San Francisco Travel Answers

only think where I could leave the car in SanFrancisco, it scares me :) I don't know what you read about public transportation there, but I never felt unsafe and many times I thought I did very well to do not have a car there.

Public transportation can be a bit of a challenge when using it the first time, but once you take a good look at a map it really is very easy. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago where I could walk everywhere and when we didn't use a car to get where we are going we could take a bus to train. My first trip out to San Francisco over 25 years ago, I also flew into Oakland and actually stayed in a hotel on the bay in San Leandro. I was teaching a sales class and every night after class had the hotel shuttle drive me to the nearest BART station to ride into San Francisco. Trains run on a very clear schedule and unlike airlines are usually very prompt. The BART system is very easy. http://bart.gov/ The link above will get you started. I've been down the coast and finally on our last trip to SF area out to Yosemite. Since you are going out on the 4th of July I would actually advise you to skip driving all the way out to Yosemite and back. As beautiful as Yosemite is, that time of year it will be extremely crowded and if you only have the one day to get there and back you will really not get much of a chance to see very much and will be stuck in traffic in the park itself. I would personally spend 1 day for the coast and leave 3 days for San Francisco which is a fabulous city. The other transportation options in the city, the buses, trams and my favorite cable cars are very easy to navigate. You can get all the routes and schedules on line and again in my opinion don't need to buy anything. What do you want to see? Let us know more of your schedule and we can help you plan.

You might find this link helpful: bart.gov/guide/airport/inbou... In essence, it explains that to get to downtown SF, you'll take AirBART shuttle from the Oakland airport to Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART stop, and then BART into downtown SF. There are 4 BART stops within the city so you'll hop out at the one closest to your hotel. If the chosen stop isn't close enough for you, grab a cab or take MUNI transport from that point. If you haven't booked a hotel yet (do it soon because of the holiday!!) you might consider choosing one close to one of the BART stops. I'll second Rich's suggestion to skip Yosemite: it will be insane over the 4th holiday and you'll spend more time in traffic/on the road than seeing the park. That one should really be saved for at least one, if not more, night's stay and I can pretty much promise you that accommodations in or near the park have been booked for months. The same may also be true for accommodations along the coast for the holiday period but some of our local members may have ideas there. I can't tell from your note if "4 whole days" includes the day you arrive? Do keep in mind that if your first day of the 4 includes your arrival, you'll kill some time in transport to BART and BART to hotel so that may only be a partial day. If that's true - and you really only have 3 and 1/2 days - IMHO I'd spend it all exploring the city and leave the car trip for another time. But if intent on the coastal drive, we'll see what the locals advise for best places to rent a car for that trip (airport? downtown?) Having a car in SF is more of a headache than a bonus, and their public transit is very, very good so getting around is easy. There are multi-day tourist transport passes that will allow you unlimited rides on buses, cable cars and streetcars (but not BART): nice to have if planning to take them a lot. A 3-day card might be just right for you: sfmta.com/cms/mfares/passpor...

About Yosemite - well, I've lived in LA and San Jose, and never made it there, but my son and daughter-in-law have gone often. If you are planning to stay overnight and don't have reservations, would reconsider, as this is a very popuplar park. I'd check the nps.gov pages for Yosemite - it is almost a three hour drive from SF, so if you only have 4 full days, assuming you found a place to stay near Yosemite you may think of planning on two days taken to and from Yosemite.

