[_w7am]

Good lord, so much snark in this thread, so here's some actual suggestions if you want to enjoy yourself (note: I moved out 3.5 years ago).

Get coffee at Four Barrel, Ritual, Sightglass, Blue Bottle, Philz

Get tacos in the Missions at Taqueria Vallarta, Taqueria Cancun

Go to Noisebridge, Sudo Room, Hacker Dojo

Hike at Hawk Hill, Skeggs, Muir Woods, Mt. Tam

Look up local concerts at funcheapsf.com. There's so many fantastic gargage bands that should have record deals. $5 can get you an amazing show

Have a picnic at Lake Merrit

Walk around some of the university campuses (I quite like Berkeley)

Look at the street art on Clarion Alley

Go to Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences

To the Conservatory of Flowers

Drive up Twin Peaks on a foggy day and watch Carl roll over the city

Walk around Haight-Ashbury (possibly buy drugs) and check out the shops and food

Walk around Telegraph Ave in Berkeley (possibly buy drugs) and check out the shops and food

Drive CA-1 to Monterey. Stop in Santa Cruz.

[ghaff]

Good list. I'd add the Rodins at Stanford (which is also a nice campus to walk around) and, for hiking, the Santa Cruz mountains (Big Basin, etc.) Also free guided walking tours in SF and the boat trip to Alcatraz (touristy but worthwhile--book ahead).

While the Computer History Museum in [EDIT: Mountain View] is great, if I were visiting the Bay area from halfway around the world, I really wouldn't spend much time in Silicon Valley proper, tech events, etc. I suppose I get the mystique but there are so many more interesting things to experience on a short visit.

[samcodes]

I hope OP listens to this. Spend 80% of your time in SF/Oakland/Berkeley and 20% at most in SV. The former is one of the most interesting, beautiful metropolitan areas in the world.; The later is a fairly mundane suburb.

When I'm visiting the Bay Area I like to go to coworking spaces as well.

[kzisme]

What do you do at co-working spaces (aside from work?) Is it to meet people or what exactly? (I've been been)

[fernly]

CHM is in Mountain View. Come on Wednesday to watch the live demo of an IBM 1401 system or see the RAMAC (first commercial hard disk) running.

http://www.computerhistory.org/visit/

[ma2rten]

The Computer History Museum is in Mountain View, not in San Jose. If you go to Stanford you might as well go there too.

[ghaff]

I realized that after I wrote it. I'm conflating my technology-related museums.

[kzisme]

Would a week or a week and a half be long enough to visit and see a good amount of stuff?

[ghaff]

Certainly not everything--especially if you're talking the whole region from Pt. Reyes through Sonoma/Napa to San Francisco, the South Bay, and Santa Cruz/Santa Cruz mountains/Monterey. But 1-2 weeks is enough to give you a nice flavor of the area. I'd probably pick SF and maybe a couple select things to see/do in the Valley and then spend some time either north or south from there.

[kzisme]

I just have a lot of vacation days to burn still and I've ALWAYS wanted to visit SF (other than the airport).

[ghaff]

SF is one of my favorite cities (to visit :-)). And there's tons of other great stuff to do within driving distance from 1-2 hours on up. (You can reach the Sierras but I probably wouldn't recommend that for a first time visit of limited duration.) IMO, great choice for a vacation of just about any length.

[kzisme]

Vegas vs SF? Which would you choose?

[vforgione]

Thank you for this. As someone interviewing with a handful of companies in SV and considering relocating, this whole thread reenforces a whole host of misgivings I have of the area. Maybe I'm too Midwestern, but most of the comments read as a big "eff you - don't even bother." Does everyone hate it there so much? I know it isn't perfect, but what city/metro area is?

[danielvf]

Of the developers I've known in the Bay Area for the last ten years, three have recently left, two are planning on leaving shortly, and one only sort of lives there anymore.

