3 Days in San Francisco

Artisanal Food, Culture, and Nature Walks

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Aerial view of steep hills curving into the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. The hills slope down to a beach dotted with people.

WHEN Autumn and Spring
WHERE San Francisco, California
HOW LONG 3 Days

The City by the Bay has often been at the forefront of social movements and innovation, from the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love to the Big Tech era, which recently unleashed driverless robotaxis. Many food trends start here, and the variety of satisfying experiences includes tacos in the Mission, fine French pastries, lavish omakase menus, and artisanal products on offer at the Ferry Building Marketplace.

Art lovers are also spoiled for choice in San Francisco, which has more worthy museums than you can pack into three days, plus outdoor murals. The hilly city is a patchwork of diverse neighborhoods, some picturesque and others struggling with social change. Keep your street smarts and a light jacket about you – and take advantage of easy access to nature by exploring the Presidio and windswept beaches, biking the Golden Gate Bridge, and hiking in Muir Woods.

Read on for our recommended three-day San Francisco itinerary and learn about some of the benefits that you can enjoy throughout your journey when you book through American Express Travel®.

Museums and Live Shows

Accommodation

San Francisco Proper Hotel

Taj Campton Place

The St. Regis San Francisco

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Place of Interest

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Asian Art Museum

Exploratorium

Alcatraz Island Night Tour

Drag Show at Oasis

Comedy Show at the Punch Line San Francisco

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Eat & Drink

1601

Rintaro

Rich Table

Penny Roma

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Fine Food and Water Views

Place of Interest

A Literary Meeting Spot—City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

Chinatown and North Beach Tour

A San Francisco Stroll with Spectacular Views

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Eat & Drink

Maison Nico

Hilda and Jesse

Eat Your Way Through the Ferry Building

Del Popolo

Routier

San Francisco Wine Society

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Nature to Artsy Neighborhoods

Place of Interest

Bike Over the Golden Gate Bridge: San Francisco to Sausalito

Hit the Trails in Muir Woods

Murals & Graffiti of The Mission District

A Walk Through Haight-Ashbury

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Eat & Drink

Copita Tequileria y Comida

Prubechu

Tartine Bakery

Mijote

The Morris

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Day 1: Museums and Live Shows
2
EAT & DRINK • LUNCH

Sample California Takes on Sri Lankan and Japanese Flavors

In a white bowl, a pile of tomato wedges sits in a light amber broth, topped with tomato chutney, sprigs of herbs, and tiny white flowers.

1601 Bar Kitchen

Chef Brian Fernando brings contemporary Sri Lankan sensibilities to California in an intimate, elegant dining room between Mid-Market and the Mission District. Each dinner is a multi-course tasting menu, emphasizing seasonal fish and produce from the city’s farmer’s markets, with a mix of traditional recipes and fresh inventions. Diners will get a chance to indulge in a variety of flavors, from house-made achcharu-style pickles to scallop crudo, for a refreshing night out.

In a pear-shaped glass jar topped with paper stamped with the restaurant name and address, ume plums stew in liquor to make umeshu.

Rintaro

The details of this Japanese izakaya are lovingly hand-crafted, from the house-made udon, tofu, and pickles, to the booths made by owner-operator Sylvan Mishima Brackett’s father from 100-year-old Redwood wine casks. The dedication has paid off with rave reviews and plenty of media buzz both in the United States and Japan. The menu changes seasonally, but be sure to get something simmered in dashi broth for deep, rich flavor.

5
EAT & DRINK • DINNER

Savor Delicious Comfort Foods

On a small round dish, a square pastry is covered in burrata, strawberries, red sauce, and curls of shredded herbs.

Rich Table

Rich Table is known for elevated comfort food in a relaxed, rustic dining space (think salvaged wood tables and California-made dinnerware from Heath Ceramics). Douglas fir levain bread with cultured butter whets the appetite for a powerhouse menu that goes from strength to strength: cacio e pepe with sea urchin, seasonal vegetables, shellfish, and hearty sea and land entrees. If you feel decision fatigue setting in, let the kitchen run wild with the Chef’s Pick option.

Overhead view of a table covered with drinks and dishes of pasta. Hands reach across with forks to try salad and tortellini.

