Lonely Planet San Francisco (A Travel Survival Kit) [Paperback]

Tom Downs (Author), Tony Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Travel Survival Kit | Publication Date: February 1999

Detailed maps which include the city and outlying regions. First-hand recommendations for dining, accommodation and shopping. Profiles of the city's history, politics and culture with colourful stories about San Francisco's quirky past with excursions throughout the Bay Area including Berkeley, Sausalito and the wine country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...pure San Francisco...lively writing pulls no punches..covers the top tourist sites as well as the edges..." -- Sacramento Bee, June 4, 2006 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 2nd edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864425562
• ISBN-13: 978-0864425560
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,896,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another excellent Lonely Planet Guide, December 18, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet San Francisco (A Travel Survival Kit) (Paperback)

Yet again Lonely Planet has produced a very readable and useful guidebook. I bought this for a 5-day trip to the Bay area and was never at a loss for information. The 16 color maps at the back were extremely helpful: one of the biggest problems I have with guidebooks like Fodor's is that they often have confusing maps which can really get you confused and lost, whereas here any idiot like myself can find his way around easily. I also really liked the walking tours, of which there are five - Barbary Coast, Beatnik-Hippie, Chinatown, North Beach and Skyscraper - all of which have their own maps as well. The excursion chapter covered Oakland and Berkeley plus Marin County and Napa Valley and some sites south of San Fransisco. As always there was the typically well-researched chapters on accommodation, food, entertainment and shopping. Furthermore, the history chapter gave a good introduction to all of San Fransisco's past and present - the gold rush, earthquakes, the counterculture, gays and more.

A great travelguide for a beautiful city.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars San Francisco native highly endorses this book, May 17, 2000

By 

"callmeal" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet San Francisco (A Travel Survival Kit) (Paperback)

After using many Lonely Planet guides abroad, I felt there must be some valuable information about my own city. I bought this book to have as a reference when I had friends visiting from out of town (especially if I needed to send them out on their own!) but have used it for so much more. The restaurant recommendations and even suggestions for sightseeing have surprised me and I have even learned a few things I didn't know. Perhaps it is so good because it was written by the Lonely Planet staff in Oakland (right across the Bay from SF)- these guys know their stuff! Well organized and thorough, I recommend this to natives and visitors alike.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to San Francisco, August 10, 2005

By 

His Girl Friday (Northern California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet San Francisco (Paperback)

This is the first Lonely Planet guidebook that I have used extensively. I live in Northern California, and was looking for a book with decent maps, phone numbers, and descriptions of restaurants, hotels, and other attrations in San Francisco.

This guidebook provides all of this and more. It includes walking tours, features on unique aspects of San Francisco history and culture, and great maps. Having been to San Francisco several times before, this book opened my eyes to a few places I hadn't been and nudged me away from the areas I usually spend time in when visiting San Francisco (Union Square and the Theatre District).

I disagree with the reviewer who said that the maps were not very good -- they are excellent considering that they are inside of a small guidebook. In fact, this is the primary reason I purchased the book -- I misplaced the map I used when visiting San Francisco and the Bay Area. When I saw the excellent maps in this book, I opted to get it instead of getting a stand alone map.

I also disagree with the reviewer who said the book is skewed toward gay and lesbian culture. The Castro district gets the same level of attention as any other neighborhood in the city.

If you are someone who is visiting San Francisco for the first time, I highly recommend this book. Even for those (like me) who have visited, but don't live in the Bay Area, the book is an excellent resource.