[oceanplexian]

The super boring answer?

Get a hotel in like Concord somewhere reasonably walkable from the BART, and take public transportation into the city. If you're going to sightsee, despite what people say, you need a car. I would recommend driving down CA 1, see Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, etc. Take another day to see Napa and the North Bay.

I can't speak for hacker houses but I think you might be disappointed. You'll end up networking with a bunch of college students, and the risk of getting taken advantage of is super high. A better option might be finding specific framework or tool you are interested in on meetup.com. You can also meet a surprising number of people in tech by going to any random bar. You won't be able to throw a stone very far without running into a bunch of tech people.

[kaycebasques]

I respectfully disagree. If OP wants to experience SF, you've got to sleep in and wake up in SF, too. Just like any city. Hearing the sounds of the city at night is an important subconscious memory. For that same reason, also no need to get a car. SF has MORE than enough to do for a decade let alone a tiny trip.

[evbogue]

Agree. There's nothing like waking up in that hostel in the Tenderloin and going for a morning stroll looking for AI people to network with.

[physhster]

I laughed.

[oceanplexian]

I mean, I lived there for 10 years. I'm all about that aesthetic, but if you come to Northern California and restrict yourself to public transportation, or the city, you are seeing maybe 5% of what the region has to offer. For a weekend trip I would stay in SF but if I was there for a week or longer, I would get out of the city.