How to get around in San Fran

Hire Car, cable car, walk, bus, pushbike, tour or other?

15 years ago, November 6th 2008 No: 1 Msg: #53715 Delete Edit

B Posts: 88

Hi folks,
I'm looking at maps of San Fran and working out what I'd like to do when I'm there.
This is the conclusion I've come to - feel free to suggest an alternative if I'm a little off course.

Yosemite National Park - hire car. I looked into tours and you only get to spend 3hrs in the park and are on the tour from 6am - 10pm. I was thinking of maybe camping over one night in the park as well. Also the tours don't take you to the part with massive trees.

Pier 39, Fishermans Warf, Lombard St, Transamerica Pyramid, St Peters and Pauls Church, Embarcadero Plaza, Golden Gate and Bay Bride, China town, palace of fine arts, marine drive, city hall: Foot, cable car. I've read about the STEEEEP hills in the city center so maybe a 2 day cable car pass?

Alcatraz: Tour

Mission District, Clarion alley, James Lick Freeway, Twin Peaks Park, a couple more times over the Golden Gate Bridge: Car

Questions, where do the hills stop? It's only a 14km round trip to mission district which can easily be done on a pushbike but if it's super hilly the whole way.. that's another story.

Have I left anything out? I'm assuming Alcatraz will take one day, Yosimite will take 1 or 2 days and everything in the city center probably 2-3 days if we're not rushing. So is 5-6 days enough for the activities I've listed? I guess if we take pushbikes to Mission District that will be a whole day in itself.

Are there any hire car companies you can recommend. My Mum is a little worried about driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and I will only be 23 I think that means it would be very expensive if I was the driver. In Australia, usually if you're under 25 it means a massive price hike.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Renee 😊

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15 years ago, November 12th 2008 No: 2 Msg: #54325 Delete Edit

Sharni
Sharni Koenig

N Posts: 6

Hi Renee

Having done a similar trip as you I will give you my advice.

Yosemite national park is nice and definately something to go see but I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong it is a beautiful part of the country but I think there is to much hype for what it is. Three hours is enough time there unless you plan on doing hiking trips or something of the sort.

Pier 39, Fishermans Wharfe ect ect. There are plenty of bus tours that take you around to exactly all these place ( we did this and had an excellent guide who told us all about each location) but it is also easy enough to get around on the trams, cable cars and on foot which we did afterwards when we wanted to go back and take a further look.

Alcatraz definately a tour.

If you are going to go over the golden gate bridge in a car then I would recommend that you continue on for about 30 min (from memory) to muir woods. It is one of the oldest red wood forest preserved in CA. It is absolutely beautiful ( I liked it better then yosemite)

Yeah San Fran is small but it is hilly everywhere. It is rolling hill after rolling hill and take my advice these are big hills for a city.

I was over the age of 25 when I was over there but my husband was under 25 and wasn't able to hire a car or drive it for that matter so make sure you do your research prior. We hired our car from Dollar car rental which were fine.
I to am From australia and found that driving on the other side of the road after getting used to it, was a more natural way of driving and found that coming back to australia was a lot harder to revert back to.

Just do your research before you go. I organised everything on the internet from oz before I left. We got married in Vegas and organised all that on the internet as well. Everything turned out fantastic. We spent 4 days in San Fran and 1 day at Yosemite. So all inclusive I would say you would need 6-7 days at least. (inclusive travel to Yosemite)

If it is the right time I would also recommend going and seeing an ice hockey game if you can. Not having any interest in Ice Hockey we went and I found it to be fantastic. Definately a memory I will never forget.

Hope this Helps

Sharni

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15 years ago, November 13th 2008 No: 3 Msg: #54471 Delete Edit

Stephanie and Andras
Stephanie

B Posts: 883

Renne

I would recommend renting a car to get to Yosemite. Driving out of San Fran will be tricky (driving in San Fran was tricky for us and we're from the U.S), but once you get out of the city and start heading east the drive is fairly straight. If you can keep a car between the lines on the left side of the road, shouldn't be a problem driving it straight on the right (although I will admit that the longest five minutes of my life was when my father drove a rental car in England from the pick-up to our B&B a few years back). You will have a pay about $25 more/day since you're under 25, but that fee can be justified if you really want to see certain sites. Plus, a tour to Yosemite would be just as expensive, really, and you'd have less freedom.

