Your Best Hacks for San Francisco
You’ve given us your best tips and tricks for San Francisco – not just how to visit, but how to make a living there. For a city on the west coast of less than a million people, San Francisco is extraordinarily complex, diverse, and resilient. Here are our favorite tips.
For visitors
The most popular hack method: Layer up. The weather in San Francisco varies greatly from area to area and is never as hot as Los Angeles. Sweaters and jackets are useful all year round.
Where to go in San Francisco
This is a great San Francisco itinerary for both locals and visitors alike:
I usually skip the Market Street stroll and take trolley F instead. After breakfast at the 24-hour Orphan Andy’s , ten steps from the end of Line F. While at Fisherman’s Wharf, enjoy the vintage pre-electronic arcade games at Musée Mechanique .
If you have energy (or on the second day), continue walking through the Presidio to the End of the Earth. As Kevin Baker says:
Check out the Sutro Baths. A 1920s coastal bath that was abandoned and the ruins partially collapsed into the sea. Looks amazing, especially on foggy days, and the ruins are allowed to climb without limits.
Then grab a clam chowder at Louis’ Restaurant, which is a lot cheaper than the trendy Cliff House located on the hill.
Read the six-part verymenychefs guide that talks about abandoned neighborhoods and farmers’ markets, but especially this:
Coffee! Even if you’re not a coffee lover, San Francisco has a myriad of coffee options, and they’re all good in their own way. Skip Blue Bottle and Philz and move on to more interesting ones like Sightglass or Ritual. Dandelion Chocolate and The Mill use Four Barrels and cheerfully spin their drinks. A significant proportion of the stores you go to sell their beans, so if you like them, buy a pack. Don’t go to the blue bottle.
GG notes several underrated videos:
Some of my favorite non-obvious places to go out of town are the historic ships docked at Hyde Street Pier, the Haas-Lilienthal House, and the chance to see hang gliders at Fort Funston. Plus, people who have been to SFMOMA before may not realize that it has finally reopened and is about three times its size and is definitely worth seeing.
Zaggy recommends using the cable car to California Street above the touristy Powell Line. But first, go to the Ferry Building and prepare food at different racks:
The Ferry Plaza wine merchant will allow you to bring food from other vendors in the Ferry Building (I was there last time anyway). Hog Island Oysters are another must-see in the Ferry Building. Sit down at the inside oyster bar and sip on a dozen Marin Miyagi oysters with crispy white wine.
xozai has written an extensive guide to visiting San Francisco with a long list of recommended places, also available as a blog post . They remind you to pre-book for Alcatraz and praise Golden Gate Park. (After three years in San Francisco and eight in New York, I would still have preferred the lush and elaborate Golden Gate over Avenue or Central Park.)
Where to go beyond science fiction
Llaallil has several East Bay recommendations:
I always visit my old favorite places – Rasputin and Amoeba Music on the Telegraph in Berkeley, and Fentons Ice Cream and Lois the Pie Queen in Auckland (the latter is one of the few places where I order cereals ).
the spirit forks further:
Bypass
ConesOfFunshire breaks all the ways to get around the city:
bikes_with_swans adds:
Take the ferries. Especially if you want to get between pier 39 and the ferry building, it’s cheap and fast. Do not take the ferry to Auckland, the Auckland pier is not well located in the city, instead, take the BART and pray with everyone that there will be no earthquake. Ferries exist to move people if bridges and tunnels are closed in the event of an earthquake, so they are rarely crowded and they have a bar.
And get free parking at Fisherman’s Wharf:
Think East Coastal, Act Local
“People in San Francisco came to everything for sure or they are late,” says VTorresComedy . So if you come to the event early, you will get great seats. Kavi Reddy adds:
For local
Hacker Noon via stervyc has a guide on destroying your SF Transit Clipper Card and embedding the chip in your wearable device .
According to Archduke Franz (and my own experience), San Francisco is a “city with three steps”:
Remember ME’s advice the next time you rent a car:
If you are driving, remember to TURN THESE WHEELS ON THE MOUNTAIN !! One ticket is enough, but heck it’s harsh to forget and the hills in San Francisco are pretty common.
And use SpotHero to find paid parking:
stalkinghorse suggests using the MUNI transit honor system:
The unlimited monthly Muni pass is worth it, but toll-evading cops only work in the city center. This means that if you are on the avenue or in almost any part of the city other than the city center, you drive for free (illegal).
Rhodey Knows How To Drink:
Sftechperson has a list of quick tips for locals:
Read the entire thread to find out more , post your own San Francisco tips below, and look forward to next week as we head off the coast into the desert.
Previously on Hack Your City: New York.