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Travel Questions: San Francisco Bay Area

156K views 369 replies 130 participants last post by  SutroTower 
#1 ·
I'm going to Santa Rosa in a couple weeks for business and I'm flying into San Fran. I've been to SoCal countless times, but I've never been to San Fran or anywhere in NorCal.

Any suggestions of where to stop on the way from SFO to Santa Rosa to get good pics of the city? I mapquested my trip to Santa Rosa, and it appears that I'm going to take the Golden Gate bridge, does that sound right?

Thanks in advance for any responses.
 
#332 ·
One more thing: If you bring the sort of clothing I think you'd wear in Britain in January, I suspect you'll do fine in Northern California. Forget what you may have seen on TV about sunny California beaches etc. NorCal has a bimodal climate--no rain at all in summer, frequent storms most winters. It can be hard to predict and you may get sunny mild weather, but you may also get rain 2 days out of 3. Typical high temps are around 15C, lows around 8C.
 
#333 ·
Perhaps wearing a thick jacket will do, especially if you want to explore Lake Tahoe when it's snowy. And by the way, should you visit Tahoe, make sure you either have a 4x4 vehicle or ride with a reputable bus company that will bring you there, and listen for travel advisories on the radio (especially on KCBS 740 AM and 106.9 FM, where traffic and weather reports are made every 10 minutes most days) and on television. Another advice: be careful of bringing an umbrella, especially when the wind flows change rapidly; the winter season here can bring lots of rain, and that the wind can turn your umbrella upside down if you walk against it. And, temperatures fluctuate widely the further away you go from the Bay and the coast... nighttime temps can go below 0C in many parts of the region (especially heading north and northeast).
 
#334 ·
Another advice: be careful of bringing an umbrella, especially when the wind flows change rapidly; the winter season here can bring lots of rain, and that the wind can turn your umbrella upside down if you walk against it.
Hah! Not surprisingly, the Brits make some of the world's best umbrellas including wind-resistant models. Before I started leaving town for the winter, I often used British-made umbrellas from: http://www.cablecarclothiers.com
 
#340 ·
Short answer: Not so much near "malls" but yes near transit.

First of all, you need to better define what you mean by "San Francisco". If you mean the city itself, there are only a couple of traditional "malls" in the city. If you mean the metro area, I'll leave it to others to say what there is in the suburbs where there are many malls that I've never visited.

In the city, there's San Francisco Center, a vertical "urban mall" in the heart of the Union Square shopping area which is also full of hotels but not many of them "budget". If you look at any hotel web site (Hotels.com etc) and look for hotels in the Union Square area, you can find what's available and the prices. Actually, outside of the peak summer tourist season you may be able to find something not too pricey.

The only large traditional mall in the city is Stonestown and I'm not aware of any hotels out there. There may be one or two but I don't know about them. You can Google it to see the location, then look for something nearby.

Most "family oriented" hotels in SF are probably near Fisherman's Wharf. There are scads of places there but not necessarily inexpensive. Again, try a hotel web site and look for deals in that area. You might well find something. And, of you do, SF is a small city (7 miles square) so it won't really be all that far from the shopping areas. Everything is actually "near" everything else. The Wharf itself has lots of restaurants and t-shirt places--lots of stuff for tourists.

Actually, Embarcadero Center--another "urban mall" targeted at business people shopping at lunchtime--is a short streetcar ride from Fisherman's Wharf but, if you stay on the streetcar another couple of miles, it'll let you off near Union Square and San Francisco Center.
 
#342 ·
In addition, you can walk towards Kearny & Geary Streets for either the 8x-Bayshore Express or 30-Stockton (both buses) that will also bring you close to Fisherman's Wharf, the former having its terminal close to Pier 39, the latter having a stop on Columbus & Bay-North Point for Anchorage Square (and stops along North Point for Ghirardelli Square). I can provide even more shopping information if you need it...

As for hotels and inns near Stonestown, there's none I'm aware of... the closest would be next door in Daly City, and yet, there, the next mall further south would be Serramonte. I'd be best off with Union Square or Fisherman's Wharf areas.
 
#343 ·
|Thanks for the replies C_E and FOD. You guys are great! I will be reading your posts again when I am there next month.

