style homes and, of course, hippy haven Haight-Ashbury, in all its faded tie-dye glory. The streets are laid out on a typical American grid system, making this walkable (as long as you're prepared for some steep inclines) and approachable city easy to negotiate. The public transport network (buses, cable cars, streetcars) is also reliable and comprehensive. A one-day passport for unlimited travel is available from the Visitor Information Center 900 Market St (001 415 391 2000, www.sfvisitor.org) and a handful of ticket booths around the city and costs $6 (£3.90). The San Francisco Visitor Information Center also provides free maps and brochures.

Check in

There's no shortage of accommodation in San Francisco, and its hotels are as eclectic as its neighbourhoods. The largest concentration of tourist hotels is around Union Square and the revamped, but still slightly seedy, Tenderloin district. Nob Hill is home to the grande dame hotels, while for more individual boutique hotels and quaint B&Bs head to Cow Hollow, North Beach and Pacific Heights. Hotel Monaco 501 Geary St at Taylor (001 415 292 0100, www.monaco-sf.com), in the Tenderloin is a grand old Beaux Arts building dating back to 1910. In true San Francisco style, there are free tarot readings every evening at 5pm. Doubles start at $260 (£166). The Four Seasons is swanky luxury at 757 Market St between Third and Fourth (001 415 633 3000, www.fourseasons.com). Doubles cost from $340 (£217). For a mid-range option try the Bed and Breakfast Inn in Cow Hollow, 4 Charlton Court, off Union St between Laguna and Buchanan (001 415 921 9784, www.thebandb.com). Doubles cost from $170 (£109). For a typically offbeat Haight offering, the Red Victorian at 1,665 Haight Street, between Clayton and Cole (001 415 864 1978, www.redvic.com) has a handful of wildly decorated rooms from $98 (£62.50). The San Francisco Visitors Center also offers a free hotel reservation service, as does San Francisco Reservations (001 510 628 4450, www.hotelres.com).

Take a view

Picture-perfect shots slide in and out of the frame as you hang by your fingertips from a creaking cable car, rattling round corners and plunging down hills. From the top of Lombard Street, coined the crookedest street in the world, you can spy Coit Tower, a classic, and phallic, column on Telegraph Hill that supposedly resembles a firehose. The tower was a gift to the city from Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a socialite and patron of the arts who was fascinated by the fire department (she was rescued by firefighters as a child). On your way up to the viewing platform, from where you get 360-degree views, check out the murals painted in the Thirties by 25 local artists ($3.75/£2.40; daily 10am-7pm).

Take a hike

Across the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the World, this iconic symbol of the city was completed in 1937 and is seemingly earthquake-proof. While the Bay Bridge crumbled in 1989, the Golden Gate gave barely a wobble. There's a footpath along its length and the round trip is 3.5 miles (5.5km). The name derives not from its colour (a result of the locals' love of the fiery primer tint), but from the Golden Gate strait linking the bay to the Pacific.

Take a ride

San Francisco's cable cars owe their existence to the city's roller-coaster topography, and a brainwave by a canny Scot in 1873. Their design is based on the system used to transport ore in California's gold mines. Originally there were 100 miles of tracks criss-crossing the city. However, earthquake and fire and the advent of electric trolleys meant that they eventually began to be phased out. In 1947 plans were mooted to scrap them altogether; a proposal that was met with outrage. Today the cable car system (now a National Historic Landmark) runs over eight miles: the Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines both start at the foot of Powell St at Market, while the California line, shuttles back and forth along California St.

Lunch on the run

A cup of steaming clam chowder down at Fisherman's Wharf, the vibrant and garish tourist trap where ferries and fishermen jostle for space among the amusement arcades, will set you back $3.95 (£2.50). Or for a seat in the sun, head to Belden , an alleyway of restaurants off Bush near Kearney in the Financial District – packed with tables from the French Café Bastille, Italian Plouf or Spanish B44.

Cultural afternoon

City Lights, 261 Columbus Avenue at Broadway (001 415 362 8193, www.citylights.com) is not just a book shop, it's a cultural institution. Founded in the 1950s by the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, it was the first paperback book store in the United States and spearheaded San Francisco's poetry revival and activist tradition. It became the hangout for the Beat Generation (Allen Ginsberg et al, a name coined by Jack Kerouac. It's now three floors of poetry, politics, fiction and philosophy, and you can happily lose an afternoon browsing its shelves.

