Between the Pacific Ocean, the towers of its skyscrapers and the beauty of Victorian houses, San Francisco offers a spectacular landscape, caught in a very dense urban fabric, where visitors will quickly be charmed, and also worn out, by the multitude of hills and slopes to climb, or descend.
Practical, the public transport network allows you to move from one neighborhood to another and become passionate about the multitude of cultures of the Chinese, Latino, Japanese communities... which make up its identity.
To discover
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Seriously affected by the Covid crisis, the Financial District has been emptied of its employees in recent years, and Tenderloin, used to theaters and cabarets, has seen the number of homeless people multiply, worrying residents and the municipality which is struggling to contain the problem.
Ranked among the most expensive cities in the world, San Francisco nevertheless continues to attract creative minds and minds.
A city dominated by tech, and its emblematic Silicon Valley, undeniably turned towards the future and modernity.
Artificial intelligence has become the favorite topic of conversation among residents, who now take self-driving cars – without drivers – across the city.
Day 1 in San Francisco: walks and diversity
Morning
:
shopping
Market Street, San Francisco.
Bruno Coelho / Stock.adobe
Most hotels are concentrated in the Union Square district, a stroll through the adjacent streets, its department stores, its luxury boutiques and its numerous art galleries allows you to take the pulse of the city.
Fanatics of the iconic Levi's brand, born in San Francisco, will go down to
Market Street
to treat themselves to the famous jeans, others will go up to stroll the steep streets of
Chinatown
, taste the famous cakes from the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory and bring back the best teas from the Red Blossom Tea Company.
The famous Painted Ladies offer the best example of Victorian architecture.
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From Market Street, you have to hop on a tram, historic museum pieces from the first half of the 20th century, and perfectly in working order.
The stop at Van Ness Station allows you to take a look at the
San Francisco City Hall
, a monument of the city in Beaux-Arts style, built in 1915, where major events traditionally take place.
From there, you can continue on foot to
Hayes Valley
, a district dedicated to shopping, where fashion boutiques, concept stores, cafes and restaurants are concentrated.
Walking down Hayes Street to Alamo Square, the famous
Painted Ladies
offer the best example of Victorian architecture with these 7 houses painted in all pastel colors.
Lunch in a cult address
Chef idolized in San Francisco, and since deceased, Judy Rogers is the soul of Zuni Café.
A restaurant opened in 1979, a pioneer in Californian and Mediterranean cuisine.
Bordering Market Street, the brick-walled address where lithographs and paintings are displayed, serves wonderful clam chowder and the best roast chicken in town, cooked in a wood-fired oven and enjoyed for two.
The white shirt and tie service is delicious, and the large bay windows bathe the place in light all day long.
Afternoon: Castro and Mission
Castro, one of the emblematic districts of San Francisco.
CanYalicn - stock.adobe.com
On the other side of Market Street,
Castro
is San Francisco's other iconic neighborhood.
The whole story of activist Harvey Milk, fierce defender of homosexual rights, is told here, and the entire gay community and their friends have made it their place of pilgrimage.
Three blocks from Castro Street,
Dolores Park
is one of the busiest and most joyful parks in the city.
On sunny days, people rush there to picnic, drink, listen to music...
Mission has a large number of buildings covered in murals and graffiti.
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Continuing east, you will discover
Mission
, the Latino neighborhood of San Francisco.
A working-class neighborhood partly gentrified by the very present
tech
population .
It is here that the Tartine Bakery brand, a bread and pastries institution, was born.
Joyful and colorful, Mission has a large number of buildings covered in frescoes, not forgetting
Clarion Alley
, a small alley located between 17th and 18th Streets, which collects the most beautiful specimens of artists from around the world.
Evening and dinner
:
Stew and martuni's
In Mission, Japanese-born chef Kosuke Tada transformed a former sushi bar into a neo-bistro with character.
Housed on the ground floor of a Victorian house, Mijoté offers a menu in four chapters, constantly renewed, and which generally combines three key ingredients in an always daring combination, such as scallops with rhubarb and rose.
The wine list is biblical, and favors natural wines.
