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

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 10 years residing within the San Francisco Bay Space, and y’all, let me inform you: determining what to pack for San Francisco is a CHALLENGE.

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

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

Psst: Planning to go to the Bay Space? We’ve obtained a ton of weblog posts about our adopted residence metropolis of over a decade! Listed here are a couple of of our favorites that will help you put together to your journey.

Searching for extra San Francisco inspiration? We’ve got a self-guided strolling tour of San Francisco which visits 6 of our favourite native neighborhoods. Click on the hyperlink under to subscribe and we’ll ship a printable model proper to your inbox!

We even have a Podcast episode about San Francisco! Discover out what to eat, the place to drink, & the perfect issues to do, plus solutions to questions you by no means knew you had… like whether or not there’s weed in every single place (sure) and in the event you’ll 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 Suggestions

Earlier than we dive into our San Francisco packing listing, listed below are a couple of fast suggestions that you simply’ll have to know earlier than you begin planning your journey.

• Don’t rent a car. Don’t do it! You do NOT need the trouble or expense of parking a automotive throughout your journey to San Francisco. It’s terrible. I NEVER drive in San Francisco if I may help it, and I extremely encourage you to do the identical. As a substitute, use public transit (BART and Muni) and rideshares (Lyft & Uber) to get round. Something you need to entry exterior of the town could be organized by way of 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 simply 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 your across the metropolis. You’ll be able to even load it in your telephone just about. Order on-line earlier than your journey or choose one up at Walgreens or numerous different locations for a $3 payment – here’s where and how to get one.
• Use Google Maps for transit. BART (primarily the underground subway) solely has a couple of strains and is fairly easy to make use of, nevertheless it doesn’t get you to many of the metropolis. Enter MUNI, which has each buses and electrical trams that go above and underground – you’ll see them in every single place. There are a ton of strains and so they’ll get you in every single place you want! To determine methods to get from place to position, simply enter your vacation spot into Google Maps and choose transit to get directions on which buses or trains to absorb 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 round, in the event you can stand the hills, strolling is one of the best ways to see all of the quirks and appeal that make up San Francisco! Spend no less than a day wandering by way of the town and stroll as a lot as you may. To assist, we’ve obtained a self-guided San Francisco walking tour – and we’ve additionally obtained solutions for the perfect strolling sneakers for journey. Listed here are our favourite journey sneakers for men and for women.
• Don’t name it “San Fran” or “Frisco.” Please. There are 2 acceptable affectionate nicknames for San Francisco: “SF” and “The Metropolis.” That’s it. These are the two. Permitting “San Fran” or “Frisco” to move your lips is a good way to out your self as an out-of-towner, which has the additional benefit of inflicting everybody close to you to take a couple of steps again and internally seethe.
• San Francisco has a LOT of homeless residents. This will undoubtedly be a little bit of a tradition shock. Please remember the fact that the oldsters experiencing homelessness are our neighbors, and never a blight or an eyesore. Most of the of us that you will note are additionally scuffling with psychological sicknesses, and you may even see individuals who seem like speaking to themselves or to skinny air. Though this may be startling, do not forget that these individuals are in way more hazard than you might be, and are unlikely to hurt you in any means. Homelessness is traumatic, significantly for the mentally unwell, whose situations could be exacerbated by the stress of homelessness. Additionally, as a result of there are too few public restrooms in San Francisco, you’ll scent some disagreeable issues throughout your keep. Maintain your breath and bear in mind: you get to go residence and use a rest room or take a bathe everytime you need. They don’t. Have compassion. There’s a incredible useful resource for a way to reply to the homeless in San Francisco on SF Gate.
• Don’t keep in a short-term rental. Regardless of Airbnb being headquartered within the metropolis, quick time period leases in San Francisco have traditionally contributed to the housing disaster, which in flip impacts homelessness. Through the years, strict legal guidelines have been established, limiting the quantity and kind of AirBnBs discovered within the metropolis. When you can nonetheless discover a couple of personal rooms for hire in SF, to be able to be a extra accountable traveler, we advocate that you simply select to remain in accommodations as a substitute. We’ve obtained a whole information to where to stay in San Francisco – and where not to.
• Make the most of baggage storage. In case your check-in and check-out instances don’t sync up along with your have to roam the streets and also you want a spot to retailer your baggage try LuggageHero, a service that helps you discover a secure place to maintain your baggage when you’re working round! Use the code PRACTICALW for two hours of free baggage storage on us.

