San Francisco

Only in San Francisco

Public transportation: There's San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, aka BART. BART goes directly to San Francisco International Airport from downtown and runs every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 20 minutes on weekends. If you fly into Oakland, it's a quick shuttle/bus or BART ride into San Francisco. Check out San Francisco Municipal Railway for more public transit information. Unlimited ride cards for public transit include the cable cars and come in various lengths and prices (1 day, 3 days, etc.). If you have a car, finding parking spots can be problematic, and you don't need a car for San Francisco proper. In fact, it can be a liability because you have to pay for the rental and parking.

Stuff that's worth checking out: Musee Mecanique sounds goofy and it is, but it's also really cool. It used to be at the Cliff House, and you could combine a visit with a look at the camera obscura (which is also cool) and general enjoyment of the ocean views. Sadly, now it's near Fisherman's Wharf so maybe a bit less attractive surroundings but worth a look. Beach Blanket Babylon is a fun evening.

Places to stay: An old standby is the San Remo Hotel in North Beach. Bathrooms are down the hall, most rooms have sinks, and the place is absolutely immaculate.

Some people seem to get really good deals on the better San Francisco hotels through Priceline or you might log in to Hotwire to see what prices come up there. Room tax will get you no matter where you go. Decide what neighborhood you want to stay in and have some patience while bidding. Don't let Priceline fake you out with that "you've bid too low, take this offer instead" message. The best site for advice on how much to bid is BiddingForTravel.com. You might be able to get the Park Hyatt, which is an excellent 4 star hotel, or the Marriott which is a huge hotel in a great location.

Union Square East-Embarcadero is the best area to stay in if your travel plans involve getting to and from the San Francisco Airport. You also may get a nicer room for less money if you pick the Union Square East area over Fisherman's Wharf. Most of the hotels Priceline has are near BART stations in the Union Square East-Embarcadero zone.

Another possibility is the Green Tortoise Hostel. It's very well located.

The Elements Hotel isn't right downtown, but the neighborhood is a very vibrant, authentic part of San Francisco that has a lot to offer young travelers who want to sightsee, party and meet local people their own age.

Comments:

I've seen the Green Tortoise. It's very centrally located, seemed busy and social, but kinda pot smoky, too. SF has at least two AYH locations, the HI-Fisherman's Wharf near Fort Mason and HI-Downtown near Union Square. Both are very nice locations. I don't know anything about the rooms, but I assume you have to put up with the traditional AYH segregated rooms and all that.

Green Tortoise gets my vote. Friendly staff and free dinners three nights a week and free breakfast daily. It's in North Beach which, in my limited experience, is one of the safer places to be at night, although a club has opened up a few doors down which seems to be attracting a rougher crowd into the area at weekends. It's very central to most things, whereas out at Fort Mason you are pretty much out of the way. I've visited the hostels downtown, and the neighborhood is pretty sketchy at night. I've stayed at the Green Tortoise three times and wouldn't consider anywhere else. If you want a private two-bed room, though, you could stay at the San Remo Hotel about a 10 minute walk away for about the same daily rate as a private room at the Tortoise (which is tiny).

Where you stay depends on what you want. I prefer the Embarcadero over Fisherman's Wharf primarily because the properties are nicer. You have better access to the California Street cable car which tends to be less crowded and used by actual San Franciscans, and you don't have to wait in line for it. Embarcadero is the Spanish word for waterfront, and I think the Embarcadero between the ferry building and pier 23ish is nicer to walk around than Fisherman's Wharf. My main reason for not liking the Fisherman's Wharf area is that it feels simultaneously seedy and overly touristy at the same time. Everything there is kind of expensive for what you get, although I do think every tourist should go through there just to see it. I just don't think it's nice.

The Embarcadero is completely desolate at night and on the weekends and might be a little creepy, but it is near a BART stop. Fisherman's Wharf is pretty busy all the time, and you can take a cable car from there. It's kitschy in parts.

I've stayed in both the Embarcadero as well as the Wharf. We now always stay at the good ole San Remo in North Beach. I completely agree that Fisherman's Wharf is both seedy and overly touristy, but if I must choose between Embarcadero or the Wharf, I'd choose the Wharf ... and would make a special effort to give a dollar to that guy who hides behind the bush and scares tourists. We have always been really comfy at the San Remo; that hotel really has soul, and I love the location. Have stayed at the Park Hyatt and it definitely was quiet; it's just that those sorts of hotels always feel a bit synthetic to me. But if you get a sweet deal on Priceline, I can see going that route.

