help for San Francisco trip

I am planning a trip to San Francisco with 2 other friends. Anyone have any suggestion on a cheap but not run down place to stay?? I also have some questions regarding where to get some stuff(GPS, DVI booster,..) and would like to know where are those kind of shops located.
Also any suggestions on places to eat(not on the tourist radar) would be great too.
If anyone from San Francisco can help, that be great. Post here or send me an email, [email protected]
thanks
flashgreenie

Hi!

The last time I went to San Francisco we stayed in the Cow Hollow Motor Inn, a very acceptable hotel for about $100 per night near the center of the city.
You can check some reviews here:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re..._Inn_and_Suites-San_Francisco_California.html

About specialty stores I think you can enjoy a visit to TAD Gear, they have all sorts of flashlight and very nice gear and the guys will enjoy receiving a CPFer.

If you are renting a car a visit to some Fry's for your electronics is probably mandatory, it is a good idea to rent a car if you plan to visit the area (Sillicon Valley, Stanford, Santa Clara, etc etc).

Hope it helps
Luigi

thanks luigi. Where is the Frys located???
http://users.rcn.com/cmk/frys.htm
Is this website correct???

We were there last year.

Two things you must do

1) Ride the trolley buses, and ask for a transfer ticket, last around 90 minutes I think, and you can use it many times in 90 minutes we found. Cheaper than all day ticket, by buying two in a day.

2) Walk the GG bridge. Just watch out for cyclists, who think they have right of way.

3) Chinatown, just to wander. Don''t bother eating there, poor quality we found.

Yes I know that's three things

Fort Funston - Daily City right near by S.F. - Hang Gliding off the cliffs and an observation deck - great place to spend a couple hours if the wind is blowing a little and they are flying. One of my old flying spots...

There are lots of small hotels in the 50 dollar a night range. There are no Fry's in San Francisco, the nearest one is in Palo Alto (about 45 km away) but if you have a car you can drive there easily. Fry's is a good place to go for electronic stuff but for GPS in particular you might also try West Marine (www.westmarine.com). I think there is one of those in the city and there's definitely one in Palo Alto. Good places to eat: hmm, depends on your tastes and budget, so you should be a little more clear.

To add to the list:

4) Coit Tower

5) Lombard Street

6) Pier 39

7) Alcatraz

8) Fort Baker - view from near the north GG footing at water level - go past the GG lookout (north end) and take Sausalito Lateral Road exit and then take Fort Baker road south (right).

paulr said:

There are lots of small hotels in the 50 dollar a night range. There are no Fry's in San Francisco, the nearest one is in Palo Alto (about 45 km away) but if you have a car you can drive there easily. Fry's is a good place to go for electronic stuff but for GPS in particular you might also try West Marine (www.westmarine.com). I think there is one of those in the city and there's definitely one in Palo Alto. Good places to eat: hmm, depends on your tastes and budget, so you should be a little more clear.

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think we pretty much eat anything but not crap. We don't mind spending on food, we like eating... Whats San Francisco speciality???

9) Port of San Francisco

10) Haight & Ashbury

11) Union Square. Go to top of Macy's for great views down.

I know it's more than two, I've just had a quick look through my photo's.


I took 800+ photo's in 3 days, so takes lot's of memory for camera.

(How long are you going for)

From Lombard Street (The Short & Winding Road) walk down to the harbour, dusk is great.

Specialty: hmm, lots of good sushi places near downtown and japantown, lots of good italian places in north beach. somewhat surprisingly, chinese places in chinatown are not that good, but there are some good ones elsewhere. I'm having a hard time suggesting specific places because SF is famous for having lots of excellent restaurants, but I don't go to them much because they're expensive by my standards. North Beach is my favorite though it's definitely touristy. Parking a car there is very difficult so you'll want to get there by bus/taxi/walking depending on where you're staying.

I would add the Cliff House, Ocean Beach, and Sutro Baths to places to visit (those are all in the same place and it's one of the few interesting visitor locations where it's not too hard to park).

