California - LA, San Fran, and San Diego

My husband has to go for work and I'm tagging along as a much needed vacation. I will have the weekend with him in San Fran and think I want to go to fisherman's wharf, golden gate, and possibly Alcatraz.

I will have one day in LA by myself and think I will go on a tour.

I've been to San Diego before so pretty okay with what to do there.

Any recommendations for specific restaurants or other things I should see/do?

Re: California - LA, San Fran, and San Diego

I used to live there and at one point, wrote a long post on here - if you search you can probably find it. If you have a car in SF, go to the top of Twin Peaks, you have a spectacular view of the whole city - If you don't have a car, go to the top of Coit Tower for a downtown view. Alcatraz is fun, but for me, the rest of Fisherman's wharf is a lot of cheesy tourist stuff. I would ride the cable car down to Alcatraz, walk around a bit and that's it. Their Chinatown is one of the biggest. North Beach is fun to walk around, there are great cafes there, but I think it's hard to find Italian food that compares to ours in NY. Haight is always interesting, and there is a ton to do in Golden Gate Park. I moved a while ago, so not sure about restaurants anymore.

There is a drive around the city - the 49 mile drive - that is fun to do, you hit all the "famous parts" of the city and you can stop or breeze through things as you please. Check it out:

49 Mile Drive

I don't know LA well, but one of my favorite things to do there was Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier.

Re: California - LA, San Fran, and San Diego

I def recommend doing the night tour of Alcatraz if possible. You get access to otherwise restricted areas and watching the sunset from the island is AMAZING! I agree the rest of the wharf is pretty cheesy otherwise and like 45min was enough for me. last time we went we yelped restaurants in china town and found a few really great place! Oh and if you have the chance Ike's Sandwich shop is amazing it was on man vs food and we stopped there one day and the wait on line was def worth it

I don't love LA but gotta do the Chinese theatre to see all the stars footprints and signatures.