Bed for the night
As a writer, you can tell how your career is going by which hotel your publisher puts you in. It is terrible to go from the Four Seasons to Motel 6. I haven't had that happen - yet. If you are a cultured person, or an author who doesn't want to spend too much money, stay at Inn at the Opera (333 Fulton Street, 001 415 863 8400, shellhospitality.com), a shabby chic hotel near the Opera House and the Symphony. In fact, near everything cultured. For convenience, price and atmosphere, it's hard to beat. Just over $100 on the internet if you are lucky.
Top of the range are the Clift Hotel (495 Geary Street, +415 775 4700, clifthotel.com) and the Huntington (1075 California Street, +415 474 5400, huntingtonhotel.com), but if you are unpublished and struggling, stay at the Fisherman's Wharf Hostel (Fort Mason, Building 240, +415 771 7277, sfhostels.com). From your bunk, you'll get billion-dollar views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay - as well as inspiration.
Nightlife
There's a tiny bar in the Mission called Amnesia (853 Valencia Street, +415 970 0012, amnesiathebar.com) which is fantastic, especially on Wednesdays when a band called Gaucho plays Gypsy jazz à la Django Reinhardt. Dancers dress in 1930s costumes and do wild dancing. You can watch or get on the floor and look ridiculous. Fortunately, it is dark.
Café Cocomo (650 Indiana St, +415 824 6910, cafecocomo.com) in China Basin is the place for salsa dancers and Latin bands. Wear sexy skin-tight clothing - you probably won't get in if you are wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The food at Yet Wah (5238 Diamond Heights, +415 282 0788, yet.qpg.com) is OK, but the karaoke from 9pm is what people go for. I sing ridiculous songs with my band, the Rock Bottom Remainders (rockbottomremainders.com). This is where I first sang live - because there are always so many terrible singers I think I'm not that bad.
Eating out
The Asian food in San Francisco is the best in the US. Slanted Door (1 Ferry Building No 3, +415 861 8329, slanteddoor.com) has chic decor and a wonderful fusion of Chinese and Vietnamese flavours. Z&Y (655 Jackson Street, +415 981 8988, zygarden.com) has nondescript decor but wonderful Yunnan food. Lots of Chinese people eat here, and also at Great Eastern (649 Jackson Street, +415 986 2500), where the decor is a little more extravagant. Quince (1701 Octavia Street, +415 775 8500, quincerestaurant.com) is the foodies' haunt: French-Italian with impeccable service and gorgeous waiters - for a price. And for five bucks, you can get the best burritos at La Taqueria (2889 Mission Street, +415 285 7117) and Pancho Villa (3071 16th Street, +415 864 8840, panchovillasf.com).
Best dim sum
At Yank Sing (101 Spear Street, +415 781 1111, and 49 Stevenson Street, +415 541 4949, yanksing.com) in the financial district and Ton Kiang (5821 Geary Boulevard, +415 752 4440, tonkiang.net) in the Richmond District. On Sundays, you'll see queues down the street - and lots of Chinese people - but in the week it is easy to get a table. Trolleys whiz by with tonnes of dim sum, steaming out of baskets and plates of foiled-wrapped chicken. Most of the waiters speak no English and you have no idea what the price is or how they know what you have bought. You are convinced you have eaten a thousand dollars' worth of food and the bill comes to $19.
March through Chinatown
One of the best ways to see Chinatown is with the Green Street Mortuary Band (649 Green Street) as it marches through the streets in front of a funeral cortege. There are about 360 funerals a year so it happens most days. It can be quite a spectacle: a poster-sized photograph of the deceased rides in a convertible, the drums set off car alarms, there are often hired wailers, mourners throw fake money into the air to distract evil spirits away from the body. The police allow the procession to hold up traffic as it stops at various places important to the person who has died. My mother got this weird and wonderful send off. The procession will take you past the vegetable and fish markets, restaurants, jewellery and medicinal shops. You get a sense of the life of Chinatown rather than just the tourist traps. Everywhere they stop, make a note. It might be good.
Cultural revolution
The War Memorial Opera House (301 Van Ness Avenue, +415 864 3330, sfopera.com) under the stewardship of David Gockley has seen a lot of enlightened commissions. You can get last-minute standing tickets for just a few dollars. Go to the Symphony (201 Van Ness, +415 864 6000, sfsymphony.org) when Michael Tilson Thomas is conducting. He chooses remarkable pieces and 45 minutes or so before the programme he will often talk about what is going to be performed.
City Arts and Lectures at the Herbst Theater (401 Van Ness Avenue, +415 392 4400, cityboxoffice.com, cityarts.net) is a jewel that most people don't know about: $19 to listen to some of the greatest thinkers and writers of our time: Richard Ford, Nobel laureates, social activists, humourists ...
Bookworms
Book Passage (1 Ferry Building, +415 835 1020, bookpassage.com) is my favourite bookstore. Ask owner Elaine Petrocelli what readings are coming up. I saw Colm Toibin recently. It has an especially good selection of books about San Francisco, including of course novels like Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin, who gives you an insider's view of the city in the 1970s - reading his books is how I learned about city life. Two other great stores are the famous City Lights (261 Columbus Avenue, +415 362 8193, citylights.com) and the lesser known but equally wonderful Green Apple Books (506 Clement Street, +415 387 2272, greenapplebooks.com) in the Richmond District. Everything seems higgledy-piggledy there and shelves have labels such as "Books that would never be Oprah picks".
Best drink
Tea, of course. The Imperial Court (1 Ferry Building Plaza, +415 544 9830, imperialtea.com), pictured above, has a fantastic tasting menu. Ask for the full tea ceremony, the cleansing and warming of the bowls, and try the wonderful puerh tea, nicknamed camel's breath. It is strong, slightly bitter and has a sweet aftertaste, though no after-smell. If you are on Clement Street, in the newer Chinatown of the Richmond District, try the Aroma Café (on the corner of 6th Avenue) for an invigorating ginseng tea. It's good for slowing ageing. It's taken years off my face.
· Amy Tan's latest novel, Saving Fish From Drowning, is published by HarperPerennial at £7.99. The opera of her novel The Bonesetter's Daughter premieres at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera on September 13. For more information about San Francisco, visit onlyinsanfrancisco.com.
