justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 11:17:31 GMT -5
I know there's several Californians and probably a lot more that have been to San Francisco that can give me some good tips/pointers. My friend has a work trip out there in the beginning of April and invited me along. I'd be by myself during the day and she'd meet up with me after she gets off work. I need to get the name of the hotel from her, but she said it's a short taxi ride from the airport and near the convention center.
There are two things I need help on.
1) Transportation - is the public transportation there easy/good or do I need to rent a car to get to any place good 2) What to do there! Obviously a lot of daytime stuff since I'll be on my own, but night stuff too. I love good food, so any good restaurants too.
Thanks!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 18, 2014 11:23:04 GMT -5
To start with, do NOT rent a car. Last time I paid for parking at a hotel near the convention center, it was $35/day. Wouldn't surprise me if it is pushing $60-75/day now. I seem to remember that there was a lot of stuff to do walking distance, and we took cabs too.
I don't remember any restaurants we hit, but we did dim sum, Italian, seafood and Chinese. All were excellent.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 11:29:01 GMT -5
To the parking fee!
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sarcasticgirl
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Post by sarcasticgirl on Mar 18, 2014 11:32:04 GMT -5
I've only been to SF once, but had no issue getting around without a car. Took the cable cars, walked and grabbed cabs.
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souldoubt
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Post by souldoubt on Mar 18, 2014 11:39:37 GMT -5
As The Walk said do not rent a car because you will pay for the rental, pay for parking because you won't find free parking and driving there sucks. If you fly in you can take bart (bart.gov) from the airport to downtown San Fran for less than $10 one way. There's plenty of public transportation and in many cases you can walk during the day depending on what area you're in. You can visit golden gate bridge, the golden gate bridge park, embarcadero, fisherman's wharf, alcatraz and so on it just depends on what you want to do. If you want to go to Napa you can take the ferry across from embarcadero and see about wine tours possibly on the wine train. Food wise it's just a matter of what you feel like because it's San Fran and there's a lot of different cultures represented there. We ate at a great German place last time we were there and also a really good Mexican place in one of the artsy areas that was a hole in the wall. When you see people lined up to get food it's worth the wait.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 12:04:27 GMT -5
NAPA IS NEAR SAN FRANCISCO?!?!?!?!?!?!Screw seeing any of San Francisco!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 18, 2014 12:08:26 GMT -5
It's a good day trip. I'd see if I could find some sort of tour, because you really want someone else driving while you are "sampling".
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souldoubt
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Post by souldoubt on Mar 18, 2014 12:16:25 GMT -5
Check out winetrain.com. I'm not sure about just day trips but we're heading to San Fran in probably April and looking at the deals without wheels package (i.e. you just have to get to the ferry and there's no driving involved) which includes a hotel. If you take the ferry across the train will take you into Napa where I'm sure there's no shortage of tours that will come pick you up in town.
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sarcasticgirl
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Post by sarcasticgirl on Mar 18, 2014 12:29:41 GMT -5
NAPA IS NEAR SAN FRANCISCO?!?!?!?!?!?!Screw seeing any of San Francisco! Napa and Sanoma are pretty near by. if you have the time, GO! it is worth the trip. just don't get too drunk and join 920384023 wine clubs, like someone i know
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 12:38:23 GMT -5
The wine train looks cool, would have to get to Napa somehow though. I found one that takes you on a tour, but you take a cruise back to San Francisco. Sounds fun.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 12:39:18 GMT -5
NAPA IS NEAR SAN FRANCISCO?!?!?!?!?!?!Screw seeing any of San Francisco! Napa and Sanoma are pretty near by. if you have the time, GO! it is worth the trip. just don't get too drunk and join 920384023 wine clubs, like someone i know Oh I'll make time. My friend might kill me though since she's working during the day (and weekend too) so she can't go.
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sarcasticgirl
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Post by sarcasticgirl on Mar 18, 2014 12:40:24 GMT -5
Napa and Sanoma are pretty near by. if you have the time, GO! it is worth the trip. just don't get too drunk and join 920384023 wine clubs, like someone i know Oh I'll make time. My friend might kill me though since she's working during the day (and weekend too) so she can't go. sucks to be her!
