San Francisco - Alison Bing [196]
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NATURE
For a quick dose of stunning Northern California scenery, most visitors head to Muir Woods, an old-growth redwood stand on the Marin coast, 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate. If you’ve a day to explore, continue north to Point Reyes National Seashore. Via Shoreline Hwy (Hwy 1), you can get there in an hour from the Golden Gate. Hwy 1 over Mt Tamalpais is winding and slow, but if you love woods, you’ll hardly notice. To explore Wine Country, you’ll need one full day, but we recommend staying at least one night to immerse yourself in the local culture and drink with nary a care about the 90-minute drive back to SF.
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PICTURESQUE TOWNS
Woodsy-chic Marin County is home to some of the Bay Area’s loveliest towns, but you’ll need a car to reach the further-flung villages of West Marin, such as Point Reyes Station and Stinson Beach. However, it’s an easy half-hour ferry ride Click here from San Francisco to pretty little Tiburon and arty Sausalito.
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SNOW BOUND: TAHOE SKI TRIPS
It’s a mere four hours to Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountains for some of the USA’s premier skiing and riding. Though champagne-powder days are a rarity in California (they call the snow Sierra cement for a reason), temps are usually above freezing midday, and an average-annual 300 sunny days means you may get a tan as you shoosh down majestic granite peaks, some with drop-dead vistas of cobalt-blue Lake Tahoe (especially at Heavenly and Homewood resorts). If you don’t want to deal with the drive, contact the Bay Area Ski Bus ( 925-680-4386; www.bayareaskibus.com), which offers one-day and overnight trips.
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To reach Tiburon and Sausalito, cross the Golden Gate (Hwy 101), then exit onto Paradise Dr. The winding road hugs the bay and leads to Tiburon, a good spot for a stroll and lunch. Take Hwy 131 (Tiburon Blvd) back to Hwy 101, then head south to Sausalito for drinks while overlooking the bay.
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BEACHES
South of the city is where those classic California clichés – long beaches, convertible cars, lazy living – become reality (but this is the Bay Area, so bring a sweater as well as a bikini). The beaches at Half Moon Bay are good for family excursions. Santa Cruz has great people-watching and surfing (winter is best). State beaches line the coast between SF and Santa Cruz, and each has its own flavor (for detailed descriptions, see the San Mateo Coast page of www.71miles.com). If you don’t have a car, it’s easiest to head south. Take the bus to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz or Monterey.
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OAKLAND & BERKELEY
By ‘East Bay,’ San Franciscans generally mean Oakland and Berkeley. While many SF residents rarely cross the bay, the city would be incomplete without the East Bay. This is where the ports are located and the transcontinental railroad ends; lose Oakland and SF loses its supply line – as happened in the 1906 earthquake. Vital communities in their own rights, Oakland and Berkeley are more than suburbs. With museums, celebrity restaurants and universities, the East Bay has surprisingly great culture – and much warmer summertime weather.
Orientation
Oakland is connected to San Francisco by the Bay Bridge and the underwater Transbay Tube, which BART trains use. The city slopes gently from its eastern hills down to the industrial zone by the bay. In the middle, College Ave snakes northward to couple with Berkeley in the gastronomic Rockridge area (head for the 6300 block). Commercial Broadway runs west through downtown and Chinatown till its terminus at Jack London Sq. The jewel of Oakland, immediately east of downtown, is Lake Merritt, with jogging paths and paddleboats. Beyond it, 14th St becomes International Blvd, the axis of a significant Vietnamese enclave and, further out, an even larger Latino district.
Just north of Oakland, Berkeley is bisected vertically by Shattuck Ave and horizontally by University Ave. One or the other will get you within striking distance of almost anyplace