First and foremost, don’t call it San Fran!! The only worse crime would be calling it Frisco. To the locals it’s San Francisco, SF or The City.
It is COLD! It is not your typical “California weather” so prepare for clouds, fog (Karl) and chilly nights any time of the year. The water is also freezing, so if you have any inclination to go to the beach, you likely won’t be taking laps in the water.
On Tuesdays at Noon, sirens go off in parts of the city to test the warning system in case of a natural disaster tsunami or earthquake. Right away, they tell you “This is a test of the Emergency Alert System.”
The Embarcadero, while it should be on your list, is not the best place in the city. Stop by, but then move on!
The food is outrageously good. Everything from burritos in the Mission to an abundance of three Michelin stars – there’s something for everyone here.
The hills are no joke. Which is good when you need to walk off all that amazing food.
Picnics are a thing here. On nice weekends, you can assume people will be taking over the parks with prepared foods, drinks and other extracurriculars. At the very least, it’s great people watching.
The Full House house is not located with the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square park. You’ll find the stand alone house in Lower Pac Heights. NOT everywhere you look.
Prepare for amazingly tall redwoods and parks sprinkled throughout the city. The Golden Gate Park is larger than Central Park.
It’s easy to get to Marin, Sausalito, Tiburon and Oakland via ferry or BART. Not so easy to get to wine country. Plan on hiring a car service or pulling (paper) straws for the D.D.
SF has the second largest Chinatown outside of Asia itself. The fortune cookie was created here and you can still visit an authentic fortune cookie factory.
You might see a naked person. It’s legal in SF… you’ve been warned!
The homeless population is bad and it’s gotten worse recently. You’ll see quite a few homeless people in certain areas i.e. downtown, the Tenderloin and the Mission. There are very few people who are dangerous, but panhandlers are common and others that are rude or mentally unwell. Just be aware of your surroundings!
There are rivalries in certain areas of SF. Marina vs the Mission is a favorite.
San Francisco is an incredible city, but one of the best parts is being within a day’s drive of so many other fantastic destinations: Tahoe, Yosemite, Santa Cruz, Big Sur…
