San Francisco Travel Guide @ Julie Falconer

www.atravelpath.com

 

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Who Should Visit San Francisco?

02:30 How Long Should Someone Visit San Francisco?

03:30 When is the Best Time of Year to Visit San Francisco?

04:50 What is the Best Mode of Transportation in San Francisco?

10:15 What is the Nightlife Like in San Francisco?

11:03 Favorite Food Spots in San Francisco

13:40 What are 3 Things You Should Pack to San Francsico?

15:10 What are 2 Complaints Someone May Have About San Francisco?

17:30 What is 1 Thing You Can’t Leave San Francisco Without Doing?

 

Julie’s Social (California Wayfaring)

https://californiawayfaring.com/

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Julie’s San Francisco Blogs:

13 Movies Set in San Francisco

2-Day San Francisco Itinerary

5-Day San Francisco Itinerary

 

Ways to Stay:

Hotel Triton

Airbnb

TrustedHouseSitters

Presido’s Rob Hill Campground

Angel Island Camping

 

Transportation

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)

Crissy Beach Parking

 

To Do

Golden Gate Park

Adventure Cat Boat Charter

Japanese Tea Garden

 

Places to Eat

Zushi Puzzle

Ferry Plaza Famers Market

Chowders

 

Related Blogs:

Julies recap from Part 1:https://atravelpath.com/travel-blog-tips/

 

 

 

*All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.

 

 

Transcript from YouTube:

