Headed to San Fran in July. We will be flying into San Jose and staying w/ relatives for a few days. We'll then be headed into San Francisco for 4 nights. We will have a car. Good idea? Right now we have a reservation at the Holiday Inn Fisherman Wharf and they are charging $35.00 per night to park (but we got a pretty good deal on the hotel)so we're just factoring in the parking costs. We do want to visit Napa Valley, drive across the Golden Gate, Lombard Street (you know, all the "touristy things")which is why we thought the car might not be a bad idea. Then I got to thinking, is there a car rental place in the city that we could rent a car on a daily basis? This way we can schedule our driving tours together for a long day and actually see S/F on foot, ride a cable car, eat, eat and eat...

I'm a frequent visitor to San Francisco, and I always have a rental car for my entire stay.

Why? Because of what you want to do -- visit Sonoma (which I prefer over Napa), drive up into Marin County, including Sam's Anchor Cafe in Tiburon & the Marin Headlands, and drive around the city itself.

As a New Yorker, I find SF's public transportation to be lacking in convenience, frequency, and speed, so I often drive.

Enjoy San Francisco!

There are tons of car rental places in SF. There might be one at your hotel-this is often where the rental counters are. Look at any car rental website and you will find they have locations in the city.

I have been looking into this also for my trip next month. I am figuring that I will rent a car for a day here and there and have found prices that are cheaper per day than it will cost us to park. You don't say where you are staying, but I can pretty much bet that you will find more than one car rental agency within walking distance. Have you thought maybe instead of driving directly to San Francisco from San Jose, that instead the first night you might drive on up to Napa (driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, and maybe stopping at Muir Woods), spend the night there and then go into San Francisco driving down Lombard on the way to the rental agency. You might want to check and see if your rental car agency has a place close to where you are staying. But one thing you will have to factor in is the price of transportation to the airport. You don't say how many of you there are, and the price of that could make a difference.

If you plan to visit San Francisco and have a car AND don't want to pay huge hotel parking fees, check out the Columbus Motor Inn - free parking.

There are several motel-like hotels along Lombard that also offer free parking, but the Columbus Motor Inn is a cut above the others.

Welcome to California!

I like don's idea of driving directly to the wine country etc. from SJ, spending the night, seeing what you want to see there, and then head to SF, turning in the car once you get there. Makes a lot of logistical sense.

I understand Gekko's issues with the public transportation system in SF - coming from NYC, it makes total sense. But SF's transportation system is pretty good and will easily get you to all the things you want to see in SF. And I think not having to worry about parking at the hotel or parking around the city will not only be a cost savings, but will also provide some flexibility for you.

Most SF sights are easy to get to by walking/cable car. Having a car for a few days will be a good idea for your long trips Napa and Golden Gate brigde. Lombard street is a great place to walk, especially if you want photos! I find driving within SF very stressful, lots of steep hills, one way streets, no left turns, and expensive parking lots.

I think Don512 has a great idea! We are now re-thinking our plans. Perhaps a great night in Wine Country and then off to S/F where we'll turn in the car and use our feet and the cable cars. I think I'm going to get another post going on Napa Valley vs. Sonoma. Any thoughts?

I think that if you get an early start out of San Jose, I would venture up Highway 1 (some of the most beautiful scenery along the California coast) and then cut over to Sonoma (Russian River) before heading back down to San Francisco. With the scenery and the wineries, you can get a little taste of the best the area has to offer.

When you are in SF, you can buy MUNI passes, which are good on cablecars, buses, lightrail, and streetcars. I believe they sell them in 1, 3, and 7 day increments. Very useful. There is also another pass that in addition to transportation, includes admission to certain attractions.

www.sfmuni.com is the web site for SF public transportation.

Definitely ride a cable car or two during your visit - they are lots of fun. For general transportation though, they aren't very convinient - there are only a couple lines and the wait to get on can be long. Plan to ride in the morning so you don't spend gobs of time waiting in line. The buses, lightrail, and F line are convinient though and will get you just about everywhere you want to go. The F line is great - runs along Market and the Embarcadero past all the piers. It is made up of restored street cars from defunct lines around the world - very cool.