Frommer's Irreverent Guide to San Francisco [With Maps]

My wife and I recently visited San Francisco, and we absolutely fell in love with the city. One of the main reasons we loved the trip so much is because we received expert advice from this little book. First, it helps shape the genre of the trip by advising you on what to avoid. For example, unless you want your trip to be completely filled with dime-a-dozen memories, the book honestly advises you to stay away from places like Fishermans Wharf and Alcatraz. The pulse of the city is not to be found there. It also tells you how to avoid wasting time on inefficient transportation and wasting money on touristy restaurants that have a lot of press without the goods. In other words, this book is not afraid to say to you, "Hey, don't go to that restaurant because (a) it's overpriced and (b) the food stinks." In a city that's as diverse as San Francisco, we found that having advice about what to avoid was just as helpful, if not more so, than advice about what to see. Second, it tells you what to wear. We went to San Francisco in late July/early August, and you would be surprised at how you need to dress for San Francisco weather during these "summer" months. Third, it gives you an insider's perspective on what is truly distinctive about San Francisco's city culture. As such, we were able to visit places that we ordinarily would miss if we were to plan our trip solely by the other city guides we had in our possession. For example, there are many restaurants, shops, cafes, and entire neighborhoods which are the delight of San Francisco locals, and we were really pleased to be able to soak up some of that local mood. This feature is what we found most valuable about Frommer's Irreverent Guide. Finally, a word of caution. Frommer's Irreverent Guide is not meant to be a complete guidebook. It is best used as a supplement to another San Francisco guide book that gives the fine-print details. That said, however, the Irreverent Guide is great at what it aims to do-viz., to help set your frame of mind and plan the mood of the trip to be truly San Franciscan.