San Francisco

[scseminoles06]

Heading to San Francisco and San Jose May 17th for the week for work. Getting tickets to Giants and Dodgers on Tuesday the 19th. Will have Sunday afternoon and possibly Thursday and all day Friday for free time. N
Any suggestions/recommendations? How is the transportation/parking in downtown San Fran?

 

[skramer100]

Alcatraz tour. Book it now. Try and get the night tour if you can, probably sold out though. Hit up Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. Things make you feel really small.

 

[DanC78]

Bike the golden gate.

Use the trolley and uber for transportation.

Get some sushi. I'll recommend a GREAT place for that in the morning. I'll have to look back at my receipt to remember some of the better bars and places.

And when I first your read your post I kept thinking it was going to turn into jimmy buffet lyrics.

 

[Sawyer55]

Went on a 'walking' tour that was great

 

[phideltflg]

Avoid having a rental car if possible. Uber is a great option and hotels will charge you $60+/night to park. Tiburon is across the Golden Gate and a neat little town to walk around and have lunch.

 

[321Nole]

Second the Muir Woods recommendation.

I'm sure it's not the #1 spot in town, but there are some solid but somewhat "chain-ish" seafood restaurants right on the bay at the Embarcedero. I always make it a point to kill an afternoon on a bayside patio with food & drinks. There are a lot of options along the water.

 

[MuchasVeces]

Avoid having a car. You can get some form of pass that is good for all the mass transit at Walgreen's.

Alcatraz is neat. Scoma's is a neat restaurant, good for sea food. Thirsty Bear has good beer and tapas, and Foley's is a good Irish place.

 

[LT4PLY]

Get Dim Sum in chinatown. If you don't know what it is look it up first.
It's a food city for sure. you won't be able to eat every place you want to. The Stinking Rose is a tourist must.
Ghiradhelli square, a ferry trip to salsalito, golden gate are all musts. Giants stadium is the best baseball venue on the planet IMO.
Look up stuff on a map and do it spatially and you will be fine. I didn't do Alcatraz the half dozen times I have been there due to scheduling. I'd like to go but tours take some time and there is a ton of other stuff to do.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Avoid having a car. You can get some form of pass that is good for all the mass transit at Walgreen's.

Alcatraz is neat. Scoma's is a neat restaurant, good for sea food. Thirsty Bear has good beer and tapas, and Foley's is a good Irish place.

Ummmm...isn't having a car in San Francisco part of the joy of visiting SF??? Some of my favorite parts of my trips there are to rent a sports car and zip up and down the giant hills around San Francisco and drive down Lombard street. Without a car you can't drive across the Golden Gate and see Muir Woods and the amazing houses in Sausalito or drive the hour and fifteen minutes to Sonoma to get great food and wine straight from the wineries. Or even pop down to Pacifica for surfing (or at least beach walking) amongst the large waves and giant rocks and cliffs. And (heck), without a car you can't even easily get to the amazing Japanese noodle and sushi places in Jtown.

Frankly, I'd say a car is mandatory for the real San Fran experience.

 

[LT4PLY]

Ummmm...isn't having a car in San Francisco part of the joy of visiting SF??? Some of my favorite parts of my trips there are to rent a sports car and zip up and down the giant hills around San Francisco and drive down Lombard street. Without a car you can't drive across the Golden Gate and see Muir Woods and the amazing houses in Sausalito or drive the hour and fifteen minutes to Sonoma to get great food and wine straight from the wineries. Or even pop down to Pacifica for surfing (or at least beach walking) amongst the large waves and giant rocks and cliffs. And (heck), without a car you can't even easily get to the amazing Japanese noodle and sushi places in Jtown.

Frankly, I'd say a car is mandatory for the real San Fran experience.

If you are there for a week maybe. but a couple of days... no way. It is not worth the hassle. The public transportation is great. I'd rather ferry to the various places. Lombard is cool but also a zoo and I heard they were closing it to outside traffic?

