Can I get around San Francisco without a car?

Downtown, North Beach, and Fisherman's Wharf are easily walkable. The city's local MUNI buses and light rail, trolleys, and streetcars travel citywide, and are an economical and safe way to get around—just know you may need to wait a bit at your stop.



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The best ways to get around San Francisco are on foot and by using public transportation. Most of the popular attractions are within walking distance of the city center, and the large municipal transportation system (called the Muni) operates bus and streetcar lines, leaving little need for your own set of wheels.

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As long as you don't mind navigating the hilly terrain, San Francisco is a great place to be without a car. The city's historic cable cars can take you up some of the famous streets like Powell and Lombard Street and make stops at Union Square and Fisherman's Wharf too.

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Cable cars and street cars are San Francisco's historic public transit. Cable cars are located downtown and run on three lines: Powell-Hyde, Powell-Mason, and California Street. The F-Line streetcar runs up and down Market Street all the way to Fisherman's Wharf.

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Bridge crossings can be made by tour bus, taxi, ride-sharing services, and public transit. Golden Gate TransitOpens in new window buses and San Francisco Muni buses stop at the San Francisco toll plaza, where visitors can get off to walk or cycle the bridge, toll-free.

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How much is it to ride the SF Muni buses and trolleys: Adults: $3.00 (Clipper card/MuniMobile: $2.50) Seniors: $1.50 (Clipper card/MuniMobile: $1.25) Anyone under 19 years of age rides buses and streetcars free (but not cable cars).

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As one of the most walkable, bike-friendly and transit-connected cities in America, San Francisco is best explored by foot, on bike and on Muni, the city's public transportation system. We're here to help you get around San Francisco.

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For the most part, public transit is not free in San Francisco, but there are discounts for seniors and students. There are also tickets for unlimited rides for set amounts of time and bulk discounts. Muni has a $5 day pass for unlimited rides — except on cable cars.

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With a nickname like Golden Gate City, one may not think about safety when visiting. But when traveling to any big city, you should always educate yourself about safety basics. Fortunately, San Francisco, and the entire Bay Area, are safe for tourists, even solo travelers.

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Downtown San Francisco is easy to navigate. It's compact and fairly walkable, with multiple easy-to-use public transit options. However, due to its windy, hilly streets and pricy parking, driving around San Francisco is not recommended unless you plan on traveling outside the city itself.

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The high season for airfares is from June through August. The cheapest month to fly to San Francisco is January. For the best combination of low prices and good weather, plan your visit in the spring.

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WHAT TO WEAR
  1. Always layer. ...
  2. If you must buy a sweatshirt, get anything related to the 49ers. ...
  3. And save those Google or Facebook T-shirts. ...
  4. Still, think casual... ...
  5. ... ...
  6. Leave your umbrellas at home. ...
  7. Don't, under any circumstances, call the city San Fran. ...
  8. Do stroll around Chinatown, but don't make it a dining destination.


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Union Square, best area to stay in San Francisco Union Square is perhaps the best-known neighborhood, since it's the center of the city. This is a very dynamic place, where you can attend many concerts and events throughout the year.

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For glitz and glamour and some cutting-edge culture in the SoCal sunshine, it's got to be LA. But for a smaller-town feel with big-name sights, you're best off in San Francisco. Better still, rent a car, drive the spectacular coastal highway that connects the two, and take in both cities on one trip.

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PIER 39 is the ideal safe outing. The pier is an open-air marketplace that monitors guest count to ensure everyone has space to socially distance.

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Safety is BART's top priority. To help keep passengers and our employees safe, BART has more than 4,000 working cameras throughout our system and we are working very hard to increase both sworn officers and ambassador presence.

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