San Francisco for couples: know before you go (2026)

Why San Francisco for two

San Francisco is not the California of beaches and palm trees: it is a city of hills between the bay and the Pacific, where you climb 20% grades side by side, the cable car bells keep time, and the fog changes the scenery by the hour. A couple remembers the viewpoints, the Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach, the bay from Coit Tower, the Victorian houses at Alamo Square, and the tables of the Mission and North Beach.

Two facts make the trip easier. Distances are short: from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf, the Presidio or the Mission it is 15 to 30 minutes by bus or cable car, no car needed. And the region puts the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma, the redwoods of Muir Woods and the cliffs of Point Reyes within a day trip.

When to go

A few dates change the city. In the fall, the Dreamforce conference fills downtown hotels and sometimes doubles weekday rates, and October's Fleet Week brings the Blue Angels over the bay. The last weekend of June is Pride on Market Street; August is the Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park; the Lunar New Year parade rolls through Chinatown in January or February. In late summer and fall, smoke from wildfires elsewhere in California sometimes dims the sky for a few days: the AirNow app shows the day's air quality.

Paperwork: ID, ESTA, health

Flying in from abroad

The ESTA is requested online on the US government site (esta.cbp.dhs.gov), passport in hand: allow fifteen minutes and about $42 per traveler, children included. The answer usually comes within minutes but can take 72 hours, so apply as soon as the flight is booked, three days before departure at the latest. It is valid for two years for stays of up to 90 days and follows your passport number: a new passport means a new ESTA. Websites that imitate the official page charge more for the same form.

At immigration at SFO, the officer takes your fingerprints and photo and asks for the address of your first hotel and your return date: have both saved in your phone before landing. Allow 45 minutes to an hour and a half between landing and the exit, more when several overseas flights arrive together in the early afternoon.

Getting there

By air, from anywhere

SFO, 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown, takes nearly all the nonstop flights from Europe. Oakland (OAK), across the bay, and San Jose (SJC, an hour's drive) mostly serve domestic flights; compare them on fares, but the ride into town takes longer. Both are covered below, in "From the airport to your hotel".

Practical things to know before you leave

Phone and apps

Cell service is reliable across the city, and most cafes, hotels and museums have free wifi. Download offline maps for Muir Woods and the wine country, where coverage drops. Install the MuniMobile app for bus and cable car tickets, Resy or OpenTable for tables, and Uber, Lyft or Waymo, the driverless taxi, for rides. If you come from abroad, check roaming with your carrier or buy an eSIM before leaving.

Money, taxes and fees

• Shelf prices never include the sales tax of about 8.6%, added at the register. Many restaurants add a 3 to 6% surcharge for employee health care (the “SF Mandate”), printed on the check.
• Tipping works as elsewhere in the US: 18 to 22% of the pre-tax check at restaurants (the card reader suggests 20, 25 or 30%), $2.30 a drink at the bar, 15 to 20% for taxis and rideshares, $4.50 a day for housekeeping, $2.30 a bag for the bellhop. Visitors from the UK should note that service is never included.
• Hotels add about 15% in taxes, sometimes a mandatory “destination fee” of $28 to $51 a night, and hold $56 to $112 a night on your card as a deposit, released after checkout.

The time zone

San Francisco is three hours behind New York and eight hours behind London (seven for a few weeks in March and in the last week of October, when the clocks change on different dates). Flying west from the East Coast, you gain the afternoon: walk in the sun, have dinner early and hold out until 9 pm. Coming from London, expect to wake at 4 or 5 am the first two mornings, the hour of the first Alcatraz boat and of cafes opening around 7. Flying home, jet lag hits harder: leave the first day free.

