San Francisco With Teens: A Travel Guide From a Frequent Visitor
We had to build game-time prep into our San Francisco trip, and I was a little baffled by it. We’re going to a basketball game. Couldn’t we spend that hour finding a good flat white and a slab of cake somewhere instead? No. This was Savannah’s dream. When I first surprised her with tickets, she screamed, dropped to the floor, and rolled around in tears at our dining room table. So I gave up the coffee idea, went back to our shabby little hotel room, and waited the better part of an hour while she got herself ready for a WNBA game at the Chase Center.
14-year-old Savannah and I rolled into the city that day off five days on the Majestic Mountain Loop, legs still tired from the Sierra Nevada. San Francisco after all that granite and pine felt loud and bright and full of people. This is not our first time visiting San Francisco. It’s the fourth time for me and Savannah visited for five days when she was seven. We’ve now experienced San Francisco as a solo traveler, couples’ travelers, with younger kids, and now with teens. I can confirm that it’s a pretty great city to take a teen. Every place on this list is somewhere we’ve been with our own teen, or somewhere I’d happily send yours. I’ve kept it to what actually lands with this age group, the stuff Savannah cared about and the things Kalyra loved back when she was a teen too. Some we did on this trip. Some we’ve done on the many visits before it. I’ll tell you which is which as we go.
San Francisco At A Glance
Where to stay: San Francisco is expensive, and it climbs fast in summer. Aim for Fisherman’s Wharf or Union Square so you can walk to plenty and jump on transport easily. See our full where to stay in San Francisco guide for options from budget to splurge.
Getting around: Skip the car. San Francisco is walkable, and the buses are easy. Tap your card on and off. If you’re heading to a concert or a sporting event, your transit is free that whole day.
Unmissable for my teen: A WNBA game at the Chase Center. Hands down.
Money-saving tip: If you’re visiting a few paid attractions, a Go City attraction pass can knock a good chunk off admission across the city.
Catch A WNBA Game At The Chase Center
A WNBA game at the Chase Center was the reason we were in San Francisco. Savannah is a die-hard WNBA fan, and the Dallas Wings were playing the Golden State Valkyries at the Chase Center in Mission Bay. The women on the court were brilliant, but so was everything around them. Dancers and games and giveaways through every timeout, glitter and color in the crowd, the local