The queue can be out the door but don’t worry-it moves fast. If you have children with you, you probably have one destination in mind more than any other: the original Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop. Before you go, check out the square’s calendar of upcoming events. Wind through passageways and across squares to visit a range of boutiques and gift shops, or relax with bay views from a selection of restaurants such as the Cheese School of San Francisco, a café, cheese shopĪnd cheese school The Pub BBQ McCormick & Kuleto’s Seafood & Steaks and Pico Latin Street Food. One of the most pleasant places to wander and shop in the city, it also has the distinction of being the first successful adaptive reuse project of its kind in the country. The stately brick buildings in San Francisco’s impressive 1895 Ghirardelli Square, the original site of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory (previously a woollen mill), are now home to a stylish collection of shops and restaurants, plus the luxurious Fairmont Heritage Place hotel.