Layers, shoes and plugs

• Dress in layers: a windbreaker, a fleece and a T-shirt. In summer the waterfront drops to 59°F (15°C) in a cold wind while the Mission reaches 77°F (25°C). You will walk 5 to 7 miles (8 to 12 km) a day with 20% climbs: wear comfortable shoes.
• Tap water comes from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite and is excellent: fill a bottle.
• Outlets are 120 volts with flat plugs: visitors from the UK need an adapter, and a UK hairdryer will burn out; the hotel lends one.

What to book, and how far ahead

In San Francisco, what sells out ahead is what has limited capacity: the Alcatraz boat, entry to Muir Woods, tastings at Napa and Sonoma wineries and the popular restaurants. The rest, cable cars included, you buy the same day.

From the airport to your hotel

© OpenStreetMap contributors

At SFO, the BART station is in the International Terminal; the free AirTrain connects it to every terminal. Trains leave every fifteen to twenty minutes until about midnight and cross downtown under Market Street: Powell Street (Union Square), then Embarcadero. Buy the ticket at the station machines with a card; the fare depends on distance. At Oakland, an automated shuttle links the airport to Coliseum station, where BART takes over.

Taxis and rideshares (Uber, Lyft) pick up at marked zones outside the terminals, and the ride downtown costs $51 to $79 depending on the hour. Between 4 and 7 pm the roads clog and BART beats the car. San Jose (SJC) is an hour's drive away: a bus reaches the Caltrain station, where the train runs to 4th & King, south of downtown; allow two hours in all, or more than $112 by rideshare, and only fly in if the fare is clearly lower.

Getting around

On foot, and up the hills

San Francisco is small (seven miles by seven), and most sights fit in four or five neighborhoods, but the terrain changes everything: ten minutes on the map takes twenty-five with 20% climbs, and Filbert Street, on Russian Hill, reaches 31%. Ride the bus or the cable car up, walk down. The Presidio, the Mission and the waterfront, from the Ferry Building to Fisherman's Wharf, are nearly flat.

Cable cars, buses and BART

Pay with the MuniMobile app or a Clipper card (also in Apple Wallet); bus drivers do not make change. Three cable car lines run: Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason start at Powell and Market Streets, where the line sometimes takes an hour; board at a stop along the route instead, or take the quieter California Street line, which climbs Nob Hill from Market Street. The F streetcar, with vintage cars from around the world, runs along Market Street and the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf. Rideshares and Waymo driverless taxis cost $12 to $28 a ride across town.

Budget for two

The hotel is the first line in the budget, by far: San Francisco is one of the American cities where a room costs the most, and taxes of about 15% and the mandatory fees of some hotels come on top of the posted price. Here is what three nights for two cost, before flights and hotel taxes.

Prices follow the conferences more than the seasons: a room costs 20 to 30% less in January and February than in September or October, and downtown hotels, filled by business travelers Monday to Thursday, often cut their rates from Friday to Sunday, except during a big convention.

Benchmark prices

What to eat and drink

San Francisco eats what its bay and its waves of immigrants gave it: the fish and crab of the Italian fishermen of North Beach, the sourdough of the Gold Rush, the burritos of the Mission, the dim sum of Chinatown and the farm cooking of California. A couple eats well by following a neighborhood, not an address.

At the table

• Sourdough

  The city's bread since the Gold Rush, with a thick crust and a tangy crumb: Boudin Bakery (Fisherman's Wharf) serves it hollowed out and filled with clam chowder, Tartine Bakery (600 Guerrero Street) sells loaves to take away.

• Cioppino

  A stew of fish, crab and clams in tomato broth, born among the Italian fishermen of the bay: Tadich Grill (240 California Street), open since 1849, serves it at the counter or in a wooden booth.

• The Mission burrito

  A giant tortilla rolled around rice, beans, meat and salsa: La Taqueria (2889 Mission Street) makes it without rice, El Farolito (2779 Mission Street) serves it late, $14 to $17 each.

• Dungeness crab

  A local crab, in season from November to June in a normal year, served in a salad, cooked whole or cracked on ice: Swan Oyster Depot (1517 Polk Street), a 1912 counter with no tables and a line at peak hours.

