Places to Visit For A Day

Places to visit for a day in San Francisco:

Visit Chinatown
Breakfast take out at Good Mong Kok, Chinatown
Shopping at Union Square
Take a tour of Alcatraz Island
Sightseeing at Fisherman's Wharf & PIER 39
Indulge in Chocolate at Ghirardelli Marketplace

CHINATOWN

The first and oldest Chinatown in the United States is San Francisco's Chinatown founded in 1848.

GOOD MONG KOK

Good Mong Kok is one of the most popular go-to dim sum in Chinatown. Expect a long queue at this dim sum and bakery take out.

UNION SQUARE

Union Square is located in downtown San Francisco, it is the 3rd largest shopping area in the United States which were once used as a sandy baseball field.

We stayed at Hotel Emblem which is 3 min walk from our hotel. It is easily accessible from any form of transportation, just take a ride and get off at Powell Street.

ALCATRAZ ISLAND

Alcatraz Island, also known as "The Rock" is a small island located 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco. It was first opened as military fortress during the Gold Rush. We bought our ferry tickets on Alcatraz Cruises website and departed from Pier 33.

Catch the view of San Francisco Bay along with Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz Cruises

It serves as a maximum-security prison for some of the most violent and dangerous criminals from 1934 - 1963. Some of the prisoners are Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, The Birdman of Alcatraz, Roy Gardner and Alvin Karpis.

Occupation of Alcatraz

In 1969, a group of Native American protest and occupied the island for 19 months in the name of freedom and Native American civil rights.

Alcatraz Island Lighthouse

Home to the Pacific Coast's first lighthouse in 1854, it was built to guide ships safely to San Francisco Bay and keep ships from crashing into the island in the middle of the night.

Fort Alcatraz

Fort Alcatraz, also known as Alcatraz Citadel was built in 1859 as a U.S. Army military defense.

Each cell in B&C block was 5 feet x 9 feet that comes with a small sleeping cot, sink and toilet.

We definitely recommend a trip to Alcatraz Island - It is an iconic site full of history and you also get a panoramic view of San Francisco skyline.

FISHERMAN'S WHARF

Fisherman's Wharf and PIER 39 is another popular tourist destination in San Francisco. After visiting Alcatraz, we get off at PIER 33 and continue to stroll around Fisherman's Wharf.

Open Heart

PIER 39 is home to "Open Heart", hand-painted by local artist Patrick Dintino, a San Francisco native whose mother's life was saved by open heart surgery. Open Heart symbolized the openness of the city's heart, as well as the idea of falling in love with and leaving your heart in San Francisco.

PIER 39 Marina

PIER 39 houses a 300-berth marina by the bay with double-fingered wooden dock boat slips available for long-term rental, day stays and overnight guest docking.

San Francisco Carousel at PIER 39

Handcrafted in Italy, the San Francisco Carousel is intricately hand-painted with famous San Francisco landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Alcatraz and the popular California sea lions at PIER 39.

GHIRARDELLI MARKETPLACE

Next, we went to Ghirardelli Marketplace near Fisherman's Wharf.

In 1893, Italian immigrant Domenico Ghirardelli opened the headquarters of Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in San Francisco. San Francisco declares Ghirardelli Square an official city landmark in 1965, and the property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.