San Francisco

[Pinkos]

looking to spend 3-4 nights in SF late August before heading to Las Vegas. We have never been to this area before and will oleky never be back. Thinking of biking across bridge, checking out fisherman a wharf and pier 31, and doing some wine tasting .... casually looking for accommodations and holy cow! Pricy! Any suggestions? I'm looking to keep it to 200$/night max but I feel this might be impossible. Also feel free to suggest any other things to do while there for those of you that have been.

 

[bcla]

Thinking of biking across bridge, checking out fisherman a wharf and pier 31, and doing some wine tasting

Did you mean Pier 39? Pier 31 is kind of boring. Pier 39 is really a big 'ol tourist trap, but I'll still go there.

If the price of lodging in San Francisco is too much, you might consider staying in the East Bay or possibly further down the Peninsula. That's going to cost you time, fuel, and bridge toll. There's a lot of inexpensive motels in places I wouldn't recommend. One that isn't so bad is the Motel 6 in Pinole, CA. I would be a lot closer to wine country. You might consider splitting up your lodging. Fairfield or Vacaville are closer to wine country and lodging tends to be a lot cheaper.

 

[usnuzuloose]

They might mean the ferry building. I haven't gone for so long/

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

I think OP means Pier 39. I like the Ferry Building, but I think Pier 39 is more famous. Pier 39 is super touristy, but as bcla says I don't mind going there either. I haven't seen the sea lions around lately though. It has a little aquarium which is not bad (though small). The Crab House is sort of a fun place to eat if you like crab.

Definitely walk/bike across the Golden Gate bridge, it's a great experience.

I don't know about hotels unfortunately, but other stuff to consider doing depending on your tastes (with the caveat being I haven't done some of this stuff):

- Ferry Building as mentioned above - I actually come here the most out of anywhere to hang out.
- Farmer's Market on Saturdays at the Ferry Building
- Take a Ferry across the bay to Sausalito or Tiberon (leaves from Ferry Building). The ferry to Sausalito is bicycle friendly. Haven't been to Tiberon in a long time.
- Take a walk at Land's End (the Northwest corner of the city) - one of my favorite places in the city
- Eat at the Cliff House - Food is OK and a bit pricey for what you get, but nice views, although you can probably get the same views from the VA Hospital cafeteria, lol
- Sutro Bath ruins/Ocean Beach - the windiest and coldest damn beach I've ever been to. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to see the Sutro Bath Ruins as there's really not much left there, but interesting to poke around if you're in the area (at the Cliff House for example)
- Walt Disney Family Museum - never been, but this is the DIS, so thought I should mention it
- Lucasfilm - also never been, but again relevant to the forum
- Point Reyes Lighthouse - it's across the bay on the other side of Golden Gate bridge. great views as well.
- Chinatown
- Coit Tower
- Alcatraz - One place I always want to go to but haven't had the chance.
- Golden Gate Park - huge park. Has a bunch of museums in it (Academy of Sciences, DeYoung art museum, couple others) and a Japanese garden
- Fort Point - an old fort (built around the time of the Civil War) at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Union Square - famous shopping district, though not sure if it's all that different than any other shopping area
- baseball game at AT&T Park

I'm sure there's other stuff I'm forgetting, there's lots of stuff to do there.

 

[Pinkos]

Sorry - I did mean Pier 39! I have never been to this side of the states ... I live in the most Eastern point of Canada so when the hubby suggested Vegas as an adult only trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, I thought it would be a good time to check out some other areas as well. These suggestions are great! Any suggestions on the best area to start looking for a hotel? I would like to be within somewhat walking distance of the wharf/bridge as these will be our main things to visit/see since we do only have a few days here before heading to Vegas. We won't have a car .... Maybe if I knew the area that I should be looking in I might be able to concentrate on lowering the hotel cost ... SF is pricey!

 

[bcla]

Sorry - I did mean Pier 39! I have never been to this side of the states ...

OK, as long as you know where you want to go you'll be fine. Still - if you told a cab driver or maybe a pedicab operator to take you to Pier 31 they would do it. A lot of the piers have businesses like restaurants, and some businesses might tell their customers that they're near a certain pier. Pier 31 (or one of the piers near it) is used by a bus operator as their San Francisco base of operations.

Ferries were mentioned. I suppose Golden Gate Ferry has the more touristy ferry going to Sausalito. However, the ferry that takes you to Alameda or Oakland uses both the Ferry Building and Pier 41. Blue & Gold has a tourist ferry to Sausalito from Pier 41.

