Offering a colorful variety of sights, tastes, smells and more, Chinatown is a great day-trip for those spending time in San Francisco.
San Francisco's Chinatown is one of the wonderful and vibrant ethnic communities nestled right in the heart of the city. No matter if your goal is sightseeing, great food or shopping, there's plenty of all three to be found.
Chinatown is an easy walk from Union Square, Moscone Center or just about anywhere downtown. The dragon gates that are the "official" entrance are found at the juncture of Grant Street and Sutter Street. Visitors on a weekday will have an easier time getting a picture here without dozens of other people walking around than those who visit on the weekends.
Grant Street offers the typical Chinatown experience. It's lined with dozens of businesses, shops and restaurants. Storefronts seem to spill out onto the sidewalk, with piles of goods and merchandise placed outside to entice the wandering shopper. Be sure to visit a few stores and compare prices before staking your claim on anything as you may find a better deal further down the street.
Eating in the area is easy, if you can manage to make up your mind! There are bakeries, dim sum places, local butchers, tea houses, noodle shops and full-service restaurants scattered throughout the area. The usage of English diminishes a bit in this area of San Francisco, but many establishments have pictures of the dishes to facilitate communication and the tastes are authentic. You can snack and wander or get off the street and sit down as you desire.
If you'd like to experience a slightly different Chinatown, walk one block west, aka uphill, to Stockton Street. This street is also part of Chinatown, but it's where the Chinese residents do their shopping and business, whereas Grant Street is really where the businesses really focus on catering to the tourist traffic. Heading north from Union Square, it's an easy walk straight up Stockton Street. At the Stockton Tunnel, the aroma-and-noise-adventurous can walk straight through using the pedestrian sidewalk, while those wishing a bit of exercise can take a flight of stairs up, and walk the same distance via part of Nob Hill, coming down on the far side. It's worth walking into the Stockton Street area and then catching the bus to explore further down it, as the city busses leading into Stockton Street are often prohibitively packed full of people coming from the CalTrain station and downtown by the time they reach the Union Square-side of the tunnel. Once those busses have crossed the tunnel, they then empty themselves in the first two to three stops.
