Destination San Francisco:

Making the Ferry Your Connection to Holiday Cheer!

Season’s Advantages

Whether enjoying Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, "Festivus" (for the rest of us!) or trying to ignore the holidays why not avail yourself of all that San Francisco inevitably has to offer during the month of December?

Avoid the fuss and muss of holiday traffic and expensive garages by arriving in the City via ferry. Ferries offer a unique travel experience, which can be doubly rewarding if you’re entertaining guests and vacationing school children. And, during the time of year when most people forget about personal care, taking a ferry instead of driving can be fun!

Most boats from Marin, Oakland/Alameda, and Vallejo land at the Downtown Ferry Terminal, with some boats arriving a little further along the Embarcadero at Pier 41 (Fisherman’s Wharf). Either way, passengers are a hop-skip-and-jump from December’s main attractions. All of the Bay Area ferry terminals are accessible by many transit options and at least some parking if you decide to drive from home. Though not entirely necessary, having a vehicle on one end may allow greater flexibility for transporting children or goodies on the return trip, or may make sense for carpooling to the ferry.

Once you’ve reached San Francisco, landside connections range from the historic streetcar – another unique travel experience that runs along the Embarcadero and up Market Street - to buses to BART to taxi to pedicab. Of course, bringing your bicycle (and a warm pair of gloves!) on the boat with you gives the greatest flexibility of all.

From caroling to ice-skating, holiday parties, movies or seasonal entertainment, San Francisco is a smorgasbord of activities to share with friends and family.

Although the City lacks snow - and some would say that that’s a good thing - it makes up for it by offering two ice-skating rinks, a winter wonderland within easy walking or transit distance of the ferry. Just across from the Downtown Ferry Terminal, facing Embarcadero 4, you will see the open-air Kristi Yamaguchi Holiday Ice Rink, open from 10 a.m. until after the last ferry has departed every day of the week.

San Francisco’s second ice-skating rink, located indoors at the Yerba Buena Center and open year round is within easy distance. Catch the southbound historic F-line streetcar toward Market Street; de-board and walk south on Third Street; enter the Yerba Buena Garden just across from the Museum of Modern Art, another destination that also features a gift shop and café. To reach the ice-rink, located in Moscone Center South, go up the stairs on the west side of Third Street and continue south across Howard Street on the overhead walkway.

The Yerba Buena complex offers many options for kids, including a carousel, playground, and the Zeum participatory art gallery. Closer to the corner of Mission and Fourth, northwest of Yerba Buena Center, lies the Metreon, complete with a multiplex cinema, shops, eateries, and a tribute to Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen, an interactive fantasy play space.

Whether entertaining children or rekindling your own inner child, the performing arts are a yearly constant for such favorites as the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol.

From the ferry terminal, take the streetcar up Market Street, deboarding at Van Ness. Walk north to the west side of Van Ness at Grove Street, kitty-corner from the beautifully restored and gilded City Hall, to find the Opera House, otherwise known as sugar plum fairy central. San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker performances run through December 31st, with afternoon performances every Sunday at noon and 5 p.m. the last two Saturday’s of the month at 2 p.m., and additional afternoon performances the week of the 21st to accommodate a commuter’s schedule. See http://www.sfballet.org/performances /nutcracker for a full schedule. Prices run from as low as $12 up to $96 a ticket.

A Christmas Carol: Bah, Humbug

Though not actually about caroling, this classic has left a lasting imprint on colloquialism, allowing kids clamoring for gifts to claim their parents have turned into "Scrooge." Find the true holiday spirit in this play that reminds us all to remember the people less fortunate than us as told by the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), near downtown San Francisco’s Union Square. A.C.T.’s theater is accessible by taking the F-line to Powell, transferring to the cable car for $2 or walking the four blocks or so to Geary and one or two blocks east. Matinee tickets range between $19-68. Full information can be found at: http://act-sf.org.

Whether window-shopping or looking for a present for a good boy or girl on your holiday list or seeking portable food or drink to share at a party, you can start at the Ferry Building. Filled with gourmet delicacies and unique knick-knacks, the newly restored Ferry Building is a delicacy in and of itself. All of those things we don’t really need but that make life on Earth that much more enjoyable can be found here, from a variety of olive oils to cheeses from around the world to world-famous chocolates to every kitchen implement known to man or woman to historic ferry postcards and prints.

Just across the street at the Embarcadero Center, the shopping experience takes on another dimension in the evening as the December lights outlining the five buildings dramatize the night sky. Rich in shops ranging from Crabtree and Evelyn to Banana Republic, you’re likely to find something for everyone within these four buildings. Or, escape to a movie at the Embarcadero Cinema.

Increase your shopping options as well as your enjoyment of the seasonal decorations by scooting down to nearby Union Square. Here, you’ll find Macy’s, Nieman Marcus, and designer stores like Gucci. A short couple of blocks away, at Powell and Market, you can visit the closest thing to a mall in San Francisco’s downtown, San Francisco Center.