Things To Do in San Francisco

It’s Covid-19 and now Fall Break. Instead of locking ourselves up, we decided to take a trip to San Francisco. Why not? Just enjoy what there is to enjoy!

Time frame: Around October

Temperature: 50s - 60s . Windy & Foggy.

Place We Stayed:

Hilton Hotel Financial District.

- Located right near Chinatown (literally the next street in walking distance)

- During Covid, there is no room service.

- No fan in the bathroom (kinda weird...)

- Parking is $60/day but they reduced to $30/day.

Golden Gate Park

Golden gate park

This is a HUGE park that has nice walking / hiking trails. The smells of trees and different plants they have in this park is so refreshing.

Stow Lake Boat Rentals

Stow Lake

This lake is located inside the Golden Gate Park. You can rent a pedal boat and pedal around the lake. Around $28/Hr. We finished pedaling around in 35 minutes.

Japanese Tea Garden

Japanese Tea Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden is located inside the Golden Gate Park. It is kinda hidden from the view of driving by. It’s a near little spot that embraces the Zen atmosphere garden of the Japanese culture. Admission fee is $11/person and $3/child.

Golden Gate Bridge View Vista Point

Fort Point will be super foggy, windy and cold early October. You won’t be able to see a thing. So you would have to cross the bridge over to the other side which, brings you to the spot to overlook the gate and take pictures - Golden Gate Bridge View Vista Point. It is also surprisingly warmer and clear of fog. It feels like you in in another side oft he world!

You can overlook the Golden Gate but because it’s early October so there is so much fog that you can hardly see it clearly. DON’T go in October!! 😂

Pier 39

Tourist retail shops that sell souvenirs and restaurants on the pier itself. go during daytime for pictures!

Pier 43 1/2

It’s nothing like Hollywood Walk of Fame at night kinda vibe. It looks run down, old and dirty. Trash is everywhere. Finger foods along the market is expensive And wasn’t like WoW! There are retail shops that sell souvenirs. There’s Believe It or Not but closed during Covid. After 10pm, it’s dead on the streets. Not sure if it’s because of Covid or not.

Tour it for the experience, but even if they open late, I wouldn’t go again especially in October.

Pier 3-5

You can walk along the Piers for a nice view and stuff. Fresh ocean air? Nope...! Smells like sewage because of all the industrialization. Nothing compared to strolling for a walk along South Cal coast! But fore sure you can overlook the Bay Bridge 🌉.

At night, you can overlook the Bay Bridge 🌉 and taking pictures.

Golden Gate Bridge Boat Tour

Get on the Red & White Fleet boat for a boat tour around the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz Island. The ticket is only $34 per person. If you’re going in October expect weird fog and wind right at the Golden gate Bridge, but as soon as you cross the bridge The weather is a lot warmer. It’s so weird!

Sousalito

A nice seaside town right by the bay. Houses here are slightly spaced out than in SF. Chill vibes! 😌

The other side of San Francisco Berkeley - Oakland

Right when you exit University Drive from the freeway, don’t be shocked if you see this...

Homeless camps all over. Homeless situation is really bad right now!

Berkeley - UC Berkeley

A quiet professor-vibe 👩‍🏫 city. Visiting San Francisco without visiting the UC Berkeley is like a miss-out.

Big tall trees 🌲 sitting there like heroes guarding the university. Either driving or walking by feels like you passing Harry Potter woods 😀.

While you’re strolling around UC Berkeley, be sure to check out The Lawrence Science Hall and the Botanical Garden.

Watch the sunset on the top of The Lawrence Hall of Science rooftop overlooking the cities.

San Jose

Drive to San Jose that is only about 1 hour away for some good food and cleaner atmosphere.

What to do during Covid in North California?

Go to San Jose! While San Francisco and Oakland businesses still shut their doors And people don’t go out; San Jose seemed to be more chilled. More businesses are opened. More people are out and about walking. It’s already early October 2020 and the shut down was since March 2020.

Santana Row

Located in San Jose. A neat outdoor shopping spot. Unless I didn’t see them, but there were ”high-ends” like Gucci or Chanel, etc. There were basic ”mall-shops” like Sephora, H & M, Lululemon, etc.

The Grand Century

This is a large Vietnamese shopping plaza. Located on Story Road. The Grand Century itself is pretty much similar to Phuoc Loc Tho in South California. The plaza has some good Vietnamese restaurants and boba spots. It also has quite a few beauty and aesthetic services shops as well. Along the Story Road in general, there are tons of Vietnamese restaurants. It feels like you’re in Orange County again. There are quite a few that are opened, unlike San Francisco!

You can simply just hop on the car and drive around San Jose. All the tech companies are located here in Silicon Valley and Palo Alto. Home of Apple, Google, IBM, Nokia, Intuit, etc.