Possible visit to San Francisco (San Jose, San Mateo: car rental, sales, rental)

[Samrai309]

Hi everyone--

Just a quick couple questions. I have some free airfare from frequent flying that I have to use before summer and I was thinking of coming to San Francisco for a few days in mid march. I would like to come for more but unfortunately I do not have the time. Since this will be my first time there with my fiancee, I have been researching a few things to do in the time we are there...some typical touristy stuff mixed in with a car rental one day to drive north to sonoma county or something. Anyway, I personally was interested in going to the Anchor Steam brewing company's brewery. Sometimes breweries are off the beaten path or are not major tourist spots. It appears to be on Mariposa St and supposedly has tours and tasting and stuff. Anyone know anything about it? Is it in an ok area or is it a s**thole? When I was in Boston years back we went to Samuel Adams brewery and that was an interesting neighborhood to say the least. Is Anchor Steam easy to get to? I planned to use the mass transit the day or two we were in the city but I am also still attempting to resaerch all those options. There are a lot of them and so far its all Greek to me. My hotel would be in South San Francisco, about 8 miles from the city, a few miles north of SFO and apparently they offer a free shuttle to BART and Caltrain stations to go downtown Any advice on these? Is one more of an express commuter type as opposed to easier local stops? Any one better than the other for me to use to get around? I had also planned to head down to Pier 39 and do the Alcatraz tour. Not sure of I am going to hit the Union Square area on this trip. Who knows when I will be back so I want to do a few things during this trip. Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer their two cents.

[sonarrat]

Anchor Steam is east of the Skyway, in the Potrero Hill district which is not a bad area though it is surrounded by areas that are a bit less nice. You can access it easily from the 22nd St. Caltrain station; it's a little bit too far from BART.

To answer our question about the difference between the train services, Caltrain is a traditional, heavy diesel train that runs from San Jose to San Francisco. BART is an electric subway/bullet train which serves the SFO and OAK airports, covers a few neighborhoods on the peninsula not served by Caltrain, and has no fewer than eight different stops in San Francisco proper (to Caltrain's three). It's also more expensive in San Mateo County than elsewhere, because we don't have a sales tax measure to pay for BART infrastructure, so it comes out of the tollgate.

Also, BART and Caltrain have only one shared station, at Millbrae. If you want to get between the BART station downtown and the Caltrain stations on the east side, you use the Muni T light-rail.

Above all, enjoy! San Francisco is always a nice place to visit, and the trip within the city is as much fun as anything else.

[ImRandy]

You'll love the brewery tour. The area is not bad at all IMO. If possible schedule your visit for the last tour on a Friday. That tour usually has an extended tasting session as some of the brewery workers also join the tasting.

[Samrai309]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Anchor Steam is east of the Skyway, in the Potrero Hill district which is not a bad area though it is surrounded by areas that are a bit less nice. You can access it easily from the 22nd St. Caltrain station; it's a little bit too far from BART.

To answer our question about the difference between the train services, Caltrain is a traditional, heavy diesel train that runs from San Jose to San Francisco. BART is an electric subway/bullet train which serves the SFO and OAK airports, covers a few neighborhoods on the peninsula not served by Caltrain, and has no fewer than eight different stops in San Francisco proper (to Caltrain's three). It's also more expensive in San Mateo County than elsewhere, because we don't have a sales tax measure to pay for BART infrastructure, so it comes out of the tollgate.

Also, BART and Caltrain have only one shared station, at Millbrae. If you want to get between the BART station downtown and the Caltrain stations on the east side, you use the Muni T light-rail.

Above all, enjoy! San Francisco is always a nice place to visit, and the trip within the city is as much fun as anything else.

Thanks for the input. Yeah I am trying to figure out this Muni thing. I originally thought it was a bus or above ground rail type car like th T in boston but it appears that there are a bunch of different things that run above ground from buses, to cable cars, to these train looking things I assumed were MUNI. Are they yellow? I couldn't figure out the map. It had numbers colors and routes going all over LOL. I guess its the same as trying to understand the NYC subway map if you never encountered it before. I will just have to get my bearings and names straight. Thanks for the post.

[Samrai309]

Originally Posted by ImRandy

You'll love the brewery tour. The area is not bad at all IMO. If possible schedule your visit for the last tour on a Friday. That tour usually has an extended tasting session as some of the brewery workers also join the tasting.

Thanks for the tip. I will keep my options open regarding Friday. Anything regarding an extended tasting session is alright in my book. Unfortunately I may only be around until Thurs evening but that is awesome the workers choose to grab a beer and hang out.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Samrai309

Thanks for the input. Yeah I am trying to figure out this Muni thing. I originally thought it was a bus or above ground rail type car like th T in boston but it appears that there are a bunch of different things that run above ground from buses, to cable cars, to these train looking things I assumed were MUNI. Are they yellow? I couldn't figure out the map. It had numbers colors and routes going all over LOL. I guess its the same as trying to understand the NYC subway map if you never encountered it before. I will just have to get my bearings and names straight. Thanks for the post.

The MUNI vehicles are all red and gray. And the MUNI Metro is a light-rail which runs both on surface streets (the T goes on 3rd Street through the Bayview, Potrero and Mission Bay) and subway tunnels, in shared stops with BART.

[bellalunatic]

You may want to consider staying in SF proper though South SF is kinda far from everything worth seeing, (except maybe the airport!) It will not give you the greatest impression of the Bay Area.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by bellalunatic

You may want to consider staying in SF proper though South SF is kinda far from everything worth seeing, (except maybe the airport!) It will not give you the greatest impression of the Bay Area.

Well, there's nothing wrong with South City. It just has little in common with San Francisco. In fact, it's in a different county. But Bertolucci's restaurant is well worth checking out at least!

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by Samrai309

Thanks for the input. Yeah I am trying to figure out this Muni thing. I originally thought it was a bus or above ground rail type car like th T in boston but it appears that there are a bunch of different things that run above ground from buses, to cable cars, to these train looking things I assumed were MUNI. Are they yellow? I couldn't figure out the map. It had numbers colors and routes going all over LOL. I guess its the same as trying to understand the NYC subway map if you never encountered it before. I will just have to get my bearings and names straight. Thanks for the post.

SF Muni Metro is has several lines, and it is kind of like the green line in the Boston T, while BART is more like the red line. I made a little map using google maps so you can see the different systems, Bay Area Transit Maps
If you zoom into SF, and then click on the Muni box, BART box, and Caltrain box, the stuff should show up. Caltrain doesn't go all the way downtown, but you can connect to the T line, and N line from there. Unfortunately I didn't put the cable car lines or the F line in there, the cable cars are pulled by a cable underground, while the F car line is a street car line that runs on Embarcadero from around pier 39, to Market St, then down Market St to Castro. There are three cable car lines, and they cost $5 to use, one of them goes from around Ghiradelli Sq to around Union Sq, another one goes down California (very steep), the third one start a little south of Fisherman's Wharf going down to Union Sq. I should probably add those for reference, shouldn't take too long.