What to Pack for San Francisco (& what NOT to)

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Ahh, the Metropolis by the Bay: barking sea lions, clanging MUNI buses, steaming clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls, freezing chilly Marine Layer… *marinates in nostalgia* We spent over ten years residing within the San Francisco Bay Space, and you all, let me inform you: determining what to pack for San Francisco is a CHALLENGE.

Tiny, 7×7 sq. mile San Francisco consists of a minefield of micro-climates, which suggests traversing from the friendly and cozy, sunny Mission to the arctic chill of the Outer Sundown is like taking an extended-haul flight between two entirely different climates and seasons – all inside the similar metropolis. It’s not your typical type of packing for a municipality or a season. It’s extra like packing for a collection of weather-related challenges and freezing chilly! Blazing solar! Mountaineering up hills! It’s not your typical type of packing for a metropolis or a season. It’s extra like packing for a collection of weather-related challenges and freezing chilly! Blazing solar! Mountaineering up hills! Plus hills.

As a result, “deliver layers” doesn’t fairly cowl it (though if we needed to summarize this publish in two phrases…). So, for over a decade, let’s dive into packing for the distinctive challenges of San Francisco, our beloved adopted dwelling metropolis. So, for over a decade, let’s dive into packing for the unique challenges of San Francisco, our beloved adopted dwelling metropolis. Right here’s your complete San Francisco packing checklist – together with what to go away at dwelling.

Psst: Planning to go to the Bay Space? We’ve received over a decade of weblog posts about our adopted dwelling metropolis! Below are just a few of our favorites that can assist you in putting together your journey.

Are we searching for extra San Francisco inspiration? We have a self-guided strolling tour of San Francisco which visits 6 of our favorite native neighborhoods. Click on the hyperlink to subscribe, and we’ll ship a printable model to your inbox!

We even have a Podcast episode about San Francisco! Discover what to eat, the place to drink, & the very best issues to do, plus solutions to questions you by no means knew you had… like whether or not there’s weed all over the place (sure) and if you happen to by accident see nudity (double sure). We’re additionally spilling the fair-trade, natural, ethically sourced tea on our lesser-known lifetime of crime.

San Francisco Journey Ideas

Before diving into our San Francisco packing checklist, here are just a few fast suggestions you’ll have to know before you begin planning your journey.

• Don’t rent a car. Please don’t do it! You do NOT need the trouble or expense of parking an automobile throughout your journey to San Francisco. It’s terrible. I NEVER drive in San Francisco if I can assist it, and I extremely encourage you to do the same. As a substitute, use public transit (BART and Muni) and rideshares (Lyft & Uber) to get around. Something you wish to enter outdoors of the town could be organized through a tour or, at most, a one-day car rental.
• Get a Clipper card once you arrive for transit. Clipper playing cards are reusable plastic playing cards that you load cash onto for transit (like a scannable transit bank card) and can work on ALL Bay Space transit, together with BART and Muni, to get you across the metropolis. You may even load it on your telephone nearly. Order online earlier than your journey or decide one up at Walgreens or several locations for a $3 payment – here’s where and how to get one.
• Use Google Maps for transit. BART (primarily the subway) has only a few traces and is relatively easy to use. However, it doesn’t get you to many of the metropolises. Enter MUNI, which has each bus and electrical tram that go above and underground – you’ll see them all over the place. There are a ton of traces, so they’ll get you all over the place you want! To determine from location to position, enter your vacation spot into Google Maps and choose transit to get directions on which buses or trains to soak up actual time.

