The Top 5 Reasons to Visit San Francisco, California Now
BY TRIPVEEL EDITORIAL STAFF | September 2019
The Gold Rush. The Summer of Love. Rice-A-Roni. Situated on a peninsula with forty hills of varying heights, San Francisco is a city unlike any other city in the United States. While the notoriously steep streets are traversed by the famous cable cars, the city is known for its ethnic diversity. Did you know the Chinese fortune cookie was invented by a Japanese resident?
Image courtesy of San Francisco Travel
1. THE HIKING
In the Sutro District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, there is wild and windy trail with stunning views at every turn that is known as one of the best places in San Francisco for a hike. Experience four scenic miles at Lands End Trail that wind their way around rocky cliffs above the ocean, moving through shady stands of cypress and eucalyptus.
Image courtesy of San Francisco Travel
From here to Lands End Point, the trail continues relatively flat and covered in trees with quick glimpses of the Golden Gate Bridge through the foliage. A trip down the trail is also a journey through the history of Lands End, offering glimpses of the past at every turn and provide fantastic examples of coastal terrain and stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge from many different angles.
The trail continues through lush foliage before opening back up again right near Eagle Point. Eagle Point Overlook provides a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
2. THE ART
San Francisco’s Mission District has one of the highest concentrations of street art of any neighborhood in the world. Over 500 murals have been created since the early 1970s—using a variety of themes from the social and political, to the historical and fun.
Down alleyways, on main streets, in full view on large buildings and hidden in unassuming spots—artistic street murals are everywhere you turn throughout San Francisco. Beyond art, residents and visitors alike stroll along the sidewalk frequenting nearby cafes, bars and shops. All the while they are able to admire the art that surrounds them. Proof that infrastructure and art can do wonders for a neighborhood.
3. THE COCKTAILS
In 1875, the first Palace opened as the most luxurious hotel in the world—remaining the Grand Dame of San Francisco today. The Pied Piper painting was commissioned from Maxfield Parrish for the hotel’s reopening in 1909 and has remained in the Palace Hotel namesake bar for over a century. Pied Piper is designed for mixing and mingling and enjoying expertly crafted signature Palace cocktails like “The Boothby.” Created by William T. Boothby who was born in 1862, he was San Francisco’s premiere pre-prohibition mixologist. Concocted with sweet vermouth, bourbon and bitters stirred together to make a Manhattan—it’s then finished with a champagne float, making it just the right amount of boozy, yet elegantly effervescent.
A delectable menu features delicious shareable plates such as Harissa BBQ'd Cauliflower & Heirloom Carrots, Truffle Fries, Candied Bacon Dip with Jumbo Pretzel and larger plates like Piper Wagyu Burger (recognized as one of the best burgers in San Francisco) and Kuna Bay Salmon with beluga lentils, confit baby heirloom tomatoes and lobster jus.
As a storied San Francisco icon for over 100 years, experience a local legend.
4. THE GARDENS
Created in the 1870s, Golden Gate Park is home to gardens, lakes, windmills, bison and other wild animals such as coyotes and mountain lions. As the oldest building in Golden Gate Park, The Conservatory of Flowers is also one of the world's largest conservatories, as well as one of few large Victorian greenhouses in the United States.
Image courtesy of San Francisco Travel
Inside the conservatory you’ll find the Potted Plant Room, which holds various unusual plants—the pots and urns were created by artists from around the world. The Lowlands Gallery contains plants from the tropics of South America such as bananas, coffee and cinnamon while the Aquatics Gallery is similar in conditions as those near the Amazon River.
The Japanese Tea Garden is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States and is rumored as the site of introduction for the fortune cookie to America.
The Japanese Tea Garden serves as a spot of tranquility in the middle of the 1,000-acre park and provides visitors a place in which it is possible to be at one with nature, its rhythms and changing beauties.
5. THE ARCHITECTURE
San Francisco is a city known for its neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own character. As you walk from neighborhood to neighborhood the city’s facade changes with varying architecture.
Image courtesy of San Francisco Travel
While Queen Anne Victorian is the most prevalent type of architecture in San Francisco—Gothic Revival, Beaux-Arts, Mission Revival, amongst others run rampant in notable neighborhoods such as Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, Union Square, Laurel Heights and Presidio Heights neighborhoods.
After the 1906 earthquake large swathes of its hilly terrain were rebuilt virtually overnight—San Francisco is proud of its architectural heritage.
Ready to book your San Francisco, California vacation?
