I love San Fran and been lucky enough to have been there 3 times now and each time we have stayed down in Fishermans Wharf at a pretty quirky hotel but a nice one. We only had the car once and used it to drive across the Golden Gate bridge to Muir Woods which was a lovely day out, other than that we walked or took buses. A couple of times we actually walked from out hotel all the way down to the Golden Gate bridge as it took us past the Pressidio and this fella which is at the George Lucas Film studio.
You can go in to the foyer and they have a small amount of Star Wars stuff to see but they don't do tours as it is a working studio. The walk itself is good but pretty long as it also takes you past Crissy Fields which gives a great view back towards Alcatraz and also past the Disney Family museum, which we didn't go in as it was $25 and we would end up in Orlando anyway but the wife did take the opportunity to relax for 5 minutes.
Walking all the way down also gave us a great chance for tons of photo opportunities of the Bridge but i would say driving across the bridge to the other side gave even better views of the bridge at a one of the stop off points.
Walking back to Fishermans wharf we actually walk along the waterfront pretty much all the way back and it just seemed strange to see a beach there and people swimming in the sea (but not too far out) with all the stories of really strong Bay currents, again a lovely walk.
Saussalito was mentioned and we went down there for just an hour on the way back from Muir Woods but couldn't stay long as we had an evening tour of Alcatraz booked. Saussilito was absolutely beautiful and really wished we had spent more time down there and there are loads of places to eat.
Pier 39 is great as there are so many lovely shops to look in and places to eat and of course the seals. We were then the end of August and the place was full of seals and it was quite fun watching them although i would probably try to see them early as it does get really busy down there.
Union Square is the main shopping area and we went down there on one of the street cars which was fun and worth doing and then came back on one of the busses. Nob Hill for the views of the city although i didn't fancy walking up there
We've actually done Alcatraz twice, once we went over on the first boat so avoiding the crowds first thing and the second time we did the night tour which was good and gave lovely views of San Fran as we came back on the boat.
The botanical gardens were gorgeous and worth a visit.
