Not that you need too much persuasion to spend some time in San Francisco this summer, but between new direct routes, a fabulous reopened museum and plenty of new up-and-coming neighborhoods, you'll have all the reasons to need. Here are just some.

It’ll no longer take you a full day to get there

United Airlines

Getting to the U.S. from Singapore has been a pain in recent years, with layovers required in Hong Kong, Tokyo or elsewhere. But starting June 1, United Airlines (www.united.com) begins direct flights between Singapore and San Francisco, cutting four or more hours off the current flight time, and making this the first time since 2013 that you can get to the U.S. without a stop. The new flight departs Singapore at 8.45am daily and arrives in San Francisco 15h30m later at 9.15am the same day (thanks, International Date Line!) with the 8,446 mile journey, aboard the 787 Dreamliner, being the longest scheduled flight operated by any U.S. carrier. Returns from Singapore-San Francisco with United start from around $1,850. You can still do it cheaper (from $1,300) with China Eastern (www.flychinaeastern.com) via Shanghai, but you’re looking at an additional seven hours to get there.

After three years, SFMOMA is finally reopen—and it’s three times bigger than before

While conversation in SF these days can too often turn to the city’s sky-high rents and the pros and cons of the tech giants on their doorstep, right now things are a little more cultured. After a three-year hiatus,  the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 Third St., www.sfmoma.org) reopened in mid-May, having undergone quite the renovation. A new, $305 million, 10-story extension by Norwegian architects Snøhetta almost triples the display area to 175,000 square feet, turning it into the country’s biggest modern art gallery (it’s display space is 40% larger than New York’s MoMA).

Snøhetta expansion of the new SFMOMA (photo credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy SFMOMA)

Reception has been mixed, with many questioning the wisdom of modelling the huge façade at the rear of the building after the city’s infamous fog (The Guardian called it ”a gigantic meringue with a hint of Ikea”). But there’s no denying the scale, with 19 exhibitions in the opening season alone and a huge donation (technically a 100-year loan) of 1000-something pieces of art from the Fisher family, founders of The Gap, including dozens of pieces by icons like Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly and Roy Lichtenstein.

Approaching American Abstraction The Fisher Collection exhibition (photo credit: Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA)

But there's much more to it than just famous pop art, with, to give just a few examples, prominence for work by Ai Weiwei, a Bauhaus-inspired installation from Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes and vast, currently empty wall-space by the main staircase awaiting work by Julie Mehretu, an Ethiopian-born, New York-based artist. Whatever you make of it all, SFMOMA is the place everyone is talking about right now. It’s open daily from 10am-5pm, with late-night Thursdays till 9pm. Entry is USD25 ($34).

Thanks to Twitter, some of the best dining in town is in Mid-Market

There’s been a glut of restaurant openings in the City by the Bay over the last year—more than at any point in the last 15-20 years according to a recent piece in San Francisco Magazine—and the inevitable crash is probably not too far off. For now however, many of the current hot spots are all within a short walk of one another in the Mid-Market district—and it’s all (kind of) thanks to Twitter. In 2011, in an effort to stop tech firms jumping ship to Silicon Valley, the city began offering tax breaks to businesses that remained or set up in the then down-at-heel Mid-Market and Tenderloin, with those above a certain size committing to community benefit programs. Twitter, who’d been most vocal about potentially leaving town, chose to stay, with Spotify and others following suit. Despite question marks over whether the scheme has been a net benefit to the city, the result has been the rapid gentrification of previously dilapidated blocks, with new restaurants in abundance.

Newcomer Cadence (1446 Market St.,www.cadencesf.com) is connected by a hallway to sister spot, Mr Tipple’s Recording Studio, a cocktail bar/jazz club hybrid that itself only opened at the end of last year. But whereas the latter is dark and moody, Cadence is all about ‘30s glam, with a two-sided tasting menu (meat on one, vegetarian on the other). Nearby Cala (149 Fell St., www.calarestaurant.com), which opened in September, focuses exclusively on seafood (think Santa Cruz abalone, trout tostada and Marin miyagi oysters), courtesy of Mexican star chef Gabriela Cámara—and there’s even a lunchtime tacos stand in the back.

Cadence-Spread

Also new on the block is The Perennial (59 Ninth St., www.theperennialsf.com), an upscale bistro from the folks behind the infamous, inventive Mission Street Food. Here they’re championing progressive farming through “eco-friendly comfort food,” such as morels with sprouted wheatberries, and trying to make the entire operation, “the most environmental ever.”

The Perennial (photo credit: Helynn Ospina)

The outer 'burbs are on the up

Ocean Beach
 

Outer Sunset, which abuts the windswept Ocean Beach out West, isn’t somewhere most tourists venture. But thanks to cheap(er) rents, this primarily residential (and often foggy) ’burb is becoming increasingly popular, with the surf-bum-poets not yet forced out by all the new money. Outerlands (4001 Judah St., http://outerlandssf.com), a socially-conscious, rustic eatery offers the best brunch for miles. The name might hark back to a time when no-one in their right mind would venture out this far but be warned: these days you can queue for hours. If you’d rather not wait—quite so long—try the cultish cinnamon toast at Trouble Coffee & Coconut Club (4033 Judah St.) right next door or go browse the cool handmade wares at General Store (4035 Judah St., www.visitgeneralstore.com).  A little further away, the huge Sunset Reservoir Brewing Company (1735 Noriega St., http://sunsetbeersf.com), which opened up at the end of 2014, serving five of its own beers alongside an eclectic pub-grub menu, is the latest venture from the owners of the hugely popular Devil’s Teeth Baking Company (3876 Noriega St., www.devilsteethbakingcompany.com) down near the beach. Ocean Beach itself is notoriously windswept—it’s a challenging surf spot—but it’s a great place to get away from the city. And as Outer Sunset historically housed many of the city’s Asian immigrants, you can even finish up with a taste of home at Polly Ann Ice Cream (3138 Noriega St., https://is.gd/pollyannicecream), which has been serving up sesame, lychee and durian flavors for more than half a century.

Essentials

WHERE TO STAY

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco (757 Market St., www.fourseasons.com) is right in the heart of town, near Union Square and next door to SFMOMA and the rest of the Yerba Buena Arts District. With 277 rooms spread across 12 floors of a 42-storey building, it’s a fancy spot that makes a great base for exploring: cable cars, street cars and the BART are all right outside the door. Dining is at MKT, a classy, wood-panelled space harking back to the early days of newspaper printing in the city, with a locally-focused menu and stylish adjacent bar. The on-site Equinox Sports Club is one of the city’s largest fitness centers, and access to the facilities, including a basketball court, boxing ring and indoor pool is complimentary to hotel guests. Rooms start from USD445 ($610).

VISAS
Most Singaporeans traveling for less than 90 days do not require a visa and can travel under the Visa Waiver Program, though you’ll need to be authorized through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/) prior to your trip.