Best Part of San Francisco To Get rental Car
 

We are staying in the Union square area for 4 days and picking up a rental car the morning that we leave to head North to Healdsburg. Where should we pick up our rental car so that it would be the easiest to get right onto route 101?

The 101 is surface streets in San Francisco and pretty straight forward to get to from the Union Square area -- so just collect your car whichever place is either closest to your hotel or gets you the best rates.

Actually, 101 is Van Ness Blvd - but don't take Van Ness. Drive 1 block farther west to Franklin, which is wide & one-way & much faster than Van Ness. Turn left on Lombard St & follow the other cars over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Stu Dudley

Stu has given you the best route from most areas. I wasn't going to go into the details until you decide where to pickup the car. That's why I just used the generic "surface streets"

There is a garage within a block of Union Sq which has many car rental offices. I'm assuming that you'll pick up the car at one of them. There is construction going on around Union Sq, and a few streets may be closed. You should head west on Geary (fast & one-way) to Franklin, but "scope out" the streets that are closed before you pick up the car, and plan an alternative route if streets are blocked.

Stu Dudley

<<<You should head west on Geary (fast & one-way) to Franklin>>>

Geary is one-way and fast once you get out of the Union Square area, but beware of double-parked cars for at least a few blocks west of the square itself. Best to just stay in the middle lane there, unless you're used to urban driving.

We have gotten good rates using Dollar's O'Farrell St office. the don't charge one way drop off fees if heading to SFO. They often have City Specials with great prices.

ttt