Scheduled Plan for Arts & Culture Tourist Itinerary
This scheduled plan should give an idea of how each day will be structured, time-wise, and allows for substantial independent time for shopping, touring, eating, and sleeping during the trip. Evidently, public transportation timings are dynamic and activities might be extended or shortened at your own pace, but this should give a rough idea of how each day will be timed.
Day One
08:30 – 09:30 Breakfast near California St & Davis St trolley station
09:30 – 10:00 Take C Line Trolley to California St & Grant St, visit Old St. Mary’s Cathedral
10:00 – 13:00 All About Chinatown Tour with lunch (departs from cathedral)
13:00 – 13:45 Travel on rideshare or KT Metro Line to Minnesota Street Project
13:45 – 16:00 Minnesota Street Project & 1150 25th St. Galleries
16:00 – 16:15 Travel to the Mission District
16:15 – 18:00 Detour Walking Tour of the Mission District
18:00 – 19:00 Dinner in the Mission
19:00 – 20:30 Sunset at the Painted Ladies
20:30 – onwards Nightlife in the Lower Haight
Day Two
08:00 – 09:00 Breakfast at Garden House Café (located on Clement St & 23rd St)
09:00 – 09:30 Lands End Trail & Holocaust Memorial
09:30 – 11:00 Legion of Honor
11:00 – 11:30 Rideshare/Bus to Irving Street
11:30 – 12:30 Lunch on Irving Street
12:30 – 12:45 Walk to the de Young Museum
12:45 – 15:00 De Young Museum
15:00 – 15:45 Rideshare/Bus to SF MOMA
15:45 – 17:00 SF MOMA
17:00 – 17:15 Rideshare/F Line Streetcar to Pier 33
17:15 – 18:15 Dinner near Pier 33
18:15 – 18:30 Purchase tickets, board ferry for 18:30 departure to Alcatraz
18:30 – 21:45 Alcatraz Night Tour
21:45 – onwards Walk around North Beach, return to hotel, etc.
Itinerary Overview
Featuring a variety of walking tours, museum and exhibition visits, and even a night cruise out to Alcatraz, this itinerary focuses on the artistic culture of San Francisco. Travelers using this itinerary will be able to visit the far corners of the City, as well as the glitzy downtown districts which it is known for. This trip plan includes an overview of the attractions visited on this itinerary, as well as a time-sensitive schedule for those who seek more structure for their trips.
Day One
Today begins in the heart of the busy Financial District in downtown San Francisco. We recommend grabbing breakfast at the Eclipse Kitchen & Bar, an American comfort-style restaurant located in the Hyatt Regency on Market & Drumm Street. From here, you’ll be able to take an iconic trolley car seven stops down California Street to Old St Mary’s Cathedral at California & Grant, where at 10am, the company All About Chinatown Tours offers what TripAdvisor rates as the top walking tour of Chinatown, one of San Francisco’s most historically significant neighborhoods. Here, for three hours, you’ll be able to experience the best of what Chinatown has to offer in terms of shopping, attractions, and of course, food.
After exploring Chinatown, take either a rideshare or the KT line Metro from the Metro Montgomery Station to Third Street & 23rd St, located twenty minutes away. Here, we’ll encounter the first art-related attraction, and one of the most highly-rated in the city: the Minnesota Street Project. Located in the trendy yet historic Dogpatch district, the Minnesota Street Project is comprised of several art galleries for both internationally-recognized and up-and-coming artists, and boasts a plethora of opportunities to further explore the art scene of the Bay Area.
A quick rideshare (or taking the No. 48 bus from Pennsylvania Avenue & 23rd St) will land you at 24th St & Mission St, the heart of the famous Mission District. Here, we recommend downloading the Detour app, which offers free audio walking tours of different neighborhoods in the City which you can complete by yourself, at your own pace. If you finish the tour before six, check out Galeria de la Raza, a nonprofit “cultural hub” which features work from Latino artists. Grab dinner at one of the many restaurants along 24th Street if you haven’t already eaten at La Palma Mexicatessen, which is featured at the end of the walking tour!
A ten-minute rideshare from the Mission will put you at one of the most picturesque places in the entire Peninsula: the famed Painted Ladies. Situated along the eastern block of Alamo Square Park on Steiner Street, the Painted Ladies is a collection of colorful Victorian houses built between 1849 and 1915. A walk up the hilly park will offer some remarkable vantage points as the sun sets over the skyline of San Francisco, which will be great opportunities to take photos which will spark envy among your friends!
Four blocks south of the Painted Ladies lies one of the quirkier yet aesthetically-pleasing districts of San Francisco: Lower Haight. Comprised mostly of young locals, Lower Haight is known for the artistic, vintage vibe. After dark, Haight Street comes alive with funky bars, clubs, and restaurants which certainly will make a perfect end to our first day exploring the art scene of San Francisco.
Day Two
Our second day begins in a much different neighborhood of the City, one which lies at the end of the Peninsula hugging the Pacific coast. Outer Richmond, Sea Cliff, and Vista Del Mar surround a remarkable green space which looks over the dramatic California coast. We
recommend beginning the day with breakfast at the Garden House Café on 32nd and Clement in Sea Cliff. A twenty-minute walk up the Legion of Honor Drive will have visitors arrive at several historic memorials from San Francisco in earlier centuries. If you are up for a walk, there are a few trails which hug the northern coast of the Peninsula and offer dramatic views of the sea, otherwise, catching the Memorial for Peace and Holocaust Memorial both ought to be interesting sights. At 10am, the Legion of Honor opens, which is known widely as “San Francisco’s most beautiful museum”. Enjoy marveling at exhibitions featuring over 4,000 years of art from around the world in one of the most beautiful structures in the City.
Another ten-minute rideshare or taxi away is one of San Francisco’s more local neighborhoods, Outer Sunset. Arriving at Irving St & 9th Ave puts you in the center of a bustling commercial district, where you’ll have plenty of options to grab lunch amongst local residents. Then, after walking a block north of the intersection, you’ll find Golden Gate Park, a massive stretch of green space that extends over 1,000 acres from Haight-Ashbury all the way to the Pacific. Near the center of the park is de Young Museum, a fine arts museum with diverse collections featuring collections that include American, African, Oceanic, and Textile Arts.
From Fulton St & 10th Avenue, the No. 5 bus takes riders all the way across the City back to downtown SF, where you’ll be able to find the popular San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or SFMOMA as its commonly referred to, just four blocks away from the Fulton St & 10th
Ave stop. After SFMOMA, the historic F Line streetcar can take you directly from Market & Kearny to Pier 33 at The Embarcadero & Bay Street, where one of the most exciting activities on this itinerary will take place. After catching a quick dinner at a restaurant near the pier, Alcatraz Cruises offers a night tour departing at 6:30pm to Alcatraz Island. Here, you will not only be able to experience one of the most famous prisons and lighthouses in the United States, but you also will be afforded breathtaking views of the San Francisco skyline at night. After returning on a ferry at a time which works for you, you’ll have the rest of the night to either explore the nightlife of the glitzy downtown districts, or return to your accommodations for a relaxing end to your vacation.
Trip planned by Nate Gordon.