San Fran, Tip #1

The golden gate bridge, sour dough bowls, pier 39 seals!! San Fran. SO FUN! But.....SO expensive!
Here is tip #1 on how to travel San Fran, without draining your bank account. We spent a 3 day weekend in San Fran and really got to experience the city. We splurged on a few things, like a sail boat tour, but mostly tried to save money the rest of the trip. So how did we do it?

Find FREE things to do. San Fran is such a huge city, you will find unlimited FREE or fairly inexpensive things to do. Karolis and I love big cities, but we know how to work them. Don't spend money if you do not have to!

Here are some FREE things we did and LOVED!

1. Just walking around! There are beautiful homes and parks, throughout the hills of SanFran. We had fun walking around and taking photos of beautiful gardens and parks. We picked out homes we would want to move into as we enjoyed our Mr. Holmes Bakery donuts (GO early to get the cruffin!)

2. Coit Tower. You can walk up to Coit Tower and see beautiful views! We just sat up there for a few hours and enjoyed the 360 degree view of the bay area. You can pay to go up into the tower, but we felt like we got a great view, in the gardens of the tower

3. The Painted Ladies aka Full House. This is another free attraction and a great photo op! I love the t.v. show Full House and have watched it since I was young, so this was especially fun for me! The park across the street (where they have a picnic in the opening credits) was closed, but if we go back, we are DEF have a picnic there!

4. Pier 39. These are where the famous seals are at! We went here everyday and seriously watch these goofballs for a couple hours. There is plenty of room, to watch them. But, it did get very cold, surprising, so bring a jacket! There is also shopping in this area, that is fun to walk around and see! And a piano staircase, that actually makes music, while you walk up and down it! We got our bread bowls here and they were delish! If you are trying to save a buck, you could share the bowl, they are HUGE!

5. The Wave Organ. This is right in the bay, where you can see the San Fran bridge. This is a man-made "organ", where the wind from the waves, goes through pipes, to make music. This is a really cool area and has GREAT views of the bay and the bridge.

6. Ghirardelli Square. You can come check out their store and get a FREE piece of chocolate. Yum! We of course had to get a sundae, for my chocolate lovin' man. So worth it!

Some things to splurge on:

1. Trolley Cable Ride (take it to China Town, super cheap food there!)
2. Bread Bowls, get one or two, every day!
3. Boat Tour, we did a sail boat one, it included drinks and was 2 hours for about $50 a person. My favorite thing we did on the trip
4. Muir Woods, SO cool!!
5. Rent a car and drive up the coast, to go see the cliffs


All in all, we really did not spend too much on activities. Now hotels, that is another story! And another tip to come, another time! What are your favorite places in San Fran?!