Dollar, Budget, Hertz, Enterprise... I'd just see who has the cheapest deal online, but they'll all be about the same.

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15 years ago, December 4th 2008 No: 4 Msg: #56473 Delete Edit

Maisondubonheur
Pierre-Alexandre

B Posts: 1,583

Just small advise, for Alcatraz, book ahead on internet, some days it's fully book ahead...

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15 years ago, December 7th 2008 No: 5 Msg: #56854 Delete Edit

aairtahoe
john

S Posts: 1

PA Leslie is so right. There has been a few times when friends are in town and the tickets are sold out. Plan ahead if you can. It can be hit and miss.
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15 years ago, December 14th 2008 No: 6 Msg: #57439 Delete Edit

meeting point
Steph

D Posts: 12

Alcatraz takes about a half day really but you might have to wait in line for a while.

If you rent a car, it may be worth visiting Napa and Sonoma for a day too if you enjoy wine. It's about an hour away and you drive over the Golden Gate bridge on the way too.

If you like surfing, go up to the coast the other side of the big park nearish to twin peaks. It's a massive park.

Grace Cathedral is worth a look. The cable car museum is fun too.

This site might help a bit -

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15 years ago, December 15th 2008 No: 7 Msg: #57525 Delete Edit

MikeHK
Happy Feet!

B Posts: 104

I wouldn't suggest taking a pushbike to the mission - just from our experience!

Definitely agree about booking your tickets for Alcatraz - especially if you are there during peak season. One tip about Alcatraz is if you want to see into the hospital, ask a guard - it is restricted access and not part of the tour but interesting none the less!

I would also recommend getting a weekly pass for the transport around San Fran, we bought ours from the ticket booth for the cable cars, 7 days available and I think they had 3 and 5 days too. It was worth it for us as we seemed to be on the cable cars ALOT! - it saved our feet from all those hills!

Enjoy - it's one of my favourite cities on Earth!
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15 years ago, December 22nd 2008 No: 8 Msg: #58169 Delete Edit

shmajo
Shelbs

B Posts: 31

I'll reiterate the point about booking your Alcatraz tour ahead of time. Also, if you are doing any amount of driving in a rental car or hiring a driver, there will be some tolls when you are crossing the bridges into the city. I learned from experience this past August 😊. I love San Fran, so much to do and see. If you head down the piers past 39 you can find some great little street vendor food stands with the freshest seafood I've ever had (and I live in Seattle where we have Pike Place Market!).

The cable cars are great just be careful getting on and off, I have seen some leaping passengers who weren't very lucky (just a twisted ankle or bruised knees).

Napa is gorgeous! We spent a whole day out there. Another attraction that I think alot of people miss is the "Old Faithful" geyser. I know what your thinking, there is only one. But, come to find out there are large ones all over the world. It sits just outside of Napa. Also, a word of advice, if you are planning to fill up your gas tank near or around Napa, do so before you get there or have cash. Stations in Napa charge two different prices, cash or credit/debit. Cash is cheaper. Reply to this

15 years ago, January 9th 2009 No: 9 Msg: #59531 Delete Edit

HARV3Y
Renee Harvey

B Posts: 88

Thanks again for the advice, my Mum mentioned Napa last night so it looks like we will be checking it out!! She is also keen to hire push bikes to ride across the bridge :D

The next question I guess is where to stay?? There are hostels/hotels in the Fisherman's Wharf area, downtown area and in the city. I was thinking staying near the wharf might be better as it's closer to the bridge and if we wanted to take more photo's it would be easier???

We have finalised our itinerary and will be in San Fran for 6 days between the 6th and 13th of July but that includes one day at Napa and one and a half days in Yosemite national park. I'll try and get an extra day allocated to San Fran - there seems like so much to do!!!

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15 years ago, January 13th 2009 No: 10 Msg: #59948 Delete Edit

deleted_106507
deleted_106507

d Posts: 5

I suggest walking and riding the cable cars. It's a very hilly city, but lots of fun.

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14 years ago, November 2nd 2009 No: 11 Msg: #91673 Delete Edit

deleted_141396
deleted_141396

d Posts: 6

For the sights that are in the city you can use the cable cars or walk.. the car hire will be useful only for getting to the Yosemite park.. And I suggest you to rent a car with manual transmition because of the steep hills there. Reply to this

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How to get around in San Fran