FOD, So the most decent, safe and affordable hotel for families are in Daly City?

Any shopping info would be great so my wife won't be spending too much of our money..:lol:
 
#344 ·
Daly City is a double-edged sword... yes, it may have cheap hotels (next to I-280), yet transit may not be as frequent as you think. SamTrans goes through some hotels on Callan Blvd, but the frequency is every 30 minutes... I'll do additional research on transit and hotels so that I can make the best suggestions if you're gearing towards the suburbs. Just remember:

- BART between Daly City and San Francisco run up to every 3 minutes since you've got four lines to choose from on weekdays (even more trips are available to Daly City in the morning and from Daly City in the afternoon peaks). On weeknights and weekends, trains run approximately every 10 minutes since only two lines run between Daly City and SF (Dublin/Pleasanton and Pittsburg/Bay Point). And by the way, the latter also operates to SFO Airport (all times) and Millbrae (weeknights and weekends; weekdays, trains from Richmond operate to Millbrae alone)
- SamTrans (mainly operating in San Mateo County) operate a few routes to San Francisco (120, 121, 122, 292, 397, and KX), and a lot more to Daly City BART (110, 112, 118, 120, 121, 130, ECR). If you're aiming for Daly City, I'd go for a hotel that runs next to either the 120 or 121 since you can have a choice of taking BART or Muni bus along Mission Street (14 and 14L-Mission and Mission Limited).
- SamTrans' KX operates direct to SFO Airport from Downtown San Francisco on Mission Street, and it costs $5 (versus $8.60 on BART). However, it operates peak periods in the peak direction only. The 292 bus operates all-day, daily... it also goes through airport hotels in nearby South San Francisco, and it costs $4 to travel away from SF, $2 heading to SF. And if you're up in the middle of the night, the 397 operates the same as the 292 (except it goes further south to Palo Alto); same fares as the 292 apply.

For more questions, you can ask here or PM me.
 
#345 ·
More options can be found using Yelp and Air BnB... the former also provides restaurant and service recommendations, while the latter focuses on independent hotels too.
 
#349 ·
@CE I was thinking around the area close to 280... The problem with that, and you're right (and I concur), is with accessibility. Lombard Street is a popular haunt for vacationers too, especially west of Van Ness Avenue... Shopping around that area would be on Chestnut Street (in the Marina), Fillmore Street between Chestnut and Union Streets, and Union Street between Van Ness and Steiner Street.

• Chestnut Street is on the 30-Stockton bus line (note: to head back to the Marina, look for the sign that says "Jefferson Loop" or "Broderick Street" since many of them operate short trips that end at Van Ness & North Point), which can bring you directly to other shopping and eating areas like Little Italy, North Beach, Chinatown, Union Square, and SoMa. See also 45 below
• Fillmore Street is on the 22-Fillmore bus line (which can also bring you down to the Fillmore, Pacific Heights, and Japantown Districts, with great yet a bit pricey shopping options
• Union Street is on the 41-Union (peak periods only) and the 45-Union/Stockton (all-day) bus lines. The former will bring you directly to the Financial District close to the Transamerica Pyramid and The Embarcadero Center; the latter meet up with the 30 at Columbus & Stockton and continue its way down to Caltrain.

For even more premium outlets, I'd suggest renting a car and head to any of these locations:

• Livermore
• Napa
• Petaluma

Alternatively, the following discount stores are good:

• Ross Dress for Less (Market & 4th Streets, Taylor & North Point)
• Marshall's (Market & Geary Streets)
• Burlington Coat Factory (5th & Howard Streets)
• TJ Maxx (Harrison Street between 4th and 5th Streets)
 
#350 ·
It truly depends on what you want for your hotel amenities, how much you're willing to pay, and how accessible to transit you want to be... It's quite a difficult balance, especially that many of the hotels located close to the shopping Meccas (e.g. Union Square) can be pricey.
 
#351 ·
many of the hotels located close to the shopping Meccas (e.g. Union Square) can be pricey.
Yes, but I will repeat that the web sites like Hotels.com can work for you. I obviously don't stay in hotels in San Francisco but I regularly use these sites to find hotel bargains in places like New York and New Orleans. Last winter, just after New Years, I was able to find a "deluxe" corner room in a highrise Kimpton hotel (Kimpton is an upscale boutique brand) at 34th St & 6th Ave just down from Macy's and in walking distance to Times Square for under $200, a real bargain in NYC. I could get decent hotels close to or in the French Quarter in New Orleans for under $100.