The biggest issue is the cost of housing. It's like 5x more expensive in the Bay Area than housing in my area. The higher incomes available don't compensate.

In order to get "cheaper" housing, most people with families then live farther out with crazy commute times and traffic. Some people send four hours of their day in traffic.

Lastly the tech scene can be a little overboard at times with whatever the progressive flavor of the month. For example, is picking conference presenters in double blind fashion without regard to gender or race, a virtue or a crime worthy of a mob? Are men and women the same, or do they have differences? Either answer could get you ostracized, depending on which way the wind is blowing in SF or SJC.

State Income taxes is a small thing but will take an extra 8-10% of your income a year.

Lastly the Bay Area tech companies and startups seem to require a bit more than 40 hours a week of work. This isn't as common elsewhere.

None of these things may bother you if you are a young, progressive, single person with a high paying job.

But as you get older they can get to be an awful daily irritation.

[BinaryIdiot]

I wasn't originally going to, but after seeing so many negative responses all over this story I feel like I should also add a response here.

I interviewed with several companies in the Bay Area before deciding on one and moving out here. Yes, the housing market sucks. When we were looking for a place to rent we were shown a house that wasn't on the market yet and already had an interested party who put an application down. Fortunately they went with us but the housing, even out in the East Bay, is expensive and goes fast.

But, for me, that ends the negativity that many seem to be echoing in here.

My family and I absolutely love it here. We lived our whole lives on the east coast and having been in the Bay Area for a year we never want to move back. The weather is amazing, everything is close (we live further out in East Bay but still we're minutes away from just about everything; shopping, restaurants, hospitals; everything!).

The schools in most areas that we looked have phenomenal ratings (some of the ones in SF, not so much and obviously we didn't look everywhere) and my daughter just completed her first year at a school over here and she's crazy sad the year is already over!

The work is interesting! It's also very refreshing to know that there are just so many opportunities here that should I decide I don't like my work anymore it's crazy how many companies will open their doors to interview you ASAP (if you're in the tech industry, I should clarify).

There is a ton of stuff to do here. Beaches, lots of interesting places for kids (like indoor play places everywhere) and for adults (kick ass stores and movie theaters and probably other stuff but I don't do much else lol). I love the california science academy and their planetarium. Fisherman's Wharf in SF has awesome food and is just an interesting place to walk around.

Overall the Bay Area, in my opinion as a semi-recent transplant, is absolutely amazing. I really hope we can make progress on the housing issues.

[malnourish]

This is 100% anecdotal.

I'm from Minneapolis as are a number of my friends. Some of them moved out to CA (Irvine) and some later moved to Seattle.

They /can't wait/ to move back to MN. For a while, I didn't understand them (usually, when they tell me this in the winter). But the music scene, culture, and comparative lack of traffic make a big difference.

I've yet to go to CA outside of layovers, but I still want to experience it for myself.

[WalterGR]

Some of them moved out to CA (Irvine)

Irvine is in Southern California. Southern California is a different state than Northern California, which is where San Francisco and Silicon Valley are.

[DaniloDias]

Midwestern pride (and Minneapolitan pride in particular) is far stronger than most areas.

To me, it presents itself as a kind of Stockholm syndrome. It develops because your brain is aware of the fact that the weather there is capable of killing you 3 months out of the year and it has to find a way to justify the fact that you're not leaving. Obviously there must be something really great about this place when it's not 20 below.

Minnesotans are unusually aware of the primacy of their bike paths, healthcare coverage, skyway'd cities and educational system. They talk to each other a lot about how great each of these things are, reinforcing the special shared status of this land of hardship, but good working folks.

In my experience, most people don't speak so highly of their hometowns as Midwesterners- Minnesotans in particular. When you move to a place where everyone sees the bad stuff and doesn't try to sugar coat it, it can be offputing. If you don't get enough milage between you and the cult of the midwest, you inevitably return to a land where people endure because everyone talks about how good it is when it's not too bad. It could be worse!