Penny Roma

Pastas made fresh daily with local, seasonal produce take you on a cross-country tour of Italian flavors from Genoa to Roma to Sicily. The wine list brings in a variety of Italian and Californian hits, while whole-album playlists and a courtyard with twinkling lights create a festive atmosphere.

6
SHOW • EVENING

Take in a Show

Five drag performers pose arm in arm on the stage of the Oasis. The center performer wears a beehive wig and pink fishnets.

Drag Show at Oasis

No haters, but all others are welcome at this nightclub’s raucous cabaret, drag shows, burlesque, DJ sets, and themed events held in an 8,000-square-foot converted gay bathhouse (sfoasis.com). Owner and artistic director D’Arcy Drollinger is a fixture of the local LGBTQIA+ scene and was named the country’s first-ever drag laureate in May 2023.

View from behind of a thin performer with short hair holding their arms up to the sides, silhouetted in front of a bank of stage lights.

Comedy Show at the Punch Line San Francisco

Punch Line is San Francisco’s oldest-running comedy club and a source of belly laughs since 1978 (punchlinecomedyclub.com). The long list of marquee comedians who cut their chops here includes many household celebrity names. The intimate setting creates a special connection between the audience and the performer.

Day 2: Fine Food and Water Views
1
EAT & DRINK • BREAKFAST

Pick the Perfect Start to Your Day

Overhead view of many quiches clustered together, all with scalloped, many-layered brown crusts.

Maison Nico

Kickstart your morning with some of the best pastries and café bites outside of France – concocted at Maison Nico, which serves an all-day menu starting at 9 am (maisonnico.com). There’s a gorgeous array of savory and sweet choices, including pâté en croûte, quiche, croissants, brioche feuilletée, terrines, and seasonal tarts, plus packaged gourmet products to go. Arrive early as favorites will sell out.

Overhead view of a chop salad. There’s a thick layer of orange butternut dip, with chopped-up dill, chicories, and cauliflower piled on top.

Hilda and Jesse

Hilda and Jesse is a retro-inspired diner in North Beach with playful breakfast and lunch food dreamt up by Chef Kristina Liedags Compton. We recommend Pancakes Without Boundaries, a double stack of buttermilk pancakes with smoked maple that changes with the seasons – or going even bigger with the Chef's Adventure Menu.

6
EAT & DRINK • DINNER

Simple Yet Elegant European Fare

In a dark room, a steaming Neopolitan-inspired margherita pizza slides onto the top of a stack of white plates.

Del Popolo

Del Popolo started as a mobile pizzeria serving up wood-fired Neapolitan-inspired pies from a shipping container on the back of a truck. But in 2015, the beloved eatery put down roots at a brick-and-mortar location near Union Square, and the sophisticated dining room is well worth a visit. Split a classic Margherita or a delicately-crafted Potato, and if you like it you can even take a frozen pizza home.

On a white dish with dark red floral trim, thick wedges of tomatoes are tossed together with capers, tonnato sauce, and airy croutons.

Routier

Routier describes its cuisine as “French-ish,” but one thing that’s unmistakably French is its spirit of simple epicurean joy. Whether serving up continental favorites like mushroom risotto or innovative takes on tempura, Routier cultivates an atmosphere of quick, kind, and unfussy service. Make sure to end your visit with dessert to sample the mastery of pastry chef Belinda Leong (who owns the trendy B Patisserie along with Routier collaborator Michel Suas).

Day 3: Nature to Artsy Neighborhoods
1
EXPERIENCE • MORNING

Explore the Outdoors

Aerial view of Sausalito, with houses dotting forested hills leading down to a road by the water.

Bike Over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito

It’s one thing to spy the Golden Gate Bridge through the signature morning fog; it’s quite another to cycle across it (goldengatebridgebikerental.com). While the 8.5-mile route from Fisherman’s Wharf can get crowded, it enables you to take in the waterfront area, pedal along a modern engineering marvel, and then poke around the quaint streets and houseboat communities of Sausalito.

View through dense forest, with sunlight filtering in a beam through the canopy to illuminate a narrow path.

