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You can use public transpo up to the Presidio, walk the Bridge from there.

The whole city is 7 miles by 7 miles. Once you discount the [expletive] parts you don't want to see it's even smaller. You can walk everywhere.

33anda3rd wrote:You can use public transpo up to the Presidio, walk the Bridge from there.

The whole city is 7 miles by 7 miles. Once you discount the [expletive] parts you don't want to see it's even smaller. You can walk everywhere.

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There's the MUNI system for buses, and there's the BART system, or Bay Area Rapid Transit, which is the rail system that can take you out of the city--for instance, to Berkeley to the east. (And Berkeley's a good place to visit, too.) The bus system is quite good. I went down to Market street to catch the BART train to Berkeley, and have only ridden it once.

I forget how to catch the cable cars--I think I just had exact change and hopped on.

I think there is a pass you can buy for like $80 that gives you access to all the trolleys at all times...would something like that be worth it or no?

There are only two cable car routes. One is the tourist route. One is the route that some natives actually use, which starts at California and Van Ness in the middle of the city and goes straight down California Street to the business districts. It's $6 for a one-person, one-way ride. I would not pay $80 for a cable car pass because you really aren't going to be using the cable cars to get around, you'll be using the bus. (Or a taxi.)

ahhhh thanks for the heads up

go birds wrote:I think there is a pass you can buy for like $80 that gives you access to all the trolleys at all times...would something like that be worth it or no?

No. I did it when I lived there, had a monthly pass, and it was worth it--I lived right off Buena Vista Park in the Lower Haight and worked right off Union Square, so I was 3 blocks from a MUNI station on the home end and 2 blocks away on the work end. It was worth it but because I used it for probably 8-10 round-trips per week for a full month. For a week, I can't imagine you'd get $80 worth. The MUNI bus and rail are $2 one-way. You'd have to take twenty round-trip or forty one-way trips in a week to make the $80.

DO NOT TAKE THE CABLE CARS. Tourist trap. You'll be jammed in with a ton of people and the difference between them and the MUNI rail system is 1. the cars are really old, and 2. it costs 3X as much, and 3. it goes slower, and 4. the streetcars don't really take you anywhere you can't get to otherwise.

Like I said, the city is only 7mi X 7mi. Figure in that you're not going anywhere south of Bernal Heights, if that far south at all. And that the Presido and GG Park take up about 20% of the remaining land. And that you're also probably doing nothing south of Lincoln Way/Frederick and west of Stanyan. What you're left with is a remarkably small bit of space for a city with so much to do.

Here, map this out. When I lived there I was at 845 Waller St. I worked at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square. Check out, on a map, the amount of time it takes to walk from one to the other, and how much of the city that covers. Once you have that on the map (it's a 50 minute walk per Google) you can see how much of the city that covers. There's another 10 min walk west to the start of GG Park, and another 10 min from Union Square to the Embarcadero. You can walk one side of what's worth seeing to the other side of what's worth seeing, even covering some south-to-north ground, in just over an hour. It's a small city. Wear comfortable shoes. Don't overspend on transit.

33 is right. It's a great walking city.

A lot of literary history there, if you're interested--Jack London, Dashiell Hammett, the Beats.



Hey, rent a Mustang.

probably already mentioned, but be prepared for the homeless army

docellis wrote:probably already mentioned, but be prepared for the homeless army

Right. If you step in dog poop don't be so sure it was dog poop.


My sister lives there. I wish she still lived in the beautiful big house on Pine across from the Zen Center so that I could visit and stay free. Her new place is a lot smaller but still very central- Russian Hill, I think.


My 4 y/o and I walked from the Embarcadero around the waterfront up the steps to Coit Tower. Beautiful. Steep.

The goddamn gov't shut down is really dulling my sparkle.