are you sure you have been? Cannery Row is in Monterey 125 miles south of SF and doesnt smell. The monterey bay aquarium is there. Carmel and the Big Sur coast are incredible. We had a week in SF in November and have been on shorter trips from vegas before. San fran is my favourite US city. We found there was more then enough to fill a week. The ferry building is great as is the entire embercardo. there are world class museums sfmoma the cali academy of science etc. Theres also great shopping including a westfield mall with the best food court I have ever eaten at (the best local restaurants have concessions)

Agree with the comments re the increasing number of homeless though. Apparently SF has the most generous benefits and attracts homeless from across the US.

I have mate. Many coastal towns on the western seaboard, had a " cannery row", obviously warehouses or workshops where the food was canned. The Monterrey 1 being the most famous due to the Steinbeck novel of the same name. The 1 in SF is, ims, around the corner from Pier 39, think it is now some inside market.

If the OP must stay in SF, then Sausalito Bay, across the Golden Gate Bridge is nice. ps/ Book your Alcatraz trip well in advance, due to popularity.

If staying in Southern California, then Laguna, between Seal Beach and San Diego is a must. Very Scandinavian, very romantic, and not at all American.

It's nice, in the way, that it is not American. don't recall seeing any Maccies, overweight people. Ims, a Scandinavian family developed it in the 1800s. A very pleasant surprise.

So a bit like some sort of theme park then? Seems more like the USA than you would suggest.

After 40 years of visiting the USA on vacations, extended stays and working in the 38 states that I have visited, I found many places that didn't have a Mucky D and you don't tend to see overweight munters in most places off the beaten track.

Sorry but I'd put finding somewhere in the USA that was "not American" was similar to finding a Full English in Corfu

SF does not have a Cannery Row. It has [iThe Cannery[/i which is along Jefferson from Pier 39, not far from Hyde Pier and the historic ships. It's now a combination of small plaza, indoor market, and hotel. The plaza boasts Jack's Bar which has around 100 different types of beer. No part of Fisherman's Wharf smells, and I go there in mid July every year.

Sausalito (no Bay) is indeed a lovely place to visit, but I wouldn't recommend staying there unless absolutely minted. There's also not a great deal to do there except admire the scenery. Or go shopping for a seaplane.

I don't recall it smelling either. I remember it raining though. Heavily. That bar is OK but 100 beers isn't amazing by American standards, at least 90 will be lousy too. I have no desire to ever go back to SF. 3 days was plenty.

The worst weather I've experienced there is the fog that rolls in on short notice. Boy does the temperature drop!

Jack's Bar is pretty good IMO, and maybe unusual in that a large number of those beers are actually well worth drinking. There's plenty of US beers that are of excellent quality nowadays, and they carry lots of European beers as well.

Kosh;
I stand connected on Cannery.

Cod'ead
No theme parks in Laguna, just a lovely unspoilt seaside resort.

They had Rugby Union on when I went in ergo I don't like it

The weather in SF is like a big game isn't it. Don't take a coat and you'll feel the chill but take one and its wall to wall sunshine. The fog is quite amazing at times, watching it roll in from the top of Coit Tower is a great sight.

I foolishly went out wearing a shorts and t-shirt (cocky English person abroad attitude), walked around Fishermans Wharf in the sunshine etc, 30 minutes later its absolutely bucketing down, so we had to go into Jack's for a pint. After 2 beers, we went out to catch the cable car (still raining), the queue was absolutely massive, people stood there absolutely drowning. So we went back to Jack's, later flagged down a taxi, which was much faster, must cheaper and far more comfortable.

The area at the end of Pier 39 where the sealions hang out did stink a few years ago but most of them have disappeared now. There were probably no more than 10 there in November.

Laguna is a real gem - one of the nicest places in the country.

The sea lions are only there in numbers at certain times of the year - there's never many there when I visit in July but when I visited in April one year there were loads of them. And yes - it does honk a bit when all the platforms are full.