Visiting San Francisco as a woman alone

I have to go for 3-4 days to San Jose on business in June and I'm trying to convince my Wife to come along and then we can extend another week - 10 days.

So what I need are:

Tips what my Wife can get up to for 3-4 days while I'm working - San Francisco and the area around San Jose and is this safe to travel alone?

What do we do for the other Week - 10 days I was thinking of hiring a car and driving around but what are the "must see's" in this area?

Any tips...

Here's one: Visiting San Francisco and Palo Alto.

Eat at the Stinking Rose. If you're not going to be around anyone, you can't offend them with the garlic on your breath afterwards. Great food!! You should also check out North Beach Pizza for the best za EV-ER.

Yes, it's definitely safe for her to travel around the area alone, but she'll need a car. San Jose itself is pretty boring (I grew up there), so in all reality she should spend her time exploring Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Santa Cruz is only 45 minutes away, and San Francisco is about an hour. Monterey and Carmel are only about a half hour south of Santa Cruz. What kinds of things does she like doing? Shopping? Antiquing?

I (also a woman) traveled SF for a week by myself, nothing happened to me. I never felt unsafe either.

Drive up to wine country - Napa, Sonoma, Russian River. My wife has some great tips on wineries to visit

I love San Fran! I went there many times, mostly for work, but also for fun - several times by myself. There is nothing to be scared about.

Great Food, Great Shopping, Great Daytrips (Boat Ride to Tiburon, Wine Country (last time I like Sonoma even better than Napa)).

How about taking Pacific Coast Highway down in a convertable to L.A. (and no, it's not Hell there either, but a bit more scetchy than San Fran) or even to San Diego if you got the time.

Enjoy. Have fun in Cali !!!

North Beach. All the italian cafes can easily take an afternoon of your time and all the restaurants are tops. Cable car runs between china town and the warf and will save you some hiking up pretty steep hills with insane views so bring a camera.

Yes its safe. If she's not the type to wander alone then there are tours everywhere - your hotel in SF or San Jose should be able to sort you out. I agree with IPJ, theres not much going on in San Jose so I would do the outlying tours from there.

PS: I agree with Kersty, I prefer Sonoma over Napa. Its easier to winery hop in Napa (theres a lot of em in a straight line down the main road) but I like Sonoma better for walking about the town.

Go to the Berkeley Hills and drool over the professors' and lecturers' houses. Visit the Berkeley terraced Rose Garden with a view of the Bay. Go to Muir Woods and enjoy the silence of the trees growing.

All the advice you've gotten here is great. If you wine is your interest, I HIGHLY suggest not even going to Napa. They treat you as if you are lucky to be drinking their wine. Check out the wineries in Santa Cruz. The person pouring your wine is most likey the owner. It will be a much more down to earth experience, with better prices and will try some unqiue juice. The Bay Area is extremely safe. Just don't go to Oakland or a select few parts of SF. Look into getting a hotel perhaps in Palo Alto, you'll find the location perfect for going to both San Jose and San Francisco via the train, and University Ave is a nice place to be a night. If you get a car, I suggest a day triip to Yosemite. 200 miles from here, a long day but WELL worth the drive. It's probably impossible to get accomadation at that time of year there, so a day trip would be best. Do check out Berkeley and eat at Top Dog. Ask any local. Also, see if you can go to a Giants baseball game at AT&T Park. You'll understand why when you get there. Best stadium in the country. Feel free to probe us locals for more info...

Well, yes, if you really are stupid enough to fall for the advertising and visit Opus1, Mondavi and the other "great" wineries then what do you expect? There are some fantastic wineries in the Napa valley which are not as well known and do not charge you the stupid tourist premium to go there. In fact, the majority of wines we have in our collection come from such wineries. And there are some more gems in Sonoma and Russian River. You just need to know who to ask and where to go.


... or the winemaker. Just ask the question and you will receive a long list of wineries in the "bad" regions where you are more likely to have your wine poured by the winemaker/owner than anyone else.. But, as I said before, if you are stupid enough to fall for all that tourist crap then it is your own fault. I bet you took the wine train as well didn't you? Eh?

