Your Guide to The San Francisco Bay Area
Here is my attempt at consolidating the most important information to make your visit to the City by the Water as incredible as possible:
Always Keep Money on Your Clipper Card: Take it from me- there is nothing worse than barely missing your bus or train because you had to stop to put money on your Clipper card. Recently, BART upgraded its system to accept chip credit/debit cards, but as of December 2025 that feature has still not been rolled out on Muni.
And On That Note, Learn Our Public Transit: It is more than likely that you will take public transit while visiting the City by the Water, unlike the majority of American cities. Much of the city isn’t designed for cars, and parking can be almost impossible in certain areas (here is my advice for parking if you do bring a car). Yes, cable cars count as public transit. By the way, waiting in line for the cable car at Powell and Market isn’t a San Francisco rite of passage: here is my advice for hopping on a cable car.
SFO (San Francisco International Airport) is in San Bruno And OAK is in Oakland: Neither are in the City of San Francisco but both are a short BART ride away. OAK is north of the City and SFO is to the south. Rideshare is also an option to get into the city of San Francisco from the airport. I would not recommend flying into or out of San Jose Airport if you are staying in San Francisco proper.
I Wouldn’t Stay At The Hilton: I never understood the appeal of The Hilton; who cares how big it is? The Palace Hotel, Four Seasons, Beacon Grand, St. Francis Hotel, JW Marriott, Marriott Marquis, Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt are all in similar price ranges to the Hilton and not on the outskirts of the Tenderloin! Don’t you want to feel comfortable carrying your shopping bags back to your hotel?
Wanna Catch A Game Or Show? Here’s my advice for the most popular venues:
Levi’s Stadium: Milpitas BART station
Chase Center: There are several public transit options to get you pretty close (30 Stockton, 45 Union and the two metro trains I’ll mention shortly) but many people like to walk down Take the T train or the N train after the event ends to get out of the area as quickly as possible.
Coliseum: The Coliseum BART station has a bridge connecting to the event center. I wouldn’t recommend parking in Oakland and walking to the Coliseum.
Bill Graham: Civic Center BART (and metro station) is very close (for the J, K, L, M, N, or T metro trains) but so is Market St (F train and 9, 5, 7 buses)
Oracle Park: Follow the same instructions for the Chase Center.
Kezar Stadium: Its actually not too bad to find parking in the nearby inner Sunset or Haight Ashbury but to not have to worry about that, I’d take the N train, or 5 or 7 Muni buses.
Want the best ice cream in San Francisco? Head right on over to Mitchell’s in the Mission District- YES the line is totally worth the wait, but don’t forget to grab a number! The mango flavor is particularly exquisite.
I hope you found this list helpful! If you’re feeling generous, you can buy me a cup of coffee here. Thanks in advance!
6. The Food Scene is Phenomenal. Here’s my advice:
Mission District: the best food. Yep, I’m very biased. If the line is too long as La Taqueria, consider El Farolito or La Oaxena for burritos. You can find literally every cuisine on Valencia Street, and in my opinion, that is the most vibrant (and safe) street to walk around exploring the Mission District.
The Tenderloin and Richmond Districts have the best Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and other Asian cuisines. I’d say the best dim sum is also found in the Richmond.
The Inner Sunset also has a great variety of places to eat (dinner and lunch) while the Marina, Noe Valley, and Cow Hollow have the best brunch spots.
7. So You Think You Can Dance (And Drink)? Here’s some advice (fair warning, I haven’t had a drink since 2020 but I do run several pub crawls in different neighborhoods):
Mission District: El Rio, Mother, and Teeth are all cool, chill places. I’d avoid Jolene’s and Arcana.
Castro District: The Mix, Badlands, Beaux and Q Bar are great options.
Russian Hill: I’d avoid Shanghai Kelly’s.
The Marina: Mauna Loa, White Rabbit, and Blue Light are cool places. I’d avoid Rick & Roxy’s.
Chinatown: Li Po and Lion’s Den are both awesome watering holes.
Aunt Charlie’s in the Tenderloin, Irish Times in the Financial District, and Vesuvio in North Beach are all iconic places totally worth the hype.
8. California Does Parks Really Well. San Francisco has around 300! Here are my favorites:
Mission Dolores Park
Golden Gate Park
Washington Square Park
The Presidio
Presidio Tunnel Top Park
Alamo Square Park
9. Check Out The Architecture: San Francisco is FILLED with incredible architecture. Look up the buildings designed by the incredible Julia Morgan, and all of the publicly owned private open spaces (POPO’s) in downtown San Francisco. Believe it or not, the Tenderloin has amazing architecture and actually contains the largest concentration of nationally registered historic sites in the City.
10. Visit A Museum. These are totally worth the hype:
MOAD (South of Market; SoMa): Museum of the African Diaspora
Maritime Museum (Fisherman’s Wharf)
Exploratorium (Embarcadero)
MoMa (South of Market, SoMa): Museum of Modern Art
GLBT History Museum (Castro District)
Legion of Honor (Outer Richmond District)
The best way to explore the City is with a guided tour! Head on over here to learn about the different tours led by a sixth-generation San Francisco native