• Stroll as a lot as you may. San Francisco is a metropolis finest explored on foot. Sure, you may take transit to get around, but if you can stand the hills, strolling is the easiest way to see all of the quirks and attractions that make up San Francisco! Spend a day wandering the town and walking as much as possible. To assist, we’ve received a self-guided San Francisco walking tour – and we’ve additionally received options for the very best strolling footwear for the journey. Listed below are our favorite journey footwear for men and women.
• Don’t name it “San Fran” or “Frisco.” Please. San Francisco has two acceptable affectionate nicknames: “SF” and “The Metropolis.” That’s it. These are the two. Permitting “San Fran” or “Frisco” to move your lips is an effective way to put yourself as an out-of-towner, which has the additional benefit of inflicting everybody close to you to take just a few steps again and internally seethe.
• San Francisco has a LOT of homeless residents. This will positively be a little bit of a standard shock. Please remember that the oldsters experiencing homelessness are our neighbors, never a blight or an eyesore. Most of the people you notice are additionally battling psychological diseases, and you may even see individuals who look like they are speaking to themselves or in thin air. Though this may be startling, remember that these persons are much more hazardous than you might be and are unlikely to hurt you in any manner. Homelessness is traumatic, notably for the mentally unwell, whose situations could be exacerbated by the stress of homelessness. Additionally, because there are too few public restrooms in San Francisco, you’ll scent some disagreeable issues throughout your keep. Maintain your breath and keep in mind: you get to go dwelling and use a toilet or take a bath every time you need. They don’t. Have compassion. There’s a beneficial resource for a way to answer the homeless in San Francisco on SF Gate.
• Don’t keep in a short-term rental. Despite Airbnb being headquartered within the metropolis, short-period leases in San Francisco have traditionally contributed to the housing disaster, negatively impacting homelessness. Through the years, strict legal guidelines have been established, limiting the quantity and kind of AirBnBs discovered within the metropolis. When you can find just a few non-public rooms for lease in SF, we suggest you select to remain in inns as a substitute to be an extra accountable traveler. We’ve received complete information about where to stay in San Francisco. 
• Reap the benefits of baggage storage. If your check-in and check-out instances don’t sync up, you have to roam the streets, and you also want a spot to retail your baggage to try LuggageHero. This service helps you discover a protected place to maintain your luggage when working around! Use the code PRACTICAL for two hours of free baggage storage on us.

We’ve received some extra useful – and a few solely mildly helpful – suggestions for visiting San Francisco in our information to things nobody tells you about San Francisco!

What to Put on in San Francisco

One widespread piece of recommendation you’ll all the time hear about packing for San Francisco is to all the time, all the time, all the time deliver a jacket. You all – THIS IS ESSENTIAL ADVICE.

The critical thing to packing for San Francisco is to assemble a fastidiously thought-out system of layers, beginning with one thing you may strip right down to when the blazing solar feels about 80 levels (which is the way it feels in San Francisco when it’s about 60) and layered as much as face up to arctic windchill ranges of 30 levels, which is how San Francisco feels at 6 pm on the dot when the solar all of a sudden vanishes and takes all the heat of your very bones together with it.

You see, San Francisco isn’t a heat metropolis. And it’s particularly not heated in the summertime, the coldest season of the yr. We like to quote Mark Twain, who supposedly mentioned, “the coldest winter I ever skilled was a summertime in San Francisco.” He never said that; however,  it’s caught within the San Francisco lexicon, and we’re sticking to it, revisionist historical past be damned.

It’s a toss-up. San Francisco is often warmest throughout October, throughout Indian summer time, which can also be fireplace season, so … you may get a beautiful scorching sunny climate throughout your journey. However, you additionally may get choking smoke.

The one factor you may depend on – aside from smoke between August and November and rain between December and February – is that you must pack layers. Each day, there’s a predictable sample: it’s freezing chilly till 10 am, then you have just a few beautiful hours of heat and probably even a sunny climate, after which 6 pm will hit and will likely be instantly freezing again.

So. Concern not. You can do this. All you want is a few practical planning (and a day bag for the different layers). Listed below are the particular objects of clothes we suggest packing on your journey to San Francisco:

