How to get the most out of two days in San Francisco

San Francisco has something for everyone, and you could easily tailor those days to your specific interests like food, museums, history, shopping etc. This guide to two days in San Francisco will hit all the highlights that either a first time, or frequent visitor can enjoy. 

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How to get around San Francisco

Before you can see all the sites and attractions, you need to figure out how to get around the city.  Unless you are continuing your travels outside of the city after your two days in San Francisco, I would strongly advise against having a car in the city.  Between traffic and parking, it’s more effort and cost than it’s worth.  Instead, public transportation is your friend, and a ride share is your backup.  

I highly recommend downloading the MuniMobile app and getting a day pass for $5.70 (city transit only, does not include BART or cable cars) or you can get a one day pass that also includes all the cable car rides your heart desires for $15. For reference, a single cable car ride is $9.

Where to stay in San Francisco

For a short 48 hours in San Francisco, you want to stay fairly central to the downtown city center.  The bulk of hotels will be clustered around Union Square, Lower Nob Hill, The Tenderloin and SoMa district.  With a few sprinkled in the Financial District and near the Fisherman’s Wharf. 

These San Francisco hotels will have easy access to public transportation, or be walkable to many different popular parts of the city. 

I stayed at the Hotel Garrett in SoMA.  Read more about the Hotel Garrett and my review here. 

Two days in San Francisco itinerary

The trick to traveling in a big city like San Francisco is to make sure you’re being efficient with your time to fit a lot of things into the trip, without being overwhelmed. 

The best way to do this is being efficient with your day and planning out where you go and when.  And whatever you do, be sure to bring comfortable walking shoes, and layers as you never know what the weather will be like in San Francisco from the start of the day to the end. 

San Francisco travel itinerary Day 1: Presidio, Fort Mason and Fisherman’s Wharf 

Morning

If this is the day you arrive, make sure to block out plenty of transportation time and do anything that requires a timed ticket later in the day.  

If you’ve already arrived, enjoy breakfast around your hotel.  Heist Restaurant is a great breakfast spot near Union Square. 

Next make your way over to the Palace of Fine Arts just outside the Presidio. This park and exhibition center was created for the 1915 World’s Fair and designed with Greco-Roman style colonnades and massive central open air rotunda.  Despite its popularity, it is actually quite peaceful.  Go find a bench along the pond and enjoy a moment of zen in such an active city. 

After you’ve wandered through the Palace of Fine Arts, continue towards the bay where you will find Crissie Field East Beach.  Here you will find an unobstructed view of the Golden Gate Bridge, so long as Karl the Fog isn’t hanging around. 

Afternoon

You can continue your walk along the water, or grab a Lime bike or scooter, through Fort Mason Park. Then, make your way to Ghiradelli Square.  For chocolate lovers, you can learn more about the company and indulge yourself with chocolate treats.  

Take time to grab lunch at one of the many restaurants in and around Ghirardelli Square, or have a true California experience and visit the In-N-Out Burger three blocks away. 

Continue your journey onwards to the Fisherman’s Wharf.  

Fisherman’s Wharf

If you like arcades and carnival games, quickly pop into Musée Mécanique. This is a free antique arcade game museum. 

Find your way over to Pier 39 and take a San Francisco Bay Cruise. This is a fun one hour boat ride through the bay where you get up close and personal with the Golden Gate Bridge.  You’ll also circle around Alcatraz Island, and learn some of the city history as well.  Blue & Gold Fleet offers a variety of other cruises as well.

You can read all about my San Francisco Bay Cruise here. 

Once the tour is done, you can go see the sea lions at Pier 39.  The rest of the pier is ultra touristy, so I don’t recommend that unless you have small children that need to be entertained by any means possible.  

Evening

At this point, you’ll probably need a break.  This is a good time to head back to your hotel and have a breather.  For dinner, there is no shortage of quality restaurants in the city.  Just outside Union Square check out Wayfare Tavern or 54 Mint Cucina Romana. 

For a more local experience, go south to the Mission District. This is a lively and popular neighborhood in the city.  It is also best known as the birthplace of the “mission style” burrito. 

Want a post dinner cocktail?  Bourbon and Branch is a popular speakeasy that originated during the prohibition era.  Today’s bar is split into a few different areas. There is the main bar area when you gain entry, Wilson & Wilson, and the Library.  The Library is accessible without a reservation using the password “books”, but the other two areas require reservations ahead of time.  This is also a phone free establishment, so don’t go with the expectation of sharing on your socials. 

