San Francisco Visitors Guide: SBC Park and South Beach
Many visitors to Napa Valley combine their trip with a stay in San Francisco. To help you in planning your visit, we have included this San Francisco Visitors Guide. After several days of visiting San Francisco, Golden Haven Hot Spring will be your perfect base for exploring the Napa Valley Wine Country.
A 253-foot-tall monolith at the foot of Market Street, the Spanish-style Ferry Building anchors the Port of San Francisco, a major trade gateway to the world.
Every Saturday morning the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market attracts thousands of shoppers who browse the glass-enclosed atrium arcade and the outdoor vendor’s stands, tasting locally-grown produce, artisan cheeses, seafood, teas and wines. Carrying commuters and sightseers, as they have since 1898, passenger ferries depart for cities around the bay.
In the shadow of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, with the best view of any ballpark on the planet, SBC Park is home of the San Francisco Giants. Some home-run balls end up with the fishes in McCovey (that’s Willie McCovey) Cove, where a flotilla of avid fans in dinghies grab the souvenir baseballs, often hit by slugger Barry Bonds.
Beyond the bridge around the waterfront, once a grubby industrial port area, South Beach is now a stretch of new condominiums, brew pubs and cafes. With an Olympic-sized indoor pool and water views from the workout rooms, the updated, circa 1920 Embarcadero YMCA is one of the top health clubs in the country; sharing the building, the Harbor Court Hotel offers YMCA privileges to guests––drop-ins are welcome, too. New Year’s Eve along the Embarcadero is festive with fireworks over the bay and a huge dance party at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco.
| The article on this page is adapted from guidebooks written by Karen Misuraca, the author of Our San Francisco, Fun With the Family in Northern California, and other travel books. Available for purchase on Amazon. |  |