-Former Minneapolitan.

[beat]

As a current Minneapolitan, the thing that wins for me here is the arts scene. Sooner or later, everyone becomes some sort of a hipster, deeply engaged in a local subculture. For me, it's music and theater. For my wife, it's dance. For my daughter, it's the restaurant scene. For my neighbors, it's gardening. But there are scenes here. I go to similar-sized cities, and their arts scenes are like a joke. They have a little four block ghetto of hip somewhere, but nothing like what we have here (as a hardcore Minnesota Fringe Festival nerd, visiting Indianapolis during their Fringe Festival was... ridiculous).

I see stickers saying "Keep Austin weird", and "Keep Portland weird". You never see those for Minneapolis. We don't need 'em.

[adjkant]

Don't forget about Chicago, which is worst of all in the brainwashing department. I can't find the source sadly, but there's a crazy statistic about girls who grow up in Chicago being somewhere around 10x more likely to return to their hometown compared to their counterparts anywhere else in the US.

[selectodude]

Well that's because Chicago is the best city in the world.

[carlisle_]

There are always people who are unhappy where they are. Because it feels like the entire tech industry is here people wind up moving here even if they wouldn't have otherwise.

I personally love being here but I also grew up around here. I'd rather all the people who didn't want to live here move on and out and make room for the people who do want to be here.

That being said the people who appreciate being here generally outnumber the people who don't appreciate it. Anecdotally of course.

[adjkant]

I think people here are complaining about the tech culture more than the actual place of SF itself. SF is a big city with access to tons of great outdoor activities and tons to do. If you don't like big cities then yeah, you may have a bad time. I don't see how any actual city lover could have a truly bad time here.

As mentioned by others, because of tech, some people move out here despite not actually wanting to live in a place like CS. That number is a minority.

[beat]

As a Midwesterner myself, the Bay area is my favorite place in America to visit, but I don't really want to live there. I'd consider it, though, for the right circumstance. If I were rich, I might well pay for a timeshare out there, but keep my permanent residence here in Minneapolis.

[krausejj]

Everyone hates living here -- it's terrible! That's why people pay some of the highest housing costs in the nation. Because we all hate it!

[jngreenlee]

For a midwesterner, Denver is pretty sweet and techie.

[leesalminen]

No way. Colorado sucks. It snows all year here. Don't come here. Go to Utah. Utah is awesome. /s

[_ao789]

Lol

[joshu]

The area between San Francisco and San Jose is pretty boring. But there is a ton of stuff to do in the bay area in general.

[peterhunt]

Hang out in Dolores Park for the authentic SF experience.

Also, El Farolito is the superior Mission burrito ducks

[nicolashahn]

Came here to say these two things.

Dolores park is my trump card for showing off SF to (20 something) out of towners. There's usually nothing even remotely like it (when it gets crowded and boozy) wherever they came from.

And I'm in it for the al pastor and so far El Farolito has my favorite. I love Guadalajara too though, because you can get a burrito that's just two different (huge) portions of meat, and they also have some very spicy and delicious salsa. I've strained friendships arguing whether Cancun or El Farolito was better though.

[mistersquid]

To my taste, the best burrito in SF can be found at La Corneta in Glen Park. I lean toward the super carne asada, but the fish (salmon) burrito is also amazing. The Glen Park La Corneta has amazing food in general and if you go there, you will not be disappointed.

Be advised that La Corneta also has a location in SoMa (on Mission) but the taste of the food is entirely different, not bad, but not as much to my liking.

[crawdog]

El Farolito for the torta. Cancun for the burrito!

[itomato]

Zorro.

[lisper]

> possibly buy drugs

That would be unwise. It's not a particularly auspicious time to be a foreigner in the U.S., and the Trump administration just announced a crack down on even minor drug offenses. The Haight is pretty relaxed and the odds of getting caught are low, but the consequences at the moment could be particularly severe. Not a risk worth taking.

