Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
1 edit | San Francisco - Where is it better to stay?
Fisherman's Wharf or Union Square area?
I'll be there for a week with my wife and 3 kids. |
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Warzau
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Naperville, IL
clubs: | Re: San Fran - Where is it better to stay?
If the kids don't mind walking, Union Square area. My wife and I stayed in that area, we walked alot did the downtown tours, went to Chinatown, did the trolleys. But alot of walking.. |
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Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL | Thanks. Another question. Is seven days too long to spend there? |
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sashwa
Pixie Cat Crunchin' n Foldin'
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join:2001-01-29
Alcatraz
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| reply to Goober
Here's some reading for you until others drop by with their recommendations:
»NorCal forum FAQ
»NorCal forum FAQ
»NorCal forum FAQ
Also walking in the city can involve hills. 
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TH ~ NE ~ EPN ~ NC ~ TD |
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DavisPhotog
Flyingphotog
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-26
Oakland, CA
clubs:
| reply to Goober
I thought you said "trick question" at first.
The longer you stay in a city - any city - the more you'll get to know it past its surface elements. Sure, I could tell you a handful of museums that you could see in a day, or you could visit one museum per day and not get museum fatigue, all while taking it in at a more natural pace.
How good are the kids in the car? You wouldn't believe the wealth (and diversity) of stuff to do within 2 hours of here.
You could see Sonoma/Napa wine country one day, go down to Santa Cruz the next (and see a bit of silicon valley on the way down), you could go to the state capitol (midtown Sacramento is quite nice these days), or you could drive up the coast toward Mendocino (which may not be as kid-friendly as you might like).
If you're going to stay in the city, for that whole 7 days, I'm not going to try to dissuade you. Each neighborhood is quite unique and you could easily spend a half day in each neighborhood seeing certain sights.
What kind of food do you like?
What kind of attractions do you like?
I'm a 12 minute drive (w/out traffic) from downtown SF so I manage to make it over there as often as I can.
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I am the Flying Photog, see my website accordingly named Flyingphotog.com. User known formerly as zakooldude. |
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sashwa
Pixie Cat Crunchin' n Foldin'
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-29
Alcatraz
clubs: | When is there no traffic?  |
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DavisPhotog
Flyingphotog
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-26
Oakland, CA
clubs:
| You'd be surprised but I've done it more times than I can count. Most parts of the day, it's a breeze from 24 down to the maze, and then if that's not blocked, there might be a bit of traffic at the toll plaza - Fastrak is damn handy!
One day I went from my house to being PARKED in downtown SF (getting there is one thing, parking is another) in that same 12 minutes.
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I am the Flying Photog, see my website accordingly named Flyingphotog.com. User known formerly as zakooldude. |
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RR Conductor
RailRoadDude
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
·Comcast
2 edits | reply to Goober
Be prepared for MAJOR sticker shock  If you have some time, come on up here to my neck of the woods, Mendocino County, it's BEAUTIFUL up here, and no crowds! »www.gomendo.com, Redwoods, Mountains, unspoiled and undeveloped coastlines, wildlife, rivers and lakes, forests, it's an outdoor paradise, and we have REAL Wine County, we call it Napa without the crowds (and stuffines) |
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RR Conductor
RailRoadDude
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
·Comcast
| reply to Goober
If you can, ride public transit around, SF has an excellent rail and train system, BART, CalTrain, MUNI, etc., they go pretty much everywhere and you don't have to fight the traffic and horrible Bay Area drivers 
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You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything. |
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Boricua65
join:2002-01-26
Puerto Rico
| reply to Goober
I was going to recommend Union Square as well, since it is centrally located to alot of shops and mass transit. Parking will be a royal pain around there and you also have to watch out for restrictions on parking (if you do find any), like street cleaning or if there's an event happening at that time.
I can also recommend going to Oakland by BART and checking out Funderland at the Lake Merritt for the kids. I was in Oakland a few weekends ago and saw there's some construction around some parts of the lake because of bond measure passed a few years ago, so if you want to walk around the lake be careful.
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Yo te digo, el mundo esta jodido |
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DavisPhotog
Flyingphotog
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-26
Oakland, CA
clubs: | Do you mean Children's Fairlyland? My step-brother works there. Very clean place and seemingly a lot to do. |
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Boricua65
join:2002-01-26
Puerto Rico | Yeah, that's the one. At least I knew it started with an "F".
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Yo te digo, el mundo esta jodido |
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Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
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| reply to Goober
Great suggestions from everyone. I've decided that we'll stay in Union Square. It just seems that it's the better jumping off point to go do other things.
If we have the time, we'll certainly do some of the other things mentioned here. We'll have to spend a day with my cousin, so in reality we'll have 5 full days open. It doesn't seem like that much really.
Sticker shock is okay. So far this is only about 60% of the cost (air and hotel) we were expecting to incur for summer vacation since we were originally going to go to Hawaii. We got too worried, though, about the long flight and how our 7 year old would do. So, we've pushed HI off for a year or so. We figured we still wanted to come out this way though. |
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Warzau
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Naperville, IL
clubs:
| reply to Goober
said by Goober  :Thanks. Another question. Is seven days too long to spend there? Nope I think it's more than enough. Wife and I took public as well as the trolley to get to the usual sites. |
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Bink63
Tweet THIS
Premium
join:2002-10-06
Everywhere
| reply to RR Conductor
said by RR Conductor :you don't have to fight the traffic and horrible Bay Area drivers HEY!
I RESEMBLE that remark!
But, I was also a Chicago-Area cab driver so...
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Hopefully the Ministry Of Truth and Thought Police can sort this whole thing out.
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GO Cubs GO!!! |
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Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL | reply to Warzau
I was going to rent a car, but from everything that I've read it's more of a liability--an expensive one at that considering daily parking rates-- than a help. |
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kjgi
join:2009-05-14
Martinez, CA | Most hotels will charge you for parking. At the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf it was $40 a night. You can take Bart from SFO to downtown San Francisco and save some money. Get off at Powell St. and walk to Union Square. |
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Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL | Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Between rental and daily parking fees it turns into about $80/day to rent and park a car. |
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DavisPhotog
Flyingphotog
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-26
Oakland, CA
clubs:
| I've parked at that Sheraton lot before and it is amazingly ridiculous to park. Parking in the city, in general, is not cheap. If you don't mind using public transit, 'tis very effective.
Do you have an iPhone by any chance? I've gotten by in the city a number of times recently on MUNI using the "public transit" feature on the Maps application.
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I am the Flying Photog, see my website accordingly named Flyingphotog.com. User known formerly as zakooldude. |
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Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL | No iPhone. My Blackberry is going to have to do. I think we should do okay . . . famous last words.
I still have to figure out where we're going to stay. |
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