all right Julie welcome back to the travel tips segment of the podcast thank you so in case anybody did not tune in to part one um Julie has been blogging for only 21 years she's been a professional blogger it was a lightning round on anybody looking to get into the blog space I encourage you to listen to that she shared her story um today travel tips we're talking about one particular destination so Julie where are we talking about today we are talking about San Francisco California fantastic now what made you decide to want to share this location today well I was born and raised just south of San Francisco and after college I lived in San Francisco for three years and in the last two years I've been splitting my time between London and San Francisco so the city is close to my heart and I absolutely love it wonderful so obviously San Francisco is a city there's so much to do but for someone who likes what type of experience who should go to San Francisco and where should they go that's a great question San Francisco can be for anyone and that's one of the things I love about it because if you just love you know Urban spaces and cities you've got everything you could possibly want here we've got great restaurants we've got great sightseeing uh we got the water we've got you know everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to alcatra a cool you know street art anything you want you can find it here but if you're one of those people who's like H like I like to be in a city but you know I need my nature fixed and I I like to be outdoors more we have that too so we have one of the if not the largest uh Park of any city in the US um in Golden Gate Park we've got just across the Golden Gate Bridge we've got the Marin Headlands um you don't even need a car you can even take the bus out there or a bike out there and you can go for miles and miles along the coast um so what I love about San Francisco is we have this amazing balance between the city and nature and it's really easy to do both so I think it's kind of has something for everybody and every different type of traveler if you're a foodie kind of you have wine we've got wine country right you know just north of the city um if you like to get out on the water you can go whale watching you can go sailing uh there's just a lot to do here absolutely we can vouch for that we only spent about probably 24 hours in San Francisco that's the only time we've been there however we packed in um the Japanese tea garden we went to um Pier 39 uh we got on the water we went to the bridge so like you said it does have something for everybody and we got to experience a lot of that in just 24 hours but really to get that full experience how long do you think someone should plan their trip for you know the good thing is you don't need a huge amount of time San Francisco as a city is actually not very big because it's on a peninsula and it's only 7 Miles by seven miles so there's a lot that you can do in a short amount of time obviously like I said I I think it's amazing to go beyond the city and see things like the Marine Headlands or Mir Woods or wine country or whatever else you want to see so I would say you know at least three days it gives you enough time to see the city and do a little bit outside of the city and you can go at a relaxed pace and you don't have to feel like you you know morning noon and night you're kind of at this grueling sightseeing non-stop schedule uh but it gives you enough time to see everything you you maybe need to see and then a few things that you can take your time on um you know ideally if you have more time great but three days is probably a good amount of time if you're on a on a schedule and you have other places to go and things to see perfect so you can really take you know that extended weekend getaway and enjoy the city absolutely awesome and then what about the best time of year what would you say definitely October um San Francisco is one of those places where people think oh it's California so it's just sunny and warm all year uh what they don't realize is in the summer we get a lot of fog and so it can be very very cold in the Summers and very foggy to the point where you can't even see the Golden Gate Bridge at all I always recommend October because it tends to be the best weather of the year it's usually warm it's usually clear it's usually Sunny Winters can be rainy or sunny but October is fairly consistent and so I always tell people if you come to San Francisco come in October yeah I actually think we were there in October and it was perfect weather so the first day yeah we we've heard the nickname fogust yes yes fogust is real it's very real and a lot of people come to San Francisco not realizing that and it it's it can be a surprise yes the first day were there um we went to see the bridge and it was just complete fog I think we got a little tiny glimpse of it but um day two in the afternoon fog cleared up and we had um completely unobstructed views of the bridge so there you go October is the time to go that's great now switching over to Transportation a little bit as far as flying in for that quick weekend if you need to rent a car like what do you think is the best mode of transportation and how do you suggest most people get to and from San Francisco yeah it really depends on what you want you can rent a car uh that gives you freedom to drive around the city or drive you know again up into the mine Headlands or Mir Woods or wine country if you want to but you don't need one um there is a train that goes from the airport into the city center both from San Francisco Airport and Oakland airport it's called BART Bay Area Rapid Transit um and it'll take you right into the Heart of the City um there are buses that will take you around the city or again it's fairly small you can walk or you can cycle um do be prepared for the hills um you can also take the cable cars which is super iconic and fun and even as locals we take the cable cars when we want to just have a good time and just do something different um so you again you don't need a car a lot of people will rent bikes and cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and down to saalo and then take the ferry back so you don't need a car for that um I I like to say it's really really up to you how much control you want and how much you want to do and see in what way you want to do it one thing I'll add to that is I'm not sure if it's a California thing or just the fact that we were from New England or we were driving all over the middle of nowhere out west before we got to California but it threw me off a little bit when we got to San Francisco like the way the street lights were positioned it seemed like they were like farther away than I was used to and it took me like a minute to get used to that I don't know if that's like a californ like I said a California thing or not but that took me a while little while to adjust to and then just parking we had a 21t van and trying to find parking for it was it