straniero

hi all
I will be in San Francisco one day, arriving the night before via car or bus at a hotel close to SFO airport and leaving the evening at Emeryville station.
I was planning to visit downtown: fisherman wharf, golden gate bridge, lombard street etc.

The problem with this day visit is that the hotel I'll be in and Emeryville station are far away from each other and from my planned visit, so I'd rather not come back to the hotel or visit the station twice.

I have tried looking for some place to leave my bags during the day and pick them up before going to the station, but couldn't find anything. Is any one of you aware of such a place?

any input appreciated.
thanks,
straniero

MDtR-Chicago

How are you planning to get to Emeryville?

No good solution to your situation comes to mind. Obviously you could leave the luggage at the airport or the airport hotel but then you'd have to go all the way back down there before going across the bay.

Assuming you're taking a train from Emeryville, I wonder if you could store it at the Amtrak "station" by the Ferry Building in SF? Most of the trains that leave from Emeryville can be ticketed starting in SF with an Amtrak bus as the first segment (use station SFC). The Amtrak website says there IS luggage storage there.

straniero

I checked on bart.gov and the trip to Emeryville is doable via metro, or as a last resort I'll take a taxi.
Your ferry building idea is great, but on the date I will travel (may 13 - cannot be changed) the trip from ferry building to Emeryville is sold out. For every other San Francisco station either the trip to EMY is sold out, or there is no luggage storage. Maybe I will contact Amtrak and ask if I can still use the storage there since I have a reserved ticket for the same day, although on another station.

Thanks a lot, this seems the way to go for me.

EDIT: while checking around, I found that Pier 39 http://www.pier39.com/home/pier-info...ked-questions/ has a luggage storage facility. Maybe I could just take advantage of that, since there is no admittance to the pier (whatever it is... seems like a big mall from the site).

cbn42

In my experience many hotels will let you store your luggage with the front desk even if you aren't staying there. If asked, just say that you aren't staying overnight but are dropping in for a meal or some drinks, and offer to pay for storage. I would give this method about 50% success.

MDtR-Chicago

That's actually great information, thanks...

Yes, Pier 39 is essentially a big mall. But it's right at the heart of the Fishermans Wharf area and you said you wanted to go there; but why? The whole thing is a big mall where locals try to separate you from as much of your money as possible.

Regardless, it's still a nice area to walk around. The main attraction to Pier 39 itself is the herd of 100+ sea lions who live right on the side of the pier. You're maybe 20 feet from them as they go about their daily lives. http://www.pier39.com/home/the-sea-lion-story/

And if you're going to stare at the sea lions, you should really get a bag of Trish's Mini-Donuts http://www.yelp.com/biz/trishs-mini-...an-francisco-3

The main thing to think about now is what you really want to see on your short visit. Your entire day could easily be eaten up by public transit. In particular, it's not especially easy to get to the Golden Gate Bridge from anywhere. Might actually work out best to look at one of the hop-on-hop-off bus services that includes the bridge.

straniero

That's new to me, and not something I ever heard here in Europe. Thanks for the tip - but frankly, I find it so strange that I would probably feel bad just by asking
Well I have a few hours, so I was planning to spot some of the most known (inflated?) things: the bridge, the tramway, lombard street, the 16th street steps, and then rush to the train. Pier39 is somehow close to lombard street, so it seemed ideal.

I understand there's far more (and maybe far better) in the city, but that's what you get when time is limited.

EDIT: after looking at the map, I think my best option is as follows:
- SFO South Bart Station to Daly City
- bus 28 to the 16th ave steps. Pics to make the GF happy (mission accomplished).
- bus 28 to golden gate bridge
- bus 28 to lombard street
- walk to UN plaza
- trolley to Market street
- get to EMY somehow

I am so glad google maps exists. and luggage with wheels. and bus 28.
the only problem is, we'll have the luggage with us all the time, and that kind of invalidates this thread.

We'll see... in the meantime thanks MDtR-Chicago and cbn42 for the tips!

MDtR-Chicago

This is certainly a very creative way of making this trip... But it's not really as straightforward as it looks. Consider these potential obstacles:

• Muni Route 28 is NOT designed for luggage and might be very crowded. Are you prepared to stand for the hour+ you'll spend on it?
• 28 doesn't go all the way to the famous curvey part of Lombard, which is around 1079 Lombard. It only goes as far as Laguna. That's quite a walk.
• The walk from the bottom of Lombard to UN Plaza is straight through the Tenderloin, one of the worst neighborhoods in the city

Think about something like this instead, if you really want to do this:

• Bart to Daly City
• Muni 28 to the steps
• Muni 28 to the bridge
• Muni 28 connecting to 30, which will get you at least a few more blocks along (or maybe take one of the Golden Gate Transit buses?)
• Walk from the bottom of Lombard to the beginning of the F trolley line, which is around 2800 Jones
• Take the trolley from there to the Embarcadero Bart station
• Bart to West Oakland(?) and connect to AC Transit bus 26(?)

Then think about the cost of all this. Bart is distance priced and Muni is $2 per 90 minutes. So figure something like $7.90 + $2 + $2 + $2 + $3.10 + $1.85 = $18.85 per person...

Because of your route, have you considered simply renting a car? There are Avis, Budget, and Enterprise locations at the Emeryville train station. The one-way surcharge is only $20 - with discount codes I've seen total prices as low as $60. That's not a whole lot more than you'd end up paying anyway. As long as you could avoid rush hour traffic, it wouldn't be terrible to drive to most of the places you want to see.

straniero

This is the kind of info you don't get on the internet... thanks a lot for your help.

There are several reasons why I chose not to pick up the car, the main one being that I'll be driving around a lot for 11 days before and after SF, so placing my tired butt on a train just for one day will be a welcome change
This thing alone is worth the public transportation costs.

Again thanks for taking the time to figure out a better route ^

wcj1

For bag storage, ask at a Kimpton hotel (email ahead of time if you want). The Kimptons in Chicago will hold a bag for the day, even if you are not a guest.

MDtR-Chicago

Upon reflection, something occurred to me...
This is a trolley, in the local language:



It's covered by the usual $2-for-90-minutes fare.

Is that what you're thinking of? Or is it this:



That's a cable car. Notice that the power is from an underground cable, not the overhead electrical wire. It is NOT covered by the usual Muni fare. It costs $6 per person for a single ride, with no transfer offered, and leaves from a different location.

Images from the linked Yelp articles

straniero

wcj1, ty for the tip. I'm afraid my route doesn't take me close to that place until late, though.

MDtR-Chicago: boy, this whole SF thing is more difficult than I thought.

Looking at http://www.sfcablecar.com/routes.html, it seems that I can get the Powell-Hyde line that passes just by Lombard Street. At this point I will either reach out a BART station and go to EMY, or pick up a taxi since I already know I'll be exhausted