If you want to stay in San Francisco, it's going to be pricey. There is no way around that. If you need something really close to Fishermans Wharf it's going to be really pricey. The only way around it is to have a car or stay at a place near public transportation and use it to get to San Francisco.

Also - you posted a question about San Francisco on the Southern California forum. Just thought I'd point that out.

 

[Pinkos]

Yeah I wasn't really sure where the best spot to post it would be .... I was hoping anyone who might visit Southern California or be from the area/state might still have some insight - def more then me! There isn't a San Francisco forum, or at least I didn't see one.

 

[bcla]

Yeah I wasn't really sure where the best spot to post it would be .... I was hoping anyone who might visit Southern California or be from the area/state might still have some insight - def more then me! There isn't a San Francisco forum, or at least I didn't see one.

California & the West. It's on the front page. This forum is actually a subsection.

http://disboards.com/forums/california-the-west.131/

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Sorry - I did mean Pier 39! I have never been to this side of the states

No worries, easy mistake to make.

Sorry - I did mean Pier 39! I have never been to this side of the states ... I live in the most Eastern point of Canada so when the hubby suggested Vegas as an adult only trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, I thought it would be a good time to check out some other areas as well. These suggestions are great! Any suggestions on the best area to start looking for a hotel? I would like to be within somewhat walking distance of the wharf/bridge as these will be our main things to visit/see since we do only have a few days here before heading to Vegas. We won't have a car .... Maybe if I knew the area that I should be looking in I might be able to concentrate on lowering the hotel cost ... SF is pricey!

Well, you won't be able to find any hotels near the Golden Gate Bridge, at least anything that I would consider walking distance (though I am very lazy, lol). The reason is that the Golden Gate Bridge connects to SF in an area called the Presidio, which is actually a National Park, though not what you normally think of when you think National Park. There are trees and things, but there are also a lot of old war structures there. Because of this, there are no hotels there.

Here's a map of SF. For scaling purposes, it's about 6.5 miles across (East/West).



The red circle is Golden Gate Bridge, and you can see the Presidio immediately south. The Disney Museum and LucasArts are in the Presidio.

The blue circle is where Fisherman's Wharf is. Pier 39 is just east of Fisherman's Wharf, definitely walkable from there.

The pink circle is where the Ferry Building is.

The "Embarcadero" is the road that goes along the water between Fisherman's Wharf and the Ferry Building continues along the water south.

My personal preference would be to stay near the Ferry Building, but that's mainly due to my personal tastes. Given what you were interested in, staying near the Wharf makes sense because you could walk to both the Wharf and Pier 39. There is a train that connects the Ferry Building and the Wharf, and if you are relatively fit you can walk between the two as well (maybe 20 minutes).

You don't really want to stay in the West part of SF. It's mostly residential neighborhoods there.

 

[bcla]

No worries, easy mistake to make.



Well, you won't be able to find any hotels near the Golden Gate Bridge, at least anything that I would consider walking distance (though I am very lazy, lol). The reason is that the Golden Gate Bridge connects to SF in an area called the Presidio, which is actually a National Park, though not what you normally think of when you think National Park. There are trees and things, but there are also a lot of old war structures there. Because of this, there are no hotels there.

There's actually a hotel in the Presidio, right at the Main Post. It was a former barracks for single officers.

http://www.innatthepresidio.com

As far as staying in the western portion of the city, it's possible. There's a few motels near the San Francisco Zoo, and that's close to the end of one of the MUNI Metro lines.

As far as getting around San Francisco goes, I know some people think the public transportation is acceptable. It's a little bit harder around certain places like the Presidio. I'd recommend a car, but then I've never used one of the tourist buses.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

We stayed at the San Remo Hotel on Mason Street last March. For 3 nights during a spring break week, it was $415.00 total taxes included. It was easy walking distance to Fishermans Wharf, Pier 39, cable cars, Ghiradelli Square, and also an easy walk to Hop on hop off bus office that we used for 2 days for transportation to the major sites. We pretty easily took public transportation to the Oakland Airport from here as well. However, it might not be right for your anniversary celebration trip in that it is not modern or fancy at all--most of the rooms do not have a private bath and are smallish rooms, decorated in a turn of the century style. It was a boarding house in the early 1900s. But we completely loved the charm of the place and found it to be a good value for the area and easy walking distance to many of the things we wanted to see and do.

My favorite "touristy" things in San Francisco are Alcatraz, walking or biking over the Golden Gate Bridge, the Walt Disney Family Museum, the Japanese Gardens at Golden Gate Park, sunset from one of the beaches in the Cliff House area, the architecture of the churches and homes in general, the drive over to the Muir Woods, and walking around Chinatown early in the morning watching the residents do Tai Chi (I think that is what it is called) in one of the small parks--so peaceful.

