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Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 28th, 2007, 08:10 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Jimmy
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Posts: 3
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

We are planning to go S.F. and wonder if ...

- is Dec/Jan good time to go? what to-do/festival around this time?
is there enough to do & see if staying for 10 days?
- is it worth it to rent a bike then bike all the way from S.F. to
Sausalito? can this be a 1-day biking trip?
- how about renting a car? where is go to drive to? Oakland,
Mountain View or San Jose?
- is there a bus pass for the S.F. and/or Sausalito area? is there
day and/or weekly pass? how much is it? what about TransLink?
- which route of cable car is a must take as tourist?
- we plan to go L.V., is it better to book flight ahead of time? or
it's ok to book after we get to S.F. then decide which day to go?
which is the prefered (cheap?) airline? southwest?
- is there area in the greater S.F. area which is not worth to go as
tourist?

Thanks in advance for everyone comments,
Jimmy
  #2  
Old November 28th, 2007, 09:24 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
TheNewsGuy(Mike)
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Posts: 319
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

Jimmy wrote:
We are planning to go S.F. and wonder if ...

- is Dec/Jan good time to go? what to-do/festival around this time?
is there enough to do & see if staying for 10 days?


Lots to do and see.

- how about renting a car? where is go to drive to? Oakland,
Mountain View or San Jose?


You would not want a car while you are in San francisco but there are
many side trips - Carmel/Monterey, Napa, ...

- which route of cable car is a must take as tourist?


If you stay in SF get a muni pass and you can take any route you want.
A popular tourist one is from the Fisherman wharf area to Union Square.

Are you leaving from Canada, Toronto? Vancouver? Have you thought of
driving to Buffalo or Seattle getting a flight from? Sometimes you can
save a lot of money.






  #3  
Old November 28th, 2007, 09:47 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Jimmy
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Posts: 3
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

Thanks for tips

Yes, we're coming from Toronto. Is overall total cheaper to park-and-
fly at the Buffalo airport, then fly with some US airlines to
S.F.? ... rather than flying directly from Toronto to S.F. Guess it
is safe to park the car at the airport there for 10 days?
  #4  
Old November 28th, 2007, 10:13 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
TheNewsGuy(Mike)
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Posts: 319
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

Jimmy wrote:
Thanks for tips

Yes, we're coming from Toronto. Is overall total cheaper to park-and-
fly at the Buffalo airport, then fly with some US airlines to
S.F.? ... rather than flying directly from Toronto to S.F. Guess it
is safe to park the car at the airport there for 10 days?


Yes it is very safe to park the car at the Buffalo airport - we do it
all the time. The cost is about $40 per week. We flew from BUF to SFO
for $250 per ticket last July. A lot cheaper than flying from Pearson.

You could compare prices by using one of the comparative sites like
sidestep.com - check it for Buf-SFO then YYZ-SFO


  #5  
Old November 28th, 2007, 10:31 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
[email protected]
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Posts: 317
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

is Dec/Jan good time to go?

The weather is fairly constant in San Francisco all year. In Las
Vegas, your high will be around 60F and your low around freezing.


is there enough to do & see if staying for 10 days?


I'd suggest 3 or 4 days in the city, 1- 2 days to the north (Muir
Woods and Napa Valley), 2-3 days to the south (Monterey, Carmel, Big
Sur, etc), and the rest either in Vegas or Yosemite.


how about renting a car?


You won't need a car in the city, but there are many good side trips
you can make by car as I mentioned above.

If you're on a tight budget you'll want to plan carefully as prices
are high in that area.
  #6  
Old November 29th, 2007, 12:08 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
medvall
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Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

Hi Jimmy,

I visited the following on the way from SF to Las Vegas:

Alexander Valley (incl. Korbel)
Yosemite National Park
Sequoia National Park
Kings Canyon
Death Valley

In SF the Asian Art Museum was good, and of course Alcatraz if you
want to deal with the crowds around there.

Best wishes, Marcus
Tomlab Optimization Inc.
http://tomopt.com/


  #7  
Old November 29th, 2007, 01:06 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
TheNewsGuy(Mike)
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Posts: 319
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

medvall wrote:
Hi Jimmy,

I visited the following on the way from SF to Las Vegas:

Alexander Valley (incl. Korbel)
Yosemite National Park
Sequoia National Park


That was probably in the summer, not December. And I believe the OP will
be flying.


Kings Canyon
Death Valley

In SF the Asian Art Museum was good, and of course Alcatraz if you
want to deal with the crowds around there.

Best wishes, Marcus
Tomlab Optimization Inc.
http://tomopt.com/


  #8  
Old November 29th, 2007, 05:17 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Hatunen
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Posts: 4,483
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:10:24 -0800 (PST), Jimmy
wrote:

We are planning to go S.F. and wonder if ...

- is Dec/Jan good time to go?


For various values of "good". San Francisco is subject to winter
storms at that time of year which can come in waves 4-7 days
apart. it can be very windy and rainy and chilly. In between the
storms it will be quite pleasant, albeit chilly. On the ohter
hand, I lived there for 17 years and it never snowed, although it
has, historically. There could be snow on the higher hills in the
area, though.

Las Vegas is subject to occasional winter storms, too, but they
are infrequent. But las Vegas can be very cold, especially at
night. But as a former resident of Montreal I reckon Canadians my
find it pleasant.

what to-do/festival around this time?


