San Francisco
 

We are thinking of visiting in July...Where is a good place to stay? How many days will give us a good taste of the area?

The best place to stay would be in a hotel. You can get a taste of the city in a day. If you have any more specific or detailed questions to ask, this is a good place to get answers to those too, but you need to ask specific questions and give people some guidelines to go by, like interests, budget, whether you'll be driving.

Three nights/two full days should allow you enough time to get a good taste of SF, assuming that you have a plan of attack. It is a relatively small city area-wise so know in advance what districts/sites you must see, research the best ways for you to traverse (taxi, streetcar, bus, et cetera) in advance, then plan active, full days accordingly. This website and countless others will provide overviews of SF. We have always stayed in the Union Square area (downtown district) and have never been disappointed.

We enjoyed our stay at the Argonaut Hotel at Fisherman's Wharf in September, mainly because of the view of the bay and the ships. We wouldn't have liked an inside view nearly as much. However the location was handy because the cable car turnaround was just around the corner.

In a nutshell, day 1 was spent mostly orienting ourselves. We took a cable car to Union Sq. and back, toured the ships at Hyde St. Pier and wandered around the Cannery area.
Day 2: first trip of the day to Alcatraz, followed by a visit to the Legion of Honor, then a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Day 3: mostly a shopping day - downtown with a visit to the fortune cookie factory, and further out with a stop at Alamo Square. Made use of various methods of transportation with our muni passes. To get to the outer areas took a fair chunk of time.
Day 4: walked down the crooked part of Lombard St., visited the Cable Car Museum and Coit Tower, walked down the Filbert Steps, visited the Maritime Museum and then it was time to go.

My feet were killing me every day and I missed some sights that I really wanted to see such as Golden Gate Park and, yet again - I can't believe it - The Palace of Fine Arts, not to mention Sausalito. So, for us, 4 days and 3 nights was not enough. We would have dearly loved another two days at least.

I like the way earl30 thinks. He's the man.

Thanks, jimshep.

We stayed at the Andrews on Post Street, and the next day took a Greyhound Tour...then decided where we wanted to go back..

I just stayed at the Orchard Hotel at 665 Bush Street, an elegant boutique hotel. And, it is very conveniently located. At the corner of Powell where you can get the cable car and just a couple of blocks from Union Square. Just a couple more blocks to Chinatown. It has been about 10 yrs since I have seen the parade and although it was crowded with people, we still managed to see the parade. Allow yourself enough time to shop in Chinatown as well as Union Square.Also wonderful food and bakeries. While you are in Union Square, go down Maiden Lane to the deli there. Fabulous food.

Thanks the report was great. I am leaving for San Franscio on Tuesday. We arrive around 3pm . We are staying In the Tuscon Inn on the Wharf. I planned on just walking around the area that first day. The weather should be good the next day i was thinking of a day trip to Napa Nay ideas on a tour company? My Husband doesnt want to drive. The Thursday - Saturday weather forecast is for 50 -80% rain so I would like to doe the city tour and maybe Alacarz etc Can you suggest the any tour companys and any restursnts