But do go to the Haight and watch people buying drugs :-)

[itomato]

Prop 65 much?

[lisper]

Huh??? What does prop 65 (or any California state proposition for that matter) have do to with someone on a tourist visa getting in trouble with the federal government for buying illegal drugs?

[cwal37]

Piggybacking off of your Monterey suggestion, take the slight detour there to check out Point Lobos, a particularly beautiful state park.

Also, strongly second Nightlife at the Cal Academy of Sciences. I try to design my trips to the bay area such that I'll be there on a the day of the week those are so I can go (Thursday I think?). It's a great museum, very hands on, and those nights have always had a really enjoyable vibe when I've been.

Oh, and taking 1 north of the city along Point Reyes for a ways is also an excellent drive. You can cut back inland through some rolling hills and get a very different vibe than the city and coast going south towards Big Sur

[mattnewton]

If you go to Santa Cruz, I recommend sea kayaking off the warf next to the boardwalk. It's a great way to get some sun, enjoy the ocean without being a surfer and see sea lions and aborable sea otters (but be careful not to get too close and disturb them).

I also highly recommend night life at the Academy of Sciences, and I think the exploratorium does something similar.

[krausejj]

This is a great list! If you really want the city vibe, though, you should check out non-touristy spots as well, and witness some of the insane differences between neighborhoods:

- Check out Union Street in the Marina, then compare that to the Tenderloin (there are good restaurants around Geary/Hyde)

- Go to the Creamery in Soma (tech ground zero), and then take an Uber to Market & Castro, the historical center of the gay community

- Eat amazing Asian food on Clement Street, and then decent Italian in North Beach

You might find that "SF" is actually dozens of different towns fused into one. There are a few overarching similarities, but the most striking thing to me are the differences -- even the weather is different across neighborhoods.

[shlant]

+1 Taqueria Cancun

Hit up Boba Guys if you like bubble tea

Do the Lands End walk (https://goo.gl/maps/UGC651a1Cvt). Some great bridge photos there

[codemac]

There is better bubble tea further south in the valley with no line. I don't get the boba guys craze except for the fact that the amount of boba in SF is lower than necessary.

[pattycakes]

I will add, if you like watching live music, a more extensive list is here: http://www.foopee.com/punk/the-list/

[pella]

+ "Meetups in San Francisco"

https://www.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/san_francisco/

[itomato]

The drive on 1 also includes a drive on 17.

Big Sur is not accessible due to landslides.

[indescions_2017]

While the experts are chiming in: any recommendations for A). Sushi and B). Healthy Vegetarian / Wellness / Vegan / Juice Bar / Poke Bowl type spots? Thanks in advance!

[schoen]

I'm surprised to see the vegetarian and vegan question get so little attention, but you could get two of these in one by going to Shizen.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/shizen-vegan-sushi-bar-and-izakaya-...

Other thoughts (with very different ambience, price range, and focus):

Golden Era is generally delicious but maybe not that healthy in terms of salt and sugar.

Udupi Palace for nice dosa and uttapam options.

Dim sum at Lucky Creation for an unbelievably non-touristy Buddhist vegetarian experience.

If you're particularly looking for juice bar-oriented vegetarian places, Judahlicious is probably a clear candidate (they also have a specialty in raw food). Nourish Café is also a great option in this category.

I was personally not impressed by Seed+Salt or Vegan Picnic.

The vegan scene is stronger across the Bay in Oakland than in San Francisco proper. I love two spots that are not especially healthy: Souley Vegan (soul food) and Timeless Coffee Roaster (vegan baked goods that seem kind of impossible, plus coffee and chocolate).

But this is drifting quite some distance away from the original focus of the question.

You can also get a vegan poke bowl at, at least, Veggie Grill (a chain with its nearest location in Larkspur, over in beautiful Marin County) and Eatsa (a vegetarian bowl-oriented automat, with two downtown locations, where your food is made by unseen workers behind the curtain and appears inside of little boxes on the wall).