I have gotten the Park Hyatt and Marriott in the past. Loved the Park Hyatt - the location is very quiet, and that hotel is more of a 5 star. I usually stay on weekends, and I like walking to the market at the Ferry building. The Marriott was okay ... it's a huge hotel, though. A friend stayed at the Grand Hyatt and liked it (near Union Square). Using Priceline is actually cheaper than the San Remo
.
I stayed at the Grand Hyatt - the hotel location is great, rooms were nice, odd mini-TVs in the bathroom, all rooms are close to the elevators (but not noisy). There was only one down side - the elevator sucks. There is always a wait, and they're always crowded. You can also get free info from the Visitor's Bureau.

The Grand Hyatt is in a flat area of the city with no steep hills around. It's also not quite as windy there. Ask for an upper story room with a great view of the bay.

Bars, clubs, and restaurants: You can't go wrong with Restaurant Lulu, Scala's Bistro, or Pasta Pomodoro (even though it's a chain).

In the Marina, try Betelnut. It's a fine option and sort of a Pan-Asian kind of thing. Plumpjack Cafe is also in the Marina. It's supposed to have an awesome wine list. Both of those places are kinda spendy. Three Seasons is a really good Vietnamese place on Steiner. It's swanky and therefore not "authentic," like everything in the Marina, but it's a bit less of a scene than Betelnut.

Go to Lemongrass on Polk Street for some really good, unpretentious Thai food. Lots of folks really like Rose Pistola. Others think it's resting on its laurels with snotty service to boot, but that doesn't mean it's bad, perhaps just not an elegant value for money. If you can eat anywhere and budget isn't a concern, try to get in to Boulevard.

Some prefer the Mission District to the Marina. It's more casual and slightly edgy. For Mission eating, try Ti Couz. Directly across the street is Dalva, a hip dive bar. Slightly upscale for the neighborhood is Delfina, which is supposed to be great. There is a great Vietnamese place called Slanted Door, and it's upscale Vietnamese - really tasty, not just Pho. Bissap Baobab is a great unique choice - Senegalese food, ginger margaritas, in the Mission, near all the excitement. Yum. There are a lot of good clubs - Elbo Room, Lone Palm, Blondie's, Make-Out Room, and Baobab. These are all small venues with one DJ or live band bar clubs. For bigger ass-shaker venues you have to go into SoMa, which while technically south of Mission, isn't really near the fun part of the Mission.

A "pretty person" bar in North Beach is 15 Romolo. It's an unmarked doorway, just around the corner from either Big Al's or the Hungry I. It's essentially just around the corner heading away from Chinatown off Broadway and Columbus.

Try Halamed on Broadway for fantastic Afghan food.

The Swan Oyster Depot on Polk Street is an old-school San Francisco place - a bit pricey, but pretty cool, just a bar and a few choices of fresh seafood. The seafood combo salad with Louie sauce on the side is recommended.

If you like sandwiches, don't miss a trip to Specialty's.

Comments:

Cafe du Nord is still a good place to see local bands and interesting shows. As for a jazz club, I'd check out SFGate.com and look for jazz clubs. Loved the Folsom St. After Party at Cafe Du Nord.

Cafe du Nord doesn't focus on jazz so much as I gather they used to. You might catch a swing night or some such there, but I wouldn't call them a "jazz club" these days. The best thing to do is trundle over to Oakland and go to Yoshi's. It's the premier jazz club in the area and a great space. They draw national touring acts and the best local talent. They usually do two sets a night so you could catch an early set, BART back to The City (caps per San Francisco Chronicle style), and catch a late set over there somewhere. They also have an overpriced sushi restaurant where you can reserve a good seat for the show and then get some dinner. Yoshi's is in Jack London Square within a block of Broadway and Embarcadero. It's a ten to fifteen minute walk from the downtown Oakland BART. If you'd prefer to stay in The City, you might be out of luck. I think the few remaining jazz spots there have been closing their doors.

I forgot about Yoshi's. I've been there a couple of times and enjoyed it immensely. You can take BART to the 12th Street (Oakland) station and catch a bus/cab or walk the 12 blocks to Jack London Square. It's pretty easy.

