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How to visit San Francisco
It made me
very happy 
"There's more than just touristy things!"
How I did it: My grandmother lives in the city, so that's where I stayed. I used public transit to get around the city. I visited historic buildings, local restaurants, and the touristy places. I also explored the city randomly via different buses and did lots of walking. Since my grandma lives in the city, I spent summers with her as a kid, so I generally knew where I was going and how to get there. However, anyone can find the locations I knew about by doing a good bit of research. My "visit" is actually a combination of several trips which add up to about a month (or more). This post deals exclusively with visiting the city itself, with a bit of information on things to do outside SF.
So let's look at some specifics for this trip:
Hotel/Housing
As I said above, I stay with my grandma when I travel to the Bay Area. I recommend someone who wants to get a lot done and is staying for the first time find a hotel in the city. Expect to pay a good bit though - cheap hotels in San Francisco can be in the less-desirable areas. If you're good with public transportation and don't mind the daily commute you can try to find a hotel along the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) rail line that is cheaper than city hotels. BART generally serves the East Bay cities, San Francisco, and the two biggest airports. There are other commuter trains that run along the San Mateo County peninsula down to San Jose. Keep in mind that staying outside the city means it will take you 30 minutes to 2 hours to get downtown. There are a few hostels in San Francisco for those who feel comfortable using them.
Getting There
You can drive in via I-80 and I-5 (I-80 travels into the city via the Bay Bridge and I-5 bypasses the city to the East, but a network of freeways and highways can bring you into the city). Arriving via Amtrack train can be a bit tricky - you will most likely enter via Oakland and take an Amtrack bus or other public transit to get into the city. Most people will fly in. There are three major airports - San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. Oakland and San Jose can be cheaper to fly into but the San Francisco airport is only about 10-15 minutes south of the city and is the most popular. From SFO, BART will take you into the city and around most of the bay area. There are also many shuttle providers that for a decent fee will take you to your hotel. Some hotels provide airport shuttles. If you fly into Oakland, expect to take the BART shuttle bus and then BART into downtown. Again, there are shuttles. I've never used the San Jose airport. Getting to the city requires a bit more work and cost - there are three transfers involved to get to BART. Oakland is about a 30 minute drive from downtown SF; San Jose is about an hour drive (without traffic).
Getting Around
If you're going to stay in the city, avoid rental cars. Parking is very difficult and costly downtown and traffic can be a pain. Use MUNI to get around inside the city - San Francisco's light rail and bus system that goes everywhere in the city. Dozens of routes serve this small area, so if it's in the city limits you're within much less than a 1/2 mile walk. The most popular destinations are served by light rail and streetcars, and the cable cars are a tourist destination on their own. If you're staying for about a month - a calendar month - pick up a monthly pass ($45) for rides on all MUNI vehicles and BART within city limits. If you're going to stay for a few days, the MUNI's tourist passport for 1 ($11), 3 ($18) or 7 ($24) days allows you to ride everything MUNI including the cable cars. Neither pass lets you ride the new CultureBus 74X - there is a $3 upcharge to use that for the day with one of these passes.
Things To Do
There are way too many things to do to list here, and your list depends on your interests. Here are some highlights:
- Golden Gate Park has newly rebuilt museums, a Japanese tea garden, and is San Francisco's version of Central Park in NYC.
- Downtown (Market Street) is a sight to see in itself
- Chinatown is a bustling small part of SF right next to downtown. Be sure to stop at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company.
- The Embarcadero, along the waterfront, was redeveloped within the past 20 years, and features the Ferry Building and a plaza at the end of Market Street, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Aquatic Park on the north end, and the SF Giants ballpark and Bay Bridge to the south end. The north end is served by the historic F-line trolleys - a collection of restored streetcars from around the world. The new T-line light rail extension serves the south end.
- South of Market Street, several museums have opened up, mostly near the Yerba Buena Gardens complex.
- Other places to visit include the SF Zoo, Lands End, The Presidio, Fort Mason, Japantown, Coit Tower, Candlestick Park, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Outside the city, there are some historic sites in Oakland, UC Berkeley, the wine country, Muir Woods, Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Sacramento, Folsom, and plenty of state parks, museums, and other attractions to visit.
It will take about 1 week to visit the historic places on the national register. These places are generally privately owned homes and businesses, so disturbing the residents/owners is out of the question. Some places on the register are now museums or tourist locations.