 

[FSUTribe76]

I would also skip Alcatraz unless you like hanging out in an old prison for hours on end with a giant herd of tourons. That's the most overrated touristy thing to do in San Fran. It's a waste of a min of 3-4 hours (waiting on ferry, sitting in ferry with stinky tourons, then finally getting out to realize you're in a prison).

In that same three hour period, you could go to the equally touristy but infinitely better "Wharf" and grab a whole fresh steamed Dungeness crab from one of the outside stands, an amazingly tart sourdough roll from Boudin Bakery freshly baked on site and an anchor steam beer and take pics of Alcatraz across the bay (if you've got even a halfway decent zoom you'll get amazing pics). Then you'll still have plenty of leftover time to see the famous sea lions, stroll the usually filled docks and see not just US Naval ships in port (we saw Russian, Japanese, Canadian, Australian and British naval ships in port), and go to the awesome pinball and penny arcade museum at the heart of the wharf (the musee mecanique).

So you can 1) go to a prison on a boat filled with stinky tourists after hours of waiting or 2) eat and drink your way around the wharf while looking at naval vessels from around the globe as well as "wild" sea lions and seals, going to a fabulous old museum filled with turn of the century games and mechanisms you can play and STILL get pictures of Alcatraz. Time it right and you'll get great sunset shots over Alcatraz Island.

 

[FSUTribe76]

If you are there for a week maybe. but a couple of days... no way. It is not worth the hassle. The public transportation is great. I'd rather ferry to the various places. Lombard is cool but also a zoo and I heard they were closing it to outside traffic?

I just cannot picture any red blooded American, penis or not, failing to rent a car and zip around San Francisco's giant hills and twisting streets. You've got to be a communist hippie to even suggest foregoing your own San Francisco thrill ride to sit on a bus with the homeless dirty hipsters and leftover burnout hippies. You can still get plenty of those if you want the San Fran experience by walking any street at any time of day.

 

[nolejam99]

Agree on skipping Alcatraz. It wasn't bad but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The baseball game should be amazing though. I went to a Giants Dodgers game in San Fran during Buster's rookie year and it was a great time. I've been to a lot of pro sporting events and that was about as close to a college atmosphere I've seen. Great rivalry, cool park, and a lot of good food around the stadium.

 

[Democratic Nole]

I just cannot picture any red blooded American, penis or not, failing to rent a car and zip around San Francisco's giant hills and twisting streets. You've got to be a communist hippie to even suggest foregoing your own San Francisco thrill ride to sit on a bus with the homeless dirty hipsters and leftover burnout hippies. You can still get plenty of those if you want the San Fran experience by walking any street at any time of day.

Depending on how many days he's in San Francisco, there's basically zero reason to rent a car for that whole time. Parking is almost impossible downtown or west towards the Golden Gate and Richmond and the hotels will charge an arm and a leg to valet the car overnight. You can rent a car for the day and do all of the things you are talking about.

 

[321Nole]

I'd rent a car for 1-2 days for the out of town stuff. Muni pass for the rest of the time.

Odds are there will be no zipping down Lombard, rather you will be creeping at a snails pace behind 200 cars with selfie sticks hanging out their windows.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Depending on how many days he's in San Francisco, there's basically zero reason to rent a car for that whole time. Parking is almost impossible downtown or west towards the Golden Gate and Richmond and the hotels will charge an arm and a leg to valet the car overnight. You can rent a car for the day and do all of the things you are talking about.

Between Spot Hero app and Mobile.bestParking.com all easily accessible on your iPhone, I never paid more than $10 for parking nor were more than a handful of blocks from my intended endpoint. You're probably right as far as valet parking in San Fran, but I never stayed in San Fran proper. I always stayed about an hour or hour and a half away at a beach hotel in Pacifica or B&Bs in Napa, Sonoma and Sausalito and just drove in for the day. Obviously I think that's preferrable to staying downtown.

 

[FSUTribe76]

I'd rent a car for 1-2 days for the out of town stuff. Muni pass for the rest of the time.

