Free or Cheap: 5 Fun Things to Do in San Francisco

San Francisco offers many great activities for all types of people. Whether you’re visiting for the weekend, or live in the Bay Area, here are 5 things that are free (or almost free) things that the City by the Bay can offer:
1) Ghirardelli Square / Fisherman’s Wharf / Pier 39
While many locals avoid this area like the plague, Fisherman’s Wharf area offers many activities and is one of the best places to people watch. Start at the western part near Ghirardelli Square (there’s always free samples of chocolate being given away at the store). Walk down towards the ocean and dip your feet in the bay. Walk east on Jefferson Street and say hello to the costumed bellmen at the Argonaut Hotel – take a peek inside the nautical themed hotel – before continuing down the street towards Fisherman’s Wharf. You can pass by the Boudin bakery and watch the workers create animal shapes from the bread. Further down by Pier 39, you can watch the sea lions sun themselves by the west marina.

2) Walk the Golden Gate Bridge
Considered one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge is certainly a marvel to behold – get a close up look by actually walking this amazing structure. You can start at either end (San Francisco or Marin), or just walk halfway and back– either way it’s a refreshing walk with fantastic views – try to time your walk during sunset. The Marin side of the bridge does offer amazing displays of the San Francisco skyline.

3) Take a drive on the Crookedest Street in the World
While originally constructed as a solution to the unusually steep grade of this particular hill, the 8 sharp turns on Lombard Street unwittingly became one of San Francisco’s tourist attractions. Dozens of cars line up by Hyde Street to traverse Lombard’s twists and turns – much to the annoyance of many of its residents. Try to visit on a weekday morning or afternoon when there is almost no wait. There are also steps on the sides to let visitors walk up and down the hill.

4) Watch the Cable Car turntable on Powell Street
A visit to San Francisco certainly isn’t complete without seeing or riding the famous cable cars. Go to Powell Street and Market where the cars are still turned manually– at the end of the route, cars are placed on turntables and one or two employees will push the car to turn it around. A single rider fare costs $5.00, but an all-day pass (which includes the buses and street cars on the SFMuni System) is $11.00. There’s also the Cable Car Museum where you can see the cable cars from a more unusual point of view – from underground - and admission is FREE.
Tip: While there are other cable car lines, the Powell-Hyde line has a particular treat – the conductors will pause right by Lombard St – make sure to get a seat on the right side of the car to get the best view!

5) Visit the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art
For art lovers, The SFMOMA houses a permanent collection of artwork by such artists as Henri Matisse, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo and Rene Magritte, as well as various exhibitions throughout the year. For those in town for a more flexible amount of time, admission during the first Tuesday of each month is free, while Thursdays are half-off.



While there are many other fun and free things to do in San Francisco, these certainly are can’t-miss items!
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Buying Airfare: Get the Best Bang for Your Buck

Does it seem like airlines and ticket sellers are taking you for a ride (and not to your destination?) Air travel seems to be getting more expensive these days – I don’t need to quote any “experts” or analysts – anyone who flies regularly or books travel for other people can see the trends. However, even without fare sales, frequent flier miles or discount coupons, anyone can save money on airfare – with just some careful planning and a little elbow grease.

Disclaimer: these tips are from my own personal experience – they are not “exact” but they have worked for me, give or take a few unexpected fluctuations. As of the time of writing this article (Sept 2008) - oil prices and hurricanes have made airfare prices slightly unpredictable.

1) 30-21-14-7 Rule

The 30-21-14-7 Rule is a trend I’ve seen when buying airfare tickets online – the prices seem to go up 30 days, 21 days, 14 days and 7 days before the date you want to travel. The trick is to buy as early as possible, but if you’re a procrastinator or you can’t purchase right away for some reason (like the boss not being able to hand you his gold card, or just waiting for the next big bonus), know that these are the milestones you should look out for.


2) Compare, compare, compare

If you have time on your hands, use a comparison-shopping website. My personal favorite is Kayak, which searches the web for the best prices. The neat thing about Kayak is that you can also narrow down the choices – how many stops, what time you want to leave/land, which airports, etc.

3) Compare some more

No, that’s not a typo - Once you’ve done your comparison-shopping, look around some more. Kayak may tell you that Orbitz has the best price for that ticket to New York, but Orbitz also charges booking fees. Go to Orbitz and check for which airline they are selling the tickets you want and call or go to that airline’s website. You might find that the airline may have better fares, more choices and have no booking fees. But don’t spend TOO much time comparing – check your milestones, if you have another day or two to comparison shop or you should buy that ticket right away.


