Product Description

- form sourdough to the burrito--abundant food options in the City by the Bay- suggestions for enjoying the unique and lively club scene- the best advice for accommodation covering all budgets in this foggy jewel- history section from the Bears to the Dot Com bust- special coverage for gay and lesbian travelers

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #782501 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"...pure San Francisco...lively writing pulls no punches..covers the top tourist sites as well as the edges..." -- Sacramento Bee, June 4, 2006

From the Publisher
Introducing San Francisco

Gorgeous enough to weep over, San Francisco is penned in on three sides by water. Crammed onto a modest finger of land, the city's picturesque houses and striking skyscrapers jostle on improbably hilly streets. The city's residents can be just as sweetly contrary. The uber-local is a gay marketing executive of Chinese-Mexican heritage grabbing a wheatgrass smoothie with a caffeine shot on his way home from the gym. Or she's a Marina gal of an indeterminate age with a hard bod who you met at a pickup volleyball game at Crissy Field. And though she'll dress to the nines she loves to drink in dive bars.

How do you know you're in San Francisco? You're partway up a hill with your heart hammering away like a carpenter. It's high summer but the city's been fogged up since Thursday: the only blue sky you've spied was on a postcard; you've only seen the whole span of the Golden Gate Bridge on p 171 of this book. Somehow though, everyone around you is tanned - even their dogs have a golden glow. More than likely, your fellow pedestrians have a poop-scoop in one hand and a takeaway coffee in the other.

But you're feeling fresh, lively - flirty even. There's a song zipping through your head - it's a bit Grateful Dead, a bit jazzed up Beat poem, a bit Santana. You've just eaten a burrito as long as your arm. Your fingers - still sticky with salsa - want to make the peace sign. Or maybe they just want a couple of beers.

You're at the top of the hill now and your heart drops a peg. Jauntily painted Victorian homes sit pretty on your left. Just ahead, a patch of eucalyptus-fringed park is streaked with rollerbladers and skate-kids. In one corder, a bunch of old folk are swing-dancing to the bop emanating from a battered ghetto blaster. Then, there's a trickle of breeze and the sun peeks through, stoking that glow in your chest. On your right, the bay grabs your attention with its sudden sparkle and, with the fog lifted, that orange bridge over the Golden Gate proves that it really does hit land on the other side.

There's nowhere you could be but San Francisco. And there's no American city that lets you have as much fun at such a relaxed pace. This pretty, hilly, foggy city's modest size and distinct neighborhoods give it the intimacy of a large town. These same qualities make it easy to negotiate as a visitor. But San Francisco's size is just about the only modest thing about it. Its history, its role as the focus for the humungous Bay Area - and above all its energy - give it the ego and optimism of a big city.

In fact the whole city is an exercise in optimism: built over the San Andreas Fault, San Francisco is particularly susceptible to earthquakes; it has weathered two devastating tremors (in 1906 and 1989). But while the next 'big one' is a vague niggle at the back of the city's collective mind, the people who live here are busy working hard, playing soft, looking beautiful, and generally getting on with their busy, buzzy lives.

San Francisco is a popular location any time of the year, but September and October are the standout months to visit. Not only will you avoid the summer crowds, but you'll miss the ornery summer weather. Summer in San Francisco is reliably foggy and cold, while inland or north in the Wine Country can be too hot and dusty for comfort. September and October are also great months for festivals and street parties. There's Opera in the Park, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and the risque Folsom St Fair in September, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the gay-friendly Castro St Fair and a huge Halloween event in October.

Customer Reviews

Very compact but excellent travel companion
I bought this book before a trip to SF. The book has everything you need. It lists all places to eat/sleep/visit and everything I tried was in agreement with what the book said. The walking tours are valuable and it contains extra stuff for outside SF which got extremely neat when I drove to Muir Woods or Napa Valley. And when you have some time to kill, its historic, cultural passages can enlight you even more on SF. I would definitively recommend this book!

Lonely Planet San Francisco
Loved seeing the city of San Fancisco after reading about the local neighborhood haunts. Lonely Planet has long been my first choice of Travel Guides. This one was good, although it lacked some of the overall insights that I have liked in other LP guide books, and had some of the poorest photography ever edited for such a scenic city.

I recommend the guide books suggestion of renting a mountain bike and taking in the sites of Golden Gate Park and heading out to Salsalito via the Golden Gate Bridge and taking the ferry back into town.

The only guidebook you need (just add a detailed Muni bus route map and you are set for weeks of fun)
I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to guidebooks. I don't believe that there is one-size-fits all guidebook, and when I travel, I get an arsenal of books and select the top three to use on the road. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I needed no other guidebook to San Francisco! As a general rule, Lonely Planet guides are the most compact and info-packed books on the market, and this guide is unparalleled. It fits neatly in any purse or backpack and the only add-on I would recommend for your trip is a detailed Muni bus route map.

Even without a detailed map, this guide can get you all around the city. Every attraction, restaurant, and hotel is listed indexed and numbered on a half dozen neighborhood maps in the back of the book. There's no need for detailed directions because the maps allow the traveler to plan their own route.

The attractions? Wow! You get all your essential tourist hot spots, plus info on alternative forms of sports and recreation, hidden shopping sites, stores which have house cats or dogs, free wine and cheese at poetry readings, theater reviews, upscale/campy adult entertainment, and much more. San Francisco is well-known for dining options, and this book has the most listings of any guidebook. Nightlife is given extensive coverage, so that anyone can find sites of interest, from late-night coffee shops to Latin dance clubs to sports bars. Of course, a site such as City Search can augment your search for good eats and nightlife.

The book can be read in a number of ways. It offers a week full of suggested itineraries which make a great starting place. The reader can also search by neighborhood or by type of excursion desired, and complete public transportation information is provided. The guide even offers limited information on side trips outside the city proper. A complete index to all attractions, hotels, and restaurants is included.

Don't travel without the Lonely Planet, especially when visiting San Francisco.