My San Francisco Tips

A Local's Guide for Travelers to San Francisco

Jun 2, 2025.

Here are some things I think visitors to San Francisco should know, or would enjoy knowing.

I love sharing the benefits of my 30 years in San Francisco to make your trip to SF fun, and giving travelers a candid guide to our city.

The great, the good, and the, well, not so good! The real San Francisco ;)

vintage tourism image of woman at Golden Gate Bridge

My "what I wish I had known" list!

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Tip on San Francisco news sources. The SF Chronicle and SF Gate are the two main news publications for the city (and beyond). They are both owned by the Hearst Corp. and used to be connected but split in 2019.

The Chronicle was placed behind a paywall in 2013, but SF Gate is free. SF Gate has local news like the Chronicle, but with a bit more of a tabloid flavor. They have gradually expanded to cover California as well.

You can get 3 free article reads at the Chronicle per month, and they usually have a really cheap introductory offer for subscriptions. You have to call to cancel, which is a hassle, but if you hang in there, you will eventually get a much lower subscription offer.

A relative newcomer in 2021, the San Francisco Standard is another local news publication (also has a paywall, with 3 free articles per month).

Tip for people driving to San Francisco: never leave your luggage or valuables in your car.

If you have luggage with you, you can store it at a number of locations all over the city and not worry about break-ins and losing everything. This happens to visitors way too often!

The company, Bounce, will store your stuff for a reasonable daily fee per bag ($3.90 and up, per bag, per day). Check out their storage locations.

Best time to visit