• The Excellent Strolling Sneakers: San Francisco is a metropolis with hills, so it’s like strolling and climbing. And when you wouldn’t look too misplaced within the Bay Space in a pair of mountain climbing boots, the likelihood is you wish to be cute, proper? Nicely, we gotcha coated: the right pair of footwear for San Francisco is a pair of Allbirds Tree Skippers (his, hers): they’re breathable, lightweight, sustainable, go together with all the pieces, and cozy sufficient to stroll in for miles. The higher mesh retains your toes from scorching and sweaty; however, due to the wool insole, your toes get chilly. Learn extra about our favorite journey footwear for women & men.
• The Best Travel Jeans: If we needed to decide on one piece of merchandise that you doubtless be sporting every day of your journey, it could be a pair of those. Why? For starters, they’re cozy, lightweight, and cute. However, extra importantly, there are SEVEN. GIANT POCKETS. With not one but two zippered/hidden again pockets and a “coin” pocket so large I can match my telephone in it – essential in a spot like San Francisco, the place pickpocketing and telephone snatchers are positively a priority. We deliver a pair of stretchy, cozy, pocket Aviator denim with us on every single journey! Learn extra about why we love them and our different favorite pairs of pants for trips for women & additionally for men.
• Cozy Leggings: For days when you don’t feel like sporting denim, these additionally perform as pants. As a curvy woman, this Amazon model is my favorite – they don’t slip down when you stroll, don’t snag or stretch out over time, and have a pleasant thick waistband and TWO pockets. Additionally, they make fleece-lined leggings that I put on when it’s chilly! FWIW, I put on a dimension XXL.

• Wool T-Shirts: In a spot like San Francisco, where the local weather and temperature shift wildly throughout the day, it’s incredible to have naturally temperature-regulating clothes. Merino wool is a miracle cloth. It retains you cool when it’s scorching AND heat when it’s chilly. When it gets moist (say, in a very gnarly fog cloud), you’ll keep snug while your clothes dry. It naturally resists the expansion of fungus and microorganisms, so it by no means smells – which means no mid-trip laundry to do! Efficiency wool isn’t just like the itchy wool of the previous – it’s skinny, stretchy, and tremendously mushy to contact. We put on wool on each journey whether or not we’re going someplace chilly or heat! We suggest packing wool t-shirts (hers and his) for San Francisco. They’re the suitable base layer – they’ll preserve your calm throughout the day’s warmth and heat you again beneath your jacket when the temperatures drop. We additionally actually love hemp, which is equally anti-microbial and temperature-regulating. Our favorite hemp journey clothes are made by prAna – browse their assortment for women and men. Their “Cozy Up” line is incredible, and we’ve received a bunch of stuff from it.
• Center Layer: Someday between the warmth of the day, once you’ll strip right down to your t-shirt, and the freeze of 6 pm, once you’ll throw in your down jacket, you’ll need one thing that’s in between. Like a lightweight jacket, a sweater or cardigan, a sweatshirt, or a button-down shirt. Seize one thing out of your closet – that is most likely what you’ll be sporting for many days (and subsequently in most of your images).

• Warm, Packable Jacket: Ah, right here it’s: the jacket of “all the time deliver a jacket” fame. The one we suggest is a packable down jacket. They’re incredibly lightweight and pack down into nearly nothing, which is ideal since you’ll carry it around in your day bag for many days. However, the insulating properties of down are unimaginable – they will preserve your heat under freezing! And they’re cheerful as much as the duty of the 6 pm fog chill. Be sure to get REAL down, not polyester – it’s heavier and less insulating. Listed below are probably the most reasonably priced and lightweight ones we’ve discovered: women’s and men’s. They’re cheaper and lighter because they’re made without hoods (you don’t want a hood – it most likely gained’t rain throughout your journey until you’re visiting within the lifeless of winter).
• Gloves, Hat, and Scarf: A heat jacket designed for the lifelessness of winter is excellent; however, believe me, the chilly in San Francisco is cold. Upbeat, positive – you’re coming from the midwest, and your home is often coated in 6 toes of snow, and you are also supposed to be chilly. I hear you. But additionally? When the wind is blowing at 25mph, and it’s crammed with moisture as a result of your entire metropolis being shrouded in a thick layer of fog, 50 levels feel so much nearer to -50. So pull out a pair of gloves (lightweight cotton is OK, simply one thing to cowl your fingers) and a hat and a shawl, and throw them in your day bag. You’ll be glad you’ve them at some unspecified time.
• Lounge Pants: You’ll wish to put on these on the aircraft and as PJs pants. Earlier than I found the Outdoor Voices CloudKnit pants, I believed all stretchy lounge pants had been the. Similar. I used to be fallacious. These lightweight, super-stretchy pants look superior and feel excellent. They’ve three roomy pockets, so they’re perfect for all the pieces, from sporting on 20-hour flights to sleeping to mountain climbing via the jungle (true story). We have a pair that comes with us on each journey, and we put on them on each flight. Learn extra about our survival tips for long-haul flights!

