San Francisco, the Bay Area & the Northern California Coast

We have been to the greater San Francisco area twice in the last decade: first as a couple when Brian’s 2016 Financial District business trip gave us a reason to arrive early, then as a family during our 2021 Northern California road trip. Brian had also visited Bay Area family as a child, which meant this was not simply a list of famous sights for him. There were places he wanted to revisit, memories he wanted to compare, and new experiences he wanted to share with our girls.

San Francisco is the kind of city where a short list fills itself quickly: the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, PIER 39, Chinatown, Lombard Street, the Painted Ladies, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, and the waterfront. What made our trips feel like our own was letting that famous list spill outward—to redwoods in Muir Woods, the literary pull of Salinas, Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz, Sausalito, and the Pacific coast north and south of the city.

Our 2016 couples trip: start south of the city

With a rental car and a few days before Brian’s meetings, we made our first sightseeing day a drive south. Santa Cruz was one of those places that instantly made us think, the girls would love this. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk sits directly on a wide sandy beach and manages to be both classic and lively: rides, games, food, arcades, and the sound of the Pacific all in one place. It has been entertaining visitors since 1907, and its Giant Dipper wooden coaster and Looff Carousel give it the kind of real history that makes a boardwalk more interesting than a collection of rides. The nearby wharf, West Cliff Drive, downtown, and coastal wildlife give families plenty of ways to stretch the stop beyond the midway.

That first Santa Cruz impression quietly shaped our 2021 route. It reminded us that the area could work beautifully as a family trip, not just a business-trip add-on, and that Northern California rewards travelers who make room for the stops between the city and their next hotel.

A literary detour in Salinas, then Monterey Bay

Any good English teacher has to follow a literary connection when one appears, so we continued to Salinas for John Steinbeck. The National Steinbeck Center is a museum devoted to the Nobel Prize-winning author’s life, work, archive, and the Salinas Valley that shaped so much of his writing. We also visited the Steinbeck House, where he lived from his 1902 birth until leaving for college, and had a wonderful lunch there before spending roughly an hour in the museum. I would personally allow more time than we did if Steinbeck is the purpose of your visit; we were fitting it into a very full driving day.

From Salinas, we headed back to the coast and explored Monterey. This is an easy place to make as active or relaxed as you want: Cannery Row and Old Fisherman’s Wharf for waterfront walking and food, the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a longer indoor stop, coastal viewpoints, marine-life watching, and the lovely drive toward Pacific Grove and 17-Mile Drive. We did not try to do it all in one afternoon. Monterey rewards choosing one or two anchors and accepting that you will have a reason to come back.

The 2016 northbound day: redwoods, jellybeans, and a very happy Beermaster

The next day, we headed north to Muir Woods. The first impression is the scale and stillness of the coastal redwoods, but the practical side matters too. The main Redwood Creek Trail gives visitors a gentle, mostly level way to see the grove, with shorter and longer loop choices; the more ambitious trails climb into the surrounding hills. For a couple who enjoys walking, it is easy to spend two to three hours here. With young children, older relatives, or anyone who prefers less hiking, the lower trail and a deliberate, unhurried pace can still make this a very worthwhile stop.

We then drove inland to Fairfield for the Jelly Belly factory, where the tour made us appreciate the sheer volume of jellybeans in the production space. Jelly Belly began as a family candy business and became famous for a bean with flavor inside and out; the scale of the operation was the part that truly stuck with us. We had also booked the advanced-reservation Beermaster Tour at the nearby Budweiser brewery and bottling facility. Brian loved every minute of it and came away with an honorary Beermaster certificate. It was exactly the kind of delightfully specific stop that makes a couples trip feel personal rather than generic.

A four-hour introduction to San Francisco’s famous neighborhoods

On our third day, Dylan’s Tours gave us a four-hour sweep through the city highlights. It was a good first-visit overview because it connected places that feel far apart on a map: filming-location homes from Full House and Mrs. Doubtfire, the Painted Ladies, the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, Pacific Heights, Haight-Ashbury, Clarendon Heights, Chinatown, and the waterfront. The payoff was not checking off every stop. It was seeing the city’s hills, neighborhoods, and bay views as one geography before deciding where we wanted to return on our own.

The tour finished near San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, where cable cars and waterfront history suddenly made the city feel wonderfully physical. From there we explored Pier 45 and boarded the USS Pampanito. Brian absolutely loved going inside this World War II Balao-class submarine, which made six Pacific patrols after being built in 1943. It is the kind of compact, hands-on historic experience that can be especially memorable for a traveler who loves ships, military history, or simply the feeling of standing inside something that once crossed an ocean.

We continued to PIER 39, which is part dining, part shopping, part family entertainment, and part sea-lion viewing deck. It is easy to call it touristy, and it absolutely is—but that does not make it un-fun. The sea lions, bay views, shops, street energy, quick food options, and proximity to the waterfront attractions made it a repeat stop for us on both trips.

Waterfront winds, cable cars, and the things we missed by waiting too long

After Brian’s work meetings wrapped up the next day, we explored the Sutro Baths ruins near the Pacific. What remains is an atmospheric shoreline walk through the foundations of a once-grand indoor swimming complex, with crashing water, sea views, and the kind of cool, exposed setting that explains the sweatshirt rule all over again. We spent about an hour exploring, then lingered over an exquisite dinner overlooking the Pacific—a fitting close to an afternoon built around the shoreline.

The following day we took a bay boat tour from Fisherman’s Wharf. It carried us toward the Golden Gate Bridge, around Alcatraz, down toward the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, and back through the wind that has become part of our San Francisco memory. It was a wonderful orientation to the city from the water, especially for seeing how the bridge, island, hills, and waterfront fit together.

