San Francisco | The Little Big City
San Francisco is a pastel wonderland and New York meets LA kind of city. The blue waters, beautiful mountains, colourful victorian houses, and breathtaking monuments make it a must-go destination in North America. This city is the perfect place to spend a warm and dry weekend for those living in the cold and rainy Vancouver as it only takes two hours to fly there and similar to Vancouver, the airport is very close to the city. The best way to explore San Francisco is just to walk around and check out different neighbourhoods until you get to a cafe, bar, shop or a cool building that makes you wanna stop.
Here is my little guide to spend the perfect weekend in San Francisco:
1) Ferry Building Market
Nestled by the ocean, this market is filled with tiny shops, bars and cafes with stunning views of the Bay Bridge, the Treasure Island, and green mountains. This is the perfect place to start your day with an amazing coffee and some pastries while enjoying the sun. Then walk along the water to feel the breeze for half an hour and then take a cable car and head up. First make a stop at Chinatown and then at the Russian Hills.
2) Chinatown
The oldest and most established Chinatown is North America and the Largest outside of Asia, the Chinatown in San Francisco is definitely worth visiting. Apparently, this neighbourhood is birthplace of westernized Chinese cuisine. Filled with bright and bold colors, shops and tiny dim-sum and other traditional restaurants you can easily spend half a day in this area.
3) Russian Hills
Russian Hill is to the north from Nob Hill, to the south from Fisherman's Wharf, and to the west of the North Beach neighbourhood. This area is famous for the Lombard street, a beautiful steep spiral road with a gorgeous view of the city. With the clear view of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz, this area is the perfect spot to photos and to check out the mansion-like houses that make you want to move to this gorgeous city.
4) Hayes Valley
One of my favroite areas in San Francisco is Hayes Valley. You can find European-inspired restaurants, cute cafes and great boutiques and shops in this area. Although kind of small, this neighbourhood is great for an evening to walk around before you hit one of the restaurants there as it has the best food-scene in the city.
5) Haight-Ashbury
The ultimate hippie area of San Francisco reeking of cannabis and incense, Haight-Ashbury a heaven for vintage shoppers like myself! Clothes, accessories and hats from decades ago are the eccentric displays of shops stretched across this street. You can walk along Haight street until you get to the golden Gate park which is also worth exploring for a couple of hours.
6) Mission Disctrict
Called one of the coolest neighbourhoods in 2016, Mission district is the place to try some Mexican food at a roof top and then grabbing a couple of beers or a cold class of white win and "chilling" at the Dolores Park. Attracting thousands of young people on sunny days, the park offers an unobstructed view of downtown San Francisco, specially from the southwest corner.
