San Francisco/Berkeley Bay Area
Annabella is a graduate of UC Berkeley, and therefore lived in the Bay Area for 4 years. We’ve been back to visit friends many times and will share some thoughts here.
Hotels: If you are primarily staying in San Francisco, then find a central hotel, like around Union Square. You will not want or need a car. If you are venturing outside the city with car, we’ve stayed in Emeryville (Berkeley) and Concord/Walnut Creek and San Rafael (Marin) for $99-125/night, much cheaper than SF and free parking.
Tours in SF: There are many different tour companies that operate trips around the city. Click here for a link to Annabella’s USA Today Travel Tips article on some of them. And Click Here for a quick overview of things to see in SF. The tours of Alcatraz are a particular favorite, even though when we went there together a pigeon left its mark on Vito’s head.
Trips outside SF:
Napa/Sonoma: You can stay overnight in Berkeley (like the Sheraton in Emeryville, and there are a few others around there) and head to Napa f. We’ve done Napa/Sonoma as day trips (it’s so overpriced to actually sleep there). If you stick to just doing a few samples, then the driving factor isn’t a big deal. We prefer Napa to Sonoma. Without a car you can book a day trip from SF with a tour operator. We’ve never done this, but our experience doing these types of tours in other places is that your freedom is too limited and the winery stops overly long.
SF to Sonoma-Sausalito-Muir Woods Circuit: Here is a suggested itinerary. After a day in SF, pick up a car and head up for a night in Concord/Walnut Creek. Those towns are already a little farther north, and then it’s easy to move onward and spend a day in Sonoma. On the drive back you can spend the night in San Rafael and then head to Sausalito the next morning. Sausalito is a lot of fun to poke around (without a car you can take a ferry from SF). This gives you a chance to drive back to the city over the Golden Gate Bridge. Those suburban hotels have free parking, and especially on weekends they are very cheap because they cater to business people. Muir Woods is a fabulous nature stop. That’s up in Marin Country, and anyone can walk around the park because it has a smooth wooden boardwalk.
Berkeley Tips:
*Telegraph Ave. is the main drag that runs south of campus. Parking is a real hassle during the school week, but there are pay lots (it’s not easy on weekends either, but the lots are usually not full). It’s relatively quiet during school breaks, but there is always something going on . There are cool shops (especially bookstores) and eateries all along there.
*Our perennial is right on Telegraph is Café Intermezzo, with incredible BIG salads and sandwiches with their own homemade bread, and awesome coffee. It’s been there for decades (and, as I told a friend of mine who worked there in college when I called her up from my cell phone when I was last there, “I see that being a weirdo is still an employment requirement to work at Intermezzo”) . All around campus and throughout the city there are good Asian restaurants everywhere.
*Campus is beautiful, and they have free campus tours from the info. booth at the student center/student store (the “ASUC”) , which is at the entrance to campus at Bancroft and Telegraph.
*Of course the famous Chez Panisse is also in Berkeley, with more affordable dining in the “café” (it’s in Berkeley’s “gourmet ghetto”).
*Pizza buffs can check out Zachary’s Pizza.
*Theatre buffs should look into the schedule at Berkeley Rep Theatre in downtown Berkeley, about a 20 min.walk from campus.