Also a SF native and jshain’s mention of The Cliff House reminded me that if you are walkers/hikers (as suggested by your reference to Point Reyes) and the weather is good consider hiking from The Cliff House/Sutro Baths through the Presidio, under the south end of the Golden Gate bridge to Chrissy Field. You can uber back if you’re not up for the return hike. The views of the Bridge and the Bay are amazing. Plus it is a joy to see how the Presidio has been repurposed into a wonderful urban park space since it’s decommissioning.
Or, for a shorter walk, start at the Cliff House and end up at the Legion of Honor Museum. Then take Uber back to your car. Be SURE to stop by the Camera Obscura! (Only open on clear sunny days).
A friend did the Detour of the Castro, and I know he is an excellent speaker and story teller, though have not been there to take the tour myself.
Now if I can only convince the other three travelers to stay a whole week!
Not sure how active you want to be but a fun day trip is to rent bikes near Ghirardelli and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and down into Sausalito. Really beautiful trip. You can lock the bikes up in town and walk around, have lunch, etc then take the bikes back on the ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf.
I second the recommendation for Buckeye Roadhouse. It’s a local treasure and a relaxing change of pace.
I’m also a big fan of the Ferry Building. Wonderful shops and restaurants with a very different vibe than Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli.
Oh, and don’t forget to download Vertigo onto your iPad and watch it on the plane ride there! The quintessential San Fran
Actually, the only rational thing to do is to make it two weeks and tack on the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo (January is the height of the season), Santa Cruz, and Big Sur (remarkably non-foggy in the winter). Oh, and don’t forget a few days skiing at Lake Tahoe; you can save Yosemite for a different trip.
H and I finally saw Lake Tahoe earlier this summer. It’s beautiful, and I’ll bet very different in the winter time.
Don’t get me started on Yosemite. I tried to convince them you could do Yosemite in the winter time - it would be very different and we might have to buy some gear we don’t have, but it could be done. They didn’t buy it, so I didn’t push it. It is on my list, though.
And if you’re going from Santa Cruz to Big Sur, make sure to stop by Carmel to enjoy restaurants, wine tasting, art galleries, and a wonderful beach!
Better make it three weeks! 
I love Pebble Beach and Carmel from the summers when D would show her horse there for 2 weeks!
Yes, H and I have done the Pebble Beach drive, as well as Monterrey and Carmel. Even when we did them in August and the fog rolled in, it got chilly!
For THE MOST breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge, park at Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point and take the short walk to Battery Spencer. Lifetime unforgettable views and memories.
Timely thread. I am following closely since I will be in the bay area in January for about 10 days.
Monetey Bay aquarium is always nice, especially if you have a warm, sunny day and need a day trip.
Love the Monterey Bay aquarium. The Steinhardt Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco is also nice if you can’t make it down to Monterey and happen to be visiting the Academy anyway.
Also check out the websites for the de Young, SFMoMA and the Asian Art Museum to see if there are any exhibitions you want to see in those terrific museums. (Most people know about the deYoung and MoMa but the Asian Art Museum is stunning and worth a visit.)
Agree on the Asian Art Museum, and almost mentioned it myself, but I figured with only a few hours in the city (and with one person’s never having been to the Bay Area before), it probably wouldn’t be the first choice. But it is a stunning space and an absolutely eye-opening collection.
Yes, I also love Golden Gate Park. Sundays, sometimes they block parts of it to cars and folks can use other means of getting around there–skates, scooters, bikes, etc. The garden there is lovely too. I also like the science museum in Golden Gate park that has the butterflies. There is also a butterfly exhibit in the garden. The de Young has changing exhibits; we’ve toured few times.
Speaking of aquariums, UC Santa Cruz has a nice one right on the water.
Not much to add. I thought the new MOMA was fabulous and second the suggestion of the Hess collection. We were given an individual tour - it’s really interesting to see the collection of just one person. You have to be interested in modern art though!
I’ll put in a plug for the various walking tours. I did three last time we were in SF. One was a food tour http://www.sffoodtour.com/?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CjwKEAiAm8nCBRD7xLj-2aWFyz8SJAAQNalacTwyACh2fjrgYwRgiWk1AC8JM-VGxgS0QWTyvOalghoCJifw_wcB I did the North Beach one - coffee roaster, gourmet popcorn, a candy place, a pizzeria and a bread factory are what I remember. The tour guide was colorful and a local to the neighborhood. Maybe a bit pricey for the quality of the food, but fun.
The second was a Cityguide tour http://www.sfcityguides.org/ . These are free. I did the Chinatown one.
Finally I did a self guided architectural tour. http://www.sfheritage.org/walking-tours/ I did the Pacific Heights tour. Beautiful houses and some great views too.
Just went back and reread all the information here. If we (other spouse and I) were not to rent a car at SFO and wanted to meet our spouses in Sausalito for the afternoon evening, how would we get there? Otherwise, there is actually a proposal on the table to take the Evans Shuttle from SFO to Napa to meet them there, but by the time we’d get there, we really wouldn’t have much left with daylight hours, so not sure what we’d do, other than grab dinner and head to our hotel. We are thinking about staying in Petaluma Thursday night so we’ll be close to Pt. Reyes for our day there Friday.
But if we instead could get ourselves to Sausalito without a rental car, then had the spouses meet us there with their rental car, we could do dinner and walk around as much as time and weather/daylight allow. Then head up to Petaluma to our hotel. Before I suggest this, though, I want to make sure there’s a way for us to get to Sausalito from SFO.