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Bob Ross
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Post by Bob Ross on Mar 18, 2014 13:25:24 GMT -5
I'd try the Rice a Roni. I hear it's the treat from there.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Mar 18, 2014 13:49:58 GMT -5
Hi Justme,
Bay Area resident here. I'm actually in San Mateo County (which is where the airport is actually located) but over on the ocean side.
souldoubt and others are correct that you generally don't want to rent a car while you are in San Francisco. Public transportation is excellent to and around downtown. But depending on how much time you have you might want to visit Sonoma or Napa and drive. If you want to go to Napa or Sonoma I recommend actually staying there for a night or two. I believe there is a "Wine Bus" that will pick you up at some major stops in the City but to really enjoy it, spend the night.
How much time will you be here and which hotel?
ETA: Ombud, NastyWoman and kent are also in the area.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 13:57:41 GMT -5
Her work trip is April 2-7. Looking at flights I'd be getting in around mid afternoon and the flight home would leave mid afternoon. I'm piggy backing off her trip so my hotel cost would be $0 making it a somewhat cheap trip (the hotel she's at is over $200/night on advanced purchase). She's staying at the Parc 55 Wyndham.
It'd be nice to stay in wine country a night or two, but since she's working every day she's going to be there I'd be stuck out there alone. Was thinking a day trip/tour just to go. At some point plan a trip out there just for that.
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kittypuppymom
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Post by kittypuppymom on Mar 18, 2014 14:04:04 GMT -5
Lived in SF for 8 years in the 90's. I know a lot of things have changed. But, you definitely may want to rent a car for the day to go to Napa. Buy the wine you like and take it back to your hotel room and then get sloshed!!!!
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Iggy aka IG
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Post by Iggy aka IG on Mar 18, 2014 14:19:54 GMT -5
SF is my old stomping grounds. Be sure and have some soup in a bread bowl on the wharf, and take a ferry to Sausalito.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Mar 18, 2014 14:43:29 GMT -5
Her work trip is April 2-7. Looking at flights I'd be getting in around mid afternoon and the flight home would leave mid afternoon. I'm piggy backing off her trip so my hotel cost would be $0 making it a somewhat cheap trip (the hotel she's at is over $200/night on advanced purchase). She's staying at the Parc 55 Wyndham. It'd be nice to stay in wine country a night or two, but since she's working every day she's going to be there I'd be stuck out there alone. Was thinking a day trip/tour just to go. At some point plan a trip out there just for that. Can she tag on a couple of days?
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Mar 18, 2014 14:49:10 GMT -5
BTW Sweet location next to Union Square and a block from the Powell St BART, Muni and cable car.
First stop should be the visitor's center where you can buy a day pass for the various transit systems, free map and discounts for various things.
There's a lot to do. Is there anything special you are looking forward to (besides wine )?
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Baby Fawkes
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Post by Baby Fawkes on Mar 18, 2014 14:58:46 GMT -5
Her work trip is April 2-7. Looking at flights I'd be getting in around mid afternoon and the flight home would leave mid afternoon. I'm piggy backing off her trip so my hotel cost would be $0 making it a somewhat cheap trip (the hotel she's at is over $200/night on advanced purchase). She's staying at the Parc 55 Wyndham. It'd be nice to stay in wine country a night or two, but since she's working every day she's going to be there I'd be stuck out there alone. Was thinking a day trip/tour just to go. At some point plan a trip out there just for that. Nice. The Parc 55 is a great hotel in the area that's not too posh, but still one of the better ones and probably my personal favorite hotel to stay at. I've stayed there a few times when talking at the convention center. If you're planning to take the trolley system you have one of the best possible locations for convenience of catching it at the end of Powell street there. Just expect a decent sized line to get on as it's incredibly popular. If you're planning on getting the BART from the airport, the Powell St. station is literally across the street from the hotel so that's a very easy option for transportation. There's also a tourist information office at the entrance to the Powell St. station across the road from your hotel and they have all the info you would need for the wine tours and other activities if you didn't want to pre-book. You won't have to worry about a car as you are very convenient for trolley, BART and buses where you're going to be.