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

What to Put on in San Francisco

One frequent piece of recommendation you’ll at all times hear about packing for San Francisco is to at all times, at all times, at all times deliver a jacket. Y’all – THIS IS ESSENTIAL ADVICE.

The important thing to packing for San Francisco is to assemble a fastidiously thought-out system of layers, beginning with one thing you may strip all the way 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 stand up to arctic windchill ranges of 30 levels, which is how San Francisco feels at 6pm 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 heat in the summertime, which is definitely the coldest season of the 12 months. We like to quote Mark Twain, who supposedly mentioned “the coldest winter I ever skilled was a summer season in San Francisco.” In fact, he never actually said that, nevertheless it’s caught within the San Francisco lexicon and we’re sticking to it, revisionist historical past be damned.

San Francisco is usually warmest in the course of the month of October, throughout Indian summer season, which can also be hearth season, so … you would possibly get beautiful scorching sunny climate throughout your journey, however you additionally would possibly get choking smoke. It’s a tossup.

The one factor you may rely on – aside from smoke between August and November, and rain between December and February – is that you simply’ll have to pack layers. Each single day, there’s a considerably predictable sample: it’s freezing chilly till 10am, you then’ll have a couple of wonderful hours of heat and presumably even sunny climate, after which 6pm will hit and will probably be instantly freezing once more.

So. Worry not. You are able to do this. All you want is a few sensible planning (and a day bag for the additional layers). Listed here are the particular gadgets of clothes we advocate packing to your journey to San Francisco:

• The Excellent Strolling Sneakers: San Francisco is a strolling metropolis – and a metropolis stuffed with hills, so it’s like, strolling plus climbing, too. And when you wouldn’t look too misplaced within the Bay Space in a pair of mountaineering boots, chances are high you kinda need to be cute, proper? Effectively, we gotcha lined: the right pair of sneakers for San Francisco is a pair of Allbirds Tree Skippers (his, hers): they’re breathable, light-weight, sustainable, go along with all the things, and comfy sufficient to stroll in for miles. The mesh higher retains your ft from getting scorching and sweaty, however because of the wool insole, your ft gained’t get chilly, both. Learn extra about our favourite journey sneakers for women & men.
• The Best Travel Jeans: If we needed to choose one merchandise that you simply’ll seemingly be sporting each single day of your journey, it will be a pair of those. Why? For starters, they’re comfortable as hell, light-weight, and actually cute. However extra importantly, there SEVEN. GIANT POCKETS. Together with not one however two zippered/hidden again pockets and a “coin” pocket so huge I can match my telephone in it – important in a spot like San Francisco, the place pickpocketing and telephone snatchers are undoubtedly a priority. We deliver a pair of stretchy, cozy, pockety Aviator denims with us on each single journey! Learn extra about why we love them and our different favourite pairs of pants for journey for women & additionally for men.
• Cozy Leggings: For days once you don’t really feel like sporting denims, these additionally perform as pants. As a curvy woman, this Amazon model is my favourite – they don’t slip down when you stroll, don’t snag simply 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 measurement XXL.

• Wool T-Shirts: In a spot like San Francisco the place the local weather and temperature shifts wildly all through the day, it’s incredible to have clothes that’s naturally temperature regulating. Merino wool is a miracle cloth. It retains you cool when it’s scorching AND heat when it’s chilly. When it will get moist (say, in a very gnarly fog cloud) you’ll keep comfy whereas your clothes dries. It naturally resists the expansion of fungus and micro organism, so it by no means smells – that means no mid-trip laundry to do! Efficiency wool isn’t just like the itchy wool of the previous – it’s skinny, stretchy, and tremendous mushy to the contact. We put on wool on each journey whether or not we’re going someplace chilly or heat! For San Francisco, we advocate packing wool t-shirts (hers and his). They’re the right base layer – they’ll hold you cool in the course of the warmth of the day and heat you again up once more beneath your jacket when the temps drop. We additionally actually love hemp, which is equally anti-microbial and temperature-regulating. Our favourite hemp journey clothes is made by prAna – browse their assortment for women and men. Their complete “Cozy Up” line is incredible and we’ve obtained a complete bunch of stuff from it.
• Center Layer: Someday between the warmth of the day, once you’ll strip all the way down to your t-shirt, and the freeze of 6pm once you’ll throw in your down jacket, you’ll need one thing that’s in between. Like a light-weight jacket, a sweater or cardigan, a sweatshirt, or a button-down shirt. Seize one thing out of your closet – that is in all probability what you’ll be sporting for many of the day (and due to this fact in most of your pictures).

