San Francisco is such a great city to explore with children. We found a comfortable hotel with a pool and a convenient location. We were able to fit in sightseeing, hikes and great food in this trip! My tips on the best activities, places to eat and more are below.
Where to Stay:
We stayed at the Hotel Del Sol in the Marina district. We booked a family room which gave my children their own space with a trundle bed. The hotel had free breakfast, an outdoor pool and a courtyard with a hammock. No frills, but a nice comfortable space for families that was walking distance to a bus stop, playground and Marina restaurants and shopping.
Favorite Restaurants:
Our favorite meal was not in a restaurant! We enjoyed the Sunday food truck picnic at The Presidio. In Japantown we liked Hikari – meals served by bullet train makes this an easy hit with kids! 21st Amendment was a great brewpub the whole family enjoyed.
Favorite Activities:
Lands End Trail and Presidio – We all loved hiking this beautiful trail. It offered interesting trails and absolutely stunning views. We ended the hike with some playtime on the beach, then took a bus over to the Presidio for more gorgeous views and a fantastic food truck picnic. This was our favorite day!!
De Young Museum – We loved the observatory tower at the top of the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park. It’s free to go up the tower and offers amazing views of the whole city!
We also all enjoyed the Painted Ladies and Alamo Park, Alcatraz, Ghirardelli Square, Lombard Street and the cable cars, and Musee Mecanique at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Tips and Advice:
We bought the $5 public transportation day pass right on the MyMuni app, and made great use of the system! Google Maps is hooked in so you can easily look up point-to-point directions via bus or light rail. We took a handful of Ubers but primarily relied on public transportation and it was great.
Also, when I plan trips to a place like San Francisco, I like making my own custom Google map. I add pins for every place we want to visit, and this helps me organize the days so we’re not wasting a lot of time going back and forth! I hope this helps you as you plan your family vacation to San Francisco.