New Years Eve in San Francisco is a major, major party. It used
to be either in front of City Hall or down along the Embarcadero

is there enough to do & see if staying for 10 days?


I lived in and near SF for 17 years and there always seemed to be
something else to see or do. You should have no trouble filling
up tn days, particualry if you wander out of town a couple of
times to Napa Valley or Santa Cruz or whatever.

- is it worth it to rent a bike then bike all the way from S.F. to
Sausalito? can this be a 1-day biking trip?


Uh, yeah. But it requires doing some pretty steep hills and
crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (the west walkway is for bikes).
But tehre can be very strong winds on the Bridge.

Of course, you could just ride the bike onto the Sausalito Ferry.

- how about renting a car?


Only on days you want to get out of SF, and only for the day.
Ovenight parking in SF is pretty dear; it wil take a petty good
multi-day discount to overcome those parking fees.

where is go to drive to? Oakland,
Mountain View or San Jose?


Gertrude Stein was sorta right when she said of Oakland "there's
no there there". Mountain View doesn't reaally have a special
view of mountains and most of the scenery consists of industrial
campuses for dot.com companies.

San Jose doesn't have a whole lot, either, but it does have the
Tech Museum, Winchester Mystery House and the Rosicrucian
Egypotian Museum, which I consider a must-see if you're down that
way.

I can recommen a drive down Hwy-1 from Pacifica to Monterey; the
scenery is terrific. I think the Aquarium is a tad over-rated,
but only a tad, and worth seeing. The Cannery Row district is
just tourist shops and atmospheric restaurants.

On the way to Monterey, Santa Cruz has the Boardwalk, a seaside
amusement park that can be fun, although it tens do be liited in
the winter. I jsut googled for it and I see the rides are closed
in December and open on a limited basis in January. Teh adjacent
Municipal Pier is kind of interesting.

You can also make a tour of the North Bau, including Muir Woods
redwoods, and the Sonoma and Napa wine regions.

- is there a bus pass for the S.F. and/or Sausalito area? is there
day and/or weekly pass? how much is it?


See http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mhome/home50.htm for San Fracnisco
fare and pass information.

Sausalito is served by Golden Gate Transit, an arm of the
authority which owns and operates the Golden Gate Bridge. Bus
service from SF to Sausalito is available but it really makes
more sense to use the ferry. But see http://www.goldengate.org/

what about TransLink?


See http://www.translink.org/index.do

- which route of cable car is a must take as tourist?


There are three routes:

California Street. These are double ended cars which climb over
very steep Nob Hill from Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero to near
Van Ness Street. It's a nice long ride, and you can almost always
get to stand on the runninb boards.

Powell-Hyde and Powell-Taylor, which use the same route down into
Union Square and the Powell Street turntable from the shoulder of
Nob Hill, but who's routes diverge there, with the Taylor line
running more-or-less directly to the Fishermans Wharf area, and
the Hyde line going over Russian Hill and down the very steep
Hyde Street to the very edge of the bay. The Hyde Street is the
one to take if you want scenery and thrills. It also crosses the
top of Lombard Street, the putative crookedest streetin town (it
isn't).

Learn about the SF Metro system, too. It's a tram system that
runs clear out to the Pacific Ocean from downtown. It's
underground downtown and runs on the street west of Twin Peaks.
The N-Judah Metro line takes you within walking distance of
Haight-Ashbury and the musuems in Golden Gate Park (if there are
any at the moment). Muni passes are also good on Metro.

- we plan to go L.V., is it better to book flight ahead of time? or
it's ok to book after we get to S.F. then decide which day to go?
which is the prefered (cheap?) airline? southwest?


I can't help you there. I expect it would be best to book ahead
of time. Southwest is usually a good airline for those sort of
short hops. But be aware that most flights to LV are out of
Oakland, not SFO. OAK is accessible from SF by BART, with a short
shuttle ride to the airport from the BART station.

- is there area in the greater S.F. area which is not worth to go as
tourist?


Skip Oakland, even Jack London Square. Most of the East bay south
of Berkeley is suburbia.

If you're interest in earthquakes, the Hayward Fault runs up the
east bay. As the old not-so-much-a-joke went, you can draw the
Hayward fault on a map by a line connecting all the hospitals,
schools and emergency operations centers. And the Berkely
stadium, which is being slowly pulled apart by the fault.

For an overview of the area you could ride BART out to Concord
and to Dublin. Although it's underground in SF and Oakland, it's
elevated everywhere else.



--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
  #9  
Old November 29th, 2007, 01:08 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
TheNewsGuy(Mike)
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Posts: 319
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)

Hatunen wrote:
...
San Jose doesn't have a whole lot, either,


I agree but the one event worth mentioning for a Toronto person is that
the Leafs are playing there on Jan 12 and tickets may be available.
  #10  
Old November 30th, 2007, 12:48 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Mimi
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Posts: 317
Default Travelling to San Francisco (and Las Vegas?)


"Hatunen" wrote in message
...

If you're interest in earthquakes, the Hayward Fault runs up the
east bay. As the old not-so-much-a-joke went, you can draw the
Hayward fault on a map by a line connecting all the hospitals,
schools and emergency operations centers. And the Berkely
stadium, which is being slowly pulled apart by the fault.


And the San Andreas fault runs alongside the Junipero Serra freeway, which
is up on stilts. One of two places in SF I don't want to be in an
earthquake. The other is on a BART train in the tunnel underneath the Bay.

Marianne


 




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