Hello

I grew up in SF and started my career in Silicon Valley. It is realitively safe but naturally there are areas like all big cities she should not travel to. In general, sticking around the touristy areas are ideal. I like to recommend for people to rent a bike and see SF that way. You can rent a bike and go over the golden gate to Sausalitos, take a ferry back to Fishermns Wharf and continue from there. I even took my boyfriends mom there and let her explore the city on her own and she could not even speak English. So, she will have a blast. I agree, San Jose is something I would not recommend but the coastal cities and the wine country are a must! I would say take her to SF or she will will regret it someday.

Sonoma beats napa hands down. Having lived in "the valley of the moon" i can say it has a much more friendlier and welcoming atmosphere than the empire of pretention to the east. Visit Gloria Ferrar winery as you make your way up to sonoma (owned by the Friexenet clan of Spain) and once you get to the Plaza in town find the Wine Exchange store and make your way back to the hidden tasting bar. They 2 guys who have worked there since day one will tell you how to make the most use of your time while your there. Sonoma county is Huge and diverse stretching from the bay to the coast. Also, if you get tired of drinking wine there are some decent breweries to be found as well...Monterey/carmel/santa cuz also deserve a look. The bay area is a relatively safe place for the places you will be wanting to visit. As for the avoidable areas: SF- the tenderloin, hunters point. the mission district late at night, Lower Haight/western addition. Downtown (financial district) is fine during the day with lotsa cool areas to check (barbary coast trail) yes san jose is dull and Palo Alto is very affluent and very tame...SF is where the action is.

While thinking about Sonoma. You gotta check out a really cute and romantic little restaurant at the market place:

www.thegirlandthefig.com

You'll love it... It's run by a very nice British lady... hm, great memories..

Oooh-err. The Mission District at any time of day without my Cousin Leila accompanying you?
Even I as a native Bay Area Local would avoid that part of town. I can ask Leila to accompany you/your wife. It was lovely!

If you are in the SJ area you can also visit Los Gatos and Saratoga - forgot the name of the winery there, it isn't the most impressive but it is 10 minutes from SJ.
Definitely visit Monterey / Carmel. Check out the events going on as the road can be blocked if you chose the wrong day.

I think the name of the Winery you are thinking of is called Testarosa Vineyards.

With only a week in the bay area, I wouldn't waste any time in Saratoga, though Los Gatos could be mildly entertaining if you need to stay near SJ. West San Carlos in SJ has some excellent antique shops, if you've got time to kill.

Sorry, i-janet, but if one is staying in SJ, and "have time to kill" the Montalvo park is also quite nice, don't be dissin' all o' Saratoga, although I agree that the town of Saratoga, itself, isn't very interesting.

But also accessible are the nearby wineries - really a short distance from San Jose.

They include in Los Gatos and Saratoga (had to ask) - Testarossa, Savannah Chanelle, Cooper-Garrod, Cinnabar...

The place I was thinking about, great for a picnic is Picchetti: http://www.picchetti.com/

Anyhow, someone is going to spend hours shopping at Costco and Fry's (ugh on the last one)

Fantastic - thanks for all the tip's !

So flights are booked - I'm going on the 11th and my Wife on the 16th and we'll be staying till the 1st of July.

So a whole new set of questions:

Hotel recommendations for San Francisco - we will be staying for 2-3 days

Flights to Las Vegas from SF - recommended airlines and Hotel - we will be staying for 2-3 days

Then we will pick up a Rental car from SF and go to LA - 1 or 2 days should be enough or? - Hotel recommendations and will my UK driving licence be accepted in the US?

The next 7 days - I'll go back and read the thread and see what looks good

Or do we take a car for 2 weeks and drive to Vegas?

Having been to all these places in the past couple of years - here are my suggestions:

1 - I was in San Francisco for 5 days in 2005 for a conference. We stayed downtown at the Pickwick hotel (found a KILLER deal for them on expedia). The rooms were small but wonderful and the staff was very friendly. http://www.thepickwickhotel.com/rooms.html I think they can be pricey if you dont find a deal - but well worth looking into.

2 - We purchased the "Go San Francisco Card" - the 3 day card and it was worth every penny. We toured museums, aquariums, took the boat cruise, went to the Warf, had some wine tastings, went to the botanical garednts, AND were able to use public transportation etc etc.. Go to the ones with limited space first and fill in the rest of your day with the museums, etc.. http://www.gosanfranciscocard.com/whatis.html

3 - Cheap flights between vegas and SF can be found on any of those travel sites - or you can look with the airlines directly. There are two major tourist locations in Vegas - the strip or downtown. Downtown will be cheaper to stay/eat at and the gambling payouts are usually better at places like the 4Queens/California/Mainstreet. The strip is better for entertainment - and the less pricey places to stay are usually at the North end - Sahara, etc... Do not book most of the hotels/casinos that have "Station" at the end without checking their location b/c these are usually the large casinos that dot the city and are far from everything else.

