Thanks for all the info.

I'm in SFO fairly often for work.

Echoed in previous posts: expensive. Work pays for my stuff, but it's easy to rack up a $2K bill for 4-5 days. The Wharf area is like Kemah - bunch of touristy places.

There are bums everywhere and there are laws against disturbing them. They will drop trou sand take a sh** in the middle of the sidewalk.

Top of the Mariott in Union Square has a bar on the 46th floor. Beautiful views at night.

House of Prime Rib is fantastic.

Buena Vista for breakfast and Irish coffee

Drive down to Pacifica and hike around Mori Point

Pabu for pricey but great Japanese Food (kabayashi is fantastic.)

Uber everywhere

Mission district for Mission burritos

Stay out of the Tenderloin at night

Restaurants galore.

Thanks..

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Your car will most likely be useless in SF. Just an FYI. Typical parking at a Hotel costs about $75.

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It is weird that although this is the case, there is still a crap load of traffic and getting around town if you are unfamiliar with it is tough. When I was there, I talked to a lot of people who didn't have a car. I finally asked: if none of you people have a car, who's doing all the driving out there?

Our hotel room includes parking. We are just going to park when we get there and leave the car until we go to the airport. We will only be there one night.

So we just got back Friday from a week-long trip to the Bay Area. Thanks for the recs and tips here in this thread.

We stayed in SF in a VRBO but had a couple day trips to get out of the city and see somethings. We had an awesome time and thought SF was a great city to visit. The weather was absolutely perfect all week. We'll certainly be back at some point

Here's a quick summary of our itinerary that I thought worked really well if anyone needs help

Day 1 Flew into San Jose early morning and rented a car. We drove down to Santa Cruz and started making our way up Hwy 1 to SF. Made multiple stops and various beaches/outlooks and stopped for lunch in Half Moon Bay.
Day 2 City tour with Vantigo. Saw all the main points of the city in a '68 VW bus. Great tour for anyone looking for an all-encompassing tour. Small and personal and good stops and insight into SF culture and history. Spent the afternoon walking Chinatown and stopped for an impromptu tea tasting at a shop there in Chinatown.
Day 3 Morning bike across the Golden Gate and brunch in Sausalito. We caught the shuttle to the Muir Woods and spent the afternoon hiking. Took the ferry back with our bikes later in the afternoon/evening
Day 4 Day trip to Napa for a wine tour and spent the night there in a AirBnB
Day 5 Drive back to SF in the morning and caught a day game at ATT Park
Day 6 Golf in Santa Cruz at Pasatiempo
Day 7 Breakfast at Buena Vista, killed sometime walking around the wharf and Ghiradelli Square, then Alcatraz that afternoon.
Day 8 Back to the airport in San Jose for flight out

Again, it was a great trip and we weren't ready to leave. We had some awesome meals and hit some cool bars so if anyone needs recs on stuff like that I'd be happy to share.

Going Friday for three days. If you had to pick three on your list what would it be?

The Vantigo tour was awesome and a nice to do first thing because we were able to get our bearings on the city and get a sense for what we wanted to go back and hit. It lasted from about 9-1230 so you can spend the afternoon doing something else.

Muir Woods was great. Someone on here recommended it and it was really cool. Only takes a couple hours to hike through the trails they have. You can make it last longer if you want by taking some of the round about trails that loop back. If you want you can also just ferry over to Sausalito and cut out the bike ride to get more time in the woods. Just make sure to go online and buy your shuttle tickets for the time you want. I will also the ferry line for bikes to get back to SF was miserable. We did it on a weekend so I'd say either do it on a weekday, don't bike and ferry both ways, or bike over and take a taxi back.

Alcatraz was cool too but if you don't have tickets you won't be able to get them. It books up 2-3 months in advance. May check online and see if by chance there's a spot but I doubt it. It's certainly a must visit but not sure if you can make that happen. I could've spent a couple hours there walking around but the wife was cold and hungry.

Ag_N_Houston said:

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We will be in SF for one afternoon/night in August at the end of a Napa trip. I plan to do the touristy things because I've never been there before. My biggest issue is deciding what part of town to book a hotel. We will have a car, but being able to walk is always a plus. Where do you suggest?

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San Francisco has the largest Uber network in the US, I always just Uber when I'm there. I stayed downtown once on a trip but usually stay by the airport while there on business. For your trip I would suggest anything on the wharf or close to it, that's where the action is and is a quick trip across the Gold Gate Bridge from there.

We are already back. We stayed near the wharf and just left the car parked until it was time to go to the airport. I didn't like San Francisco. We enjoyed our time in Napa much more.

Why did you not like San Francisco?

I didn't really like anything. It was dirty and congested and nothing stood out to me. Granted, we were only there one day as the last night of our vacation. We didn't get to do Alcatraz because it was already sold out when we booked our trip. I think that would have saved it.

If you stayed near the wharf I get that.

We were there and passed through the wharf for a bit and it was miserable. Hated it. However, we went back early one morning after breakfast at the Buena Vista before it got crowded and it was nice.

No way would I stay anywhere near the wharf as it's just a huge tourist trap with wretched traffic.

Follow up to our trip:

I hate to say this but I would never go back, city is just awful and polluted. Saw people shooting up on the streets, **** on the streets, a bum knife fight, people passed out everywhere. It was bad. Went to a highly recommended estaurant for brunch(foreign cinema), walked out and two blocks later we were in pretty bad spot. Buena Vista Irish coffees were awesome. The Italian place mentioned on this thread was alright. Finally I rented a 4 series convertible and drove to Napa, it felt great to have some fresh air and get out of that ****hole. Alcatraz and Golden gate were good. Check that off the list.