City Of San Francisco Planning Department

Welcome to City Planning

San Francisco Vacation

For a traveler or even for one who only takes the occasional tour, the San Francisco vacation is a must. Rarely is there a city that is unusually clean, that runs a once-defunct and now re-animated transportation system, and that still offers natural and tourist attractions as they first existed.

I lived in San Francisco for a little over ten years. So when family and friends came to visit me, I took them to the typical and not-so typical places and sites. That's the first trick: on your San Francisco vacation, try to find or at least speak with a local who is not in the tour business (or out to bilk you for dough) but who will give you insight into the coolest out-of-the-mainstream places and activities to enjoy.

On your San Francisco vacation you can of course visit the marina at Crissy Field. Down the road from there is the Science and Tech Museum, which has some of the most fascinating gadgets and equipment, offering visitors the opportunity to see what a couple's baby will look like or capture one's shadow in stop-motion shadow photography, for example.

On your San Francisco vacation you may also want to check out the Haight (historical and still functioning as an eclectic, avant garde, creative mecca and still honoring the geniuses of our Haight/Ashbury era. There you can segue over to the Golden Gate Park and to the DeYoung Museum, which features world-renowned exhibits periodically, so check the papers (The SF Chronicle) for themes and features before you head out that day. Also, right next door is the Exploratorium, Lasarium, and a unique experience: besides seeing a light show, and besides checking out the many fascinating interactive displays, check out The Tactile Dome! It is like a cave od sensory deprivation, or of sight deprivation, where you crawl through and feel your way along different materials and matter of varying consistencies, textures, and temperatures. Not recommended for the claustrophobic (but there is an emergency attendant, so no worries, really), but highly recommended for all others...of any and all ages!

On your San Francisco vacation you could also do the popular and most traditional of tours and touring activities: definitely go a few miles away (from the museum or the Crissy Field area) and see the Golden Gate Bridge, which reputedly is a monster to re-paint: the guys start at one end, and by the time they reach the other have to go back to the first end, for it has begun to chip away (salt water air and all).... Go to the Coit Tower and the Twin Peaks area, both of which are common sites that cost nothing-and check out the so-called "Crookedest Street in the World," which is at the bottom of Lombard and which is always lined with cars, so be patient.

Then, of course, on your San Francisco vacation, get the surf, sandwich, and seafood experience by going to the wharf/pier 39-where you can eat all kinds of touristy foods, eat the yummiest clam chowder or other seafood dishes (at a small shop or at a restaurant like Bubba Gumps on the top deck of the pier), fudge, candied apples, and cookies. You can shop in fun little schlock shops for locally-related souvenirs, and you can, often, go behind the shops of the pier on one side and see all the seals who bark and tumble about (though the relevant societies may have figured out a way to get the seals back to their better home lives by the time you get there).

Down the wharf is a boardwalk, with Ripley's and the Wax Museum, many touristy shops, and some classy, high-end antique, art, and specialty shops. Also on the boardwalk is the fresh crab you hear so much about, so on your San Francisco vacation, if you miss it in the restaurants or miss a chance to go to nearby Sausalito for an ocean-front dinner, grab a crab! Cooked and cracked and ready to go...on your last excursion...on a cable car. You must try the cable car trip. Even if you live in a state where riding in the back of a pick-up truck is still legal, you must get the historical throwback and open-air experience, just once. It still thrills me today to do so...after growing up in a small town in NH where my first and for years only impression of SF was the Streets of San Francisco TV show and the commercial for ding-ding! Rice-a-Roni.

Enjoy your San Francisco vacation, whether you visit the swim club, hike the many hills (and paved streets, which are also impressive in their steepness), stay in an old Victorian b and b or the Mark Hopkins, or stay in a district distinct for its ethnicity, its natural surroundings, and its cuisine-be it North Beach (see City Lights where the Beats hung out and got published), or the Mission (where wheels and deals and Mexican fare is mingled with discount shops), or the quieter Noe Valley and 24th Streets (where books and records/CDs and vintage fare abound in discrete but no less classic glory).

City Of San Francisco Planning Department News

Not just India's problem anymore - Border Mail

Much is at stake in a growing nation whose struggle with terrorism had gone unheeded. THE US State Department has consistently listed India as the country with the second-highest number of terrorism casualties after Iraq. However Western media has ...

S.F. releases draft study on city's bike plan - San Francisco Gate

San Francisco planners kept their promise to release a draft environmental study on the city's bicycle plan by Thanksgiving - with a few hours to spare. The long-awaited document, if approved, will uncork implementation of a far-reaching proposal to ...

Aquarium of the Bay Expands Husbandry Department in Preparation for ... - Earthtimes

SAN FRANCISCO , Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Preparing to open three major exhibits in Spring 2009, Aquarium of the Bay is expanding its husbandry department, which is responsible for animal care and field research programs. Through its recent hire of ...

S.F. fighting to collect fines over billboards - San Francisco Gate

(12-01) 20:34 PST -- San Francisco's yearlong campaign to crack down on illegal billboards and collect large fines is running up against lawsuits brought by advertising companies challenging the validity of city sign restrictions. According to city ...

FBI warning after report of al-Qaida New York attack - Irish Examiner

THE FBI has received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that al-Qaida terrorists may have discussed attacking the New York city subway system during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, US authorities said yesterday. Department of Homeland ...

City Planning