Will Visit this Yr w/o a car...Last there in 2009...Info Wanted Please (San Francisco: 2015)

[Forever Blue]

I'll be flying to SF for 3 days/2 nts sometime in 2015..probably in the first 1/2 of the year. I won't have a car & I don't yet know what area of the city I'll be staying in. I haven't visited since 2009 & I still of course didn't see everything I wanted to.

I plan to do the touristy things again since I'll be traveling w/ someone who's never been before. Please tell me the highlights of what to do & if anything's new since 2009. I really want to now how the public transit works. I never tried the services of Uber. Is it worth trying? Thanks a lot! (I'll be searching the other threads in the meantime.)

[comingbacktocali]

google MUNI. you can find system maps and fare info. you may want to buy an unlimited 3 day passport which is good for unlim muni rides and cable cars. it is NOT good for BART (which you may need to use to get from airport to SF or outside of SF)

uber is just a 'taxi' service you access via an app on your phone. you would use it any time you want point to point driving if not using public transport. generally cheaper and more convenient than a regular cab.

as far as tourist destinations, there are lots of websites you can use to understand what is available (museums, parks, nightlife, history, shopping, etc).

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I'd probably budget for taxis, myself, unless BART would be convenient, or you just want to ride a trolley car. I get frustrated with how much time is eaten up when you have to wait for buses, make connections, etc. Just my preference.

Something I never got tired of doing, even though I lived in the Bay Area a good deal of my life, is the lunch or dinner cruises. The city is so beautiful from the water, and it's fun to see Alcatraz up close and go under the Golden Gate bridge. It was something I'd do once in a while, even when I lived there.

Another thing I really enjoyed was something a company I worked for did as an employee's day out. They hired one of those buses that are open like a cable car, that takes you through a bunch of different neighborhoods in SF. I saw more of SF on that day than I ever did driving there for fun. No worries about parking or figuring out where you are, etc. The one we took stopped often, too, for shopping, etc.

Here are a couple of links of what I'm talking about:

http://san-francisco.tourcorp.com/

San Francisco Dining Cruises | San Francisco Dinner and Brunch Cruises | Hornblower

Alcatraz Discovery Lunch Cruise

[Forever Blue]

Thanks a lot.