San Francisco/San Jose

San Jose blows. I've never been to Alcatraz but people say it's awesome. How many days will you be in SF?

San Jose sucks. Alex and I can take you to cool places in San Francisco. We know where the lesbians are. You like lesbians, yes?

Make sure you dont drop the soap man.

It's a bit touristy, but theCalifornia Academy of Sciencesis worth visiting. Not sure where you're visiting from, but if you're not a CA resident, I suggest grabbing a burrito in the Mission. As long as the place says "taqueria" somewhere on the sign and it looks like it may not pass inspection you will not be disappointed. The Mission is kind of an eclectic neighborhood. A lot of Hispanic people and a lot of hipsters. Valencia St is full of restaurants and bars - many with live music. If you enjoy beer, you should check outMonk's Kettle. Hundreds of unique beers. Good food too.

Hell yes you better do the Academy of Sciences. Just anything in that area is worth doing. Would also recommend the AIDS Grove that Nancy Pelosi put there about a decade ago. Memorable shit.

One of my favorite things I did when I visited for the first time last year was Golden Gate Park. I could have just walked around in that place all day. Didn't go in the academy though, but my itinerary in the bay area/NorCal was not really centered around SF tourism. I kind of stuffed SF itself into my last day unfortunately.

Hard to pin any one thing down in sf because there are so many options. If you really want to avoid tourist traps then you may want to steer clear of the wharf and north beach.

If you are a wanna be hipster then you have to do the mission circuit like me:
La Palma mexicatessen for some badass tacos
Humphrey slocombe for weird ice cream
Ritual for coffee
And dynamo's for donuts.
Arinell's if you like pizza.

As far as lesser known stuff, a real gem is the northwest corner of sf, to the west of gg bridge. Thereis a beautiful hiking / jogging route at the park near the legion of honor that overlooks the ocean - simply amazing if you're lucky and its a clear day. The Asian food in west sf (outer Richmond) is also far superior to most of the garbage you get in Chinatown, and way cheaper.

If you have any other specific questions let me know, there's too much to post about. I live in soma myself and its also got a lot of good places to eat and drink , the city is pretty packed with good stuff given its small size.

You'd be a moron to spend any more time in San Jose than it takes to drive past or get a train out of.

Pasteton_sl said:

As far as lesser known stuff, a real gem is the northwest corner of sf, to the west of gg bridge. Thereis a beautiful hiking / jogging route at the park near the legion of honor that overlooks the ocean - simply amazing if you're lucky and its a clear day.

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The Lands End Trail is great, but I wouldn't want to hike that in January/February.

It's generally pretty bad that time of year but sf varies a lot, you never know when you'll get that clear weekend in the middle of winter etc

Haha yeah, good luck finding a weekend with nice weather.

It was 70 degrees on Friday night!

Alex_sl said:

It was 70 degrees on Friday night!

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But he is going to be there in Jan/Feb. The weather will suck.

Last winter was overall not too bad. Keep in mind sf weather varies over blocks , not miles. I could be sunbathing in soma or mission bay while someone is getting soaked at twin peaks

Not to hijack this thread, but any tips for San Jose and Santa Cruz? Going to be in Santa Cruz in October and will drive in from San Jose.