If you plan on visiting Alcatraz, allow half a day (or take the night tour!). Add in a full day for Angel Island (even if it only takes you half a day - it's 8 miles to walk around the island), and a few hours to walk around Treasure Island. It can take a full day to experience the Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf/Aquatic Park area. A trip to the Zoo and Ocean Beach can take a full day (stop at the Beach Chalet).Walking through Chinatown and North Beach is a full-day activity. Visit all the museums SF has to offer, and you've used up another week. Several days can be spent exploring the neighborhoods. The rest of Northern California can be explored over the course of two weeks if you're somewhat selective in your itinerary. If you have kids, you'll want to visit the theme parks in the area (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo and Great America in Santa Clara).
Most people will be able to visit the city and see everything they could possibly want to see for a first trip in a week including a day trip to the Wine Country.
Lessons & tips: Make a list of everything you want to do, the times and days they're open, the cost, and how long it will take you to visit (be honest with yourself - are you going to spend two hours walking back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge or are you going to stop at the overlook for 20 minutes? Are you going to walk quickly through an art museum and come out in an hour or do you take your time and look at each piece of art, increasing your stay to four hours?). Determine how to get there via public transit (make a list of all the lines that serve each location). Group locations together by similar transit lines and area to minimize transit time. Double the time it's supposed to take to get from one place to the other so transportation delays don't eat up your time. Put things that can be done in the evenings or at night during those times to leave more time during the day for exploring outdoor and daytime-only locations. When I return later this month, I'm visiting all the attractions on a single bus line on the same day (Route 18 - it serves the coast along the Pacific Ocean including Baker Beach, the Zoo, the Cliff House and Lands End, and the Legion of Honor).
Whenever I travel, I have a very detailed plan for each day that tells me where I'm going, how much it costs, how long I plan on spending there, and exactly how to get there (with maps as needed). By doing this I know what time I need to leave each morning to complete my list. However, I know that plans change - I spend longer than planned at a location, buses run slow, I forget to budget time for lunch, etc - and I make changes to my plan as needed. I also know that since I generally travel alone, I can change my plans and not mess anyone else's plans up. Budget extra time and allowances for traveling to the city with kids, because public transportation may be new to them (part of the fun of traveling to San Francisco as a kid was the train ride there and riding the streetcar system).
Ride the cable cars as soon as they open in the morning or near closing time at night. Lines will be much shorter. I was able to ride two lines on an early morning trip back and forth on each trip by planning properly (ride a Powell Street line early and the California line second - the California line is less touristy because it doesn't go to tourist locations and doesn't have as good of views as the Powell lines).
Safety-wise, always be aware of your surroundings. Homeless people will approach you at least once asking for money or will want to give you a flier or newsletter and then request a donation. Riding the F-line and cable car is about the safest public transportation out there, but the streetcars and buses immerse you in the everyday culture. like New York City, everybody rides the buses and streetcars in San Francisco. Expect to see businessmen during rush hour and everybody else at all times of day (kids, parents, drug addicts, you name it). There are some weird people who ride public transit but if you act normal but are aware of what's going on you'll be fine. Be careful about the neighborhoods you're walking in. The area known as the Tenderloin has the largest risk to it, but even areas of Market Street between (not at) Castro Street and the Civic Center can be dicey. If you're not used to city life, avoid non-touristy areas after dark.
Resources:
- National Register of Historic Places for a list of all the historic locations. Do a Google search for the website (make sure you go to the .gov website). They are in the process of changing their systems so the link locations could change.
- SFGATE.com is the website to visit for events and some tourist information.
- I use Fodor's guidebooks when traveling. I don't have one for San Francisco, but they've been very helpful for everywhere else.
- The official visitors website is www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com and that will give you a list of all the touristy places, restaurants, hotels, and other information about the city.
- There are other websites (search "San Francisco travel" in Google) that list places to go. I've used the untourist site before to find some odder places to go. I can't seem find it anymore. I have recently found www.sftravel.com to be a good site to find a list of places tourists go and honest reviews of those places. It's not complete by any means but it does provide an experienced insight on the city's most popular sights.
- My own website could help you. www.ryan-gluesing.com/travel provides photographs (and occasionally, descriptions) of historic places and tourist locations I've been. San Francisco features the historic places and a few of the museums I've been to (after Christmas 2008, there will be many other locations posted).
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