san fran and alcatraz tour

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by henry07

ok thanks guys. I will go ahead and book the tix in advance just to be safe. I heard that union square is pretty central to everything. am hoping I can get a pretty good hotel at a good price on priceline

Whatever you do, don't book a hotel in Union Square West, you're getting into the Tenderloin district there and it is super sketchy. I've been to a lot of US cities and the only two times I've ever actually felt unsafe were downtown Chicago at 2 AM and leaving the Warfield after a concert in San Francisco in the Tenderloin.

If you're using priceline, stick to the Financial District, Union Square East, and Fisherman's Wharf. You can get a 4* for $100 bucks a night if you're lucky. We got Club Quarters in the Financial District for six nights, for $690 US. It was fantastic, one of the better hotels I've stayed in if you don't care how small your room is.

If you want more tips re: priceline or things to see/do/eat in San Francisco + area feel free to PM me any questions or post them here. I just went a couple months ago and everything's still reasonably fresh.

[henry07]

has anyone booked any tours with any companies down there that show you around the city? would you guys recommend something like that for the first day so I get a chance to see several different places?

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by henry07

has anyone booked any tours with any companies down there that show you around the city? would you guys recommend something like that for the first day so I get a chance to see several different places?

I'm sure they have them - I just bought the Lonely Planet book and did a bit of a self-guided tour. The city is very walkable and really easy to navigate using public transit if you have any experience at all in large cities, and with a 7-day transit pass you can hop on and off cable cars and the Muni as you desire.

[Misterpants]

Try and get this guy, he's the best.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/mv-4ow...h_vickys_eyes/

[henry07]

thanks malcolmk14!!

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by henry07

has anyone booked any tours with any companies down there that show you around the city? would you guys recommend something like that for the first day so I get a chance to see several different places?

Best way to travel in SF is just check out what events are going on. For instance,

http://sf.funcheap.com/

(ok i use that)

Live like the locals. You don't even really need "recommendations" - just use yelp to find out what you want to do. There are so many good places to eat that if you are armed with yelp, you can't really go wrong. Its not like there are only 4-5 good places in the city. Most of the hidden gems I found was just from random browsing. And head outside of the city, I was up in San Rafael and found some pretty awesome places. Berkeley is pretty cool too, and I always hit up Top Dog when I'm there (a favourite for Cal students).

Biking along Crissy Field (sp?) and GG bridge is pretty cool.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

If you're using priceline, stick to the Financial District, Union Square East, and Fisherman's Wharf. You can get a 4* for $100 bucks a night if you're lucky. We got Club Quarters in the Financial District for six nights, for $690 US. It was fantastic, one of the better hotels I've stayed in if you don't care how small your room is.

If you want more tips re: priceline or things to see/do/eat in San Francisco + area feel free to PM me any questions or post them here. I just went a couple months ago and everything's still reasonably fresh.

I like the Priceline SOMA/Moscone square district as well. We got the Intercontinental once, and loved it. A block from the BART station, lots of interesting restaurants around.

Biggest priceline tip is check out betterbidding.com. They have lists of hotels that people have reported getting for each zone. The priceline list for California is here, scroll down for San Francisco.

http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=65&

[cmyden]

Welcome to the Rock!

Sorry, I'm just secretly hoping this thread devolves into a series of random quotes from The Rock.

"Your 'best'?! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f*** the prom queen. "

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Welcome to the Rock!

Sorry, I'm just secretly hoping this thread devolves into a series of random quotes from The Rock.

"Your 'best'?! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f*** the prom queen. "

"I'm fed up saving your ass. I'm amazed you ever got past puberty."

[YYC in LAX]

"Godschpeeeeed"

[macker]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Best way to travel in SF is just check out what events are going on. For instance,

http://sf.funcheap.com/

(ok i use that)

Live like the locals. You don't even really need "recommendations" - just use yelp to find out what you want to do. There are so many good places to eat that if you are armed with yelp, you can't really go wrong. Its not like there are only 4-5 good places in the city. Most of the hidden gems I found was just from random browsing. And head outside of the city, I was up in San Rafael and found some pretty awesome places. Berkeley is pretty cool too, and I always hit up Top Dog when I'm there (a favourite for Cal students).

Biking along Crissy Field (sp?) and GG bridge is pretty cool.

Really? Biking on the GG seems like it would be very frustrating if not dangerous. When we were there all pedestrian traffic is on the east side of the bridge and bikers were trying to get up to speed but just couldn't and were dodging people all over the place and seemed to all have high blood pressure with the amount of foot traffic all around them. Biking on GG just doesn't seem to work not to mention the bikers that had clip in pedals It seemed that the walkers were equally annoyed at the bikers and the amount of people in this area make it somewhat entertaining to watch Can't go 10 seconds without hearing a bike bell going off and seeing someone slam on their brakes to avoid running into tourists taking pictures and walking without looking and gawking at the surfers down below or the helicopters going under the bridge etc.etc.