Many visitors to San Francisco want to include a trip to Muir Woods to see the redwoods. I often take guests there, which includes traveling over the Golden Gate Bridge in the convertible MINI, which is the essence of a California experience.
The Muir Woods trees are beautiful, often, and correctly, described as majestic. But if you don’t have the time or desire to leave the San Francisco, there is a place in San Francisco to experience redwoods.
There is a grove of redwoods in Golden Gate Park. Actually, there are a couple. One is located inside the Botanical Gardens. It is nice, but a small grove. The Botanical Gardens are worth a visit, if you’re into gardens and different landscapes. 
On the north side of the park, just over the fill from the Japanese Tea Garden, next to the Rose Garden, is a large grove of redwoods. Within a few steps of walking down the path, you’re surrounded by the trees and you can easily forget you’re in a city, with a major street just a nearby. The path dips down a little, then slowly rises.
You’re in a forest, but in the city.
It doesn’t have to scope of Muir Woods, but on the other hand, it isn’t as crowded. It is not overrun with bus loads of visitors clomping through the paths. It is quiet and peaceful, which allows you to appreciate these trees they way they should be experienced.