Advice from a local: Five essential tips for visiting San Francisco

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San Francisco is one of America’s foremost tourist havens. There’s plenty to see and do, and you might not even see it all within a week. But the City By The Bay can be a bit tricky sometimes, so here are five tips from a native that will save you time and hopefully some grief.

Some of these tips might seem obvious, but every time I’ve dolled out advice to friends from other parts of the country or the world, I still manage to get some surprised looks about my tips. But they’re important, so you should listen up.

1. Wear appropriate clothing. This specifically means bring a jacket or a sweater (at the very least). If I had a nickel for every time I have seen a tourist wearing just a t-shirt and bermuda shorts, freezing in the foggy, cold July weather (yes, July) while waiting for the Cable Car on Powell Street, I’d be able to afford a giant Victorian house in Pacific Heights. Let’s make something clear: San Francisco is not Los Angeles. There are basically two seasons in San Francisco: fog and no fog. The average temperature is in the 50s year-round. San Francisco is known for having “Indian summers,” so the only time the temperature usually picks up is August through early October.

2. Avoid the typical tour buses. If you only have day or less to see the city (which is really too bad), you can consider a paying for a ridiculously over-priced guided tour bus that hits all of the must-spots (i.e. Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, etc.) If you have more time, I’d suggest just roaming the city yourself and exploring the various and very different neighborhoods – most of which are fairly safe these days. But there are a few pretty interesting and quirky tour programs out there. One of which is Urban Safari, which I’ve seen trolling around the city and actually looks fun. The safari-looking Jeeps pass by the obligatory tourist attractions while also offering personalized tours to “off-the-beaten-track” spots – and if I saw them in Noe Valley, this must be true. But like most things in SF, this tour isn’t cheap, costing $100 per adult.

Signing up for a bus tour is also a good idea if you want to hit up Napa Valley, as the tours usually include tastings within the ticket price, and also if you don’t have a designated driver for the rental car.

3. Ride the Cable Car at night. Riding a Historic Cable Car is one of the most popular tourist activities in San Francisco. (Locals don’t usually ride them unless they have a monthly bus pass since they’re expensive, slow and usually over-crowded with tourists.) But even I hop on one now and again, though I typically only do this at night for two reasons. First, there is unlikely to be a line after dark (maybe just a very short one during the summer months). And second, if it’s not too foggy, it’s a wonderful way to enjoy the city all lit up at night.

4. Eat where the locals eat. This advice can be applied to almost any destination, but its particularly useful to keep in mind in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in America but also one of the best spots for food in the world. Options are pretty much endless, and you’d do well to stay away from tourist hubs like Union Square during meal times. Restaurants there are crowded and most of them are chains. Better (and probably cheaper) meals can be found in the Mission District for the best Mexican food in the city and the Haight-Ashbury for the café scene. Two exceptions might be Chinatown and North Beach (SF’s version of Little Italy), both of which are downtown and extremely touristy, but the cuisine often makes up for any wait or higher menu prices.

5. Never call it Frisco. Unless you want someone to hurt you. (That someone might be me.) And don’t call it “San Fran” for that matter, either. Acceptable names are “SF” and “The City” if you happen to be somewhere else in the Bay Area.