Reply To: Beyond San Francisco

[peterH]

Can definitely recommend Monterey for a couple of nights, particularly if you enjoy wildlife. The aquarium there is world-class, and there’s also lots of wildlife (birds, seals, sea lions, sea otters etc) that you can see from all along the waterfront. Several places to hire bicycles from too, and really easy cycling around 17-mile drive with some fantastic views.

If you end up deciding against driving I used the Monterey Airbus Shuttle to get back to SFO from Monterey – despite some mixed reviews it was a spot on service so you could easily use it both ways.

I found the Big Bus Tour (HOHO) in San Francisco a great introduction to the city and an easy way to get around some prominent sights, but public transport is very good (the Muni app for this was good), and again hiring a bike to cycle out to (and across if brave) the Golden Gate Bridge is recommended (nice cafe/shop/visitor centre on the south side of it). Several of the bike hire places do combined hire and ferry tickets so you can ride to Sausalito and then get the ferry back but leave the bike behind or combinations thereof.