And there you’ve it. Your excellent outfit formulation for each day in San Francisco: journey denim, an insulating t-shirt, a center layer for cuteness, heat down jacket for the morning and night chilly, and a snug pair of strolling footwear that goes with each outfit. Simple, proper? 😉

Journey Necessities for San Francisco

There are just a few essential objects I’d make sure to pack on your journey to San Francisco that may make your all-day adventuring extra snug. Some issues with scaling back the ever-present threat of theft (which, frankly, is one thing we consider in each main metropolis we go to – not simply San Francisco).

• Day Bag: If there’s one factor I’ve most likely talked about 10x already, it’s a great day bag. You NEED to deliver a day bag while exploring the town. As a result, it holds your down jacket and your hat/gloves/scarf. It’s also a helpful place to retail an external battery on your telephone, sun shades, and souvenirs; you may decide on the course of your adventuring! I like this cute day bag because if it’s going to be in each image, it’ll look good.
• External Phone Battery: Your telephone is crucial for getting from place to position in San Francisco, whether or not it’s utilizing Google Maps or a digital Clipper card or calling Lyft to get you around. You want it to remain charged! This small, highly effective exterior battery will keep your telephone set up all day.
• Hand Sanitizer: We strongly suggest taking public transit reasonably than renting an automobile, and we additionally strongly recommend sanitizing your fingers afterward. As a result, BA, RT, and Muni trains are gross. I imply they’ve cleaned often all, however, nonetheless. Stick some in your day bag and use it often! We’ve seen sufficient.
• Travel Umbrella: You most likely gained’t want one throughout your journey until you’re visiting between November and February. However, this one is so small and lightweight that it simply lives in my day bag for each trip. These tiny journey umbrellas pack down right into a palm-size case and hardly weigh anything. We preserve them entirely in our day bag, implying that each time it rains, we always have an umbrella to go! They’re the right set-it-and-forget-it day bag essential.
• Popsocket for your phone: These telephone equipment have been all the trend at some unspecified time in the future, just a few years in the past, and I now think about them as a vital theft-deterrent machine on your telephone – which is a severe theft goal. Telephones are probably the most generally stolen objects in San Francisco (aside from something left in the backseat of an automobile). It’s just about all alternative theft – notably somebody snatching your telephone proper out of your and when you’re utilizing it, as a result of they’re straightforward to seize and onerous to carry onto. I can’t inform you what number of buddies have had their telephones stolen whereas utilizing them on public transit – somebody captures it correctly because the doorways are closing, and bam, no additional telephone and no method to get it again. However, the pop socket makes your telephone tough to seize out of your fingers (which also means you’re much less likely to drop the dang factor on the bottom and break it!) I discover them extremely handy – and cute, too!

• Toiletry Case: We reserve all our toiletries organized into this helpful dandy hanging toiletry case. It simply suits our baggage and hangs on any accessible hook within the restroom. It’s so handy that we no longer have trouble unpacking it; we leave it hanging up in our bathroom at dwelling in between journeys!
• Sunscreen: Solar safety is crucial once you’re exploring all day, so suggest Mineral Sunscreen, which is healthier for the setting and protects your pores and skin with a physical zinc oxide barrier reasonably than chemical substances that soak into your pores and skin. My favorite face sunscreen is this one.
• Packing Cubes: To keep our lodge room considerably organized, we roll up our clothes and set them up in filler cubes.
• Reusable Water Bottle: Don’t go on the lookout for water bottles in San Francisco. Similar to public restrooms, there aren’t many, and those that exist are gross. Convey your reusable water bottles as a substitute – they’re not solely environmentally pleasant alternatives. However, they have a severe benefit over low-cost, clear plastic water bottles: they preserve your water COLD.
• Away Carry-On Suitcase: You don’t need large, heavy suitcases in San Francisco – there are too many hills to navigate! This lovely carry-on suitcase isn’t solely beautiful. However, it’s incredibly high-tech. It’s received two compartments: one for mushy clothes, one for onerous stuff, like footwear and toiletries, and 18 hair instruments regardless that you swore you had been going to attempt not to be added to this journey. It features a built-in moveable charger, which suggests no extra preventing over shops or digging around on your charger. It’s received a built-in laundry bag with a built-in compressor to ditch the wadded-up plastic bag and have room in your suitcase after you’ve postponed doing laundry for a stable two weeks. It’s hugely injury resistant and gained’t crack beneath the strain of everybody else’s stuff, preserving no matter’s inside protected too. And naturally, it does lock and wheel issues and all the opposite stuff that grown-up suitcases do.
• PacSafe Carry-On Backpack: When you’re taking public transit and strolling to your lodge, it’s much simpler to carry a backpack reasonably than a rolly bag. This Pacsafe bag ticks all of my packing containers: loads of area, extraordinarily theft resistant (that’s like, the entire PacSafe factor), extremely snug to hold (it’s received all of the consolation and ease of an even bigger pack, with a lot of adjustable straps) and with good pockets and sections to maintain you organized correctly in your journey. I deliver this on most trips, and it’s one of the most vital snug backpacks I’ve ever carried!
• Knack Carry-On Backpack: This nifty bag carries as a backpack but opens like a suitcase, making it the right in-between for once you’re not a backpacker, not a briefcase….er? The bag is mainly like an enormous rectangle that opens precisely as the briefcase does, permitting a TON of area.