Hit the Trails in Muir Woods

Walk among giants – the tallest living organisms in the world – on Muir Woods’ leisurely trails, or head into Mount Tamalpais State Park for a longer, more rugged trek. Marvel at the size of the old-growth coast redwoods as you follow the asphalt and boardwalk trails (nps.gov). Paths to Mount Tamalpais Park are long, narrow, unpaved, and often steep, requiring sturdy shoes.

2
EAT & DRINK • LUNCH

Add Some Spice to Your Day

Close-up of chicken tinga tacos, drizzled with crema and topped with a wedge of avocado.

Copita Tequileria y Comida

Celebrity Chef Joanne Weir and business partner Larry Mindel have brought gluten-free, organic Mexican to downtown Sausalito with Copita Tequileria y Comida. Tomatillo mint salsa and chicken tortilla soup are standouts, and the many tacos are served on handmade corn tortillas. True to the tequileria in its name, you are spoilt for choice with more than 100 tequilas, mezcals, and cocktails.

A brown-skinned chef reaches across a table of dishes to wipe sauce from the rim of a plate of meat surrounded by a dark red-brown broth.

Prubechu'

Back across the Golden Gate strait in San Francisco, Prubechu’ brings the flavors of Guam and the Mariana Islands to the heart of the Mission District. Island-born chef Shawn Naputi serves up Chomorro classics like sweet rolls and beef tinaktak, along with dishes that make the most of seasonal and locally-grown produce. Dig into the pika tamales gisu and pair it with a hyperlocal beer or natural wine from the bar.

3
SELF-EXPLORE • AFTERNOON

Get Cultured in the Mission or Haight-Ashbury

The side of a large white building is covered in a mural, with historical, religious, and mythological figures swirling in rivers of color.

Street Art in The Mission and Beyond

San Francisco’s tradition of political activism continues to find expression through street art, particularly in the Mission District, a Latino hub. See for yourself by exploring the hundreds of thought-provoking murals that cover Balmy Alley and nearby Clarion Alley. They take on immigration, environmental causes, human rights violations in central America, and more sources of abuse and injustice.

For another approach to public art, head west to the Moraga Steps, where locals decorated the 163 steps with hand-painted ceramic tiles that form whimsical images of stars, flowers, birds, and fish.

Storefronts on Haight-Ashbury advertise Middle Eastern groceries, tattoos, and wild, fashionable clothes.

The Hippie Daze of Haight-Ashbury

Haight-Ashbury immediately conjures up 1960s counterculture and all its flower power, incense, tie-dye, and psychedelics. Today, this small area is chock full of landmarks, shops with indie cred and others hawking souvenirs. The Upper Haight is more gentrified while the Lower Haight feels grittier. Seek out Amoeba Music, Jim Henderson's one-stop shop for free live shows, CDs and vinyl, posters, and memorabilia (amoeba.com). Female-owned and operated, Indigo Vintage Cooperative is another highlight for epic band tees, denim, and one-of-a-kind fashion pieces (indigovtg.com). An inspired mix between ice cream and traditional shaved ice, the "snow" served at Powder Ice Cream comes with virtually any flavor you can imagine (powdershavedsnow.com).

5
EAT & DRINK • DINNER

Dine Like Locals

Side view of a stack of thinly-sliced fish and vegetables, topped with a drizzle of heavily herbed sauce.

Mijote

Named after the French word for “simmered,” Mijoté brings painstaking French technique to bear in lovingly crafted, constantly-rotating, surprisingly affordable four-course prix fixe dinners. Chef Kosuke Tada continually showcases the best of locally produced ingredients, often inflected by changes in the seasons and weather. Keep an eye out for pop-ups and collaborations from Tada’s friends in the local culinary scene.

Close-up overhead view of a dish of thinly-slided fish, olives, fruit,and herbs, floating in a fuchsia liquid.

The Morris

This bistro has all the appeal of a convivial, neighborhood hangout and a world-class dining destination. There are many ways to build a meal; one is the tender charcuterie board, halibut crudo, and smoked duck, with buckwheat doughnuts and whiskey crème Anglaise to finish. The selection of wines and spirits is in the very capable hands of renowned sommelier Einbund.

Hungry for more? Browse all of Resy's San Francisco coverage for the latest openings and how to score a reservation at the hottest Bay Area restaurants.

 

 

 

 

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