My husband and I are flying into San Francisco on a Friday in mid-Sept and will be visiting the area until Sunday morning when we'll head down to Monterey for 4 days.

We were going to park our rental car near Fisherman's Wharf around 1:30pm on Friday, catch a cable car to Union Square and do a self-guided walking tour from Union Square back to Fisherman's Wharf, then on Saturday visit Golden Gate Park, the Golden Gate Bridge area, and Muir Woods, but...

now I'm wondering if it'd be better to switch the days. Are the recreation areas more crowded on Saturdays, leaving the downtown areas less crowded? Of course, on Saturday we have ALL day, and Friday is only a half day, so just wondering which days would be the best to fit these things in.

(BTW, we're going to catch the Alcratraz tour on Thursday late afternoon when we come back from Monterey to SF to fly out the next day.)

Thanks!!

topping

Where are you staying --someplace you have to pay for parking?? I ask, because you really don't seem to need a car except to go to Muir Woods.

When we were in SF last year, we relied on public transportation [from airport into town, too as we used BART]. We rented a car for 1 day only to go to Muir Woods. We picked it up early Saturday morning [7:30am] and headed out. We got to Muir nice and early and before the crowds.

We kept the car for the day and returned it around 5pm. We didn't have to pay hotel parking and we got a great rate for the day $21 [$25 or so with taxes]. It is much cheaper to rent the car in town than at airport.

You could do the same thing, and then do a new rental on Sunday morning. Dollar doesn't charge a 1 way drop off fee and they have locations near Union Sq and elsewhere.

Seems to me you are using the car to get to someplace where you will then use pub transit anyway.

You could either drop the car off when you come back from Monterey and take BART to airport or keep it and return it at airport. BART is inexpensive and pretty easy to use.

Just a thought.

Deb

We're staying in San Bruno at the Comfort Suites (cheap, nice, free parking). Maybe we could take BART from there to Union Square and leave our car at the hotel?

Since we're going to need the car to get to Muir Woods, and then to Monterey on Sunday, we'd only be knocking 1 day off our rental, and it's cheaper to do a weekly rental than 6 days.

Looks like we need to get comfy with BART!

Why would you park at Fisherman's Wharf???.. Why would you even want to visit Fisherman's Wharf, unless you have kids in tow??

As long as you have the car, visit some of the areas in SF that are better accessed with a car - Crissy Field & Ft Point, GG Park, Union St, Haight, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, drive along the Bay Between the Palace/Sea Cliff/Presidio/Ft Point/Crissy Field, etc. You could visit the Noe Valley on Friday, park the car in an area east of Church St that does NOT have "sticker" parking, and take the J-Church Muni Metro downtown. On Sat, there is not "sticker" parking, so you could park the car in Pacific Heights/Cow Hollow and take Muni downtown.

Better places to visit than the Wharf, IMO
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35129049

Stu Dudley

>> Noe Valley on Friday, park the car in an area east of Church St that does NOT have "sticker" parking

>> Noe Valley on Friday, park the car in an area east of Church St that does NOT have "sticker" parking

I agree with Stu. Skip the wharf altogether! Crissy Field,North Beach, GG Park(The Academy of Sciences, The DeYoung and its great top floor view of the city,the restaurants et al. Take the historic F line along the Embarcadero. If you really do head into SF by 1:30 and plan not to leave much before 7 you should be fine for traffic.

I would keep Saturday for exploring the other side of the bridge. You want more time than 1/2 a day. Traffic rules just changed in GG Park. Make certain you can take a car in on Saturdays.

StuDudley, Why would we park near Fisherman's Wharf??? Just to get you to jump in and suggest something better!! Kidding, but WOW!! What a wealth of information! I agree with the others in that thread, I'm going to have to get more ink! I guess we were thinking of going to Fisherman's Wharf because that's where you end up when you walk from Union Square, through Chinatown, through North Beach.

Eager to read through and absorb all that is in your "recommendations" thread. You helped us tremendously last May when we were trying to figure out the best view of the GGB.

THanks, Pam! Great info! Will definitely look into GG Park parking.

>>going to Fisherman's Wharf because that's where you end up when you walk from Union Square, through Chinatown, through North Beach.

We've done the squiggly part of Lombard, but heading east on Lombard is a great idea! We are definitely going to do Coit Tower, but ending up at the "beautiful Embarcadero" sounds good. We've never seen that part of town.

>>

OK then, you absolutely must walk along the Embarcadero to the Ferry Bldg. on Saturday morning, ending up at the Ferry Bldg. Farmer's Market (which NY Magazine refers to as "the granddaddy of them all"). Especially if it's nice weather -- the farmer's market is fantastic, and the permanent shops are great, too. (and I'm not a foodie!)

We've done the coast from Bandon, Oregon to Santa Rosa, CA, and also from Monterey down past Santa Barbara on 2 previous trips, so my question is...

Should we take the time to see Stinson Beach area and Point Reyes while we're in San Francisco?

When we leave San Francisco Sunday morning to head to Monterey, we plan on taking the coast highway, so we'll pick up that area.

sf7307, I'm assuming the Farmer's market is only open Saturday morning? We were planning on being in that part of town Friday afternoon, and on Saturday going to GGPark, the bridge, Muir woods. But I'd LOVE to see a great Farmer's Market, so we'll add this to our list of things to work in! Thanks!

4sharie, the market is open early (not sure how early) and closes at 2 p.m. on Saturday. It's HUGE, so give yourselves a couple of hours to visit.

http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace....ers_market.php

ohhh, thanks for the link!

Stinson Beach & Pt Reyes deserve a considerable amount of time - especially Pt Reyes. It also takes some doing to get there. I would save it for another trip, if you're also going to Monterey & driving along the coast to get there. Visit parts of San Francisco you have not visited before.

Stu Dudley

Pt Reyes is a great destination in good weather. It's not a lot of fun if it's foggy like it's been most of the past two months.

In mid-September, we often have better weather than in the rest of summer but there is no guarantee. Your best bet is to decide when you are here. If the weather is fabulous, then by all means, take a drive up the coast on Hwy 1. If not, do something else.

Many visitors from other parts of the country often don't take into account the fickle nature of our weather along the coast and are disappointed when they arrive if their plans are too rigid. Often, when the coast is fogged in, the weather inland, say the Wine Country, can be fabulous. By the same token, if the coastal weather is great, it can be blistering hot inland and not very comfortable.

The best plan is to always remain flexible.

Supercilious, thanks! We were wondering what our back up plan would be if the weather is bad. We know to go inland, but haven't figured out where yet!

I agree with Stu. Save Point Reyes for another trip. Oh and when in the Monterey area...do not miss Point Lobos State Park on Hwy 1 near Carmel. It's beautiful!