I always recommend the murals in the mission, with food. There's a couple of walking tours. Architecture there is pretty good although there are some other parts of the city (upper height, famous painted ladies of alamo sq). Bonus for finding the golden fire hydrant. Ferry building walk the waterfront pick a place for lunch is always a good time. If you haven't hiked and walked around the golden gate, there's a lot of options, from starting in the presideo, over the bridge, down to ft pt, over through crissy field. Depends on how far you want to go. I always like the maritime museum, it's the only thing in peir 39 area that I think is worth a stop. IMho. It's not like you can go home without touching the golden gate bridge. Union square might be a madhouse. Not my scene, could be kinda fun. You might lose a lot of time getting in and out on good friday - or it might be all quiet with the Doom Loop. Best view is twin peaks. Getting up their is best done via uber. Chinatown can be nice, same with north beach, but I wouldn't put either on a "only one day" list although there's a compelling argument for cable car -> chinatown -> dumplings -> city lights -> vesuvio. There's a combo of tourist and local stuff mashed together. Going to chinadown for an hour for the nabe and doing a walk and grabbing a few bao eat stand-up is about right tho (especially if you decide to stop by Union sq). I always put the local ocean on a list. Here, the best is Baker beach, bar none, because of the view of the GGBR. However, it's out of the way. You might settle for the bay, especially crissy field, where you can take in the windsurfers and kitesurfers if you're lucky. If you're really into beaches you'll probably have to uber in uber out. Really depends how fast you can move, how much you can pack in. It would take seasoned travelers to check out GGBR, union square, ferry building, chinatown, twin peaks, mission district, all in one day. it *could* be done but you'd need to stay focused and optimize for time (lots of ubers at strategic moments). If you like jazz, I'd suggest getting a table at Mr Tipples, it's a sure-fire, their reservation system works, they're central. Second up would be the Dawn Club. There are other places but you don't want to complicate things. Picking dinner is going to be *REALLY* hard. You'll have to optimize for what you like, what the party likes, what you have good of at home. Your best one-stop source is the Eater 38. It's not perfect but it's very good. Check out the other eater features, "hot and new", "bars", etc. SF Gate is running lots of good food artciles these days, and doing more "best of the bay" that doesn't focus on the 7x7, but their reviews are trustworthy. It's not like there are a lot of choices - there are a lot of *categories* of choices. Do not try to do with your own car (or rental), find a central lot to park in and do everything via uber or public transit or scooters. For example, there's the lot across from the ferry building, or the lots in embarcadero center. Bonusus of that general location are you're near the ferry building, it's easy to get on the bay bridge and 80 southbound, and it's at the terminus of a cable car ride which is never crowded (takes you to chinatown). That area is less bippy than fisherman's wharf, looking for a lot with an attendant. You're also on BART and MUNI within a short walk. You'll be tempted to take caltrain. I wouldn't. You're just burning too much time. Although black friday is an interesting exception, because perhaps you can get a baby bullet from Deridon. I still wouldn't bother unless you like trains and a relaxed pace. It is a fun day to caltrain -> historic F -> ferry building -> maritime park -> hoof to crissy field, uber to a nice dinner, get really worried about missing the train and waiting an hour, then the really really long 1.5 hour train ride cursing that you could be home by now. You can walk from one side of the city to the other in less than a day, it's famously only 7 miles across, including stops, but it's not a first-time thing. There is a good walking route with stairs and hills and views - but more of an advanced class thing. Museums. There's an exhibition at SFMOMA that I'm eyeing, exploratorium is always interesting and has views but can be kid-congested. De Young is strategically located in the park, but just isn't my favorite museum (same with Cal Science). Asian art museum is central and interesting and somewhat offbeat. It's in the old post office across from city hall so good architecture. And, it's right at one of the famous open air drug markets, so you can go home with an opinion about the Doom Loop! Good times! Answer from Heraclius404 on reddit.com