2 day San Francisco itinerary Day 2: Fillmore District, Embarcadero, Russian Hill and Chinatown

Morning

Start your second day in San Francisco with breakfast at Brenda’s French Soul Food in The Tenderloin. 

If you enjoy art museums, walk three blocks south to the Asian Art Museum.  

Continue your morning west at Alamo Park. The name may not sound familiar, but it will be immediately recognizable to any millennial. This is the park where you can see the famous “Painted Ladies” Victorian homes, one of which was the location of the Tanner family house in “Full House”.  

While the houses are pretty, the park itself is a destination. It has great city views, and is a perfect place to hang out, read a book, or have lunch in the park. 

After enjoying the views and a post breakfast stroll, head back towards Union Square and SoMA.  You can stop along the way to go to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or Museum of the African Diaspora.  

But if museums are not your jam, keep going towards the Embarcadero, and get off at the Ferry Building.  

Afternoon

The Ferry Building is one of the most iconic buildings in the city after the Transamerica Pyramid.  Today, this historic building is a marketplace for local shops and restaurants, as well as a farmer’s market three days a week. 

This is the place to find beautiful local gifts and souvenirs, or get a quick bite from food stalls and restaurants like El Porteño and Gott’s Roadside. With the exception of a few restaurants, the majority of vendors close at 6pm or sooner. Early afternoon is ideal to visit and ensure everything will be open. 

From the Ferry Building, walk three blocks south (or take the tram) and hop on one of the world famous San Francisco cable cars.  Take the California Street line up to Powell Street and transfer to the Powell/Hyde Street line.  Make sure you have the $15 unlimited day pass to take multiple cable cars over the course of the day. 

Cable Cars

Next, exit at the Cable Car Museum.   This is both a museum dedicated to the history of the cable cars in San Francisco as well as the central hub for the cable cars and the machinery running them.  This is a free museum, but they close at 4pm, so get there no later than 315-330 pm to have time to walk through.  Also, the gift shop is cash only should you want to purchase any souvenirs. 

If you still haven’t had your fill of cable car excitement, you can hop back on the Powell/Hyde Street line and head toward Lombard Street.  This is one of the most famous streets in the city due to the steep winding road.   In the spring, the gardens are in full bloom with hydrangeas. 

Continue walking Lombard street until you reach Columbus Ave, then head south back into the city center. If you need a break, stop by Washington Square Park, or you can get on the Powell/Mason cable car back towards Union Square and SoMa. 

Evening

For the evening, spend time wandering through Chinatown. From Union Square, start at the Dragon Gate and walk north.  Or if you didn’t need a break, walk from Washington Square Park along Columbus Ave, then cross over to Grant Street to find Chinatown. 

In Chinatown there are shops galore to peruse.  Or enjoy the street views with beautiful hanging lanterns, brightly colored buildings, street art, and decorative street lights. 

If you love American Chinese food, this is the area to have dinner.  Popular spots in Chinatown include House of Nanking and China Live. For dessert stop by Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. 

For Italian food lovers, continue north into North Beach, San Francisco’s historically Italian neighborhood.  A local favorite is Tony’s Pizza Napoletana.  On nice days/nights, grab the pizza to go and dine al fresco across the street in Washington Square Park.   This is such a popular activity, they even have pizza box compost bins.  

Ghost tour

If you had an early dinner, and still have energy to burn, consider taking a San Francisco Ghost Tour.  This 90 minute tour starts in Union Square, walks up into Nob Hill, then circles back down to the start.  

You can read all about my San Fran Ghost Tour here. 

Two days in San Francisco itinerary map

Here is an interactive map of everywhere listed in this guide on how to see San Francisco in 2 days. 

How I spent my two days in San Francisco

I’ve been to San Francisco maybe 6 times now, but prior to my most recent trip it had been a few years since I had visited, despite being only a two hour flight away.  Since I’ve spent a lot of time in the city for work or with friends, I hadn’t done much tourist activity in SF in quite awhile.  

My second day was supposed to include an all day tour out to wine country, but the tour company cancelled at the last minute which meant I had a full day to fill up.  I took this opportunity to visit many of the tourist places in San Francisco that I hadn’t seen before. 

