Ten tips for San Francisco tourists
— -- It happens every year: 16 million eager, wide-eyed tourists arrive at the Golden Gate—Tony Bennett crooning on their iPods, visions of Rice-a-Roni dancing in their heads, asking things like, "Which exit do I take to get to Alcatraz?" Never fear — the following tips will help you navigate Bay Area waters like a sourdough-eating, 38 Geary-riding pro.
1. Whither the weather. Yes, you're in California. No, you're not in Los Angeles—a lesson many a hapless tourist has learned the hard way, after arriving in town wearing tennis shorts in July and freezing his heinie off when the fog blows in. The city's famously finicky microclimates change from hour to hour and neighborhood to neighborhood, so the rule of thumb is: wear layers. Bring a t-shirt for lunch on sunny Potrero Hill; bring your down parka for sunset at Ocean Beach. And remember, if you're really dying for that balmy summer weather, just head over the Golden Gate Bridge, where the fog dares not go, and temperatures are easily 10-15 degrees warmer.
2. Where parking is an Olympic event. Depending on your frame of mind, downtown San Francisco's labyrinth of one-way streets can either be a Bullitt-style thrill ride, or a motorized Sisyphean hell. But there's only one way to look at the parking situation: She stinks. Street parking anywhere in town can be challenging, but in tourist-heavy areas such as Union Square and Fisherman's Wharf, it's an Olympic event. If you have the stamina to find a legal parking meter, it will cost you a quarter every 10 minutes, with limits enforced by meter maids who prey on the unsuspecting like starving seagulls at a corndog stand (tip within a tip: we're not kidding about the seagulls; guard your snack food with your life anywhere within eyeshot of the ocean).
Your best bet is a parking lot: The Stockton-Sutter Garage is a good value in the downtown area; the Pier 39 garage offers discounted validated parking near Fisherman's Wharf. Another option—don't drive. There is nary a crevice of this city that can't be reached by efficient public transit (bus, streetcar, cable car) at any time of day or night. One-, three-, and seven-day municipal transit passes offer unlimited rides on buses and streetcars (an additional $1 to ride cable cars). You can also buy an all-day passport ($11), which offers unlimited rides on cable cars until midnight. Both are available at the Visitor Information Center at Powell and Market streets and at the cable car termini.
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