Further to an earlier post, my husband and I are planning a road trip from Vancouver, Canada to California. We would like to travel as far south as Carmel (for golf). If we were to use the Bay area as a Home base for part of our trip, which neighborhood would you suggest in SF (or outside)? We will have a vehicle so parking is a must-we would like a place with easy access to the freeway for day-trips and close to transit (MUNI-BART) while in SF. We plan to be in the Bay area for 7-10 days. Options we are considering include Sausilito, Pacific Heights, Noe Valley and the Mission. We are very open to other suggestions from fellow Fodorites.

My only thought about Sausilito, every time you come into City or drive South, you will have to pay toll .
Friends stayed in Noe Valley area for a few days and did side trips..Seemed convenient for them..
Good Luck


























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Noe Valley is a great residential neighborhood, especially close to 24th Street, which has great shopping, restaurants, strolling, etc. It started out as very much a "working-class" neighborhood, as opposed to Pacific Heights, which is and was much more wealthy/upscale. There are many mansions in Pacific Heights - not so in Noe Valley.

As far as the Mission goes, parts of it would be great, parts of it not so great, so I wouldn't choose there unless you know exactly where the lodgings would be and could post them here first.

Sausalito is very nice, but I personally wouldn't choose to stay outside the city.

I don't think of SF as a good base. The traffic in/out of the city can be horrendous and would really detract from my enjoyment.

I would stay in SF to see SF. Then move on.

I agree with Placename.

Whether SF is a good base depends on where you want to go while staying here. If you want to do San Francisco, Sausalito, Muir Woods, Berkeley, Palo Alto/Stanford, then San Francisco IS a good base IMO. If you mean to do day trips as far as Carmel, then no, it's not --- stay in SF for 3 or 4 days and then move to Monterey/Carmel for a few days.