A Perfect 24 Hours in San Francisco

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Greetings Internet Stranger! So you’re looking for things to do for 24 hours in San Francisco? Well, the most important thing to know is that we’re going to spend most of the 24 hours in San Francisco in Golden Gate Park. Between the museums, the bison, and the hippies, there’s simply not enough time to pack everything there is to see in this glorious park in in less than one day.

The second most important thing to know is that even though the phrase Golden Gate is in the Park, you will not be exploring the Golden Gate Bridge during this itinerary. That is because, weirdly enough, Golden Gate Bridge is not in Golden Gate Park. Get used to disappointment, Internet Stranger! But I’ll try to make up for it with all the fun we’re going to have today!

24 Hours in San Francisco

Where to Stay?

Location is so important in San Francisco. That’s why I recommend spending your 24 hours in San Francisco at the Cartwright Hotel. It’s located right by Union Square so it’s in a convenient location right near Chinatown, it has free wifi, coffee makers, and an airport shuttle, and it might be haunted! What more could you want?

While the hotel doesn’t provide breakfast, it has a great place for breakfast just a short walk away. I’m talking about the Sutter Street Cafe. This tiny spot makes an amazing, gooey bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, which is high praise coming from me because I am from New York City, and we have the best bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches in the world.

If you’d like to join me at the Cartwright, just click here.

If you want to find deals on hundreds of hotel rooms in San Francisco, just click here.

This search engine will help you find the most affordable and convenient hotel during your day in San Francisco. With hundreds of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

24 Hours in San Francisco

Morning: The De Young Museum

There are so many fabulous museums in San Francisco and Golden Gate Park, but the De Young is possibly my favorite. It has an outstanding collection of American art and a fabulous setting in one of the most beautiful parks in America. The museum offers regular free guided tours throughout the day, and free guided museum tours are possibly the best things on this earth after food and mystery novels.

24 Hour Tip

I recommend getting a ticket on the Hop on Hop off bus because it will take you all around the city including Golden Gate Park.

You can go ahead and book your ticket right here.

It’s much more convenient that way. Then get ready for an amazing 24 hours in San Francisco.

24 Hour tip

The De Young has excellent temporary exhibitions, but I suggest skipping them if this is your first time at the museum. The regular collection is large enough that you should concentrate on those works. Also, this tip will save you money because you won’t have to pay the extra charge for the temporary exhibition.

Approximately Top 5: The DeYoung Museum

1) Appreciate some East Coast Landscapes

As I mentioned, the De Young offers many different kinds of docent tours, and I can’t guarantee which will be available when you’re there. However, my favorite tour was the docent tour of the American Art collection.

I loved this tour because we got to learn about the history of the depiction of California in painting, which is a perfect thing to do in San Francisco. California hasn’t always been a popular subject for art. Our docent started by explaining that in the early 19th century, most painters did landscapes of the East Coast, as in this example shown above: “The Village of Catskill” by Thomas Cole.

2) Explore the fine art of California and the West Coast

Then our guide explained to us that painting nature on the East Coast was so early-1800s. By the second half of the 20th century, artists were much more interested in depicting the Western United States as the “New Eden”. And which spot on the West Coast is more Edenic and perfect than San Francisco’s own Bay Area?

But some painters weren’t able to portray such an idyllic view of the West, either because of the Native Americans who were being chased off their land or because of the environmental damage being done by increased movement out West. The fog in the painting of the Bay Area above is meant to symbolize some of that environmental damage.

I wonder if artists really used to mix it up with each other about whether or not it was better to paint the East Coast or the West Coast. Maybe it was like the 19th century equivalent of Biggie vs. Tupac. Pistols at dawn, old sport, and all that!

3) Have a little fun with contemporary art

We finished our tour with this work “Three Machines” by contemporary California artist Wayne Thiebaud, who is famous for his somber colors and serious subject matter. Just kidding! As you can see from my photo above, Thiebaud is known for his brightly colored paintings of sweets. These gumballs are so flamboyant that you almost feel like you could reach through the screen and grab one.

There is something stereotypically Californian about the almost superficially cheerful nature of his work, but I like this painting anyway. What’s wrong with a work of art that puts a smile on your face? And even though I’m from New York City, it doesn’t bother me that Californians tend to be more laid-back and don’t wear black as often. It takes all different kinds to make a country.

4) Patriotic Silver

Yes, these silver tankards are lovely, but it’s really who made them that’s more important. Who is the most important American silversmith of all time? If you said Paul Revere, you hit it right on the horse’s snoot. Americans know Paul Revere because of his famous midnight ride warning that the British are coming.

But of course, that was not Revere’s full-time job! I don’t think anyone could make a full-time living off a one-time experience like that. Instead, Revere worked as a prominent Boston silversmith, hawking his wares like these tankards decorated with the image of Bacchus, Roman god of wine, to support his approximately one grillion kids. (The actual number was 16. 16! Well, we know the dude had good stamina.)

5) Eat lunch at the De Young cafe

I recommend spending about three hours in the De Young, which gives you enough time to take two guided tours and explore a little of the museum on your own. At this point you will be hungry for some lunch. The De Young Museum has a solid and not too expensive cafe on the ground floor. It’s hard to find good food in the Golden Gate Park, so this is the most convenient place to start.

