Trips With Tykes

menu icon
search icon
×

San Francisco

I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2005, and 16 of those 20 years have been with kids in tow. San Francisco is a destination that draws travelers from around the world. The city sometimes gets accused of being hostile to children, but that's mostly because it is just so expensive to raise kids here. The reality is that San Francisco and the surrounding area have a multitude of family-friendly things to do.

Are your kids dying to ride on a cable car or tour the world's most famous island prison after dark? What airports are best to use for a San Francisco vacation? After two decades of exploring the City by the Bay, I've got a lot of advice to share.

Tips for Traveling to San Francisco

  • Pack and wear lots of layers. The weather is highly variable between day and night (and between different neighborhoods) the vast majority of the year.
  • Add a Clipper Card to your smartphone wallet. It can be used to pay fares on all of the Bay Area's transit systems.
  • Uber and Lyft work well, but for a very futuristic SF experience, take a Waymo - the city's driverless cars.
  • Skip the rental car. Parking is hard to find and expensive. If you need a car for a day trip, there are lots of rental car companies with locations near San Francisco's major hotels.
  • Beware the hills and thinking "the map shows it's only a few blocks away - let's walk." Sometimes those blocks can be essentially vertical.

Top 10 San Francisco Posts

Beyond SF: the rest of the Bay Area

Day Trips from San Francisco

Theme Parks Near San Francisco

Explore More San Francisco Posts