San Francisco, CA Road Trips

Prior to European settlement in the area, the peninsula that now contains San Francisco was home to the Yelamu tribe, who were part of the larger Ohlone language group which stretched south from the Bay Area to the Big Sur of California. Due to San Francisco's characteristic foggy weather, the earliest European explorers in the 1600s completely bypassed what would later be called the Golden Gate and the San Francisco Bay. In 1769, the bay was discovered by overland explorers who realized there was a strait blocking their path up the coast. The first European settlement in the area was founded by the Spanish in 1776 as a mission community surrounding the Mission San Francisco de Asís, in what is today called the Mission Dolores in the Mission District. In addition to the mission, a military fort was built near the Golden Gate: El Presidio. Upon gaining independence from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the mission system gradually came to an end and private ownership of land became a possibility. In 1835, an Englishman named William Richardson founded the town of Yerba Buena, the first significant settlement on the peninsula outside of the Mission Dolores area. As the new settlement gradually grew, Yerba Buena developed a street plan and became attractive to settlers. Following the Mexican-American War the United States claimed California, and in July 1846 the U.S. Navy arrived to raise the American flag above Yerba Buena.

San Francisco has much to see — these are just the most significant sights. For more detail see the individual district sections, often linked from this entry. Two passes are available which offer discounts to many interesting attractions: San Francisco CityPASS. A relatively cheap and easy way to cover many attractions of the city is the CityPASS. For a cost of $84 for adults and $64 for children 5-11, you get admission to the California Academy of Sciences, a Blue and Gold Fleet bay cruise, and two of the following: the Aquarium of the Bay, the Exploratorium, the San Francisco Zoo, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or the Walt Disney Family Museum. A CityPASS works for nine consecutive days starting with the use of your first ticket (each ticket only accounts for one visit to each attraction). Go San Francisco Card. Another easy way to cover many attractions and tours is the Go San Francisco Card. This card covers admission to numerous attractions and activities, including sightseeing tours, bay cruises, an Alcatraz tour, and numerous museums. Various pass options are available, such as an all-inclusive pass that covers admission to all participating attractions but is only available in 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7-day periods, to "Explorer" and "Family Fun" passes that cover admission to only 4 or 5 attractions but are good for a full 30 days. Cost of passes vary; see website. There are many highlight walks you can take to really capture the feel of the city and see a whole lot of attractions at the same time. Some of the best ones are: The Marina and the Presidio.

One of the best ways to see San Francisco is from the waters of San Francisco Bay. There are many companies offering harbor tours of varying durations and prices but they all provide marvelous views of the bay, the bridges, the island of Alcatraz and the city. Only specific island tours are allowed to land at Alcatraz, but the typical harbor tour will circle the island at a slow crawl, giving you plenty of opportunity to photograph the now-inactive prison from the water. Also consider taking a ferry from San Francisco across the bay to Tiburon, Sausalito, or Alameda. Same views for a fraction of the price. Most tours leave from docks at Fisherman's Wharf near Pier 39. Tickets can be purchased at kiosks along the waterfront walk. Buy tickets a day or two in advance during the summer high season. Boats usually leave roughly hourly starting around 10AM and ending around 5PM. Multi-lingual guides are available on some tours. Prices range from $20–40, more for sunset, dinner, or whale watching tours. Even on a sunny day the bay can be chilly, so be sure to bring a sweater as well as sun screen. Some boats have snack bars on board, but bring your own water and treats to avoid paying high costs or going without. There are now limited refreshments and a souvenirs shop on Alcatraz. San Francisco has a Half-Price Ticket Booth in the middle of Union Square, where tickets for most San Francisco theater performances can be purchased the day of the performance for half-price.

San Francisco is a "foodie" city with a vast array of restaurants. In fact, San Francisco has more restaurants per capita than any major city in North America, with 1 restaurant for every 250 residents (in comparison, New York City has 1 restaurant for every 940 residents). The price range is huge, of course, and you can spend anywhere from a small fortune to a couple bucks for every type of cuisine. In addition to the range of ethnic restaurants you'd expect to find, Bay Area food culture focuses on "artisanal" food (see the Ferry Building) and fresh fruits and vegetables (see Alice Waters), drawing from the nearby farms in California. San Francisco is known for specialties such as the Mission burrito and cioppino. The Mission burrito was invented in the Mission District, and numerous taquerias in the Mission serve this style. Each taqueria is famous for a different kind of meat, so do some research before deciding which one to try. Burritos are much larger than tacos and contain rice, making them even more filling. The sushi burrito is essentially a burrito-sized sushi roll that mixes Japanese and Mexican ingredients, invented in San Francisco by Asian-American entrepreneur Peter Yen who founded the Sushirrito fast casual restaurant chain. Cioppino started as a fisherman's stew in North Beach and is a local variation on stews from the region of Liguria, from which many 19th-century San Franciscan fishermen hailed. It's a large tomato- and white wine-based soupy stew of fish and seafood with bread.

