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A Perfect Week in San Francisco:

Planning your Best Vacation in the San Francisco, San Jose,

our Wine Country, the Monterey Peninsula, Silicon Valley...

You may have a full week…there's certainly enough to do here to fill a week...or maybe you just have a long weekend. Consider the following suggestions for making your visit a truly special vacation. But don't plan to fill every hour. Hopefully you're going to come across completely unexpected places and things to do and you'll want time to linger or return later. Do plan time to casually explore our many fascinating neighborhoods and picturesque towns, the natural wonders that surround us, our vibrant nightlife, or just taking a mid-afternoon nap after a spa treatment.

(Day 1) Arrive. If there are a few hours remaining before bedtime, begin to recover from jetlag or your long day by relaxing with activities that don't require reservations: ride the "little cable cars that climb halfway to the stars" (the Hyde Street line from Powell & Market) up Nob Hill thru Chinatown and down to Fisherman's Wharf, where at Pier 39 you laugh at the antics of the barking sea lions; appreciate views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge; make dinner of fresh crab from a street stand or enjoy clam chowder in sourdough bowls at Boudin's, or savor an elegant Vietnamese supper at beautiful Ana Mandara.

(Day 2) Take A Friend in Town's "Everybody's Favorite City" Tour that features the amazing! Muir Woods redwood forest, quaint Sausalito and Golden Gate Park. Evening offers a play, stand-up comedy, or jazz at Yoshi's.

(Day 3) Sleep in. Take a free walking tour of one of the city's unique neighborhoods or landmarks—with San Francisco City Guides. Lunch well. Shop where the masses do…or in the quieter local districts where you'll discover treasures you'll never see at Bloomingdale's. Or take A Friend in Town's "Villages" Tour where you can see more neighborhoods in less time. Having arranged it several weeks in advance, take Alcatraz' Night Tour, enjoying sunset views of the city on the way out and the twinkling skyline on the way back.

(Day 4) Take one of A Friend in Town's Wine Country Tours, with a small lunch, then big dinner back in San Francisco…or dine at one of many renowned Wine Country options…or the reverse.

(Day 5) If it's Sunday, get in line early at Glide Memorial Church to experience a truly diverse congregation and some of the city's best gospel music. Afterwards take a bus out to the Cliff House for brunch overlooking Ocean Beach. Spend the afternoon on a rented bike or skates in Golden Gate Park. Save an hour for the justly famous Japanese Tea Garden, the dramatically designed DeYoung Museum next door, the "green" California Academy of Sciences across the Concourse…or lounge in a paddle-boat on Stow Lake. If it's a weekday and you're into high tech, you may want to do our Silicon Valley/San Jose Tour, where you can get close to Google, eBay, Apple…and tour the Intel Museum and Stanford University.

(Day 6) Take A Friend in Town's Monterey & Carmel Tour, during which you'll enjoy some of California's most spectacular coastal scenery, plus Carmel-by-the-Sea, one of our most picturesque villages. Clint Eastwood lives there and Thomas Kinkade is inspired by it—it's easy to see why. You'll have a chance to experience the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium, the world-famous Pebble Beach golf resort, mysterious monarch butterflies (in season), see otters in their natural habitat or the incomparable vistas along the Big Sur coast.

(Day 7) Spend your last day power shopping, visiting the Asian and Cartoon Art Museums, or following up on something that really intrigued you before—perhaps those Dead posters on Haight Street—or just pretending you're a local, nursing a cappucino in North Beach.

Book with us and we'll help you determine whether it's opera or baseball, hang-gliding or in-line skating, dim sum or tapas that are going to make this your vacation of a lifetime!