Cram It All In, SF-Style

Beating a dead horse is no one’s idea of a good time. And it never makes for great copy. To be sure, San Fran is a super keen city. Yeah, it’s crowded and overpriced and murder to drive through, but there are a fistful of upsides as well. First off, get out of the car and get on the Muni or BART or any number of public transport options on the slate. Driving in Frisco is a fiasco waiting to happen.

You can walk anywhere you need to go. Hop a Muni bus, dash onto the BART rail and rest assured you’ll get there with time to spare. I know it’s a cliche now, but, yeah, getting around in San Fran is pretty prosaic. Come on, it’s only seven square miles. Sooner or later, you’re bound to pass something you recognize.

Here’s a snapshot: Frisco is the third-most popular tourist destination in the grand old United States. It’s only out-shined by New York and Los Angeles. Swing a dead cat and you’re bound to hit a tourist spot. There’s Fisherman’s Wharf, the Embarcadero, Union Square, the Golden Gate Bridge, and then the entirety of the East Bay and San Jose and then there’s the Wine Country.

Pace yourself, hombre. If you burn through San Fran too quickly, you’ll end up burning through your budget and begging for an early flight home. The most important piece of the Frisco puzzle is scouring the bevy of swell San Francisco hotels. You want to book yourself into one that is nice enough to spend an entire day in. Trust me, you’ll need the rest.

Keep in mind the entire city is only seven square miles. That means you can knock off two or three places in a day. From Chinatown to City Lights to the Transamerica Pyramid to the Golden Gate, you can cram in the good times. Stop along the way for a cappuccino and baked good, and then hop to it. Chances are it’s later than your think.

Face it, there are mucho hotels in San Francisco where you can hold up like a grade B rock star. Do the basic math, budget your stay, and then blow it all on cappuccinos and beau coup crab cakes.