I'm going to be stopping off in San Francisco for a week in May and am just starting to plan my trip, does anyone have any recommendations on places to eat? there seem to be so many to choose from on happycow! I'm travelling alone so I prefer casual type of places, also i'll be staying in the Fishermans wharf area so somewhere that is easy to walk to or get there by public transport would be good.

Any recommended attractions to visit? So far i'm planning on visiting alcatraz and maybe doing a city tour but i'm not sure what else.

We're going to San fran this summer and I'm looking soooo forward to checking out Ike's place, I've heard awesome things about the foods there. We're also going to Vegas and there's supposed to be a good Raw restaurant there :)

I was in San Fran for the first time in January, and I loved it!!!

I would definitely recommend doing the Night tour for Alcatraz. It's far spookier and less crowded. There are a few things open that you can't see during the day, like the hospital wing where the birdman lived for 13 years.
You also get some amazing views of the city at night!

I would also highly recommend riding one of the Trolley lines and try to get an outside spot where you hang off the side. It's fun and a great way to see some different neighbourhoods. The price seems steep (5 bucks), but it's great.

I also really enjoyed just wandering around different neighbourhoods, like Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown, Nob Hill, etc, and if you can, ride the elevator to the top of Coit tower to get a fantastic view!

The exploratoreum by the Palais Des Arts is a very cool place to spend a few hours inside if the weather is inclement.

I wasn't that thrilled with the Wharf itself, it's very touristy and so full of Seafood places. You should check out the Sea lion docks though if you are wandering around Pier 39 though. There are also some amazing galleries by the wharf to wander through.

My final recommendation is to rent a car and drive out to Napa or Sonoma if you are the least bit interested in wine. We did 2 days of that and it was wonderful! I loved every second of it. You could also take a bus or train tour, but I've heard the train is a rip off for what you pay for it.

Oh, and places to eat? Millenium was amazing vegan food. I really loved it. I wish I had been to Greens too, but there just wasn't enough time in the day.

Have fun, and bring really good walking shoes. There really are a lot of hills!

I was very impressed with the de Young (http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/index.asp) Museum / art gallery.
As has been mentioned, Alcatraz and the cable cars are 'must sees' too.

Watch out if you go to fisherman's wharf. There's this guy who hides behind these fake bush* things and jumps out and scared the crap out of you, then demands a dollar. My sister almost crapped her pants when he got her.

Don't worry about eating, even non-veg restaurants are familiar with vegetarian/vegan diets. It's awesome.




*the floral kind

I have lived in the Bay Area my whole life and cannot imagine a better place for a veg to visit! We have so many options.
You have to try Herbivore Restaurant. It is an easy going well priced place with too many yummy treats to choose from.
If you like raw food you can also try out Cafe Gratitude. They have a great atmosphere and fun food. Try the veggie burger.
If you want to cross the bridge we have Fellini's in Berkeley. Awesome brunch and dinner. Yum!
There is also a great vegan lasagna at Pizza Plaza in Oakland.
Wow, I could go on for days but I am making myself hungry.
Hope you have fun while your here.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It's still 2 months until I go but I've always wanted to visit San Francisco and it will be my first time in the US so i'm really excited!!

May tends to be rather chilly with a persistent marine layer. Sometimes it is nice in May, sometimes it isn't. The best way to prepare for San Francisco is to bring layers. Be sure to have a long shirt, a sweater or sweatshirt and a wind breaker. You sometimes need all three over a t-shirt to stay warm in may due to dampness and wind.

All of the above recommendations are good, but here are a couple of others.

Either take the bus to the Golden Gate Bridge and walk across it or better yet walk from Fisherman's Wharf to and across the bridge. You can walk down into Sausilito which is a somewhat yuppie, touristy town, but it has nice views of San Francisco. It's a little over 4 miles to the bridge from Fisherman's Wharf and then about another two to the other side of the bridge. The walk down into Sausilito is another 2 miles and a little bit dicey along the side of a two lane road, but it isn't that bad. You can take a ferry back to San Francisco from Sausilito or walk back.