took a little bit of time yeah yeah San Francisco parking can be a difficult thing um so yeah definitely definitely recommend rening a smaller car than not if you are going to rent a car um I don't I haven't noticed that about the the street lights or the the stop lights but I will definitely make a mental note to to think about that yeah I don't know what it was I'm not sure if we're used to like back home the lights are on strings are on poles so they're like above the roadway but out there they're on like pedestals right yeah that's true huh yeah so maybe it's maybe we're just weird I don't know but it took me like a minute to get used to I think we had also been in the middle of nowhere where there probably weren't any stop lights and there was no traffic so the first stop light we saw yeah yeah exactly it's as you're going cross country all the different stop signs positioning um it definitely is a culture shock sometimes so just be careful when you're driving didn't hit anybody but just took me a little while to get used to um I will say for anyone though that is you know a camper or a van life person for us what we didn't plan on is the challenging parking being in a huge vehicle I kind of thought we could find a parking garage but our van was too tall um but down by the pier there was a lot of not parking garages but you know parking areas and we found some luck down there so if anyone has a bigger vehicle head down towards the pier yeah that's great and um there's definitely a big parking lot at Chrissy beach too um I'm not sure about side requirements there but there's no height requirement so that's something you could potentially look into too very good perfect now um moving over to the lodging aspect do you have any hotels that you love is it an Airbnb friendly city that you kind of suggest people do that to get a better more authentic experience yeah so I always have stayed at Hotel Triton which is right near Union Square Downtown it's kind of on the kind of border of the financial district Union Square and Chinatown so you are in a great location um you're near the water you're near all of the sort of downtown attractions um you're not too far from the cable cars and it's just a it's a great Hotel nice rooms um and you're you're kind of set they do a even a happy hour every night with wine and and whatnot for guests which is fun in terms of airbnbs there's definitely that's an option um they're not cheap I think that's one thing with anything in San Francisco you're going to find it is not an inexpensive City so do brace yourself but there are definitely airbnbs that you can stay in in San Francisco um again it's a city you can do trusted house sitters if you're on a budget and you don't want to pay San Francisco prices for accommodation you can definitely look into alternative kind of ways um we do even have a campground in the precidio uh it gets booked up way in advance so make sure to plan well ahead but you can camp here if you want to um and there are other uh options if you want to uh Camp you can even camp on Angel Island um which is an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay again gets booked up way in advance but it's certainly something if you're up for something totally kind of different spending a night on an island uh is a pretty cool experience too yeah very cool actually hadn't heard of that so if we work our way back with the camper then that's definitely something we're to look into and good note on the um doing it in advanced because I think sometimes when you're traveling especially if you're on these road trips you want to be a little more spur of the moment but especially with cities where there's less camping options definitely something you want to look into to prior to uh your arrival yeah for sure now it is a city so obviously there's a night life what do you like to do you know once the sun goes down yeah there's definitely great amazing restaurants the food in San Francisco is hard to beat and then there's really good night life um whether you want a dive bar or a high-end bar or you want to go out all night dancing or you want to speak easy uh the one thing I will say is well there's a great variety San Francisco is not a l night City so it's you're not going to be at places most places till you know 4: 5 6: a.m. um most things close by two at the latest even on the weekends so do just sort of mentally prepare yourself for that if you are more of a late night person yeah that's okay because there's so much to do in the daytime so it's probably good that forces you to bed a little bit earlier to Rally up in the morning because like you said so many good um breakfast spots and of course you know all the fun activities on the water definitely now just transitioning into food in San Francisco do you have any favorite spots that you want to mention you think if somebody goes they should check out absolutely my favorite spot is Zushi Puzzle which is a sushi restaurant it's it's one of those places I always tell people don't judge it until you've eaten there because you're going to walk in and think where did she send me it's on this sort of random street um the decor is fine but it's nothing wow worthy uh but the food is so good and you should order from the special menu with the special roles uh the Salesforce role is amazing the butterface the Wasabi Tom you can tell I've been there a million times and I always send people there because it is so good so it's definitely something to try if you have a big budget or you want to totally Splurge sit at the sushi counter with Chef Roger and do the Omas menu where he just like puts food in front of you all night and it's amazing too but even if you just do the regular experience it's it's delicious tell Chef Roger Julie sent you right do you have any other food spots you want to mention I think the other food spot I would mention is more General but it's the uh fairy Plaza Farmers Market which is a farmers market at the ferry building right on the waterfront uh the main Market day is Saturday and it has a million food stalls selling everything from fresh produce to prepared foods to meals there's shops inside selling cupcakes and all kinds of other things and it is just it's like a food Paradise um and the stall where I always get breakfast is called Prima Vera and I get the Chila keyce and I sit if it's a sunny day sit outside facing the Bay Bridge and just watching the world go by and it's amazing awesome how about the uh the sourdough chowder is that a native dish to San Francisco I think so um that's what everyone says I as a local I I mean I think I had it as a kid I it's not something I eat on a regular basis but it is something that's very popular and it's certainly worth having if you like that um same thing with dungeon as crab in the winter uh it comes into season and it's absolutely delicious and um it's a great thing to to eat if you want to do Seafood uh especially down by the Waterfront maybe it's more of a touristy thing when I went there hope