Window shopping

Union Square, which for 18 months was more building site than shopping nirvana, emerged brighter and shinier than ever before at the end of July. Now as well as all the usual department stores – Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Nordstrom, there are swanky new granite plazas, sculptures and palm trees. But to really get the most out of San Francisco retail therapy, you need to go neighbourhood shopping. Head to Grant Avenue for hip local designers, Post Street for luxury, Haight-Ashbury for retro-clothing and 1960s memorabilia, Fillmore Street for chic boutiques and Chinatown for pungent apothecaries.

An aperitif

San Francisco has a lively bar scene; the hippest clubs sizzle in the Latin Mission and Tenderloin, while yuppies hang-out in the Marina. The city is also handy for Napa and Sonoma, Californian wine country. At First Crush, 101 Cyril Magnin Street (001 415 982 7874), you can taste 350 Californian wines. Heading upmarket, the Bubble Lounge , 714 Montgomery Street (001 415 434 4204), is a dimly lit champagne bar. All exposed brick, candles and huge squashy sofas, the menu – a tome – has 22 pages of champagnes (from $60/£38 to $3,000/£1,900). Instead of peanuts, dip strawberries in hot chocolate fondue ($15/£10).

Dinner with the locals

This is the home of Californian cuisine, the fusion of local ingredients with multi-cultural influences made famous by Alice Waters in the 1970s. Her restaurant, Chez Panisse in Berkeley (1,517 Shattuck, 001 510 548 5049), is still a place of pilgrimage for foodies. Today San Francisco has a diverse culinary scene. Still on the wine trail, Bacar, 448 Brannan Street (001 415 904 4100) is a French-style brasserie in a converted warehouse in the hip South of Market district (Soma). With rough brick and timber, this three-storey restaurant's distinguishing feature is an entire wall of wine – a vertical cellar of glass inside which the wine, all 1,000 bottles of it, is kept at a constant temperature.

Sunday morning: go to church

The Mission is San Francisco's oldest neighbourhood and Mission Dolores, 3,321 16th St at Dolores (001 415 621 8203, open 9am-4pm, admission $3 or £1.90), one of the 21 missions built in California by the Spanish and dating back to 1776, is the oldest building in the city. This simple adobe chapel with its Mexican altars and redwood beams has survived four major earthquakes. Most religious services are held in the 20th-century basilica next door. There's also a small museum and graveyard.

Out to brunch

Brunch is an American institution, and San Francisco is no exception, whether it's waffles and pancakes in the cafés of North Beach or dim sum in Chinatown. Alternatively, take a ferry from Fisherman's Wharf across the bay to Sausalito or Tiburon in Marin County, slightly saccharine little fishing villages with narrow streets lined with craft shops, galleries and waterfront restaurants. In Tiburon, Sam's, 27 Main St (001 415 435 4527), with its large deck overlooking the San Francisco skyline (great view of the TransAmerica pyramid in the Financial District), is a favourite for brunch.

A walk in the park

Golden Gate Park is a whopping expanse of green fields covering 1,017 acres. Once (prior to 1871) it was a barren stretch of sand dunes. One landscape artist and a million trees (including the headily scented eucalyptus) later, the ball had been set in motion to create what is now an oasis of lakes, gardens, cycle paths and museums.

Write a postcard

From Alcatraz, sitting on the rock. There are 14 islands in San Francisco Bay, but the most famous is Alcatraz. This is where Al Capone was holed up. A prison since the 1870s, it became a federal penitentiary in 1934. Now it's one of San Francisco's top tourist attractions. Tickets with a chillingly atmospheric audio tour cost $13.50/£8.60. Catch the ferry from Pier 41 in Fisherman's Wharf; it departs every half hour daily from 9.30am-4.15pm.

The icing on the cake

Go to a ball game. The baseball season lasts from April-October and the Bay Area has two major league teams. The San Francisco Giants (001 415 972 2000, www.sfgiants.com) used to play in Candlestick Park, a dismal fog trap, until the swish new Pacific Bell Park stadium was built overlooking the Bay. If the Giants aren't at home, take a BART train out to Oakland ($5.50/£3.50 return) to watch the athletics (001 510 568 5600, www.oaklandathletics.com) at the Coliseum. You can pick up tickets in the bleachers (cheap seats) from $7 (£4.50) or Field Level behind the home plate (where the batter stands) for $22 (£14). For the real American experience stock up on hotdogs, beer and a bag of shelled peanuts.

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