As a bonus, the walls are glass so you can look out on the Golden Gate Park while you eat. If the weather’s nice, you can even enjoy your food outside! Nosh on something like fresh soba noodles and tea, and then we will be ready to head out into nature!

24 Hours in San Francisco

Afternoon: Explore Golden Gate Park

I’m confident you won’t want to spend 24 hours in San Francisco without seeing the Golden Gate Park. This park has everything: palm trees, a Japanese tea garden, lakes, a Bison Paddock that is actually a paddock that contains real bison, something called a Hippie Hill which of course it does because this is San Francisco, and an Archery Range.

I recommend seeing this park on a fantastic Segway tour, which you can book right here.

The Park will then be your oyster, even though oysters may be the only thing you cannot find in this park.

Approximately Top 5: Golden Gate Park

1) Find an event

There is literally always an event in this park. No matter when you spend your 24 hours in San Francisco, you’ll be able to find something. I wasn’t even looking for something, and I came across an unidentifiable (at least by me) concert with a whole bunch of people in attendance dressed as fairies.

I’m not trying to be offensive; they were literally wearing glitter and little gauze wings on their backs. If you want to be better prepared than I was, just check this calendar for details. There are special events for kids, music lovers, flower fanatics…basically everyone. As long as it’s not raining too hard, you should be able to locate an event that will suit you.

2) Explore nature

Don’t you always enjoy a random collection of creepy trees? They bring out the dinner vampire or werewolf in us all. Fortunately Golden Gate Park has an abundance of them.

I can’t locate them on your map, but it’s more fun to wander around and locate them at random anyway. You never know when a creepy tree will sneak up behind you and tap you on the shoulder.

If the creepy trees are bothering you too much, just escape to this lake for some peace and quiet. Commune with nature. Walk with the animals and walk with the animals. I had hoped those were beavers in the bottom of the picture because beavers are adorable and photogenic, but probably they are just rocks.

3) Admire the Flowers

I was lucky enough to spend 24 hours in San Francisco in the springtime, so the blossoms were especially lovely. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that exact shade of pink in a flower before!

And look at the yellow color of those daffodils! Daffodils make everything better. Nothing says spring like a daffodil. One of the nice things about San Francisco is that the weather doesn’t follow predictable patterns, so you can find fresh flowers in the city most of the time.

On the downside, that means you can’t be sure it will be warm in the summer. Mark Twain had a famous quote about the coldest winter he ever spent being a summer in San Francisco. Truer words were ne’er spoken!

4) ENJOY SOME CLASSIC SAN FRANCISCO MUSIC

Find this very San Francisco park bench and serenade Jean Scherr with “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”.  Or you can just wander around and look for Tony Bennett and see if he has located the heart he left in San Francisco. 

OK, I didn’t actually run into Mr. Bennett himself, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

24 Hours in San Francisco

Dinner: Altovino

San Francisco truly has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to restaurants. They have everything from fabulous fine dining to succulent Mission burritos the size of a small baby.

But don’t forget that San Francisco also has some extraordinary Italian food at pretty much every price point. That’s why we’re leaving Golden Gate Park and heading to the area near our Cartwright Hotel to feast on classy Italian eats at Altovino. This is the sort of restaurant that makes you feel like a local even when you are anything but.

I suggest getting a rich pasta dish for your main course, so to balance it out, start with something like a salad. I had the heirloom tomato salad with buffalo mozzarella, pickled ramps, and cherry tomatoes.

In many ways, it was a classic tomato and mozz salad, but the pickled ramps gave it a charming springtime feel, and the colors of the heirloom tomatoes are so surprising–like the colors of the gumball machine we saw at the DeYoung Museum.

One of their pasta specialties is this pappardelle with a ten hour Bolognese sauce. The sauce was really the star of this dish because it had so many different meats in it–veal, beef, pork, and prosciutto. With a sauce this complex, you don’t want too much else on top because it will interfere with all those carnivorous delights.

After that rich meat sauce, you’d think we might not have room for dessert. Well, think again! You need to make room for this chocolate caramel budino. After all, San Francisco is the home of Ghirardelli, so when you’re here, you need to eat as much chocolate as possible. That’s just science.

Yes, the budino was quite rich, but the portion was small, so you’ll be able to enjoy every bite of silky, decadent goodness without feeling like your tummy will explode.

24 Hours in San Francisco

Shopping List

• An excellent small cell charger so you can keep taking pictures of your 24 hours in San Francisco
• My favorite guidebook to San Francisco, including Golden Gate Park
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you exactly how solo travel can take your life from BLAH to amazing!
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on.

That’s a Perfect 24 Hours in San Francisco!

What would you do with 24 hours in San Francisco? What was the deal with the fairy convention? And do you think that bench enjoyed the Peter, Paul, and Mary song? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY spend 24 hours in San Francisco.

You can also add an Alcatraz day trip. You might want to experience a Castro in San Francisco tour. Enjoy the best Chinatown in San Francisco food tour. Go for a Mission District in San Francisco food tour. Get going on a North Beach in San Francisco tour. Don’t miss the best Tripadvisor things to do in San Francisco. Try out the best tour spots in San Francisco.