A Coastal Road Trip to San Francisco with Kids

Let's be real: travel during a pandemic with young kids isn't the easiest — as if it were easy pre-COVID. So with high hopes and three kids in tow — 3, 7, and 10 — we embarked on a 5-hour road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco to escape the heat and see something new. And fortunately, we weren't disappointed. Filled with amazing eats, culture and lots of kid-friendly activities, it was a great place to explore for three days. Whether it was the season or due to COVID, the city itself wasn’t very busy which we appreciated and the cool weather allowed us to enjoy a slice of feeling like we were really somewhere different.

Things to Know:

  • Pack warm clothes. Being by the bay, San Francisco can get super chilly. Even on the warm days, it can change on a dime and get pretty cold. Thing warm jackets and beanies. The wind can be a surprise for some little ones.

  • Bring your smallest stroller. ICYMI, the city is hilly. Like, super hilly — so you don’t want to be pushing an enormous 30-pound stroller up a crazy steep hill if you can avoid it. Also, being an old city, a lot of the storefronts aren’t large and have room for a large stroller.

  • Parking is SF is crazy expensive, so if you drove or are renting a car, plan your days accordingly so all your sights for one day are walkable/or near each other so you only have to park once.

Things to Do:

Exploratorium – Located on Pier 15, this was hands-down the highlight of our San Francisco trip and the entire family (dad included) could’ve easily stayed the full day there. Masks are required inside and they did a really great job with limiting the number of people inside with timed tickets as it never felt too crowded and was easy to socially distance. There are tons of hands-on exhibits for kids that engaged everyone from the 3-year-old to the 10-year-old.

Exploratorium

Ghirardelli Square – Yes, it’s a total tourist thing to do – but that’s kind of what happens with kids. Treat the little ones to a famous sundae from one of two Ghiradelli’s storefronts at the square. To really make it easy on yourself, book dinner at one of the restaurants there (we loved the dim sum) and save dessert for ice cream while you sit around the fountain and let the kids run/dance off their sugar high with some live music on certain days. On our way there from the hotel, we also stopped by Umbrella Alley which is filled with whimsical murals the kids loved and an alley of — you guessed it— umbrellas.

Pier 39 – Before you hype up the sea lions like we did, make sure to check they’ll actually be there – apparently in certain months they leave to go breed. But the Pier still has tons of things for kids to see and do including a carousel and musical stairs that played music that they all couldn’t get enough of.

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Other Piers – Grab some famous clam chowder in a bread bowl from Boudin’s Sourdough Factory where the kids will be fascinated watching them make sourdough turtles and lions through the window. Don’t forget to stop by the Musée Mécanique on Pier 45 which is filled to the brim with 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts — many of which you can play.

Golden Gate Park – One can’t take a trip to SF without seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and the accompanying massive park is a great place to take a picnic lunch or dinner and let the kids let out tons of energy. One part of the park even has a carousel and awesome playground that they could easily spend the day at.

Chinatown – We lucked into walking up onto a taiko-filled Japanese lion dance show and were able to grab some delicious boba and soft serve to enjoy the spectacle. Don’t forget the famous Fortune Cookie Company — which, again, maybe isn’t something you’d do with just adults but is super cool for little ones. And if the little ones aren't too tuckered out, pop in for some delicious dim sum somewhere.

Where to Stay:

The Alton, Fisherman’s Wharf

The location couldn’t be beat — we were mere blocks away from the Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, the Exploratorium and the famous Ghiradelli’s Square. The chic new hotel (part of the group of Kimpton Hotels) is also walking distance to Chinatown. And trust me, not having to load 3 kids into a car and search (and pay) for parking in San Francisco every time we wanted to go somewhere was a huge plus.

Alton lobby

The rooms were spacious, mid-century chic (hello, record player!) and the hotel had an amazing complimentary happy hour every night that served really good wine (a must for parents after a long day sightseeing with kids). The in-house restaurant wasn’t open yet when we arrived, but judging by the peeks we got at the decor, it’s going to be gorgeous and we can’t wait to try it next time.

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The Kimpton Hotels have also recently started a partnership with Micro Kickboard so there are kids' scooters and helmets to check out which is really awesome for families that don’t want to take up precious cargo space lugging those around and to get around the Fisherman’s Wharf area. The Alton in particular has also partnered with 4Moms to offer baby gear for families staying which is also a huge perk (because who really loves lugging a travel crib, etc. around?)

For the days we were too lazy to leave for dinner, there was an In-N-Out, not to mention tons of other eateries practically across the street, making it a breeze to send one adult out for food. All in all, the location, style and cleanliness was pretty much a dream for traveling with little kids.

(Disclosure: The Kimpton Hotel provided partial press accommodations for this trip. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.)