• The Mission snack

  A morning bun, an orange and cinnamon pastry, at Tartine Bakery, then salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery (3692 18th Street), eaten on the lawns of Dolores Park.

• Chinatown dim sum

  The oldest Chinatown in North America, where steamer baskets start at $3.40: Good Mong Kok Bakery (1039 Stockton Street) to go, Yank Sing (101 Spear Street) at the table, for more.

In the glass

• Napa and Sonoma wine

  Cabernet sauvignon in Napa, pinot noir and chardonnay in Sonoma; in town a glass runs $16 to $28, and a tasting at a winery $45 to $101.

• Roaster coffee

  Specialty roasters make the city's reputation: Blue Bottle at the Ferry Building, Sightglass (270 7th Street) or Philz Coffee (3101 24th Street), where each cup is made by hand, $4.50 to $6.80.

• Irish coffee

  The Buena Vista Café (2765 Hyde Street), near the cable car turnaround, says it introduced Irish coffee to America in 1952 and serves it all day, ~$15.

• Cocktails

  The pisco punch was born here in the 1800s; bars range from tiki, at Smuggler's Cove (650 Gough Street), to the Mission's cocktail rooms, $17 to $23.

• Craft beer

  California brews hoppy IPAs and amber ales in many microbreweries in SoMa and the Mission, $9 to $12 a pint.

Customs and rules to know

San Francisco dresses down and speaks plainly: a fleece is fine at most dinners, and strangers on a cable car will tell you where to get off. A few rules apply, though.

• San Francisco goes to bed early: many kitchens close at 9:30 or 10 pm, and bars serve until 2 am at most. Book dinner before 8:30 pm.
• Drivers stop for pedestrians in crosswalks: cross on the walk signal, and watch for bikes and electric scooters, which are fast on the waterfront paths.
• On a cable car, do not lean out of the car: buses and cars pass within a foot or two.
• Stores no longer give out plastic bags: bring a bag, or pay a few cents for a paper one.

Safety

Most visitors have no trouble in San Francisco, and the neighborhoods where you will sleep and dine are safe by day and by night. Two realities to know: car break-ins are more frequent here than in most American cities, and a few streets downtown, a block or two from Union Square, are hard to walk through.

• Leave nothing in the car, not even coins or a charger cable: smashed windows are the city's top crime, above all at viewpoints (Twin Peaks, Alamo Square, Lands End, the Presidio). A car with an empty trunk and an open glove box discourages the thief.
• The Tenderloin, west of Taylor Street and south of Geary Street, between Union Square and Civic Center, concentrates open-air drug use, homelessness and run-down streets: cross it by day if you must, avoid it at nightfall, and take a rideshare home from Civic Center after an opera or a concert.
• Around Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39, as in crowded cable cars, pockets are the target: wallet in front, bag zipped.
• At night, skip poorly lit BART and Muni stations; take a rideshare if the platform is empty.
• Do not hold your phone out on the sidewalk in front of a station or at a red light: phone snatching happens.

Mistakes couples make

Disappointment almost always comes from clothing that is too light, a car that is too full or a ticket bought too late. Leave free hours in each day: the hills slow you down.

• Heading out in a T-shirt because it is California: even in July, the Golden Gate Bridge sits at 57°F (14°C) in the wind.
• Fixing the bridge visit to a set hour: in summer, fog often hides it until 11 am or noon. Check the bridge webcam in the morning, and keep it for the afternoon or another day.
• Leaving a bag, a suitcase or a charger in the rental car, even for five minutes.
• Booking a hotel “at Union Square” without looking at the map: some addresses are three blocks from the Tenderloin. Choose north of Geary Street or on Nob Hill.
• Standing an hour in line at the Powell Street turnaround: board higher up the Powell-Hyde line, or take the California Street line.
• Showing up at Alcatraz without tickets: boats sell out weeks ahead.