To continue the evening, an Uber takes you in eight minutes to
Martuni's
, a former cabaret transformed into a piano bar, where you can taste all the Martini cocktail recipes, and why not sing along.
Day 2: postcards
Morning in the great outdoors
The Golden Gate at daybreak.
rudi1976 / stock.adobe.com
Paris has its Eiffel Tower, London's Big Ben, and San Francisco, its
Golden Gate
, which you can even see from the plane, and up close, from Crissy Field East Beach.
Built in 1937, the 1.6 kilometer bridge, with its famous red body, which connects the city to the Marin County region and its green nature, has become the emblem of San Francisco.
A work attracting all tourists and kitesurfing fans, which can be admired for miles around, and which can be easily crossed on foot, by car or even by bike.
The best means of transport in
the Marina district
, the bike takes you in just a few pedal strokes to the foot of the
Palace of Fine Arts
, a building erected during the 1915 Universal Exhibition, with romantic architecture, mixing Roman and Greek style. , punctuated with paths and an artificial lake, where all the families stroll on weekends and take wedding photos.
The walk continues to
Fort Mason
, place of exhibitions and regular events, and the traditional
Sunday
farmers market , passes through the San Francisco Maritime National Park where come and photograph the
Balclutha
, a three-masted ship dating from 1886.
Fisherman's Wharf.
Santi RodrÃguez / Santi RodrÃguez - stock.adobe.com
The last essential stop of the morning,
Ghirardelli Square
brings you into the
Fisherman's Wharf
district .
On this charming square shine the bulbs of the Ghirardelli brand, a former chocolate factory opened in San Francisco in 1852, and still in operation, whose old warehouses have been transformed into a modern complex of shops and restaurants.
Lunch in a cult address:
The Buena Vista Cafe
The sea air makes San Francisco hungry.
A city institution, known for introducing the famous Irish Coffee in the mid-1950s, The Buena Vista Cafe (2765 Hyde Street) is a popular cafe in the neighborhood loved by tourists.
Rustic decor with waiters in white jackets, and all the great classics of American cuisine on the menu (
avocado toast,
eggs benedict and burgers and fries).
Alternative to Fisherman's Wharf, where you can come and taste clam
chowder
, see the sea lions and contemplate the famous Alcatraz prison.
Afternoon
: unforgettable walks
Since 1922, Lombard Street has been one of San Francisco's major attractions.
Maks_Ershov / stock.adobe.com
Taking the Hyde Powell line tram from Fisherman's Wharf opens up the
Russian Hill
district .
Between Hyde Street and Leavenworth, the small portion of
Lombard Street
has been one of San Francisco's major attractions since 1922.
That is to say eight extremely steep and winding bends, lined with bushes and flower beds to be taken by car or on foot, and whose spectacular views (notably of the Coït Tower and the Bay Bridge) are worth the passage.
Echoing Armistead Maupin's book,
The Chronicles of San Francisco
, the nearby
Macondray Lane
historic district (renamed
Barbary Lane
in his book) is worth for its views of San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz, its superb houses and its multiple hanging gardens.
A bucolic stopover which then allows you to reach the North Beach district, also known as
Little Italy
.
An atmosphere of a European city, where Italian restaurants and grocery stores, old record stores, bookstores, bars and local or vintage fashion stores follow one another.
Evening and dinner
:
Vesuvio and Tosca Cafe
It was in
North Beach
that the Beat Generation movement and its leading authors and poets such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Gisberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti were born, whose journeys are retraced at the
Beat Museum
.
A stop at the Vesuvio Cafe allows you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the time, to taste the star cocktail with rum and vodka created in homage to Jack Kerouac, all in a decor lined with old posters and pages newspapers, lit by the light of Tiffany lamps.
A must-see in the neighborhood, the Tosca Cafe restaurant has been serving cuisine with an Italian accent since 1919.
Recently renovated, the address with its red benches, checkerboard floor and frescoes on the walls attracts locals and tourists alike.
Rumor has it that Sean Penn, one night of drinking, fired a revolver at a wall... leaving a hidden bullet mark.
On the menu, spaghetti with meatballs and Tuscan-style grilled chicken are the most popular.
Read the fileCalifornia: the Figaro travel guide