We tried for last-minute Alcatraz tickets on that 2016 trip and learned the hard way that they had sold out weeks before. We made up for it with the Cable Car Museum, a cable-car ride, and Lombard Street. Riding a cable car is not polished or speedy transportation; it is clattering, steep, crowded, and completely worth doing at least once. Lombard Street is the famously winding block between Hyde and Leavenworth, a steep switchback framed by landscaping and private homes. It is a quick stop, but it is one of those views that stays exactly as strange and charming as you expect it to be.

Our 2021 family road trip: north to Fort Bragg and Confusion Hill

When we returned in 2021, we flew into San Francisco, rented a van, and immediately headed north. Our beachfront hotel in Fort Bragg gave us a walk on the sand and a sunset into the ocean. As East Coasters, we are accustomed to watching a sunset disappear behind land, not in front of us across the Pacific. That simple difference made the evening feel special, and it was the kind of quiet family moment that balances a trip full of reservations and major sights.

The next day, we drove north to Confusion Hill because Madison is a huge Gravity Falls fan and the roadside attraction had the right Mystery Shack energy. It is a classic, quirky stop built around a gravity-house illusion, with its own small collection of roadside attractions and a chance to stretch after the drive. The route is not a casual little detour from San Francisco; it is several hours each way from the city and includes winding roads that may not agree with every child’s stomach. We have learned to take those roads slowly, keep a bag handy, and make the journey part of the story rather than pretending it is effortless.

Heading south again, we returned to Pier 45’s Musée Mécanique, the waterfront arcade filled with antique, coin-operated mechanical amusements. It has the wonderfully specific personality of a collection rather than a generic arcade, and it gave the girls something completely different to enjoy before we returned to PIER 39 for shopping and food.

Muir Woods, Sausalito, and a second chance at Alcatraz

We booked a six-hour Dylan’s tour for our next day, using the company differently than we had as a couple. This time we wanted the logistics handled while we moved between Muir Woods, Sausalito, Golden Gate viewpoints, and the waterfront with kids. Muir Woods still worked beautifully, but the experience changed with our family: less interest in covering extra trail mileage, more time to look up at the trees, take pictures, and let the girls set the pace. That is one reason I like a visit there for both families and older couples. You can choose the accessible lower-grove experience, or take a longer hike if that is genuinely the group’s joy.

After the redwoods, we had a lovely lunch and time in downtown Sausalito, the waterfront town just across the Golden Gate Bridge. Its marina, views back toward the city, galleries, restaurants, and small-town pace made it a natural contrast to San Francisco. We crossed the bridge and stopped at Yee Tock Chee Park, a small overlook in the Presidio area where the bridge fills the view. Then we finished again at PIER 39, this time with dinner at a seafood restaurant and more time watching the sea lions.

The next day we had reservations for The Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. For a family that has spent so much time at Walt Disney World, it was special to step away from the rides and into Walt’s story: early drawings, animation, films, innovation, a detailed Disneyland model, and the wider history behind the name our girls knew so well. The museum is in a former Army barracks in the historic Presidio, which makes the setting memorable before you ever enter a gallery.

After lunch, we finally had the Alcatraz tickets that had eluded us in 2016. The island has been a fort, military prison, federal penitentiary, and the site of the 1969–71 Occupation of Alcatraz by Indians of All Tribes. There is real walking, including the climb from the dock to the cellhouse; our girls did not complain much, but I would tell any family to treat that uphill walk honestly. The cellhouse audio tour is excellent, the views back to the city are unforgettable, and a half-day is a more realistic frame than trying to stack it tightly with too many other commitments.

South again: Winchester, Santa Cruz, and Route 1

Our final full driving day took us south to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Sarah Winchester kept building this sprawling Victorian house after her husband’s death, and the result is an eccentric maze of rooms, stairways, doors, and architectural details that make far more sense with a guided tour than from the outside. It is an easy place to spend a few hours, especially for families with older children who enjoy a strange story and a house unlike any other. Lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown San Jose was a fun return for the girls; the Charlotte location we remembered had closed years earlier, so revisiting the restaurant felt like a small piece of home tucked into a California day.

That afternoon, Santa Cruz was hot and packed—such a contrast to San Francisco. We went back to the beach and Boardwalk, then slowly drove north along Route 1, stopping every few minutes for photos of the coastline. I would not describe that drive as efficient, but it was beautiful. Sometimes the right family road trip choice is to accept that the view is the activity and let the schedule breathe.

A gentle final morning in Golden Gate Park

On our last morning, we explored Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden. The garden is a calm, carefully landscaped change of pace from bridges, boats, and crowded waterfronts: paths, ponds, bridges, plants, and small details that gave the girls room to slow down. We spent about an hour there. Admission policies, pricing, and hours can change, so I would check the official page before the trip and decide whether it belongs at the beginning or end of a larger park day.

We continued nearby to Sutro Baths, touching the Pacific one more time in our warmer clothes. Ending with that cool, dramatic shoreline felt fitting. San Francisco had given us a city full of landmarks, but the coastline and the sudden change in weather were what kept reminding us that this is California on its own terms.

Why we would plan this kind of trip again

Both trips felt like whirlwinds, but they were the kind our family has learned to enjoy: researching ahead, booking the things that need to be booked, and giving ourselves a real chance to come home with more than a few surface-level impressions. Our 2016 visit showed us what San Francisco could be as a couple. Our 2021 return let us watch the girls find their own reasons to love the same region.

That is what I want a well-planned family trip to do. It does not need to be slow to be meaningful, and it does not need to be packed for every minute to be memorable. It needs the right anchors, a realistic amount of time, and space for each traveler to see something that feels like it was chosen with them in mind. San Francisco gave us all of that—and built our girls’ love of travel a little further along the way.