Travel related questions (San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland: rental car, rentals, hotel)

[quixotic59]

We are considering a trip to San Francisco next summer(2012). Trying to decide on our dates and have some questions. Hoped the locals would lend their expertise!

1) During July, how bad would traffic be into San Francisco from the south during the afternoon on a Friday?

2) What is the general weather like during July in San Francisco?

3) Any opinions/observations on the Noe Valley area? (We are looking at a vacation rental for a few weeks)

4) If we base ourselves in Noe Valley, how accessible is the rest of the city by car?

5) Is BART as good as everyone says?

Also eagerly accepting any advice/recommendations for must do sightseeing and activities!

As a reference, we live in New York City, have visited L.A. and San Diego during the summer, and do not have children.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[bmw335xi]

1. lol... from what city? 280 usually never has traffic. 101 has traffic during rush hour.

2. The weather around San Francisco will be warm/hot and sunny. San Francisco will vary in temperature and weather, depending on the fog. If the fog is heavy, it will be in the 50's, 60's. If the fog is away it will be in the 70's. Generally, the fog leaves Union Square area in the morning and comes back at night. The fog is usually always around Ocean Beach, so the further East you are the less foggy.

3. There are much better districts for tourists.

4. San Francisco is compact, so anywhere in the city is easily accessible by car. The question is whether the residence has parking.

5. BART is good, but Metro Light Rail is much better. If you buy a MUNI Pass it will be good for metro, buses, cable cars, trolleys etc. Where as BART is separate.

[mayorhaggar]

1) shouldn't be bad

2) it will be windy and probably around 65-70 during the day. Bring sweaters in case it's particularly cold, weather can change quickly and if you go further west in SF it gets colder as you get closer to the beach. Also it gets cold at night anywhere in or around SF unless there's a heat wave which is rare.

3) It's not really a tourist area but if you want to experience life in SF it's a nice quiet place. Plenty of restaurants on 24th though honestly it could use a few more, but it's not far from other areas like the Mission that have a lot more restaurants.

4) It's easy to get around SF by car, but the problem is parking. Unless you're in the western part of the city, it's very hard to park, especially in the Mission or Noe Valley or the Northeastern 1/4th of the city. You will probably want to ditch the car and just ride public transit everywhere so you don't have to pay for parking or drive around trying to find a parking space. I'm guessing you're planning on flying to SFO (the SF airport) then renting a car. I would recommend just taking BART from SFO to Noe Valley and not renting a car. If you want to go outside of SF, then definitely having a car is very useful especially if you want to go somewhere like Marin, then I would definitely advise getting a car. But if you just want to hang around SF then don't bother, you wouldn't really want to rent a car if you were visiting NYC and just hanging around Manhattan or Brooklyn. Maybe you think SF is like LA or San Diego but it's not, public transit isn't great in SF but it's definitely better than driving and having to worry about parking. SF is a small dense city and it's pretty easy to get around either by walking or taking public transit.

5) BART is very fast and pretty reliable compared to Muni buses or light rail but it only has one route through SF. It's good for getting from the Mission or Noe Valley to downtown SF, or for going to Oakland or Berkeley or the airport. Otherwise you'll want to use Muni buses or light rail to get around SF.

[quixotic59]

Thanks! Actually, we will be driving up from LA after a stop in Morro Bay, so we will have the car with us anyway. We are looking at Noe Valley because, frankly, that area has the more reasonably priced vacation rentals. We are planning a 3 week stay, too long for a hotel. Also, as you mentioned, the city seems relatively compact and easily accessible. We want the car so we can also explore beyond San Francisco itself a little.

Seems like we misunderstood BART. We imagined it to be similar to NYC subways. Have to do a little more reseach on that.

Sounds like we don't really have to worry about the 80-90's temps too much. I guess A/C is not a big worry?

[jade408]

Originally Posted by quixotic59

Seems like we misunderstood BART. We imagined it to be similar to NYC subways. Have to do a little more reseach on that.

Not so much, it acts more subway like (with not many stops) in the urban areas and commuter rail outside. It is pretty user friendly, there aren't many directions or lines. ANd the lines really diverge outside of Berkeley/Oakland/SF. Most lines go through all 3 cities. Transit is the best way to get around SF, unless you want to spend 45 minutes looking for parking at each stop.

For example, this week I had a meeting near PacBell Park. I took transit from Oakland. It took 35 minutes total. A few of my coworkers drove. To get from the foot of the bridge to the Park area (it was game day) and find a parking spot took the other people who drove 1 hour plus. Some people took a cab from union square and it took 45 minutes to go the 1.5 miles to the meeting place.

Sounds like we don't really have to worry about the 80-90's temps too much. I guess A/C is not a big worry?

Ha! Most residences in SF don't even include it. Even in new buildings AC is pretty rare in SF, Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley and quite a few inner Bay Area cities.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by quixotic59

Thanks! Actually, we will be driving up from LA after a stop in Morro Bay, so we will have the car with us anyway.

Well just make sure you can keep the car somewhere. Parking in Noe Valley can be tough and there's street cleaning several times a week so you'd need to move it every few days even if you never need to drive anywhere. And if you're renting a car from LA you're probably just going to park it in Noe Valley and never use it again until you leave SF.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by quixotic59

Thanks! Actually, we will be driving up from LA after a stop in Morro Bay, so we will have the car with us anyway. We are looking at Noe Valley because, frankly, that area has the more reasonably priced vacation rentals. We are planning a 3 week stay, too long for a hotel. Also, as you mentioned, the city seems relatively compact and easily accessible. We want the car so we can also explore beyond San Francisco itself a little.

Seems like we misunderstood BART. We imagined it to be similar to NYC subways. Have to do a little more reseach on that.

Sounds like we don't really have to worry about the 80-90's temps too much. I guess A/C is not a big worry?

1. After Morro Bay, will you continue up CA-1? If you do, make sure you check out the Elephant Seals at San Simeon Bay.

2. A car is great to visit Napa, Sonoma, Sausalito, Stinson Beach, Mt. Tamalpais, and even Lake Tahoe or Yosemite National Park. However, parking is a pain in the butt. I'd make sure your place offers parking. If not just rent a car for a week, just not the entire 3 weeks. If you stay somewhere like North Beach or Nob Hill, you won't need a car, which would save you money and might offset the increase in price. You can visit Napa etc on a tour bus/van or just rent a car for a few nights.

3. BART is similar to a Subway. However, it's more used for people commuting to and from San Francisco or commuting to and from the outskirts of San Francisco to the center. Metro Light Rail and Muni Buses cover much more area in the actual city. BART will take you straight to Union Square though

[Marv101]

BART is definitely the best way to get around SF; it covers the city and surrounding areas very well, and you won't have to worry about looking for non-existent parking spaces, not to mention the exorbitant parking rates.

Also, when you arrive in LA, absolutely positively DO NOT rent a car at LAX (or 99% of the other major airports in the country); the junk fees are ridiculous, and can easily add lots of $$$$ ($100.00+) to the cost of your rental car.

If you're a member of the Auto Club, Hertz Local Edition, their counterpart to Enterprise, has plenty of locations where you'll save a lot of money, and Hertz has a much nicer variety of cars in their fleet than any of the other major car rental companies.

San Francsico weather in July is usually very nice, although it can be windy at times.