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Timberwolf
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Post by Timberwolf on Mar 18, 2014 15:01:27 GMT -5
We were in San Francisco about 5 years ago for a few days and one of the things we did was to take a tour (tour bus) that left from downtown at about 9:00 a.m. and we toured 3 or 4 wineries and saw a few things "en-route" like driving over the golden gate bridge, seeing the baseball stadium and getting some of the history of SF from the tour guide along the way and back. I think the tour bus dropped people off right back at their hotels at the end of the tour which ended about 5:00. I think it cost about $50 or $60 per person and was well worth the cost. Don't forget to go to Chinatown. That was probably my favorite part of the whole trip but then I'm kind of wierd
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 15:07:18 GMT -5
I don't think she can. Even the flights she's on to work with the customers are the more expensive ones and I know she doesn't have a lot of vacation time either (she's going to Germany for like two weeks in May). I'm actually not sure what I want to see. She just mentioned it to me last week so it wasn't really on my radar til then. I saw a CityPass that looked interesting ( www.citypass.com/san-francisco) it'd give me more transportation days than I need but includes some passes to attractions. I love the water so the ferry rides to interesting places sounds really fun. I'll definitely want to go down to the Pacific since I've only known the Atlantic. But honestly, besides the Golden Gate Bridge I'm not sure what there is to do there (besides a lot!) or where I want to go. So that's what I came on here (and asked my FB people too). I know there's a lot to do and I'm only going to be there a short time, but hopefully I can come back. Definitely leaning towards renting a car for a few hours to drive over the bridge and I dunno what else.
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NancysSummerSip
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Mar 18, 2014 15:11:15 GMT -5
Can you eat chocolate? This place is on my bucket list. It's a traditional newsstand with a collection of hundreds of different chocolate bars from around the world: www.fogcitynews.com/home.html
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 15:15:32 GMT -5
Can you eat chocolate? This place is on my bucket list. It's a traditional newsstand with a collection of hundreds of different chocolate bars from around the world: www.fogcitynews.com/home.htmlI can, but I'm one of those weirdos that doesn't like it. But my friend does so I'll let her know.
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Baby Fawkes
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Post by Baby Fawkes on Mar 18, 2014 15:20:03 GMT -5
For specific ideas, I second the option for Chinatown as it's a great one if SF.
Along the lines of Nancy's suggestion, Ghirardelli square is great if you want to get your chocolate fix and that's easy to get to on the cable car. Fisherman's and Pier 39 wharf is worth the visit to see the sea lions and walk along the waterfront.
There's also Alcatraz that you could tour if that's your sort of thing?
You could go an see Lombard street for a photo op. Wouldn't recommend trying to drive it as the line tends to be long with a lot of people wanting to
Golden Gate park is really nice if you want to spend some time wandering around the places there. You'd want to catch a bus there, but they run right near your hotel
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 18, 2014 15:26:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the suggestions!
Regarding Alcatraz, someone I work with said last time he went there he tried to get on a tour but they were filled for three months! So I'm guessing that's not an option, but I'm ok with that.
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sapphire12
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Post by sapphire12 on Mar 18, 2014 15:46:54 GMT -5
I did a one-day tour that included China Town, Lombard Street, Muir Woods, Sausalito, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Cable Car Museum.
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Baby Fawkes
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Post by Baby Fawkes on Mar 18, 2014 15:52:05 GMT -5
Thanks for the suggestions! Regarding Alcatraz, someone I work with said last time he went there he tried to get on a tour but they were filled for three months! So I'm guessing that's not an option, but I'm ok with that. It does book up very early during peak tourist season. The site to book or check availability on is www.alcatrazcruises.com/ . It looks like they have availability for the dates you are there if you decided you were interested.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Mar 18, 2014 16:20:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the suggestions! Regarding Alcatraz, someone I work with said last time he went there he tried to get on a tour but they were filled for three months! So I'm guessing that's not an option, but I'm ok with that. It does book up very early during peak tourist season. The site to book or check availability on is www.alcatrazcruises.com/ . It looks like they have availability for the dates you are there if you decided you were interested. we're going tomorrow. If you can believe it I've never been despite living in the area for 15 years. We bought our tickets this morning and it's a GEORGEOUS day.
BTW you can ride a bike or walk across the GG Bridge. But renting a car one day to drive up or down the coast on a beautiful day is worth it. Going up the coast you could go to Muir Woods (Coastal Redwoods) or Bodega Bay (Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds). Heading south on Hwy 1 (you can wave at me as you head through our brand new tunnel) there's Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz.
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Ombud
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Post by Ombud on Mar 18, 2014 16:30:26 GMT -5
SF is my old stomping grounds. Be sure and have some soup in a bread bowl on the wharf, and take a ferry to Sausalito. Boudins is better than the wharf as the wharf is too touristy. Bay cruises are great. Good timing re: weather.
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