4) Fly on a weekday

This is a no-brainer for most people, but it still amazes me that airlines take an arm and a leg for flying during “premium times” – Friday night and Sunday night. It’s simple demand and “we’ll take you for all you’re worth” – Airlines know that people will want to fly during these times and know people will pay more. The best times to fly are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

5) For weekend travelers – fly on a Saturday morning and fly back on Monday morning.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to take a day off to travel. I have a demanding job that requires me to be at work Monday-Friday and sometimes work late nights. My company can also control when I go on vacation (I’ve checked – for certain sized companies, there is a law in my state that says they can do this). Once in a while, I’ll get a morning off or afternoon off if I’ve worked late the night before. So, for those weekend trips, I’ll have to suck it up and pay more – however, for short-haul trips. I’ll try to fly out on a Saturday morning. This saves me almost 15-30% on airfare and one night of hotel stays.

For example, I once planned a weekend trip to San Diego and go to the Zoo and Seaworld. I figured, I could fly out Friday evening after work and come back Sunday. However, Seaworld didn’t open until about 9 am and would be open until about 10 in the evening. So, I bought airline tickets for Saturday morning, arrived in San Diego at around 10 am and got into Seaworld at about noon. I ended up staying until 9 pm and still had a great time. I got plenty of rest that night and went to the San Diego Zoo the next day and flew back that night.

This tip works depending on what you want to do. All the activities I planned were during the daytime. If I had planned a trip to say, Las Vegas for a bachelorette party, then that extra Friday night partying and spending time with my friends, and then coming back early on Sunday to get rest, would have been worth the extra money for tickets and hotel stays.


6) Don’t be picky!

Everyday, I have to work with many different personalities. One of my bosses likes to only fly United so he gets the miles, yet he wants to be able to come home at a certain time. Another one always wants to fly out from one airport, but fly in to another and will absolutely not fly with a certain airline because of a “bad experience” she had. Sure, the company pays for it, but It does pain me to unnecessarily waste a lot of money when I know I can save money for the company, if only some of these people will give up one or two things.
When I travel – it’s about getting there at the best possible price and I’m not picky – I’m still young (and poor), so I can travel coach – $10 for extra legroom? No thanks, especially if it’s just a 2-3 hour flight. That 6 am flight is $30 cheaper? Sure, I can wake up early if I have to.

7) Make sure that bargain is really a bargain

Flying in early or late at night can save money – however, if you’re not renting a car or have friends/family nice enough to pick you up, you’re stuck with public transport or taxis, which can be expensive. If you arrive at your destination at 11pm to save a few bucks, your ground transportation options may be limited (it helps to do research before arriving there too). Plus, if you’re in an unfamiliar city, you may not want to play Russian roulette with your personal safety. That $15 you saved by flying in later may be offset by a $30 cab ride.
So it’s not just about the bottom line – think of all the other costs surrounding air travel – ground transportation, hotel options etc.

8) Make your purchase work for you

Sign up for those frequent flier miles – even if you think you may never earn enough points to merit a free flight. Most airlines nowadays offer other incentives – personally, I’ve exchanged my miles for free magazines, movie tickets, kitchen knives, a coffee press, luggage and a $50 gift cards towards a hotel stay– all kinds of neat stuff! Unless you’re in the “top-tier” of these frequent flier programs it’s often a headache to get them exchanged for the tickets you want. The money I would have paid for these items goes towards my “future travel fund”.

Remember – every penny counts! The $7 dollar booking fee you just saved could go towards the admission fee to a museum, a great local breakfast at your destination, or towards your next travel!
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About Me

Hi, I'm Jane Traveler - and I'm here to help you save on travel.

So who am I? The name may be deceiving - I'm not blogging during a round-the-world trip and if I was, I wouldn't be boring the blogosphere with the details of my travels (just my closest friends and family).

I do, however, love a travel bargain! See, I don't spend a lot of money on clothes or shoes. My top expenses are travel and food (while I travel!). I put my hard-earned money on traveling when I can - whether it's a weekend road trip or a 1 month long trip across the U.S.A.

It all started with my work - I work at a small firm that requires a couple of our people to travel frequently. For anyone who's worked at a small business, you understand that EVERY PENNY COUNTS! I'm always researching on the best travel deals around for my company - and over the past 2 years, I've compiled a lot of research and some basic "how-to's" when purchasing airfare, hotels and car rentals. When I plan my own vacations, I use the same tips and tricks I've learned - and realized that traveling doesn't HAVE to be expensive and traveling on a budget doesn't mean cutting back on fun!

Pretty soon, I was giving tips to my friends and family. Everytime someone was going somewhere, they'd ask me about where to purchase, which was the best time to go, etc. I started giving them tips and they were quite happy when they got the best price based on my advice. I was so happy seeing my friends NOT throwing away money!

I'm not a travel industry expert - I'm an average person. I do, however, use a lot of common sense, experience and research when doing the thing I love most! So, I'm be sharing my best travel tips, some daily/weekly deals I've found or once in a while - a juicy story/rant from some of my more demanding bosses I book travel for (I'll be changing names, some details or shifting timelines to protect myself and my job, but the crazy stuff I've had to deal with are strange and true!). Read more...