It helps if you know the cities in question so as to avoid "bad" areas and be near what you want to be near, but in the case of San Francisco, that's what we are here for--to help advise on that.
 
#357 · (Edited)
It certainly should be easy to check both online. All the rental companies have web sites. I do all my car renting online and I do a fair amount of it.

Also, be sure whatever rate you are looking at includes taxes and fees. I usually book away from airports because airports nearly all add substantial fees and local taxes to the rate in order to soak tourists (like you). That's true all over the country.

I like Zipcar by the way, but I can't see it being useful to you. I am assuming you are going to want to drive from your hotel to the BART station and leave the car in the BART lot while you go into the city. With Zipcar, you pay by the hour, meaning you would be paying all the time the car is just sitting idle in the lot and it's a steep rate ($8-$12/hour). Zipcar is best for short trips to the store or whatever. For your purposes, if the hotel is beyond range of walking to BART, you should consider taking cabs or Uber to and from BART vs renting a car for your entire stay. It's hard to say which might be cheaper. Uber's web site will give you estimates (usually a $2 range) of the cost of your intended trip. If you expect to do that twice a day (to and from BART) it should be possible to compare with renting.
 
#354 ·
^^ Good question. The tax rate in Daly City is 9%, while SF is at 8.75%. I would shop around first to see who has the best deal...

- Enterprise has branches in Daly City and Colma
- Hertz is available in Daly City

You can also try ZipCar, in which you only pay when you use the car.
 
#355 ·
It is definitely more expensive to rent a car out of SFO compared to off property. It is not so much the sales tax but all the other fees they add on to increase the price. Airport tax, service fees, tourism tax etc.. can increase the price by fifty dollars or more. Here is a brief article all about one of the fees from SFO. One benefit is that you pick up at the airport after your arrival and drop it off at the airport upon departure. Some local rentals around the airport offer a shuttle service.

http://blog.sfgate.com/dgreenberg/2012/04/19/sfo-rental-car-cos-may-be-mischarging-20-fee/
 
#356 ·
You may not need or even want a car for your full stay, depending on how much time you are planning to spend around downtown. Traffic can be annoying and driving in SF without knowing the roads can be frustrating. You can pick up bart from sfo to daly city, and from daly city to sf.
 
#358 ·
That's true... there is also City Car Share where, similar to ZipCar, you can get your car at a designated spot, drive anywhere, and return it at the same spot or at a different spot (and walk or take transit).
 
#360 · (Edited)
Interesting. Like I said, I use Hotwire. I did a quick search for a mid-July weekend rental and got $81 (total) for a midsize in SFO vs. $124 for the same in Daly City.

I get similar prices in Vegas for the airport vs. Henderson, NV.

I wonder if the week long rental vs. weekend rental makes a difference.
 
#362 ·
Yeah, that's not the case. I've rented plenty of times and there aren't additional charges. I'm pretty sure there's just way more inventory at airports so Hotwire's a good place for rental companies to make at least some money from cars that would just be sitting there otherwise.
 
#363 ·
^^Well, the bottom line is that anyone wanting to rent should surf around the web a bit, both the travel sites like Kayak, Priceline and the rest as well as the rental companies own sites (and also any organization they belong to like AAA that offer travel discounts) and get the best deal they can. Rental car prices vary widely.

I rent every year to drive to Arizona from SF in the fall and to drive back in the spring. It always costs me more than twice as much to rent a car out of California than to rent one to drive into CA. That's among the reasons I don't think the rental companies perceive a surplus of cars anywhere in CA (I've personally heard the agents at a downtown SF office tell people several times that they were out of cars--and they commonly move cars to and from the airport; that's no problem for them if they have excess supply at the airport only).
 
#365 ·
Alamo Square is just a park in the Western Addition. However, it can be seen as a very popular tourist attraction that people have been asking if it is a neighborhood. In my opinion, it is just a wide open space that is part of a larger community.
 
