Arriving into San Francisco:

Visiting San Francisco, California can be a great experience if you plan your travels correctly. The first thing you need to consider is will you be flying into San Francisco Airport or one of the other airports in the Bay Area (San Jose or Oakland). San Francisco International Airport is located right off the 101 freeway just south of the city. Most major airlines fly into San Francisco, but a few such as Southwest Airlines only fly into San Jose or Oakland. If you do have a flight that arrives into San Jose Airport, just get on the 101 North or 280 North and both will lead you into San Francisco. Coming from Oakland airport you would have to cross the Bay Bridge to get access to San Francisco. With traffic in the Bay Area being very congested, we highly recommend flying in and out of SF airport whenever possible to cut down on time spent in traffic. The San Francisco International Airport is huge and always seems to be under construction, but you should be able to manage getting a taxi cab near the arrivals or renting a car from the nearby lots. From the airport, head directly north on highway 101 which will take you right into downtown San Francisco.

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The map down below will give you a general sense of how the city of San Francisco is layed out. Driving in the city is much easier than other major cities like New York or London, but walking is a great way to bypass the traffic. The one drawback to walking everyhwere is that the hills in the city will wear you out. We suggest hopping on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) or taking the famous San Francisco Cable Cars up and down the hills. A vacation of 2 to 3 days should provide you with plenty of time to see all the sites including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, the Cable Cars, zoo, Golden Gate Park, and Chinatown. The great thing about sightseeing in San Francisco is that most of what you see is free. There is no charge or fee to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge or be amongst the crowd at Fisherman's Wharf. The city is small enough that you can drive across it in no time at all and be at your next location in minutes. Alcatraz is the only thing that will take some time to do as well as cost the most money. We will go into further details down below on the excursions. As for hotels, we recommend staying either at the San Francisco Marriott near the Moscone Center or at the Hilton San Francisco located in the heart of the theater district and just a few blocks from Union Square.

San Francisco Maps:

Like we said above, San Francisco is not that big of a city and you can access almost all the sites by using your car, BART, cable car, or bus. Having a good map of the city will come in handy and you should get one from your hotel or travel agent if possible. An excellent website for maps that you can print out is Sfgate.com. They are one of the best Bay Area websites for information on San Francisco, including quality maps of downtown San Francisco, Transit maps, Civic Center, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, and Nob & Russian Hills. Their main map page is located HERE and the maps are available in GIF or PDF formats. If you plan on taking BART around the city, be sure to check out the Bart.gov website and specifically their system map HERE. For Muni Metro & SF Rail Maps, go HERE.

San Francisco Weather:

What time of year is best to visit San Francisco? We hear this a lot from our site visitors, and having lived in the Bay Area for 30 years of my life, I can say anytime of year is probably fine. I've been in the city in the middle of summer with fog covering the entire city and the temperature in the high 50's and I've also seen close to 70 degrees around December 1st. You just never know what to expect from San Francisco, but that is part of the allure the city offers. The Golden Gate bridge would be so incredible if fog didn't cover it up most of the time. Dress wisely when traveling to San Francisco and try to dress in layers so you can quickly take off a sweatshirt or sweater in case things heat up or put it back on when the fog rolls in. The Bay Area gets most of its rain from November to March, but otherwise the weather is fairly mild and very comfortable to walk around in. Around the Golden Gate, the winds might pick up a bit and be blustery, so pack a wind breaker if you plan on doing the walk across the bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge - Fisherman's Wharf - Alcatraz:

One of the biggest draws for people from other cities to San Francisco is the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge that spans the entrance to the Bay Area with its huge cables and towers. Just driving across it is impressive, but the real treat is to get out of your car and walk across the bridge. Visit Goldengatebridge.org for details on pedestrian and bikes on the bridge. The bridge is 1.7 miles long so it might take a while to cross it on foot, but you can always save time by doing it in a car for $5 toll fee in the South direction only (coming into the City). I would say the Golden Gate is a must see for any visitor to San Francisco. Fisherman's Wharf is definitely a tourist trap if you are not careful with lots of restaurants and souvenir shops to select from. You can always find a good bowl of clam chowder down on the wharf in a sourdough bread bowl. Directions to Fisherman's Wharf can be found online HERE and you can also get information on Pier 39 and the shopping. If you've never done the wharf thing, give it a try for at least a few hours and have a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants. Another MUST see is Alcatraz Island, or the Rock as many of us call it. Tours are available by booking online or via the phone # listed at Alcatrazcruises.com. The adult tickets are $21.75 and kids 5-11 are $13.75. The guided tours are memorable and ferries depart and return from the island throughout the day. Be sure to book early, since these excursions fill up fast. Golden Gate Park is another great side trip from the inner city where there is an aquarium and plenty of open space to walk in. Chinatown is always popular year round as people flock to taste the dumplings. Lombard street is famous for being the most crooked street in America and makes a great activity with children. A map of the exact location can be found HERE. Lastly, no trip is complete to San Francisco without getting on one of the cable cars. There are many stops along the route in the city and the main website details all that information HERE.

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