If you can take one of the buses that does a one day trip to Yosemite I highly recommend that. May is the time when the waterfalls are extremely full and the park is *very* beautiful then.

If you like beer taking a trip to the Beach Chalet at the west end of Golden Gate Park is enjoyable especially if the weather is nice. If it's foggy out at the ocean, I'd probably skip it though.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

For places to eat check out Golden Era and Maggie Mudd's. Really, Maggie Mudd's should be the very first place you go to. :D

And take a ride on the Bay Quackers! Its an amphibious bright yellow tour bus that drives you around the city, and then goes down a ramp behind the ball park in the Embarcadero and goes right into the bay. Its a lot of fun!

I second the Yosemite recommendation, but if you can't do it, Muir Woods is a lot closer, and also very beautiful. Nothing really compares to Yosemite, though.

I love SF. My brother lives in the bay area so I try to visit every year and spend at least a day or two tooling around SF. I love Golden Gate park and Muir Woods. Last year I went to the SF Museum of Modern Art and the museum in the Golden Gate Park. Both very nice. I'll have to try out some of the restaurants mentioned here on my visit this summer.

It's such a great city. Easy to get around and the people are sooo friendly and happy to help visitors find their way around.

There was this really nice place, the slanted door, but I remember it ebing expensive, and I wasn't veggie then.

I live in SF--so good choice!
You MUST eat at Herbivore! There's two in san fran and one in berk, but...yum! and 100% vegan!
walk around Haight-Ashbury and Castro, and the embarcadaro are all my fav cheap things to do
Alcatraz, and the aquarium of the bay are both really good, too
No matter what, it's a beautiful and friendly city, so very veg-friendly, but be careful
"left my heart in San Francisco" was not sung just for fun! :)

Hello, just bumping this to ask a few more questions..

1. Do people think it worth going to Yosemite for a day trip? It seems like it would be a really awesome but the day trips seem to spend to spend more time getting there/back than in the park so I can't make up my mind if I should go or not.

2. Is public transport very easy to work out? Lots of the veggie places like Herbivore don't seen to be in the city so what's the best way to work out how to get there?

Thanks for any help!

Bart ( the subway) Is really esay to use. ( assuming you know where you are going :))

Herbivore is my favorite restaurant! Homemade veggie burger is so good. Caeser salad with soy chicken. Burrito with soy chicken. Donuts!
Millenium is expensive but soo good! They have a southern comfort theme this month!

1. Do people think it worth going to Yosemite for a day trip? It seems like it would be a really awesome but the day trips seem to spend to spend more time getting there/back than in the park so I can't make up my mind if I should go or not.
The drive from SF to Yosemite is three hours long, but I would definitely do it, especially if I took a tour bus, and didn't have to do the six-hour round trip myself. The waterfalls will all be at their best, and the wildflowers will be too. There is a great tour you can take of all the best places in the Valley, on an open-air shuttle, and I would recommend at least doing that if you are only there for the day. If you have time, take the walk to Upper Yosemite Falls. Its short and easy, and the Falls should be beautiful right now.

Thanks for that. I'm thinking I will book a day tour for Yosemite, the ones I have been looking at leaving around 6-7am and return at 9 pm so I think there should be a decent amount of time spent in the park,a nd it looks like it would be pretty cool.

I've heard lots about Millenium and would love to go there one day but i'll be by myself and not really sure it's the type of restaurant i'd want to go alone too, but i am planning on going to some of the more cafe style vege places when I am there. Exactly 1 week until I leave :D

Herbivore, although that has been said before. I do not like Millenium, their food is bad-tasting. Go to Greens. They are vegetarian, but can accommodate vegans. Try to go to Muir Woods, but DO NOT GO ON THE WEEKENDS!!! It takes hours because highway one is very narrow in that area and because there is limited parking around Muir Woods. Don't go to Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf unless you are into buying cheesy crap. And public transportation in the area is OK. MUNI, SF's bus and trolley system is atrocious, but Golden Gate Transit and AC Transit are good. Ditto for SamTrans, although their buses have tons of stops.