 

[bcla]

My favorite "touristy" things in San Francisco are Alcatraz, walking or biking over the Golden Gate Bridge, the Walt Disney Family Museum, the Japanese Gardens at Golden Gate Park, sunset from one of the beaches in the Cliff House area, the architecture of the churches and homes in general, the drive over to the Muir Woods, and walking around Chinatown early in the morning watching the residents do Tai Chi (I think that is what it is called) in one of the small parks--so peaceful.

It's called "qigong" which just means "energy exercise" or "energy work". Certain Tai Chi techniques are one form of qigong.

I remember years ago I was watching Nightline with Ted Koppel. The topic for the night was the Falun Gong movement, which practices their own version of qigong. He was was using the common reference to any form of qigong as "tai chi". The speaker insisted on calling it "qigong". I guess the way that would make most sense is if someone insisted on calling any form of martial arts "karate".

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Thank you so much bcla! It was bothering me that I did not know for certain what it was called. Your explanation was very informative and helpful.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

delete

 

[xlxo]

Chinatown

If you make it to Chinatown.... seek out the "Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory". It's my SF weakness when I'm in town.

 

[ncc1701]

OP we have stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area. We used a hop on hop off bus to check out the sites. The one we used went across the Golden Gate . We also used the trolley car line to go up to the Ferry Building. While the area is touristy we liked the location. Can't beat walking distance to the Buena Vista, the home of Irish coffee

 

[bcla]

If you make it to Chinatown.... seek out the "Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory". It's my SF weakness when I'm in town.

I'm not sure if it's the greatest, but for an "only in Chinatown" experience I'd recommend seeing if Golden Gate Bakery is open. The place is good, although kind of pricey. The inside joke is that it's almost a given that the place is closed because they're "on vacation". On top of that there's no consistency as to when they open or close. They don't post any kind of schedule for when they'll be open, and people just find out when they post a sign on the door. There's even a fan website devoted to whether or not they're open. The site has takes messages where people can inform the webmaster if it's open.

http://www.is-the-golden-gate-bakery-open-today.com

This is the current status (date seems to be off though):

Date: Friday 2.2.17 -Closed today, but they're supposed to reopen tomorrow around 11am to 1pm. We recommend calling to confirm.​

OP we have stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area. We used a hop on hop off bus to check out the sites. The one we used went across the Golden Gate . We also used the trolley car line to go up to the Ferry Building. While the area is touristy we liked the location. Can't beat walking distance to the Buena Vista, the home of Irish coffee

The Ferry Building is very popular with locals. I remember when relatives came to San Francisco, a bunch of us all met there and had lunch. It was also during the Saturday farmers market, so we go strawberries and others in our group bought something from the food vendors. We all had something different (I had raw oysters from Hog Island - brought my own shucking knife) and ate outside in the public shorefront area. My wife loves the place. I've even been there really early in the morning on a Sunday (it was a strange Amtrak trip I was doing when they used to have a bus stop there) when it was nearly empty. It was so empty there was only one guy in front of me at Blue Bottle.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I stayed near the airport once and was fine getting to the city by taxi and bus. It's much cheaper to stay there, but you do need to factor in the costs of transportation each day.

There are several timeshares in San Francisco. You can rent from someone who owns one of them on Tugbbs, probably in the price range you are looking for. Most don't offer things like daily housekeeping, but they will have a kitchnette which is often a good thing.

 

[bcla]

I stayed near the airport once and was fine getting to the city by taxi and bus. It's much cheaper to stay there, but you do need to factor in the costs of transportation each day.

Not just that, but the time has to be factored in. Getting around in San Francisco by bus/light rail/streetcar isn't that bad since the major routes operate about every 10 minutes. The hotels near SFO mostly serve people with rental cars. Getting to San Francisco from the airport using public transportation is pretty easy. Getting to San Francisco from an airport hotel is a little bit harder.

 

[Pinkos]

California & the West. It's on the front page. This forum is actually a subsection.

http://disboards.com/forums/california-the-west.131/

Ahhhhhh ... my bad I see what you are talking about now ... when I originally posted I was using my mobile and when I originally chose Ca and the west, all I saw were the two subsections - southern ca and Las vegas so I went with Southern ... had I of used the desktop it would've been more obvious that there were thread posts. OOpsie .... anyhow, I've gotten lots of help so thanks guys!