No we have 4 full days. We'll be flying in late on Tuesday the 3rd, leaving Sunday early. Haven't booked a hotel yet, but was looking at those motor in's because if we rent a car for a couple days the free parking would be nice. Really leaning toward Cow Hollow Motor inn. Any insight on it?? Don't want to spend over140 a night on a room tho since we have soo much we want to do, won't be in the hotel much, I hope lol. Other suggestions on hotels?? We plan to do the night Alcatraz tour, and golden gate bridge walk across, take pics etc. Lots of just walking and sight seeing, might rent one of those "Go-cars", want to check out Lombard street of course. Would like to see Muir woods as well. Main thing on my list is driving down the coastal Hwy and checking out it out for the day. What about doing a tour bus thing to Yosimite for the day?? That way we don't have to mess with traffic etc?? Or really think we should save it for another trip?? Thanks for all the replies :)

Looked at the information about Cow Hollow Hotel and if it has free parking and is at the right price I would say go for it. It looks like all the reviews on Trip Advisor are pretty good which is a sister site of ours with generally good hotel information. Coming in from Oakland you might want to rent a car at the airport the first day and then drive over to the hotel. You could then do your ride down the coast line the next day and then drop off the car at one of the rental facilities in downtown San Francisco when you are finished with it. On our last trip we did the wine country, Yosemite and then San Francisco. We picked up an Avis rental at SFO and then returned it to an Avis facility near our hotel with no extra charges. You could choose one of the major car rental companies for that option. Having a car I would suggest going out to Golden Gate Park, the Presido and take in the Cliff House above the Pacific Ocean. You could have a nice dinner or lunch out there. You will need a car to get to Muir Woods and as long as you are on that side of the bay check out the town of Sausalito also. We did the night Alcatraz tour on our last trip which we really enjoyed. Get tickets far in advance as they will sell out. Before you board the boat you will go through a line where they will want to take your picture in front of a fake backdrop and then if you want 2 5 by 7 pictures will charge you22. Skip the picture (you don't have to have it taken) and have someone take you and your husbands picture with the real Alcatraz in the background. Another thing we really enjoyed last time was an architectural tour of the financial district. Rick Evans is the tour guide and was very interesting. The tour was about 2 hours long and was20 cash. You can check out my tips with pictures it you click on my VT name and go to my San Francisco travel page. I would skip the Yosemite trip even with the tour bus. That's a whole day affair and you really won't get the true flavor of Yosemite packed on a bus with other people and only making timed stops. Save that for another trip. If you are like me you will fall in love with SF and want to go back many times. That being said some people don't like San Francisco because of the homeless and people on the street. There are a number of these people around town, but they will not bother you if you keep on walking by.

Don't forget Most Crooked Street. Its fun. Stroll around Fisherman's Wharf. Bart is nice. Find out where as a tourist you can buy day's pass or week's pass on public transportation. Its valid on trams and buses and subway. Include a trip to Red Wood forest. Very pretty. You'll have to drive there though. As someone suggested, I also agree that you should skip Yosemite this time. I'd suggest make a special trip just for Yosemite and stay at the lodge within the park. Otherwise you will spend too much time driving just getting to the valley. Night time in Yosemite on a clear night absolutely mesmerizing. When they say there are billions and billions and billions of stars, oh yes indeed!, what a sight it is!

Going down the coast and Yosemite along with all the other things are do-able.... But it will be busy in SF. You should book hotel and any other tours ASAP. Yosemite is really busy in the summer months. The last time we drove up there in the summer it took us 5-6 hours because the entrance was backed up. We usually go in the Spring and that takes 4 hours to get there. But it's worth it. I urge you leave really early in the morning to avoid the crowds. Parking in Yosemite during the summer is worse than parking in SF. It's fairly easy to take Bart from Oakland airport into SF downtown. Once you are in SF, you will not be using Bart to get around but you will be using SF MUNI (That's our bus system) That's really easy to use. You will be fine. There are many locals and tourist using MUNI daily. All the tourist spots are easily accessible if you use MUNI.

I visit SF often. What scares me is parking in The City! But seriously, you'll be fine especially with all the great help above. Welcome to CA.

When I went to San Francisco, I found the public transportation easy to get around (people helped me out). The only thing I didn't like was that some of the chairs on the transit system were filty, dirty and smelly.

Public transportation is cheap and San Francisco is small. don't worry. shouldn't be too confusing.