San Francisco
Alone

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Choosing a Safe Base

Neighborhoods that work well as a base include Union Square, Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, North Beach, and Fisherman’s Wharf. Hayes Valley is just as comfortable to walk but has little hotel stock. These are well-patrolled and well-lit, keep foot traffic through the evening, and have restaurants and bars open late enough to walk home from.

Richmond District and Sunset District are residential and quiet, with little open after dark, but they’re further from downtown attractions. If you stay here, expect to use transit more frequently.

The Tenderloin, the grid of blocks roughly between Union Square, Civic Center and Van Ness, has the city’s most visible open drug use and street disorder. You will skirt its edges on Market Street and on the way to the Civic Center theaters; stay on Market, Geary or Post, and take a taxi at night rather than cutting through. Bayview–Hunters Point, in the southeast, is a residential district visitors rarely have reason to visit; if you go, go by day with a planned route. South of Market and the Mission are home to excellent museums and restaurants; each has its own evening picture in Neighborhood by Neighborhood, and both are better by day and early evening than late at night.

A free excerpt from San Francisco Alone.