4 - 2 days in LA is more than enough - you get some shopping, some sightseeing and you get to see just how dirty it is there. We have friends there so I never stay in a hotel in LA - sorry.

5 - UK driving license info - we had colleagues from the UK who used their UK license no problem - here is a pretty comprehensive webpage that might help:
http://www.drivingabroad.co.uk/content.asp...sa&navid=19

6 - If you want to rent a car and see things - it is about 8 hours from SF to Vegas and ~600 miles. You could see a bunch of the national parks (up to Yosemite, down to Sequoia, through Death Valley, and then onto Vegas) I have done this with a few foreign friends of mine and they LOVED it - but it is an investment in driving everyday so that you get to the next place + it can be quite hot in the summer). This is a pretty big investment of your time and you should look at several maps before you commit to something like this - it might just be better to fly.

Hope this helps. PM me if you want any further info!

I can't answer this one, since I grew up in the area and have always had places to stay (I currently live a 20 min train ride from downtown SF).


Take a look on sites like Travelocity, Expedia or Orbitz to find the cheapest rates, but the best rates throughout the west coast are normally with Southwest Airlines or Alaska Air, which those sites don't list results for.


Any rental car company will accept your UK driver's license. Take a day to drive down to LA (preferably down highway 1 on the coast), and then spend a couple days there. How long you stay there depends on how much else you want to see. California's a big place.


My in-laws are currently visiting, and it's their first time in the States. We'll be doing a 2-week road trip with them, and Vegas is one of our stops. We'll be driving from the SF area through Yosemite to Mammoth, where I've got us a cabin booked for a couple days. Then we'll drive through Death Valley to Las Vegas for several days (it's MUCH cheaper to stay there during the week - we'll be paying $40 a night at a casino on the strip. On the weekends, it goes up to around $150). From there we're off to Joshua Tree for a couple days and then to my sister's place in Burbank. While there, we'll go visit San Diego and Disneyland and such. When we leave there, we'll spend a couple days driving back up the coast. Just thought I'd share that in case you want some ideas for a trip.

Normally, I wouldn't focus so much on southern California, but they'll be here long enough that we can also make a trip up to Lassen and surrounding areas. If you want to see more amazing nature and less tourist stops, then I recommend heading north.

As a lay vulcanologist that has me green with envy...

Sounds like a good plan to me - I'll check out the distances involved

I was thinking SF -> 101 along the coast to LA and then taking in the parks on the way to LV - what do you reckon?

why not take the route 1 from SF to LA. it is a fantastic drive.

Is this along the coast or?

yep, along the coast. drove it 2 months ago and loved it.

So the Rental car is booked and the planning continues...

We have in Total 13 days so my rough plan is as follows:

Sunday - Tuesday San Francisco - (Pickwick is booked thanks Lerfies)

Tuesday - Thursday Leave SF travel to LA on the Route 1 (thanks Planetmomi for the tip) with overnight stop on the way and 1 or ? Nights in LA (Santa Monica?)

Question: Where to stay on the way?
Question: 1 or 2 Nights in LA?

Thursday - Saturday Leave LA and travel toward Death Valley via Barstow etc or should we go to the Joshua Tree National Park?

Question: Joshua Tree National park a must see or?

Saturday to Tuesday Travel to Las Vegas 2-3 Nights in Vegas including Grand Canyon

Tuesday to Thursday Leave Vegas Travel to the National Parks

Question: Are 2 days enough or should we go for Tuesday to Friday

Friday to Sunday San Francisco Leave National Parks and head back to SF

Any comments appreciated.

joshua trees:
on the way to the grand canyon (west rim) you are passing lot's of joshua trees, so the joshua national park is not really necessary.
death valley is a MUST
2 days LV and 1 day grand canyon sounds good to me. i personally would not spend too much time in LV and i think 2 days are enough. there is only a certain amount of hotels and casinos you can see before getting an overload.

i had such a great time on that route last month and garlof, i wish i could join u !!!