The best way to find a good bar or club is to ask the advice of a local; but barring that a quick search on yelp/google will help you find something suited to your personal taste. The great diversity of nightlife in San Francisco, sometimes within one neighborhood, reflects the diversity of cultures there. Here's a sampling: If you want door-to-door bar hopping at friendly bars that serve PBR tall boys, definitely go to "Polk Gulch" in the Tenderloin and work your way north through bars such as Mayes and Hemlock. Head to the Marina for mid-20s to mid-30s professionals (and those visiting from Los Angeles) as well as a college atmosphere clubbing scene around super packed club/bars such as Circa. Are you into clubs? If you want to commit to a single venue for the night and club the night away, pay the necessary cover at high end clubs in South of Market (SoMa) such as The Grand and Manor West, where you can find left-over dot-commers and hipsters hanging out on the street. The Castro primarily serves San Francisco's gay men, while Bernal Heights has some notable lesbian bars such as Wild Side West with a beautiful outdoor patio in back. The Mission offers a more down to earth vibe that still lets you get your dance on; a bonus with this is that you can end the night with a great burrito from one of the local Mission taquerias. With a large Irish population, San Francisco has a number of very good Irish pubs (e.g., Danny Coyle's in the Haight, Four Deuces in the Sunset, and many others). North Beach is home to several dance clubs and strip clubs.

San Francisco offers a wide range of accommodations, from a healthy supply of hostels and budget hotels to the lavish, luxurious hotels in the city center, as well as just about everything in-between. The majority of accommodations are in the northeastern portion of the city, in and around the popular areas of Downtown, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf. As one moves into the mostly residential neighborhoods to the west, the sleeping options filter down to small inns and bed and breakfasts. Decide if you want to be in walking distance of your destinations, or are up to driving and parking (which can be quite an undertaking in some of the busier areas of San Francisco) or taking public transit. If you have a specific destination in mind, look also in the Districts sections. Hotel costs are particularly variable in San Francisco. The price of a night's stay, especially in the SoMa neighborhood, depends significantly on what's happening at the Moscone Convention Center. Hotel rates can triple when the biggest events are underway. If your trip dates are flexible, you can save a lot of money by avoiding busy dates (it amounts to about half the year). In general, the biggest hotels are more expensive than smaller chains and local outfits. If you'd rather stay closer to the San Francisco International Airport, there are plenty of standard airport accommodations in the cities surrounding the airport — Brisbane, Burlingame, Millbrae, San Bruno and South San Francisco. From there, you can drive or take BART or Caltrain into San Francisco.

1 San Francisco International Airport (SFO IATA), ☏ +1-800-435-9736. Located about 10 mi (16 km) south of the city, is the Bay Area's major international airport (and one of the busiest in the nation) and has numerous passenger amenities including a wide range of food and drink establishments, shopping, baggage storage, public showers, a medical clinic, and assistance for lost or stranded travelers and military personnel. SFO has four terminals; as a rule of thumb, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines use Terminal 2, United Airlines has Terminal 3, most other domestic carriers use Terminal 1, and all foreign airlines use the International Terminal. SFO is infamous for its weather delays, so check if Oakland Airport has service from your origin as well. Oakland is closer to Downtown San Francisco than SFO is and fog free. (updated Sep 2019) 2 Oakland International Airport (OAK IATA), ☏ +1-510-563-3300. In the East Bay provides service to numerous destinations in the United States as well as Mexico. Oakland is primarily used by low-cost carriers, and is a major hub for Southwest Airlines. BART provides metro service to SF. (updated Sep 2019) 3 Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC IATA), ☏ +1-408-277-4759. In Silicon Valley about 1 hour south of San Francisco, attracts Bay Area residents who find SFO to be inconveniently distant from their homes. Southwest Airlines is the dominant carrier here as well, but a number of long-haul international carriers serve the airport as well.

Cross streets. San Francisco streets are numbered (100 per block) from the beginning of the street, and even and odd numbers are always on opposite sides. In the absence of GPS navigation, it is best when getting an address to also ask for a cross street or neighborhood name. Most of the time, if a street touches Market Street (San Francisco's main street), that's the zero block. Addresses change by 100 each block, so a building at 1275 Foo street is often 12 to 13 blocks away from where Foo St. hits Market St. Numbered streets and avenues. San Francisco has both numbered streets, in the Mission, the Castro, and SoMa, and numbered avenues in the largely residential Sunset and Richmond districts. Mixing numbered streets and avenues when asking directions may leave you miles from your destination. This can be confusing, as San Franciscans will not say "Street" or "Avenue" unless it is required to avoid ambiguity. Thus, they won't say "I live on Fifth Avenue," but will say "I live near Fifth and Geary." Street signs generally don't have "Street" or "Avenue" either; they just say "GEARY" or "MASONIC", although numbered streets and avenues do. Multiple street grids. One of the most confusing aspects of driving in San Francisco is the presence of multiple street grids, particularly in the downtown area where two grids intersect at an angle along Market Street. Even more confusing are streets in the middle of the standard blocks, like New Montgomery Street. No left turns.

A look at Stanley Robert's People Behaving Badly series will give you an inside look of usually petty crime in the city. However, it is very unlikely you'll encounter any violent or petty crime as long as you use your common sense and are vigilant. The areas that one should be most cautious are in the neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, Sunnydale, Ingleside, and Potrero Hill in Southeast San Francisco, as well as the Tenderloin, parts of Western Addition (including the Fillmore District), and parts of the Mission. San Francisco is still susceptible to violent crime, and most of these murders occur in the southeast, less economically fortunate, neighborhoods of the city. Gang violence touches even busy and thriving areas such as the Mission Street retail corridor, although most instances of violent crime are directed to specific targets and are not random acts. The SoMa district used to be somewhat dangerous; however, gentrification (something that has become fairly common and a social issue in SF) has transformed it into a rather hip and much safer neighborhood with plenty of art galleries and clubs. However, it is best to be careful even now. Do not any leave anything visible in your vehicle, not even small inexpensive items like cellphone mounts, especially when parking on public streets. Car break-ins are very common in San Francisco. You may see posters for the city's public safety campaign featuring the slogan, "Park Smart!