Day/few hours trip from San Francisco

Mountainsandh

I'll be in San Francisco for just 2 days in March. Husband and I will be in US for a very busy 10 days, and since San Fran is his favourite place in US, that's our 1st stop.
We'll have 2 full days there.
I like to take pics, so I'm thinking one day in town/boat trips squeezed in, and one day somewhere scenic nearby.
We're not really museum goers and as I said, Mr Mountains has been there lots of times so he'll know exactly where to take me in town, but his memory of the places he's been outside of San Fran is too patchy to remember a specific spot (apart from the real touristy spots). (he's a musician and travels there touring, it's pretty intense so they don't always remember where they were).

Anyone can recommend a near enough nice road trip, feasible comfortably in a day, with nice potential for photos ?

After San Fran, we're heading to the Grand Canyon via Phoenix & Flagstaff, and after that, we're flying to Houston and driving up to Memphis via Lafayette, New Orleans, and Natchez. We go home from Memphis.

Any suggestions really welcome, even for the rest of our trip. I personnally like to see less touristy areas as well as some of the touristy spots so am really looking forward to the Natchez/Vicksburg area.

iusedtoknow

If you have a car I would recommend Muir woods and around there. It has giant redwoods 1000 years old.

Nearby there is Muir Beach which is pretty picturesque as well as Golden Gate recreational area which gives you great views of the bridge and the city (fog depending)

The other plus is that you get to drive across the bridge there and back (an experience in itself, just remember to bring the $6 toll to get back into the city)

Jimbob1977

Hi,

I'd recommend any of the following:

Cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. Catch a ferry back to San Francisco with the bikes on board. Rentals available at Fisherman's Wharf.

Alcatraz

Yosemite National Park - one of the most beautiful places on this planet. The snow should be melting/have melted at that stage.

The Wine Region - Sonoma, Napa Valley and Calistoga

San Juan Bautista - used in Hitchcock's "Vertigo" for the bell-tower scene

Stanford University in Palo Alto

The boardwalk and amusement park at Santa Cruz

Monterey, Carmel, Salinas, Pebble Beach - Clint Eastwood was the mayor of Carmel and there's a grand slam golf course in Pebble Beach. Salinas and Monterey were the setting for many of John Steinbeck's novels

Mountainsandh

Thanks for the replies ! I'll check out all these places, Yosemite I'd love to see (and photograph), but is that a bit far for a day trip ?

I watched a video or two on Sausalito on YouTube, it seems nice, but by the sounds of it, somewhere like Muir Woods would be more our kind of place.

Mr Mountains played in Stanford University, also did Carmel, Monterey, and other places South.
I suppose it would be nice to have something new for him too, so Yosemite or Muir Woods seem to tick all the boxes.

The wine region seems very tempting too, is the scenery nice ?

InTheTrees

First suggestion would be Napa. Its beautiful and fascinating. Vineyards as far as the eye can see. Its just north east of SF and if it gets boring you can head over to the coast. take the bay bridge out of SF then loop around the north and back over the GG bridge.

That would take up a day easily.

You could also drive down the coast road to Santa Cruz. There's some spectacular scenery along the coast there. At Santa cruz cut over the mountains to silicon valley then back to SF.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.267287,-122.346062&spn=0.046498,0.091581&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=38.267287,-122.346062&panoid=GNhjbPTKt45km4bBCnf7aQ&cbp=12,104.56,,0,11.47

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.320073,-122.402287&spn=0.094196,0.183163&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=37.31327,-122.403721&panoid=Bo8v5ftVO4-i-W8FiFntFQ&cbp=12,211.38,,0,-3.54

InTheTrees

This is an amazing view spot, just north of SF. You can only get to it with a car and if you're coming back to the city via GG bridge its well worth a diversion.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.826828,-122.499243&spn=0.005847,0.011448&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=37.826965,-122.499264&panoid=oxSgtxc_SGJngV29ak-CbQ&cbp=12,107.98,,0,7.42

D1stant

You need at least 2 days for Yosemite from San Fran. I'd suggest Lake Tahoe or a trip down highway 1 towards Big Sur. Beautiful

D1stant

InTheTrees wrote: »

This is an amazing view spot, just north of SF. You can only get to it with a car and if you're coming back to the city via GG bridge its well worth a diversion.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.826828,-122.499243&spn=0.005847,0.011448&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=37.826965,-122.499264&panoid=oxSgtxc_SGJngV29ak-CbQ&cbp=12,107.98,,0,7.42

Is that the place where they installed that huge gun during WW2 - "construction 127" or something. Shells were as big as a mini and they could fire 27 miles. Awesome!

InTheTrees

D1stant wrote: »

Is that the place where they installed that huge gun during WW2 - "construction 127" or something. Shells were as big as a mini and they could fire 27 miles. Awesome!

Most likely but I dont know, there is some old ww2 buildings/bunkers up there.

Mountainsandh

Super suggestions here thanks, InTheTrees, that viewpoint looks great, I was looking at that area allright.

Staying that bit closer to SF would have the added advantage of being able to stop for a leisurely lunch in one of these nice food places they seem to boast about in the area.

On the other hand, I'm French from Lyon, and vineyards are not the most exotic scenery for me But they do look great anyway and make for nice pics.

InTheTrees

Mountainsandh wrote: »

On the other hand, I'm French from Lyon, and vineyards are not the most exotic scenery for me But they do look great anyway and make for nice pics.

Skip it then certainly.

I'd recommend going south then, highway one, down to Santa Cruz. then highway 18 over the mountains into Silicon Valley and highway 280 back to SF. It takes about 3 hours to get back to SF from Santa cruz that way. The whole circuit would take from about seven hours to a whole day depending. Its mostly driving and scenry, not much to get out and do. Santa Cruz has an okay downtown, it also has a long pier full of restaurants and a funfair, but you'll probably want to keep going though.

You can also abbreviate it by cutting over from Highway one using hwy 84 (la honda road). Very pretty road.


https://maps.google.com/maps?q=moss+beach+distillary&hl=en&ll=37.573866,-122.517828&spn=0.001741,0.002862&sll=37.558484,-122.514821&sspn=0.006966,0.011448&hq=moss+beach+distillary&radius=15000&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=37.57376,-122.51776&panoid=YMbAN3T8GD53XYeSjStz9A&cbp=12,183.63,,0,-5.82


https://maps.google.com/maps?q=moss+beach+distillary&hl=en&ll=36.963849,-122.021016&spn=0.007021,0.011448&sll=37.558484,-122.514821&sspn=0.006966,0.011448&hq=moss+beach+distillary&radius=15000&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=36.963871,-122.02097&panoid=kxoJ2g3YVJHN6weXCY0cHw&cbp=12,222.74,,0,5.65