Lonely Planet San Francisco

I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to guidebooks. I don't believe that there is one-size-fits all guidebook, and when I travel, I get an arsenal of books and select the top three to use on the road. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I needed no other guidebook to San Francisco! As a general rule, Lonely Planet guides are the most compact and info-packed books on the market, and this guide is unparalleled. It fits neatly in any purse or backpack and the only add-on I would recommend for your trip is a detailed Muni bus route map. Even without a detailed map, this guide can get you all around the city. Every attraction, restaurant, and hotel is listed indexed and numbered on a half dozen neighborhood maps in the back of the book. There's no need for detailed directions because the maps allow the traveler to plan their own route. The attractions? Wow! You get all your essential tourist hot spots, plus info on alternative forms of sports and recreation, hidden shopping sites, stores which have house cats or dogs, free wine and cheese at poetry readings, theater reviews, upscale/campy adult entertainment, and much more. San Francisco is well-known for dining options, and this book has the most listings of any guidebook. Nightlife is given extensive coverage, so that anyone can find sites of interest, from late-night coffee shops to Latin dance clubs to sports bars. Of course, a site such as City Search can augment your search for good eats and nightlife. The book can be read in a number of ways. It offers a week full of suggested itineraries which make a great starting place. The reader can also search by neighborhood or by type of excursion desired, and complete public transportation information is provided. The guide even offers limited information on side trips outside the city proper. A complete index to all attractions, hotels, and restaurants is included. Don't travel without the Lonely Planet, especially when visiting San Francisco.

This is the first Lonely Planet guidebook that I have used extensively. I live in Northern California, and was looking for a book with decent maps, phone numbers, and descriptions of restaurants, hotels, and other attrations in San Francisco. This guidebook provides all of this and more. It includes walking tours, features on unique aspects of San Francisco history and culture, and great maps. Having been to San Francisco several times before, this book opened my eyes to a few places I hadn't been and nudged me away from the areas I usually spend time in when visiting San Francisco (Union Square and the Theatre District). I disagree with the reviewer who said that the maps were not very good -- they are excellent considering that they are inside of a small guidebook. In fact, this is the primary reason I purchased the book -- I misplaced the map I used when visiting San Francisco and the Bay Area. When I saw the excellent maps in this book, I opted to get it instead of getting a stand alone map. I also disagree with the reviewer who said the book is skewed toward gay and lesbian culture. The Castro district gets the same level of attention as any other neighborhood in the city. If you are someone who is visiting San Francisco for the first time, I highly recommend this book. Even for those (like me) who have visited, but don't live in the Bay Area, the book is an excellent resource.

Yet again Lonely Planet has produced a very readable and useful guidebook. I bought this for a 5-day trip to the Bay area and was never at a loss for information. The 16 color maps at the back were extremely helpful: one of the biggest problems I have with guidebooks like Fodor's is that they often have confusing maps which can really get you confused and lost, whereas here any idiot like myself can find his way around easily. I also really liked the walking tours, of which there are five - Barbary Coast, Beatnik-Hippie, Chinatown, North Beach and Skyscraper - all of which have their own maps as well. The excursion chapter covered Oakland and Berkeley plus Marin County and Napa Valley and some sites south of San Fransisco. As always there was the typically well-researched chapters on accommodation, food, entertainment and shopping. Furthermore, the history chapter gave a good introduction to all of San Fransisco's past and present - the gold rush, earthquakes, the counterculture, gays and more.A great travelguide for a beautiful city.

After using many Lonely Planet guides abroad, I felt there must be some valuable information about my own city. I bought this book to have as a reference when I had friends visiting from out of town (especially if I needed to send them out on their own!) but have used it for so much more. The restaurant recommendations and even suggestions for sightseeing have surprised me and I have even learned a few things I didn't know. Perhaps it is so good because it was written by the Lonely Planet staff in Oakland (right across the Bay from SF)- these guys know their stuff! Well organized and thorough, I recommend this to natives and visitors alike.

Being very disapointed about the Lonely Planet guide to my own city (Amsterdam) I was quite sceptical about this guide, but it's great. It has helped me find nice places, good food and has helped have a great week in San Francisco. I never use the hotel-information supplied by Lonely Planet, but the rest of the information was correct, and the hunderd of sidelines the writer takes make the book a joy, even now I am back home.