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Traveling help, please
I am a regular on the north florida board, but I am planning a trip to San Franciso in mid February. The girls from my board directed me your way. We are flying into Oakland because it is a bit cheaper. We are only planning to stay for one night. I just have some questions, if you don't mind answering them. TIA
Is it worth renting a car or can we just take the local transit? Is Napa too far to fit into a day trip? Where is the best area to stay? Decent hotels? Best places to eat? Anyone been to Grubstake or McCormicks?
Thanks again!
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Re: Traveling help, please
Being that you'll be here for such a short amount of time, I would not go to Napa unless that's all you want to do and then, yes, you could do one day there. If you go to Napa, rent a car. Otherwise don't. To experience San Francisco, I'd stay in Union Square or Nob Hill. In San Francisco there are several options for public transit. Bus, Street Car, cable car, MUNI light rail, and BART. BART also extends over into the East Bay and you would take a bus from the airport to BART to go into SF. Pack light if you can. The elevators are often out of order and sometimes so are the escalators. BART is a farecard system where you buy a card and load money. You scan it when you go in and when you go out and it deducts. Each person needs their own card. You can buy a day pass (visitor) for the SF systems but the cable cars are often additional.
What brings you from FL to SF for such a short time?
Thanks for that information.
We are actually going to Tacoma, WA for a week to visit a friend. We decided to take a day trip, for her birthday/valentine's day. San Francisco seems like a cool place. I hope to pack in as much as possible.
Sorry, I'm a little confused. You're coming from Florida to Washington, then you are taking a day trip to San Francisco? If you're only in SF for a day, I don't think you can fit in Napa. It's about an hour away from the city. I would just focus on the city itself.
If you're flying into Oakland and staying in the city, I'd probably skip the rental car. Parking in the city is expensive, there are public transportation options, and you're only there for a day. There's lots of transportation info at 511.org or bart.gov.
Other people probably have better rec's than I would on hotels and restaurants. Thought it'd be useful to know your budget and a little info on what you're looking for in a hotel, types of food, etc.
That is right. We are taking the early flight on Tuesday and the late flight back that Wednesday. Good to know about Napa.
Yeah I have been looking at bart. My friend mentioned to me about a rental car, but I thought that we could get around just find without it. I guess somewhere no more than $125. a night. I don't know. Can you find somewhere nice, cheaper?
Yeah, Napa is about an hour there, an hour back, and you'd want to give yourself at least one full day there (though I think you could easily spend a long weekend or even more there, depending on how much you like wine, food, etc.) There is tons to see in SF alone that you can easily fill a day.
A car would probably be more trouble than it's worth in the city. BART is a good way to get from the airport to SF (you'll need to take the AirBart bus from the airport to the Oakland Coliseum station -- the bus is $3 per person and it's exact change only. The ride is about 10-15 minutes.) Then you'll take BART from Oakland to the city -- which station depends on where you'll be staying. You may need to transfer trains. All of that info can be found at bart.gov or 511.org as I mentioned.
I'm not the best person to ask about hotels -- sorry
I haven't stayed at very many in SF and don't have family coming from out of town to stay there. The only suggestion I have is, if you have some time before your trip, to sign up at sniqueaway.com. They're a partner site with tripadvisor.com and have new hotel deals every day. The sales typically last a few days and give some decent discounts. We got a great deal on a Vegas hotel through them in June. I don't see any SF hotels listed there now but they have new sales every day so you never know.
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Wow, that's a really short visit to SF. Definitely not worth going up to Napa in that timeframe, unless you want wine to be the sole focus of the trip which it doesn't sound like your focus.
Hotel: Priceline something in the Union Square East (not Union Square West), Fisherman's Wharf, or maybe the Financial District/Embarcadero area. Otherwise, it could be tough to find something for $125.
Car: No, don't rent one. You're only in the city for one night and you'll be more than fine on Muni. To get from Oakland to the city (SF = "the city"), take Bart.
Eats: What kind of food are you looking for and at what price range? SF is a foodie mecca.
Ditto this. Just do the name your own price and pick the minimum number of stars you're comfy with. I've used Priceline several times to get kick@ss deals at really nice places in SF.
Thanks for all of this great information. I wish that I could squeeze in another day there. I will certainly write all of this down. How much do decent/nice hotels run?
As far as food, I am up for anything. I love places that serve great breakfast, love thai food, italian. I love fancy places and dives.
It's San Francisco. Nice hotels are expensive. Do a search on a travel site or a couple of hotel sites and you can see what typical costs are.
There are so many options for food. On the super pricey end is Gary Danko, which you'll need reservations for. On the pricey but not as pricey end is Roy's, Clementine, and House of Prime Rib (plus many others but I haven't lived in SF in a while so I'll let the other ladies with better info chime in). Other places I like with relatively smaller price tags include King of Thai Noodle (small local chain), R&G Lounge for Chinese, India Clay Oven, Slanted Door, The House, Steps of Rome for super casual Italian in a fun atmosphere, Town's End for brunch, and then there's the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero filled with a variety of food. Yank Sing is pricey for dim sum but the setting is nice.
Whatever you do, do not eat at the Stinking Rose. Such a tourist trap.
Dottie's True Blue Cafe is DELICIOUS for breakfast, but has minimal seating and thus, there is sometimes a line. It's kind of in a sketchy neighborhood, but I lived there for 3 years and didn't get killed, so I always figure it's not that bad.
Here is the yelp review (sorry not clicky):
http://www.yelp.com/biz/dotties-true-blue-cafe-san-francisco
I also like the brunch at Lime in the Castro--and it is very accessible by MUNI (JKLM lines all go to the Castro).
Home in the Castro has a decent breakfast from what I recall, but the last time I was there was a few years ago... Again, very MUNI-accessible.
I also second King of Thai if you are staying in the Union Square area. There is one right by Macy's. And I also agree with the Steps of Rome recommendation.