Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on ATA Airlines, which operates 3 non-stop flights from Chicago (MDW) to San Francisco (SFO) departing between 8:25am and 6:55pm on select days of the week. Usually a Boeing 737-700 is flown for this route. The average travel time from Chicago, IL to San Francisco, CA is 4 hours and 45 minutes.*

* Some flights must connect with additional service on this airline.

Quick Flight Searches
Weekend Trips - Search
Upcoming weekend flight specials and airline deals on flights to San Francisco (SFO) from Chicago (MDW) Weekend travel in February from MDW to SFO Weekend travel in March from MDW to SFO Weekend travel in April from MDW to SFO Vice versa? Search for last minute deals on airline tickets from San Francisco (SFO) to Chicago (MDW) Weekend travel in February from SFO to MDW Weekend travel in March from SFO to MDW Weekend travel in April from SFO to MDW
Great Travel Deals Anytime - Search
Save money when you book a San Francisco Vacation Package here Need a discount hotel room in San Francisco? Click here Find airport hotel rooms near San Francisco -- click here Reserve your rental car in San Francisco -- click here Let DealDetector watch for deals from Chicago to San Francisco

Regularly Scheduled Flights to San Francisco (SFO) from Chicago (MDW)
				Daily Non-Stops		Select Non-Stop		Earliest Flight		Last Flight
	ATA Airlines			-		3		8:25am		6:55pm

During your San Francisco vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:

Coit Tower
In a city known for its great views and vantage points, Coit Tower is one of the best. Located atop Telegraph Hill, just east of North Beach, the round, stone tower offers panoramic views of the city and the bay.Completed in 1933, the tower is the legacy of Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy eccentric who left San Francisco a $125,000 bequest "for the purpose of adding beauty to the city I have always loved" and as a memorial to its volunteer firemen. She had been saved from a fire as a child and held the city's firefighters in particularly high esteem.Inside the base of the tower are impressive murals titled Life in California and 1934, which were completed under the WPA during the New Deal. They are the work of more than 25 artists, many of whom had studied under Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.The only bummer: The narrow street leading to the tower is often clogged with tourist traffic. If you can, find a parking spot in North Beach and hoof it.

California Academy of Sciences
Originally clustered around the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park (in multiple buildings) and intending to return there around 2008 after a complete rebuild, this grouping of outstanding museums is now across from Moscone West, near the Yerba Buena Gardens and Center for the Arts. In its new location the Steinhart Aquarium houses some 5,400 animals, including seahorses, turtles, snakes, and poison dart frogs as well as a two-story 20,000-gallon living coral reef featuring Harlequin Tush fish, Yellow Tangs, sea stars, and a giant clam. Kids love the "touch tide pool" where they can get their mitts on live sea life.An edited version of the Natural History Museum has also been transplanted and hosts changing exhibits such as "Ants: Hidden Worlds Revealed," which shows the insects in action within six different live ant colonies. Some of the museum's permanent displays have moved, too, including Snake Alley, where terrestrial snakes reside; Astrobiology, an exhibit exploring life in extreme environments; and ScienceNOW, which presents a frequently changing display of Academy research, breaking science news, and expeditions around the globe. Toddlers will love the Nature Nest, an education center with hands-on learning activities.Families should look into the Academy's calendar of events, which includes fun kid-friendly festivities such as face-painting, storytelling, animal origami, and exhibit-related stories and demonstrations.

Cable Cars
Although they may not be San Francisco's most practical means of transportation, cable cars are certainly the best loved and are a must-experience when visiting the city. Designated official historic landmarks by the National Park Service in 1964, they clank up and down the city's steep hills like mobile museum pieces, tirelessly hauling thousands of tourists each day to nowhere in particular.London-born engineer Andrew Hallidie invented San Francisco's cable cars in 1869. He got the idea by serendipity. As the story goes, Hallidie was watching a team of overworked horses haul a heavily laden carriage up a steep San Francisco slope. As he watched, one horse slipped and the car rolled back, dragging the other tired beasts with it. At that moment, Hallidie resolved that he would invent a mechanical contraption to replace such horses, and just 4 years later, in 1873, the first cable car made its maiden run from the top of Clay Street. Promptly ridiculed as "Hallidie's Folly," the cars were slow to gain acceptance. One early onlooker voiced the general opinion by exclaiming, "I don't believe it -- the damned thing works!"Even today, many visitors have difficulty believing that these vehicles, which have no engines, actually work. The cars, each weighing about 6 tons, run along a steel cable, enclosed under the street in a center rail. You can't see the cable unless you peer straight down into the crack, but you'll hear its characteristic clickity-clanking sound whenever you're nearby. The cars move when the gripper (not the driver) pulls back a lever that closes a pincerlike "grip" on the cable. The speed of the car, therefore, is determined by the speed of the cable, which is a constant 9 1/2 mph -- never more, never less.The two types of cable cars in use hold a maximum of 90 and 100 passengers, and the limits are rigidly enforced. The best views are from the outer running boards, where you have to hold on tightly when taking curves.Hallidie's cable cars have been imitated and used throughout the world, but all have been replaced by more efficient means of transportation. San Francisco planned to do so, too, but the proposal met with so much opposition that the cable cars' perpetuation was actually written into the city charter in 1955. The mandate cannot be revoked without the approval of a majority of the city's voters -- a distant and doubtful prospect.San Francisco's three existing cable car lines form the world's only surviving system of cable cars, which you can experience for yourself should you choose to wait in the endless boarding line (up to a 2-hr. wait in summer).

Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the San Francisco area, including:

The Mosser
"Hip on the Cheap" might best sum up The Mosser, a highly atypical budget hotel that incorporates Victorian architecture with modern interior design. It originally opened in 1913 as a luxury hotel only to be dwarfed by far more modern sky rise hotels that surround it. But a major multimillion-dollar renovation in the fall of 2001 transformed this aging charmer into a sophisticated, stylish, and surprisingly affordable SOMA lodging. Guest rooms are replete with original Victorian flourishes -- bay windows, high ceilings, hand-carved moldings -- that juxtapose well with the contemporary custom-designed furnishings, granite showers, stainless steel fixtures, ceiling fans, Frette linens, and modern electronics. The least expensive rooms share a bathroom but are an incredible deal with rates starting at $60. The hotel's restaurant, Annabelle's Bar and Bistro, serves lunch and dinner, and The Mosser even houses Studio Paradiso, a state-of-the-art recording studio. The location is excellent as well -- 3 blocks from Union Square, 2 blocks from the MOMA and Moscone Convention Center, and half a block from the cable car turnaround.

Inn on Castro
One of the better choices in the Castro, half a block from all the action, is this Edwardian-style inn decorated with contemporary furnishings, original modern art, and fresh flowers throughout. It definitely feels more like a home than an inn, so if you like less commercial abodes, this place is for you. Most rooms share a small back patio, and the suite has a private entrance and outdoor sitting area. The inn also offers access to four individual nearby apartments ($85-$200, with discounts on stays of more than 4 nights) with complete kitchens.

Comfort Suites
Two miles north of the airport, well outside the heart of the city, Comfort Suites is a well-appointed option for travelers on the way into or out of town. Each studio-suite has a king-size bed, queen-size sleeper sofa (great for the kids), and all the basic amenities for weary travelers. There are enough pay cable channels to keep you glued to your TV set for an entire day, although kids will also enjoy the Nintendo in each room. Rooms are fine, but the freebies are the most attractive part of this hotel: continental breakfast, an airport shuttle, and use of the outdoor hot tub.