Five days in San Francisco with a baby

[Fruitloop]

So, I have left this hilariously late, and with two weeks to go we have no hotel booking, no idea of where to stay or what to do. There will be some fairly punishing travelling either side, so ideally we just want somewhere that we can wander around on foot, chill out in and have a bit of a break.

Any pearls of urban wisdom out there?

Thanks.

 

[1927]

Very hilly but great city for walking imho.

Golden gate park and the Presidio are good. Ocean beach too.

Don't miss Sausalito, I walked there and back, not to be recomended tho! Marin Headlands and Muir Woods are well worth a visit if you have a car.

 

[1927]

Hotel wise I dont know what you want, but for a cheap hotel near enough to everything try the Travelodge by the Bay on Lombard street.

 

[Fruitloop]

Cool, thanks!

in terms of hotels we might be tempted to spend a wee bit more on the grounds of having an ankle-biter with us (and our own relative inexperience at mini-me travels). The area of that TL looks great though, will have a scan around at other stuff there.

 

[trashpony]

I have a friend with a 2 yo who lives there - I can ask her as they are always having visitors and/or put you in touch with her (she is the sort of person who would invite you round for dinner and then possibly a wife swapping party followed by dawn yoga though )

 

[HAL9000]

Perhaps need a car, but you if you get to twin peaks, good view of down town san francisco.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...49,-122.446629&spn=0.006065,0.009645&t=h&z=17

The parks around golden gate bridge are worth a visit.

Presido and Lincon park

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...7.785504,-122.500477&spn=0.0485,0.077162&z=14

Should have no problem getting to them by public transport. Public transport in San Francisco is excellent. Only note of caution is that the buses are electric, braking and acceleration can be on the strong side.

Word of warning when I went in October 2001, I stayed at a hotel next to city hall. City hall is fine and the hotel was great. But just the next block down there was a porno cinema, and round the back of the hotel, cardboard / tent city for the homeless (probably has been shifted since I went there).

If you have a car explore outside the city, there's mt diablo, very little walking just a road all the way to the top and a short walk to the tower.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...923076,-121.838379&spn=0.382405,0.607681&z=11

& Mt Tamalpais (I didn't go up this mountain because it was covered in cloud)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en....858862,-122.541504&spn=0.19137,0.303841&z=12

I know you said you wanted to relax, but yosemite national park is less than 1/2 day away by car (1/2 a day going Amtrak which is bus/train/bus), I've been to several national parks but yosemite is very impressive.

Final warning, weather can be very random. When I visited in 2006, the day I left the weather was like this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61808487@N00/1423705491/sizes/m/in/set-72157602114015980/

Probably about 14 C and overcast, drove from just North of Golden Gate bridge to the airport. At the airport, blue sky, sunny and +21 C. So you need to be prepared for a wide range of temperatures.