What NOT to Pack for San Francisco

Locals in San Francisco have a working joke: how do you establish a vacationer in San Francisco? They’re straightforward to identify in a crowd – they’ll be sporting shorts, flip-flops, and an enormous, outsized San Francisco graphic hoodie that they purchased in an overpriced vacationer store because all they packed was shorts and flip-flops. Now, I know you’re not going to be a type of vacationer since you’re studying this publish and following our recommendation, so as a substitute, you may be part of us in figuring them out around Union Sq. and Pier 39 and chuckling to yourself.

So, the first issue first: you don’t want shorts. Don’t pack shorts; you’ll by no means put on shorts in San Francisco. The place it’s a lot hotter. Within the decade I spent residing there, I feel I wore shorts possibly twice. And I primarily lived throughout the Bay in Oakland.

You additionally don’t want tank tops or sandals. As a result, 55 levels in San Francisco appear like -55 when the marine layer hits.

I wouldn’t have trouble bringing a swimsuit. Your lodge gained’t have a pool, and the Pacific Ocean is the coldest physique of water in your entire world (OK, no, not likely – however, it may as correctly be once you’re attempting to swim or surf in it). When you find yourself going into the ocean, for, like … scuba diving with friendly white sharks or, no matter what, you’ll be sporting a wetsuit, and your face will probably be numb, so you don’t want a swimsuit.

Go away behind bug repellant, too. We don’t have mosquitos! They only aren’t a factor right here. Most of California doesn’t have biting bugs. However, there are entirely none in San Francisco. Possibly it’s too chilly. Possibly they don’t just like the marine layer.

Oh, another tip: I requested Jeremy – native Californian and longtime San Francisco resident – for his suggestions, and he needed me to incorporate this: don’t deliver something with a Dodger’s brand on it. You’re in Giants territory now 😉 For actually, sporting a Dodgers hat means inviting soiled seems to be and poor service, so … at your threat, I suppose.

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Able to pack your down jacket and favorite sweater and dive into some clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl? What questions can we reply to that can assist you to put together on your journey to San Francisco? Please drop us a remark under!

Psst: Planning to go to the Bay Space? We’ve received over a decade of weblog posts about our adopted dwelling metropolis! Below are just a few of our favorites that can assist you in putting together your journey.

When you are visiting San Francisco as a part of an extended journey to California, check out a few of our different posts or browse our California travel guide:

Are we searching for extra San Francisco inspiration? We have a self-guided strolling tour of San Francisco which visits 6 of our favorite native neighborhoods. Click on the hyperlink to subscribe, and we’ll ship a printable model to your inbox!

We even have a Podcast episode about San Francisco! Discover what to eat, the place to drink, & the very best issues to do, plus solutions to questions you by no means knew you had… like whether or not there’s weed all over the place (sure) and if you happen to by accident see nudity (double sure). We’re additionally spilling the fair-trade, natural, ethically sourced tea on our lesser-known lifetime of crime.

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