Here’s my exact 2 days in San Francisco itinerary and some additional travel tips. 

Day 1 in San Francisco

Airport to San Francisco

First, land at SFO (or possibly Oakland) and find your way to airtrain.  This is the airport train system between terminals.  From here, you want the International Terminal G Gates stop to access the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit).  This is the train system that connects the entire Bay Area. 

There are two trains that connect SFO to downtown San Francisco, the Red and Yellow lines.  Once you get on the train, it is about 30-35 minutes into the city center, depending on your stop.

Check into hotel

I had a morning flight into San Francisco, so by the time I landed and got into the city it was around 1pm.  For this trip, I stayed at the Hotel Garrett in the SoMa neighborhood. I wasn’t able to check into my hotel without an early arrival fee, but they did let me drop by bags. 

Read more about my Hotel Garrett stay here. 

Lunch date

I started my day in the city a short walk from my hotel at 54 Mint for lunch with an old client turned friend.  If you are looking for a specialty bespoke wine experience, Clarence at CK Curated is the person to connect with.  For lunch we ordered the Amatriciana and Gnocchi al Ragu with no complaints. 

After a fun catch up, we parted ways and I was able to check into my hotel before heading off to my next adventure. 

San Francisco Bay Cruise

The second half of my day kicked into overdrive when I met up with my friend AJ at Pier 39 for a San Francisco Bay Cruise.  

You can read all about my San Francisco Bay Cruise here. 

The Embarcadero

We couldn’t leave Fisherman’s Wharf before saying “hi” to the Pier 39 Sea Lions.  After this, we had a leisurely stroll along the Embarcadero.  Unlike other areas of the city, this is extremely flat and easy to walk.  

We popped into the Ferry Building which I don’t remember being this cool, but it had been a while since my last time there. We stopped at El Porteño for empanadas since dinner wouldn’t be until later that night.  

Union Square + Nob Hill Ghost Tour

Our 2 mile stroll was only the beginning of our walking journey through the city.  The next activity was a San Francisco Ghost Tour. This was a fun way to learn some unique history about the city and see areas that were new to me.  

You can read all about my San Francisco Ghost Tour here. 

Dinner

After walking 8 miles for the day, it was finally time to rest and refuel. AJ brought me to a small hole in the wall Indian and Pakistani restaurant near Union Square called Red Chili Halal.  I let him take the reins on what to order, which may have been a mistake for how much food we ended up eating.  This is a great small family run spot with hearty portions. 

Day 2 in San Francisco

Since the originally planned day tour was cancelled, I had a free day to fill, and I did just that.

Crissy Field & Palace of Fine Arts

After checking out of my hotel and stashing my bags once again, I went off in search of a bus to take me out towards the Palace of Fine Arts.  Once in the Presidio, I took a quick walk to Crissy Field East Beach to get another view of the Golden Gate Bridge before walking to the Palace of Fine Arts. 

This is an area I’ve seen in movies and shows, but never took the time to visit.  What a mistake. It’s definitely a place I wish I’d visited sooner.

Alamo Square & the Painted Ladies

It was back to the bus and uphill into the Fillmore District to visit the Painted Ladies.  Another part of the city I’ve never visited.   While the houses were pretty, I really enjoyed the park. 

I had lunch at a nearby Chinese food restaurant called Kung Food, which has a very reasonable lunch special by the way.  But what I should have done was order food first, then have a nice lunch in the park. 

Cable Cars

I took the bus over to visit the Cable Car Museum since it was free.  It ended up being really interesting reading about the plan to remove the cars altogether until a few vocal citizens helped save them.  

Then I took my first cable car ride EVER. Yes, in the 5-6 visits over 20 years I had never once been on a cable car.  It’s a fun experience, and better when you get the unlimited transportation pass.  But good luck finding a seat outside to get that Instagram worthy photo.  The cable cars are busy all day. 

I took another cable car over to walk down Lombard Street before taking a third cable car trip (I really got my money’s worth out of my day pass) towards Chinatown.

Chinatown

Based on my comments above, it should not be surprising to hear that I had also never been to Chinatown.  It was finally time to rectify that, and I’m glad I did.  I loved the aesthetics of this area and spent a good amount of time wandering. 

Goodbye San Francisco

After a brief walking break at Washington Square Park, I went back to my hotel and picked up my bags.  From there I caught the BART back to SFO and flew home. 

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