Odds are there will be no zipping down Lombard, rather you will be creeping at a snails pace behind 200 cars with selfie sticks hanging out their windows.[/QUOTE

Yes you're right about Lombard, but there are plenty of other giant hills and and twisty roads to get your Bullitt on.

 

[Democratic Nole]

Between Spot Hero app and Mobile.bestParking.com all easily accessible on your iPhone, I never paid more than $10 for parking nor were more than a handful of blocks from my intended endpoint. You're probably right as far as valet parking in San Fran, but I never stayed in San Fran proper. I always stayed about an hour or hour and a half away at a beach hotel in Pacifica or B&Bs in Napa, Sonoma and Sausalito and just drove in for the day. Obviously I think that's preferrable to staying downtown.

I didn't know about those apps, so I'll have to check them out. If he's not staying in the city, then yes I would agree it isn't as much of an issue having a car. Pacifica is not a bad spot, especially because Rte. 1 is a freeway basically all the way to Pacifica. I'd personally want to stay a little closer in if I had business in the city. Sausalito has a couple of nice spots if he wants to venture out some.

 

[321Nole]

Will check out those apps. Do you do overnight parking with them too?

 

[sfnole]

I used to live in Marin and I was just there last week for a conference.

If you want to do something really cool and you have the time:

http://www.protrails.com/trail/352/...point-reyes-matt-davis-trail-to-stinson-beach

Do this hike...

Start off at the Pantoll Ranger station on Mt. Tam. Hike down to Stinson Beach through the redwoods and coastal plains. The views are amazing and it is a world class hike (even though it is a hiker highway). Have lunch down at the beach. Good burgers and Ice cream cones... and then take the bus back up to the Pantoll Ranger Station.

To get to the trail head you have to drive across the golden gate bridge and into some of the quaint towns in Marin. You then head up on Mt. Tam along curvy, twisting, forested roads.

Really cool drive and a really cool way to spend your day.

SFNole

 

[DanC78]

Okay....you MUST GO and eat dinner at this place. It is OUTSTANDING and priced very well.

Ryoko's-619 Taylor St, 94102

I would go early though...around 5:30ish, not later than 6:30. You might have to wait for a table, but I'm telling you, it's well worth it. The sushi there reminds me of the place from the Jiro Dreams (Documentary on Netflix).

You can easily just walk the streets and take the Trolly and stumble through the day and end up having the time of your life.

The Owl Tree is a great piano bar downtown. We had a BLASTOLA hanging there, also highly recommend.

 

[DanC78]

Okay....you MUST GO and eat dinner at this place. It is OUTSTANDING and priced very well.

Ryoko's-619 Taylor St, 94102

I would go early though...around 5:30ish, not later than 6:30. You might have to wait for a table, but I'm telling you, it's well worth it. The sushi there reminds me of the place from the Jiro Dreams (Documentary on Netflix).

You can easily just walk the streets and take the Trolly and stumble through the day and end up having the time of your life.

The Owl Tree is a great piano bar downtown. We had a BLASTOLA hanging there, also highly recommend.

Read the review for this place, some of the best I've ever seen!!! https://www.google.com/webhp?source...v=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ryoko restaurant san francisco

 

[FSUTribe76]

Will check out those apps. Do you do overnight parking with them too?

I personally have never used them for overnight parking but I know several of the places I've used as a result of them are open 24/7.

 

[scseminoles06]

Thanks for all the tips..keep them coming please. I will be renting a car as my client is a little south of San Jose. I am flying in a day early to help with the time change (flight is 5 hours also) and some sightseeing.

 

[Rlarrick113]

Go to little Italy area and go to Mona Lisa's. Excellent food. Get the Anti-pasta cheese/meat Board as an appetizer. All of their pastas were excellent.

 

[tbdnole_70_08]

Be sure you go have a drink at the Tonga Room in the Fairmont Hotel. It's a tiki themed bar in the basement of the hotel that was converted from an old swimming pool. The set up is really neat with a band playing on a little boat that moves around in the swimming pool and the drinks will make you feel like the bartender gave you a Jamies style hook up they are so strong.

http://www.tongaroom.com/