How long are you going to stay?

going to be there about 1.5weeks with a few days in Las Vegas somewhere in the middle.
thanks for the replies so far.

San Francisco is known for it's french bread and crab. I worked a block from chinatown for most of last year and most frequently ate sushi, thai and mexican food for lunch. Go figure.

Staying in the city is expensive. It's a tourist town and priced accordingly. If you are only there a few days, the cost of a premium hotel is not that bad.

Some of the financial distric hotels are not good places to wander after dark. I loved staying at the historic Sheraton Palace 20 years ago but found that the financial distric was dead after dark.

Hope you enjoy your stay.

Daniel

flashgreenie said:

going to be there about 1.5weeks with a few days in Las Vegas somewhere in the middle.
thanks for the replies so far.

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Add in Chicago and that's exactly the same holiday I did last year !!

Now then, what to do in Vegas ?

The financial district after dark is not really dangerous or anything like that, it's just boring because everything closes. Nearby though there is a dangerous area called the Tenderloin so be careful if you are in that area.

Really there are quite inexpensive places to stay (as mentioned above), in areas that are not too bad. They tend to be small places run by Indian families. Any place with a well-known brand name or that is large and fancy, will cost a lot more.

You might get a 1 week transit pass (15 dollars). It will let you ride all the city buses (usually 1.50) but you have to pay 1.00 to ride the cable cars (popular with tourists) in addition to having the pass. With no pass, the cable cars cost 5.00 (they really clobber tourists) so it sounds like the weekly pass is a good deal if you want to ride them. If you get a 1 month transit pass (45 dollars) you can ride all the city transit systems INCLUDING the cable cars unless they've changed that (they figure if you buy a monthly pass, you are not a tourist). But the monthly pass is not worth it if you're staying for just 1.5 weeks. Source link.

You might look at wikitravel.org for some recommendations.

I hope you enjoy your visit. Make sure to eat at TuLan Vietnamese cuisine on 6th and market - one of the best restaurants and cheapest in the city.

Careful about hiring a hotel in the tenderloin, there are lots of cheap ones, but they are disgusting and the neighborhood sucks. Better to stay in the marina.

2 words.

Price Line

www.priceline.com

I stayed at grand Hyatt at 5 embarcadero center and it was only $90/night. At this time, you can bid $60 for something cheaper and it will be a hotel at least.

Parking is there sanfran will kill you.

By the way, WHEN are you visiting? Forgot to ask that. I'm not currently in a situation where I can have visitors at home or spend a lot of time showing anyone around, but I'd be happy to meet up for a drink or something if you want to do that.

I don't think there's been a bay area CPF get-together in a while either, maybe it's time for one that could co-incide with your visit.

paulr said:

By the way, WHEN are you visiting? Forgot to ask that. I'm not currently in a situation where I can have visitors at home or spend a lot of time showing anyone around, but I'd be happy to meet up for a drink or something if you want to do that.

I don't think there's been a bay area CPF get-together in a while either, maybe it's time for one that could co-incide with your visit.

Click to expand...

Will be in the US between Feb26 and March 6, San Francisco and Las Vegas. I would love to catch up with some CPFer but I will have to see what my other two friends got planned since I am meeting up with them(they are from Singapore). We don't really got anything planned as such except meeting up in San Francisco and a few days in Las Vegas.

Stop by the Hoover Dam when in Vegas (about 30 minute drive).

Based upon the last health inspection, TuLan may not be too good for you. Any visit to SF wouldn't be complete without a trip to Original Joes at Eddy/Taylor (it's in the middle of the Loin, but not too bad on a crowded Fri/Sat night).

All the tourist spots are o.k. I'd also check out the Academy Of Sciences on Howard/5th Sts.

Lombard isn't the most crooked street, it's actually a portion of Vermont St, I think at 16th ST (I'll look into it). Lombard just looks nicer.

For good gear, check out TADGear at 22nd st at 3rd St.

PM me if you need any safety advice...

--dan