SAN FRANCISCO WITH KIDS!

My family is spread out all over the country. My parents live in Florida, my sister lives in Los Angeles, my brother-in-law lives in Las Vegas, and of course, we live in North Carolina. Kind of crazy, huh? It’s a process to get everyone together, but when we do, it’s completely worth it! Unfortunately, it only happens a few times a year.

For my Dad’s 60th birthday, we all travelled to San Francisco for a long weekend of family fun. Throughout this post, I’m going to outline some family-friendly places or experiences that we had during our trip.

1. Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar – For our first night, we had dinner at the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar located in the Fairmont San Francisco. This restaurant opened in 1945 and features tropical-themed decor and Polynesian-fusion cuisine. Throughout your dining experience, the restaurant has tropical rainstorms that include thunder and lightning. It’s fascinating for kids, and the food was delicious.

2. Lombard Street – Lombard Street is the most crooked street in the world. It is most famous for the eight sharp turns between the Hyde and Leavenworth streets. So, why would you take your kids to this street? Well, the view is amazing. There are lots of steps (if you choose to walk down) to tire them out. My kids loved walking down the street, looking at the gorgeous gardens, and seeing cars drive down the crazy turns. It would also be a blast to drive down this windy road!

3. Cable Cars – How can you go to San Francisco and not try out the cable cars? San Francisco has the world’s last manually operated cable car system. These cable cars are open air and run on a track to take you up and down the crazy hills of San Francisco. There are 3 lines left running throughout Fog City. It’s not quite like how they depict it in Full House, but it is definitely an iconic San Francisco experience.

4. The Painted Ladies – Speaking of Full House…. It is definitely worth it to check out these beautiful historical Victorian homes along Steiner Street. In addition, there’s an amazing playground across the street to exhaust the kiddos (Alamo Square Playground).

5. Fisherman’s Wharf – Fisherman’s Wharf is San Francisco’s historic waterfront district. During our time, we checked out Ghiradelii Square, saw the sea lions, rode the carousel, and shopped in a few stores! The Sea Lions were definitely the girls favorite. We all loved watching them flop on and off the wooden platforms. You could easily spend hours wandering around this area! There are a ton of restaurants as well.

6. Boat tour of San Francisco – I think my favorite experience in San Francisco was taking a boat tour around the bay. The views were spectacular especially when we went close to the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. The girls absolutely loved being on the water, and it was great day for the whole family.

What is your favorite kid friendly activity to do in San Francisco? We cannot wait to come back to San Francisco again to see all of the other sights and experiences that it has to offer. Thank you for wandering along with us!