My husband and I are planning a week-long stay in SF and are contemplating a vacation rental on Alameda Island or at the intersection of 5th avenue & Lincoln Way near Golden Gate Park. Does anyone have any advice for us? Our major concerns are safety, parking and accessability.

5th and Lincoln Way is a safe and accessible location. Street parking should OK. Alameda could be nice but there may be accessibility problems since you will have to come across the Bay Bridge to come in and out of the City and you will have very aware of rush hour times.

Inner Sunset is a great neighborhood. Lots of nice affordable restaurants, cafes, and even an old time fern bar in the area. The N-Judah Muni Metro will get you downtown in no time at all.

If you're going to be there on the second Saturday of the month, take the SF City Guides walking tour of the Inner Sunset. SF City Guides walks are free and sponsored by the Public Library. See www.SFCityGuides.org for details.

This is really a "no-brainer" IMO - stay in the Inner Sunset. Rent bikes & spend time in GG Park.

Stu Dudley

I stayed in the Inner Sunset (7th and Judah), for over a week when my husband was at UCSF last year for surgery. It was a great spot as Stu said. A good variety of dining choices on Irving Street near there. I felt comfortable there, even at night. I used the N Judah and the Muni buses. I would recommend the convienent Inner Sunset over Alameda.

Definitely stay in the city!

If your main purpose is to see the sites in SF - then the inner Sunset would be great, and much more convenient than Alameda

But staying on Alameda is good if you'll be using it as a base for traveling around to other places.

Assuming you are mainly interested in SF proper - then stay in SF.

My brother lives on the island of Alameda and LOVES it. Very quaint and safe.

Good luck and have fun!

Just to echo what almost everyone has said, I would recommend staying in the city. That location is close to the restaurants and shops around 9th and Irving as well as Cole Valley (very cute!). You will be steps from Golden Gate Park and you can take the N Judah to downtown SF in about 15 minutes.

Lincoln Way is a pretty busy street, FYI. This may not even impact you depending on where the apartment is. That said, I would still stay there over Alameda in a heartbeat.

Definitely, stay in SF ! 5th & Lincoln is a VG location for accessing all of The City.

R5

5th and Lincoln is a terrific location in the city. Technically, it is the Inner Sunset, but it puts you into walking distance of:

Cole Valley (Eos Wine Bar, among numerous restaurants)

Golden Gate Park and The Panhandle (eastern spur of GG Park)

Haight Ashbury (even if you don't like the admittedly scruffy "scene", the Victorian architecture is worthy)

Ninth Avenue (try the great Arizmendi Bakery)

Parnassus Heights (walking trails on Mt. Davidson, great views)

All these are typically San Franciscan neighborhoods, not touristy in the usual sense, and will give you a sense of what it's like to live here.

Safety wise, the neighborhood is good, with a fair amount of street traffic at all hours. My only caution to you would be to avoid walking along the edges of Golden Gate Park or through the park after nightfall.

Alameda is a nice place. I love to visit it living in San Francisco. If you want, you can visit it. Just to understand why everybody says: stay in the city.

I would pick Sunset over Alameda.

Oh speaking of Cole Valley, I really like Zazie. It's a casual french (maybe a little California too) bistro. Reasonable prices, and very good brunch as well as dinner.

Well... I lived in the Sunset for several years and now I live on Alameda Island.

Weather -- Alameda (which I why I am here; got tired of the fog)

Activity -- obviously SF has more to do. It's a big city. But you can easily get to SF via ferry ,train or bus. (Ferry is prettiest, but least flexible). But what a way to go! I do it M-F to go to work. That being said, we have a hand full of good restaurants on Park Street and scattered around the island, our own movie and live theatre and bowling alley... Movies in the park, live music (including Zydeco couple of times ea month. Plus you the beach is right there.

Saftey -- either will do

Really depends on how busy you want to be doing SF City things.

Oh and parking is a snap in Alameda. Not so easy in Inner Sunset.

Good info for future use, but this is a 6 year old thread.

SassTraveler: along w/ DebitNM, I notice you have topped some VERY old threads. I assume you found them by searching for Alameda. All well and good but when you find something -- take a peek at the dates.