San Francisco, California – (Updated 2024)
San Francisco
It takes me a minute or two to get used to a new place, and other times I immediately fall in love.
I felt that Northern California, especially San Francisco, would be a great fit for me after getting off the plane in San Francisco and seeing that the airport was full of great food and unique shops. When I got out of my hotel room, I saw cute Victorian-style homes sitting on the city’s famous hills.
When you go to Union Square, I suggest you bring an extra bag because it is a shopping paradise. You can shop at Nordstrom, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdale’s all in one place, making it easy to get a real American department store experience! Walk around the square until you reach the street called “Maiden Lane.” This is where you can go shopping for really expensive things. It’s a cute, small street that’s only for pedestrians and has little cafés in the middle. You can also go to Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Prada, and Hermes there.
The food lover found her place.
The phrase “great food town” was often used to describe San Francisco, but I always thought, isn’t every big city? Is there not something tasty everywhere? It looks like the reports were true. San Francisco did have some high-end restaurants, and not just fancy ones. The Ferry Building Marketplace on the Embarcadero was one of my favorite places to eat. The area is lovely, and there are many food sellers there, like Cowgirl Creamery with its delicious local artisan cheeses and Recchiuti Confections with its delicate chocolates. The whole building is also full of wine, coffee, fresh food, and other things.
I thought Boudin at Fisherman’s Wharf had some of the best bread I’ve ever had. It was close to the Ferry Building. There were also a lot of seafood places here that served big bowls of clam chowder, shrimp cocktails, and Dungeness crab sandwiches. Enjoy a meal, stroll, take in the view of the Golden Gate Bridge, board the boat to Alcatraz, or visit the huge sea lion colony just feet from the docks—it’s all fun!
Don’t Miss Nightlife
We weren’t at all bored when the sun went down. The first place we went was Beach Blanket Babylon, which has been in the United States for the longest time. The show made fun of pop culture and politics, and it made my sides hurt from laughing so hard. We also went outside of San Francisco to Oakland, which is just across the bay and found even more great places to eat and have fun at night.
There are lots of interesting things to see, do, and eat in the San Francisco Bay Area. There’s something sophisticated, worldly, and friendly about it that’s hard to put into words. You’ll see why it’s the best urban playground in Northern California if you go there.