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#366 ·
^^Because of the row of "painted ladies" of postcard fame and a few other notable structures (like the Archbishop's Mansion) facing the square, the houses on the 4 sides of the square facing it have taken on a certain pretension in real estate circles above and beyond the surrounding Western Addition neighborhood which can be a little "gritty" (if houses selling for high 6 and low 7 figure sums can be considered "gritty"), in part because of the public housing not far away.

So, in real estate ads you will sometimes see those houses facing the square, and sometimes even others within a block or so of it, said to be in the "Alamo Square" neighborhood rather than the Western Addition. It does have a certain cachet.
 
#367 ·
G'day from Australia! I hope this thread is ok to use! I am visiting SF until Wednesday and I was just wondering as a keen urban designer if there was any recommendations on good public space/streets and buildings to visit while I am here? Not really into the touristy things - would much prefer exploring awesome urban neighbourhoods. Thanks for the help my US friends!
 
#368 ·
Hello! Let me say this:

If you are really interested in public spaces and streets, I'd highly recommend the following:

San Francisco:
- Mission Murals. You need a guide to find them, but if you wanna do it on your own, do it during the day on the following streets in the Mission District: Clarion Alley, 18th Street, 19th Street, Balmy Alley, and 24th Street. Of particular interest would be the Women's Building MaestraPeace Mural at 3543 18th Street which houses the Women's Center.

- Bernal Heights. This charming, working class neighborhood is a bit out of the way from the Mission District. But, walk up the huge hill in this district (accessible from either the 67-Bernal Heights or 24-Divisadero bus with Muni), and you will be rewarded with top-notch views of the City sans the tourists. From there, you can decide which parts of the city you want to explore further, from Haight-Ashbury (for a mix of the Summer of Love feel and Victorian homes) to North of the Panhandle to even Japantown and the Fillmore.

- Moraga Street Steps. Located between 15th and 16th Avenues, not only you can see sweeping views of the Sunset District, but you also get to see a unique artpiece from the bottom up. Once you get to the top, you can continue further to Grandview Park, in which locals bill it as one of the best views of the city. Afterwards, you can go towards Lawton St & 16th Avenue and descend on the Hidden Garden Steps, which affords views of nearby Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate Bridge. Access these areas using Muni bus lines 28-19th Avenue, 66-Quintara, and Muni Metro N-Judah.

East Bay:
- Morcom Ampitheater of Roses. Located in Oakland next to AC Transit Route 12, you get to see hundreds of flower cultivars while affording a lovely view of the Bay from a distance.

- UC Berkeley. A premier center of education, not only you see a variety of architectural styles that house various academic and sporting disciplines, but also a great place to stroll and discover the quirks and oddities found near this university (e.g. Gourmet Ghetto). Accessible via BART to Downtown Berkeley or AC Transit Route F from San Francisco, as well as AC Transit Routes 6, 7, 18, 36, 51B, 52, 65, 67, 79, and 88.

- Lake Merritt, Oakland. Located close to Downtown, Lake Merritt affords excellent views of Downtown from the east side of the lake (from the Church of Christ the Redeemer to the north down to the Alameda County Courthouse to the south), plus great views of Lakeshore Avenue from the west (Downtown) side. Many locals can be found around the circuit of the lake, engaging in many activities from boating to painting to jogging. Access this from Lake Merritt BART station or a short walk from either 12th Street BART or 19th Street BART.

I can provide even more information by sending me a PM and letting me know what else you'd like to see. I live in Marin County, immediately north of San Francisco, so I can be of service to you.

And oh, speaking of which, you can go to any of these county fairs as the 4th of July is approaching:

- Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton (Dublin/Pleasanton BART to Wheels Route 52)
- Marin County Fair in San Rafael (Golden Gate Transit Routes 30, 70 or 101 to San Rafael Transit Center, then Marin Transit Routes 35 or 49 to the Fairgrounds)
 
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#370 ·
Don't forget Noe Valley and Glen Park areas. I would say just wander this neighborhoods and get lost a bi, go up the hills and you'll be rewarded with a nice view at the top and pretty interesting houses and designs and stair ways on your way up and down. I have discovered many hidden jewels and views when I jog thru all this non crowded quiet central neighborhoods with many cozy streets and steps. You gotta be in shape to get to most of these places though, hills are a bit steep in this areas.
 
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