Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
11
The Essentials
of Planning
B
ECAUSE SAN FRANCISCO IS SUCH AN IMMENSELY POPULAR CITY WITH
domestic and international visitors alike, you won't find many obstacles to visit-
ing it easily. In fact, because of excellent transportation services, getting the best
of San Francisco is easier than in lots of other places. Its weather, too, is mostly
agreeable and mild, its calendar is full of interesting events, and the best attrac-
tions beckon year-round. But you may have important questions, such as how to
get in from the airport and which airlines have good prices, so for those matters,
there's this chapter, designed to help you plan.
Throughout this topic, I've included the websites of all the attractions, malls,
restaurants, and tour operators so that you can take a little time to plan ahead.
Don't forget that the Bay Area is where the dot-com boom hit most, and so com-
pared to the rest of America, companies are much more ahead of the curve than
the national average. You'll find pretty much every establishment and attraction
maintains a website stocked with useful information.
The San Francisco Convention & Visitors' Bureau
(www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com)
lists tons of restaurants and hotels, but what's particularly useful is its calendar of
upcoming events. You may not find it to be comprehensive mostly because it's one
of those offices that is sponsored by its members (albeit some 1,800 of them—plenty
to get you started) and not by tax dollars, so its recommendations stick to its mem-
bership and not to all available options. The CVB runs a storefront which it calls
Visitor Information Services
(900 Market St., at Powell;
%
415/391-2000;
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat-Sun 9am-3pm, closed Sun Nov-Apr)
that supplies informa-
tion and reservations to drop-in tourists. It's a great place to stock up on leaflets.
You'll find it in the sunken plaza that feeds into the Powell BART station beside the
cable-car turnaround.
A rich source for events that you might not otherwise hear about is
SF Weekly,
a free giveaway paper available around town. You can also find it, and its event
listings, online at
www.sfweekly.com.
It even has a blog about restaurants, deals on
meals, and other fun developments.
The Examiner
is another free paper, although
its listings section is not as comprehensive:
www.examiner.com/san_francisco.
WHEN TO VISIT
The table below charts seasonal weather shifts, although in San Francisco, the
forecast can change moment to moment and neighborhood to neighborhood.
San Francisco's Average Temperature & Rainfall
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Temp (°F)
43-56 46-59 47-61 48-64 51-67 53-70 55-71 56-72 55-73 52-70 48-62 43-56
Temp. (°C)
6-13
8-15
8-16
9-18 11-19 12-21 13-22 13-22 13-23 11-21 9-17
6-13
Rainfall (in.)
4.5
4
3.3
1.2
0.4
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
1
2.5
2.9
