San Francisco and Hawaii

[Kejan]

Has anyone on here been to Hawaii? And if so, what islands would you recommend? I'm hoping to go to 2 islands, a week on each and then 6-7 days in San Fran. For SF, is 6 days enough time to see bits of Big Sur, Napa Valley and is the likes of San Jose worth checking out? I've been to Frisco before in 2004, and I only really went to Alcatraz and spent the rest of the time just wandering around Fisherman's Wharf and downtown. Is there a must see/do thing in SF? Also, thinking of going to the Raiders - Colts NFL game before coming home, it looks fairly straight forward getting to Oakland, is it not a big rough?

Apologies if this thread is a bit all over the place, but thanks in advance.

[paul wright scores]

Big Sur was closed when I was there in May/June, so check whether it is now opened.

We cycled over to Sausalito which was good - it is a lovely place.   You could cycle further out towards Muir Woods if you have time.

We also went to the baseball, which was good as a one off,  but I couldn't watch that regularly; the season may well have ended by the time you get there. 

 

 

[Cerberus]

You should check out the Salesforce Tower and the Transitbay. They just opened over the last month or so.

There's not a lot in San Jose tbh. It's urban sprawl of malls, houses and business.
Santana Row is probably the bit to visit if you do go there.

If you want to drive south them Carmel is a decent wee town.
Palo Alto and the Stanford campus are nice. 

I don't like wine so I find the Napa / Sonoma vineyards dull tbh.
There are hundreds of vineyards as well so pick wisely. Some of the wine tasting is expensive.
I do like the drive up there though. The scenery is great.
I usually take visitors to V. Sattui and Oxbow public market and we're usually done with it after that.

[DeeBairn]

I visited Napa to see family, but as sadi above, if you don't like wine, it's pretty much just miles and miles of vineyards. We did cut up through there and then came back down the pacific highway, which was stunning. South of San Francisco is pretty much just urban sprawl, so I'd recommend a day trip up the coast/across the bay and spend the rest in the city. Alcatraz is worth a visit. Coit tower is good for the views. Theres a dive bar by the name of Black Magic Voodoo Lounge on the corner of Van Ness and Lombard which is worth a visit if you are in the area. The subs just down the road are good too. Fishermans Wharf is your standard tourist fare. Take the cable cars down into Market and Castro for a look around., If you go to civic square, dont wander onto the streets behind Macys unless you want ganged by tramps.

[Stu]

The train stops at the Colliseum for the Raiders, just a case of going across a bridge to the stadium. Main problem was it took about an hour to get from the stadium to the train on the way out as everyone has to go across the walkway. Oakland doesn't look too pleasant from the train but you'll be fine if you just go to the game. If the baseball isn't on, still do a tour of AT&T Park as it's an amazing location.

If you're doing Alcatraz you'll need to buy tickets in advance as they sell out weeks beforehand. You can do it online, they're available three months ahead of whatever date you're going for.

Make sure you walk across Golden Gate Bridge and get a day/week pass for the transit system. Covers the subway (though not the train to Oakland), buses and the cable cars - and as the latter cost about $7 a time it pays for itself pretty quickly.

[vikingTON]

Santa Cruz and Monterey are interesting towns worth visiting on the coast between San Francisco and Big Sur. Heading down to Monterey for a night would allow for more time on Big Sur - there's plenty of other coastal scenery just south of the town as well. 

[Arabdownunder]

Big Sur road reopened in July

[Kejan]

Thanks very much lads, with the suggestions. 

Lovely! 

[The Minertaur]

If you had just 1 day in San Francisco what would you recommend doing?  Golden Gate Bridge and Fishermans Wharf area?

[doulikefish]

Alcatraz aswell,the tour boats basically leave from Fishermans Wharf and its well worth a few hours of your time

[doulikefish]

Also highly recommend whale watching in Hawaii.Only time ive ever seen whales breaching its a pretty impressive sight.We did it on Maui

[Black Dug]

Spent a couple of days in Honolulu. It was a bit disappointing, as I was expecting more. Waikiki beach is alright but if I was going again I wouldn't go back to either. Seeing someone get slashed while walking down the road at 2 in the afternoon might have given me a bad first impression though...

[L. Brilliant]

Alcatraz aswell,the tour boats basically leave from Fishermans Wharf and its well worth a few hours of your time

Book in advance - that's a must unless something has changed in the last two years.

If you're at Fisherman's Wharf walk over to Musée Mechanique, museum of coin operated entertainments!
Also at FW, don't sit at the bar for a pint unless you feel like paying $12 a pop

[stu20vt]

On 04/09/2018 at 20:28, doulikefish said:

Alcatraz aswell,the tour boats basically leave from Fishermans Wharf and its well worth a few hours of your time

Do the evening tour of Alcatraz if you can. We did the day tour then a few days later the evening one when it was dark. Both were excellent but the evening one was more eerie.  Fantastic city.

[pub car king]

Don't know about Hawaii but spent 4 days in San Francisco for my honeymoon and absolutely loved it. Alcatraz is a must as is the cable cars, there's a free museum as well which is good. We biked the bridge which was great but that bridge is fucking busy, the other side is nice though and you get the ferry back from Sausalito past Alcatraz right into the pier.

The hills will kill you but it's great to walk around the place and so recognisable. By the way they're  not lying about the fog there it took us 3 days to actually see the golden gate.

Edited September 24, 2018 by pub car king

[Jute]

If you go to Monterey the aquarium is worth a visit also the beach at Carmel just down the coast is stunning. As others have said Alcatraz tour is a must in San Francisco. Also Golden Gate Park is worth a visit with Academy of Science and De Young museum. Loads to do in the city. Making our 5th visit in November. Absolutely love the place.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Jute

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

If you are flying into SF then trust me you will be up really early your first morning, we were wide awake about 5am, we used that to our advantage and got on the first cable car of the day from union square to fishermans wharf, later on in the day we saw queues of well over an hour to get on one.
We saw Kasabian in Oakland, on the train there you see some hairy bits but I didnt feel unsafe in Oakland, actually the part of SF we stayed in (Hilton Union Sq) was rougher. Also the A’s just made the MLB wildcard playoff so there should be a good buzz about the place.
If you get the chance to see a raiders game id go for it, or a 49ers match. Id echo the sausalito recommendation, lovely wee town.

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Went to Oakland Raiders a couple of years back. Atmosphere was fantastic. Every time Oakland got a score it was high fives all round. Really enjoyable way to spend half a day.

[Kejan]

Cheers folks!

Pretty much all booked (apart from the 5 nights in SF at the end, if anyone has a suggestion of a nice area, airbnb/hotel ; more than welcome )

SF - Maui - Kauai - SF

Thank you for the tips! We are going to the Raiders-Colts game on the 28th.

[Scary Bear]

I thought P&B would know what to do in San Francisco, so I did a search and came across this thread. I am booked to go there in July this year.