[mistersquid]

Hinata on Van Ness is omekase (chef's choice) and is among the best sushi I've had outside Japan. It'll set you back at least $90 (prix fixe, more if you drink the delicious sake), abd requires a reservation, but you'll be synced with two other couples if you sit at the chef's counter where you will get a detailed description of exactly what you're eating, why it's interesting, and what to look for.

Schedule your reservation to start before 7 and ask to sit at the Chef's counter with Dave (he's the owner, in his twenties and quite knowledgeable).

If you like Hawaiian/Asian fusion, for about the same price range, there's Liholiho in Lower Nob Hill. Liholiho has blown up for a year, so get there at 4:30 on a weekday to make sure you get a seat in the first wave. Otherwise, reservations are a 4-week wait (last I checked).

You can get good healthy vegetarian at just about any restaurant in SF (minus steakhouses and shabu shabu). For a quick delicious vegetarian lunch, check out Plant in the FiDi.

EDIT: typos, readability.

[krausejj]

The Poke Bar at the Market at 10th and Market. It's by the Twitter building... so you get to experience the tech bubble at its apex plus amazing fish :-)

If you want the opposite of tech bubble, Ninki sushi in the Sunset has half price rolls many weeknights... instead of the tech bubble bursting, you'll be the one bursting because you'll be so full (and it's so cheap!)

[jakegarelick]

Sushi - Not a huge sushi fan but have good things about Shizen and Cha-Ya

Healthy - Project Juice, Gracias Madre, Mixt (have heard good things), Nourish Cafe

Also Ike's, it's not very healthy but they make great sandwiches.

[ejcx]

I like ichi sushi. It's very small, a bit out of the way, and very good.

[kzisme]

I'm curious what made you move out.

As someone who haven't made it out to SF I've always wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. (if even for nicer weather)

[rco8786]

> if even for nicer weather

Ahh the legend lives, I see. Unless you live somewhere with unbearable winters it's doubtful that the weather is actually "nicer" in SF. ~60 nearly every day, ~50 nearly every night. Just cold enough to make you wear jeans and a hoodie (what, we just thought that getup looked cool?) and rarely warm enough to take advantage of a pool.

[tkxxx7]

Sounds perfect for me. There's a lot less to consider walking in 60-65 than 70+ - half the time I don't walk to work because I don't want to show up sweaty and have to change. I'm from Michigan, though (SoCal now) so maybe your point stands haha.

[sbov]

Yes, the light jacket is the official uniform of the west coast. Even if the days are warm where you are, the nights are cold. But it's also why it isn't humid in summer.

[samcheng]

Silicon Valley, on the other hand, just 45 minutes south of SF, has a great climate. It's remarkable what a few mountains between city and ocean can do.

[kzisme]

Ohio winters aren't super fun 50-60F daily sounds like a dream, and it's also wonderful sleeping weather!

[heartsucker]

Berlin was calling to me. There were somethings about SF I didn't like, but it wasn't so much "I moved out of SF" as "I moved in to a new city."

[cs-student]

What time and dates do you recommend to be above the clouds on twin peaks?

[wtvanhest]

Id also recommend checking out Detour.com and some coworking spaces.

[nohat00]

There is literally nothing in this list that is in Silicon Valley.

[heartsucker]

Philz and Skeggs are both in SV, and I was contributing what I could because OP said "SF and SV."

[solidr53]

(possibly buy drugs)

[nickpsecurity]

I'm sure it was intended as a, uh, warning to avoid those areas if 100% committed to avoiding being anywhere around drugs. Alternatively, a tip off for those employed in the War on Drugs. Never under any circumstances an encouragement to buy drugs. Not here.

[discordianfish]

+ Get truffle from the truffle man

[nickpsecurity]

Bookmarking this. Appreciate it.