My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to San Francisco and Yosemite for this July: Sat, July 25 - Sat, Aug 1. I have a basic itinerary below on which I was hoping to get some feedback. We are still in the early planning stages, but these dates are definite.

To give you some background, we are both in our early 30s, have a wide range of interests and food tastes, and are big baseball fans. We don't mind some hectic days, since we both have limited time and money to travel. It's my first time in the area; she was out here for a few days several years ago. We will probably have a car only for the last 4 days.

Sat, July 25 - Arrive at noon in SF from Manchester, NH. Dinner and drinks in SF that evening.
Sun, July 26 - Go around SF. Possibly start with a city tour of some kind; bus/boat tour or Duck Boats. Any suggestions?
Mon, July 27 - Go around SF.
Tues, July 28 - Go around SF in the morning/afternoon. Giants game at 7pm.
Wed, July 29 - Rent a car and drive out to Yosemite in the morning. Spend afternoon in Yosemite.
Thur, July 30 - Yosemite
Fri, July 31 - Leave from Yosemite in the morning, heading back for SF/Oakland. Drive back through Napa/Sonoma Valley, spending the afternoon. Baseball game in Oakland at 7pm.
Sat, Aug 1 - Leave from SF at 10:10am for Manchester, NH.

Sun, Aug 2 - Rest: I know we will need it!


We are planning on staying somewhere in downtown SF from July 25-29 and somewhere near Yosemite from July 29-31. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Is it about a 4 hour drive from SF to Yosemite? Any sights worth seeing along the way?

I realize that an afternoon may not be enough to fully experience wine country, but is an afternoon even worth it? Is it too hectic to try to do it on the way back from Yosemite? Skipping the Oakland game is not an option for me.

Does anyone have any recommendations on areas to stay for our last night? Are there any areas of Oakland or nearby that are woth staying in? Any to defintiely avoid? How far is the SF airport from Oakland?

Thanks!

Ellwood, you'll probably get more specific advice from posters that live in the SF Bay area, but it seems to me that you are pushing it in the segment of your trip that includes Yosemite, Napa Valley, and the Oakland baseball game in a two day span. Yosemite is at least a 4 hour drive from SF, but it is toward the southeast. Napa Valley is north of SF & Oakland, so I would think that the drive there from Yosemite would be longer. To get from Yosemite, up to Napa Valley, then down to Oakland by 7:00 would make for a very hectic day, and I'm not sure you'd have enough time to appreciate the wine country.

Maybe take Monday and rent a car for the day, and head up to the wine country, or perhaps rent your car for Yosemite a day early, and head up to Napa/Sonoma early Tuesday morning, and be back in SF in time for the baseball game? It would be easier to see the wine country as a day trip from SF, I think. And I would suggest that, if you go for just a day trip, that going up Route 29 into Napa Valley would give you the best impression of the area, since there is such a great concentration of wineries, towns, and restaurants in that area.

Great advice, thanks! Would the coast be out of the way on the way back from Yosemite?

Yes. Too far, too long for the drive back to the airport.

I meant the game, not the airport.

Basically you are giving short shrift to Napa and especially Yosemite and you just don't have enough time to enjoy the coast.

Do you have a place to stay in/near Yosemite? Summer is the high season, and you may end up having to stay in one of the places outside the park, with an hour's drive in. Suggest you look at the Yosemite Bug Hostel.

If you are interested in wine, and not necessarily Napa/Sonoma--there are many nice wineries in the Livermore area--just east of Oakland that would be doable on your Oakland A's day. Check out lvwine.org

There are a few wineries/distilleries in Alameda, near Oakland:

www.rosenblumcellars.com

www.stgeorgespirits.com

http://www.rbcellars.com

These are the actual wineries, no vineyards, but this would still be interesting, fun and convienient to your A's game.

MY