when I went there we got the Chowder because it's you know the San Francisco thing to do and uh I went there a long time with my family a while back and we did the same thing the Chowder Alcatraz and just all the San Francisco tourist things yeah yeah no I think it's great I mean I love clam chowder in a bread bll I just the the calorie count you can't have it every day yeah exactly you can't have it every day but it's definitely something to have if you like it yeah definitely something to have you're uh in the pi in San Francisco yeah for sure well great I guess we'll transition to the three two one Countdown the final three questions of the podcast what are three things somebody needs to pack when they go to San Francisco good question so I would say number one is good walking shoes because it is a walkable City but obviously again there are Hills so you know make sure sure your feet are comfortable um number two especially if you come in the summer bring warm clothes uh but at kind of any time of year you just never know um the fog can roll in when you least expect it or it can be cold in the mornings and evenings even if it's warm during the day so uh don't think oh I'm going to California I'll just bring some T-shirts uh definitely pack layers um and number three is uh pack an open mind and a positive attitude um San Francisco for some reason media is loving to hate San Francisco right now and a lot of people kind of come in with this mentality of it's going to be terrible or it's going to know I'm going to have to fight my way through this Doom Loop or whatever they're calling it um San Francisco is amazing don't listen to what they say uh it has its issues like every city does but it's a great City and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised so just come with an open mind we made that mistake when we went out there with my family a long time ago we thought it was going to be a sunny San Francisco and it was July and I think it was like 60 degrees foggy so that's really good advice to to bring warm clothes if you're going in the summer so just picky backing off that point you just made there what are two complaints or things people should be prepared for before venturing to San Francisco I think kind of dovetailing on that just be prepared for any weather um it's it's unpredictable uh at best and you can get surprises either way um and I think also be prepared for uh the Hills I think even for me when I come back from London and I've been away for a while I'm always like oh my gosh these Hills are real um so just don't be intimidated by them H you you'll walk off all those good sushi calories but it is something where you need to to be prepared there's some steep hills here yeah and now you just mentioned kind of like the role the media plays and how San Francisco San Francisco can get kind of a bad rap I know when we first drove in there we were at the Golden Gate Overlook and there were so many signs like lock your valubles in your car lock your car and it definitely we we had heard of you know all of the the stigmas associated with San Francisco and it and that definitely we were a little bit alarmed at first because we were not used to that um I will say in our the one day we spent there we didn't see like the 10 cities or the people sleeping in the street we didn't witness that I don't know if it was like just the area that we went to but um as far as we're concerned like where we ventured to it was a beautiful city yeah absolutely and I think like you said a lot of it's where you go um there is a homeless problem in San Francisco but there always has been uh I think the media sort of wants everyone to think it's brand new but it's it's been there forever it probably will be for for a long time if not forever more um it's mostly concentrated downtown so if you're downtown you're going to see more of that than if you're in other parts of the city um it's just something it's a fact of life in in San Francisco there are yeah break-ins are a thing um they were worse a few years ago because uh there was a policy where they sort of decriminalized smaller crimes and so crime skyrocketed and then they stopped doing that and now things seem to be getting better um I'd still recommend locking your car don't leave valuables um I do think that's a good thing to do in any City though um but definitely uh it's something to be wise about don't give anyone a reason to break into your car if you have one well I mean you're living there and you've been to 112 other countries that choose from another city so CLE you feel safe there all right Julie one last question we've talked about a lot of things in San Francisco but what is one thing if you could pick that you have to do before leaving San Francisco for me it's seeing the Golden Gate Bridge uh it's just one of those every time I drive across it every time I see it I just think oh man this never gets old it's just so stunning and so beautiful and the whole landscape around it whether you're on the bridge or you see it from the beach or you see it from any other perspective on a boat what have you it's just absolutely amazing it is a sight to see and we did the boat tour so the second day we were there it was such a beautiful day we're like you know what we we need to like make the most of this so we went to Pier 39 and hopped on one of the boat charters drove underneath it it was a you know shiny day it was beautiful we went around Alcatraz kind of regretted not going into it would that be like a top five or top three thing to do is a tour Alcatraz do you think if you have time I would definitely recommend it the audio tour is amazing they even have former prisoner is doing part of the narration for the audio tour so it's really really good and not only do you get to see alcatra and learn about it but you also get amazing views of the city from it and from the boat ride like you said just a fairy to and from so it's definitely worth a visit if you can and I did it when I went there a long time ago and we talk about doing it like gu so we didn't do it we bought the movie escape from Alat Tres after that and just watched it and we're like man I wish we went that's a great movie yeah yeah so that's my recommendation if you're going to go to San Francisco go watch the movie first cuz it'll definitely it'll make you want to go yes for sure a lot of history there yeah yeah actually on my California wafering blog I even have a a blog post about the best San Francisco movies to watch so that's definitely a list to look at if you want some inspiration great yeah we'll link that Below in any other blogs I'm not going to list all of them because already have a million blogs in San Francisco but we'll link some blogs in San Francisco below from Julie and one last time Julie where can our audience find out more about you you can find more about me at aady in london.com and California wearing. comom and all the social media platforms where I'm the same thing there awesome all right Julie thanks again thank you