Cafe du Nord rarely, if ever, does jazz, but it's a nice club. There are other spots in the city where jazz is being ripped out nightly. Yoshi's is the preeminent West Coast jazz club. They get the absolute best acts six nights a week. They get the true headliners. Jack London Square is nice enough in its own yuppie way. You don't HAVE to eat the sushi at Yoshi's to get a seat; it just helps for sold-out shows in that the staff reserves seats for dinner patrons before the regular ticket holders get into the auditorium.
I heard someone recommending Yoshi's as well when I was in a bar in SF.

Side Trips: From San Francisco you can do side trips to Monterey, the Wine Country, and Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is a 3.5 - 5 hour drive away, depending on the route you take, how fast you drive, and what time of day and day of the week you're traveling. It could theoretically be a day trip, but it would be a l-o-o-ng day. The only way to stay cheaply in Yosemite is to camp and you can rent camping gear in Berkeley; however, campsite reservations need to be made 2 - 3 months ahead of time unless you plan to use the first come, first serve campground called Camp 4.

Trip Report - San Francisco, May 2003

It was such a beautiful weekend. We went for a three-hour cruise around the Bay on a sailboat that left from Tiburon. Chilly, but absolutely gorgeous. What a great way to see San Francisco.

On Monday we drove up to the Marin Headlands and took in the views, did a little hiking, and then headed over to Sausalito for some ice cream. If I didn't have to wake up at 3 am to go to work, I would move out there in a second!

We also hit Trader Joe's and picked up some "two-buck chuck" which supposedly has "revolutionized entertaining in the Bay Area", haha. Great store!

We went to yummy restaurants:
Betelnut
Rose Pistola
Jackson Fillmore
Bistro Aix
Grove (for light lunch and some Internet catch-up)

Bistro Aix was okay, a bit snobbish and a little pricey, but the food was very good, I thought. The only thing that was strange was at one point the waiter came to deliver the appetizers, and my boyfriend attempted to move the salt shaker for him and he stopped what he was doing and made some snide comment. Very strange. They were also out of quite a few items, but we were there at 9 pm on Sunday. I would give it 2.5 stars out of 4.

Trip Report - San Francisco and Monterey, May 2004

We had a terrific time in California! It was sunny and in the 60s, perfect weather for sightseeing.

We loved San Francisco. I am so proud of myself for all the walking I was able to do while being in the middle of a pregnancy. One day we walked up Hyde Street from Fisherman's Wharf to Lombard Street, then walked down Lombard and then up the other end in Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. It was so beautiful to see the ocean and views all around as we climbed up and down the city's hills. Another day we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Golden Gate Park, and then to the "Painted Ladies" in the Haight. My husband loved Alcatraz; I was surprised at how beautiful it was over there (well, not in the cells!). We also spent time in Chinatown, North Beach, and Union Square. The cable car ride was very unique! I'm glad that we stayed in Union Square. I liked it there a lot; it reminded me of a small midtown Manhattan. Fisherman's Wharf was neat, but I'm glad we didn't stay there; we only went there once, after Alcatraz.

The drive down Highway 1 was amazing! It reminded me so much of Italy's Amalfi Coast. Big Sur was spectacular; I wish we could have stayed there an extra day. We had lunch at Nepenthe, which was well worth the money for the view. Then we hiked through coastal redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park which was really neat - the tallest trees we had ever seen! Then we went to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and walked to the waterfall; this spot was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. We stayed at Deetjen's.

Finally we made it to Monterey Bay. We loved 17-Mile Drive! My favorite stop was the Lone Cypress. My husband also really liked it, but his favorite was probably standing on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach National Golf Course. Too bad he couldn't play! We stopped in Carmel to see the mission before heading to the Green Gables Inn in Pacific Grove. What a cute little inn! It has been featured on one of those credit card commercials. We had a bit of a scare the night we stayed here. At 11 pm I had a contraction and cramping and started to bleed heavily. I immediately paged my midwife at home who told us it was likely nothing serious, but we should go to the hospital. We made it to the hospital in Monterey, and they admitted me to the Birthing Center immediately. They monitored the baby's heartbeat and my contractions for a few hours (just one very small one), the bleeding slowed down, and everything seemed to be just fine. We were so relieved that everything was okay. The next day we took it easy and visited the Monterey Aquarium.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip. We loved San Francisco and Big Sur. The Monterey area was nice but was my least favorite. I'm just glad the baby wasn't born in California, three months early. Having that scare really made us realize that the best part of this vacation was that we were all together and healthy. We can't wait to someday bring her to these places that we love so much.