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San Fran vacation questions?

Travel Info
My hubby and I along with 3 of our friends are going to san fran for the weekend in june. We were going to do the double decker bus tour that goes to alctraz and around the city. Is this a good buy or a waste of our money? Also does anyone have any recomendations on resturants that we should go eat at? This is our first time going and any help would be greatly appreciated. We are staying at the raddison in brisbane, is this a decent hotel or should we be looking for another one? Last thing - we are also wanting to go to napa one day, any suggestions on winery's that we have to go to and resturants we have to eat at? Thanks.

Travel Tips

BRING A JACKET. weather is almost unpredictable. usually foggy and cold. you should definitely go to chinatown and try some dim sum. almost all the restaurants are good, each unique and distinct in taste culturally. go to the cliff house and have a nice dinner there, fantastic views, a bit pricey but worth every penny. go hiking near golden gate bridge, walk across the bridge, have a picnic in crissy field. alcatraz is kinda boring... but its important part of history.. so yeah. you can go to angel island, not much there either, but fun to hike. oh yeah, if you want to try a bakery, go to the sunset district, 9th ave , arizmendi, and close by on 7th ave, LIME TREE. also try the vietnamese pho shop... irving has a lot of that stuff. fisherman's wharf is the best tourist place, cheap souvenirs, chinatown too. the palace of fine arts is breathtaking, perfect for picnic-ing. japan town is pretty cool too. well, search sf up. [= hope you have fun.
Others

My best recommendation is to make time to go to Muir Woods.
Also, do not wear white shoes - that is how the locals spot the tourists. If your are not labeled a tourist, you get better service and rates.
Take a sweater and or a light jacket; even in June the wind from the bay can be cold.
There are a lot of great restaurants. I suggest to go to the chocolate factory it is great
It's fun to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. If you go, take a camera because you get some gorgeous shots of the city from the bridge. Another fun outing is to take a ferry across the bay to Sausilito from the ferry building downtown.

If you want to go to Alcatraz, this is a boat ride as well and you must make reservations in advance.

There are so many wineries in Napa. You will find that most charge around $10 (some more) for wine tasting. The wineries in Calistoga tend to be smaller, less expensive, and less crowded than other Napa towns. Which wineries to visit really depends on what you are looking for. Sterling is unique because you ride a tram up the hill to the winery. Visit Domaine Carneros for one of the best views of the valley. Learn more about Napa wineries at this website: http://www.cheers2wine.com/napa-valley-w...

Bistro Don Giovanni is one of my favorite Napa Restaurants. Enjoy great food at reasonable prices (by Napa standards). Ask for a table outside or on the patio by the fireplace. http://www.cheers2wine.com/napa-restaura...

For a lunch with a view, make a reservation to dine outside on the balcony at Auberge du Soleil which is located off the Silverado Trail. The panoramic view makes a peaceful setting for dining. http://www.cheers2wine.com/auberge-du-so...

Cheers!
Wow. The Radisson in Brisbane is a long way from SF - you're out by the airport, which is a good 20-30 minutes from where you want to be, sans commute traffic.

If I were you, I would look for a hotel in the City - there are a wide variety of hotels in different price ranges - you can get ideas on specific places from Trip Advisor. As a tourist, probably your best neighborhoods to stay in are either Union Square (be careful not to get into the Tenderloin, which is a couple of blocks west of Union Square) or the Fisherman's Wharf area. The hotels on lower Market are mostly for businesspeople. If you stay in the City you won't need/want a car - you can get pretty much anywhere you want to go as a tourist on a bus or cable car, and it will cost you a bunch of money to park it.
There are a number of neighborhoods/areas worth seeing - perhaps taking a bus tour to get an overview is a worthwhile idea, but I would plan some time to go back to places you see that you want to explore further. Which ones will depend on your interests. Some ideas:
Union Square (shopping), North Beach (good Italian restaurants and places to sit and have an espresso and people watch), Chinatown (people watching), Fisherman's Wharf/Pier39/Marina Green/Ghiradellis - lots to see and do, including history, art, food, shopping, Lombard Street, the Embarcadero, Golden Gate Park (classic old park/museums like Central Park), Presidio etc. If you don't mind a long all day walk, you can literally walk all the way around the north edge from the Embarcadero, past Pier39 to Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli, the Marina and Fort Point to the Golden Gate Bridge. You can also walk across the Bridge to the Sausalito side, where you can catch a ferry back. By the way, your bus tour must be taking you to a boat, since Alcatraz is an island!

Regards Napa, fyi, it is an all day trip. One classic place to eat (suggest getting reservations) is Mustards Grill (variety of American foods) or pack yourself a picnic from the Oakville Grocery and sit outside at a picnic table at one of many wineries.

The wineries essentially fall into two categories - those that do volume tours, where there is no reservation required and the cost to taste is marginal (e.g. <$10) and those where a reservation is usually required and the cost to taste is either $0 or high (e.g. $25 at Chateau Montelena). I suggest picking some wines you like and checking out their wineries before you go - you can make reservations if you need to. You can visit 3 different wineries and have lunch pretty comfortably in one day. If you don't want to have a designated driver, there are many limo companies who will take you up and back for a day trip - with a large group this can be affordable, and you don't have to worry about driving.

One last thing - if you're coming in the summertime, be sure to bring layers of clothing - SF is COLD in the summer (the fog comes in) and Napa can be very hot. Just to put this in perspective, downtown SF can be 60 degrees on a day when it is 100 degrees in Calistoga. So do bring a warm sweater.

I hope you enjoy your trip.......
www.tripadvisor.com
The Downtown bus tours are only worth it if you have hop-on, hop-off privileges at the sights. Otherwise, they just drive around in a circle without giving you a chance to actually visit any of the landmarks you're driving by.

Also, unless your bus is an amphibious assault vessal, it's not going to take you to Alcatraz. 'The Rock' is an island. And all tours of Alcatraz are booked through the National Park Service (includes the cost of the ferry ride, ranger guided walks, and an audio headset). These are usually sold-out several days in advance.

http://alcatrazcruises.com/

Also, Brisbane is really for airport layovers. The hotel itself should be fine, but it's not close to anything of interest. If you can stay in the city center, that would be ideal. Otherwise, at least find a suburban hotel that's near a train station. The Embassy Suites next to Pleasant Hill station is great, for example. This is a great map of the entire system:

http://www.sfcityscape.com/maps/bay_area...

San Francisco has thousands of restaurants, catering to every diet and taste. It's difficult to give advice without some sense of what you're looking for. But sufficient to say, if it has a good reputation, it'll be crowded with locals.