• Warm, Packable Jacket: Ah, right here it’s: the jacket of “at all times deliver a jacket” fame. The one we advocate is a packable down jacket. They’re extremely light-weight and pack down into nearly nothing, which is ideal since you’ll be carrying it round in your day bag for many of the day. However the insulating properties of down are unimaginable – they may hold you heat under freezing! And they’re undoubtedly as much as the duty of the 6pm fog chill. Be sure to get REAL down, not polyester – it’s heavier and fewer insulating. Listed here are essentially the most inexpensive and light-weight ones we’ve discovered: women’s, men’s. They’re cheaper and lighter as a result of they’re made with out hoods (you don’t want a hood – it in all probability gained’t rain throughout your journey except you’re visiting within the useless of winter).
• Gloves, Hat, and Scarf: A heat jacket designed for the useless of winter is nice and all, however belief me, the chilly in San Francisco is actually chilly. Positive, positive – you’re coming from the midwest and your own home is repeatedly lined in 6 ft of snow and also you assume chilly. I hear you. But additionally? When the wind is blowing at 25mph and it’s crammed with moisture as a result of the whole metropolis is shrouded in a thick layer of fog, 50 levels feels quite a bit nearer to -50. So pull out a pair of gloves (light-weight cotton is okay, simply one thing to cowl your palms) and a hat and a shawl, and throw them in your day bag. In some unspecified time in the future, you’ll be actually glad you will have them.
• Lounge Pants: You’ll need to put on these on the airplane and as PJs pants. Earlier than I found the Outdoor Voices CloudKnit pants, I believed all stretchy lounge pants had been the. identical. I used to be fallacious. These light-weight, super-stretchy pants look superior and really feel wonderful. They’ve 3 roomy pockets and so they’re excellent for all the things from sporting on 20-hour flights to sleeping to mountaineering by way of the jungle (true story). We every 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 will have it. Your excellent outfit system for day by day in San Francisco: journey denims, insulating t-shirt, center layer for cuteness, heat down jacket for the morning and night chilly, and a comfortable pair of strolling sneakers that goes with each outfit. Straightforward, proper? 😉

Journey Necessities for San Francisco

There are a couple of important gadgets I’d be certain to pack to your journey to San Francisco that can make your all-day adventuring extra comfy, and some issues to cut back the ever-present threat of theft (which, frankly, is one thing we take into consideration in each main metropolis we go to – not simply San Francisco).

• Day Bag: If there’s one factor I’ve in all probability talked about 10x already, it’s day bag. You NEED to deliver a day bag when you’re out exploring the town as a result of it holds your down jacket and your hat/gloves/scarf. It’s additionally a useful place to retailer an external battery to your telephone, sun shades, and no matter souvenirs you would possibly choose up on the course of your adventuring! I like this cute day bag as a result of if it’s going to be in each image, it would as properly look good.
• External Phone Battery: Your telephone is important for getting from place to position in San Francisco, whether or not it’s utilizing Google Maps or a digital Clipper card or calling Lyfts to get you round. You want it to remain charged! This small however highly effective exterior battery will hold your telephone charged all day lengthy.
• Hand Sanitizer: We strongly advocate taking public transit relatively than renting a automotive, and we additionally strongly advocate sanitizing your palms afterwards. As a result of BART and Muni trains are gross. I imply, they’re cleaned repeatedly all, however nonetheless. We’ve seen sufficient. Stick some in your day bag and use it repeatedly!
• Travel Umbrella: You in all probability gained’t want one throughout your journey except you’re visiting between November and February, however this one is so small and light-weight it simply lives in my day bag for each journey. These teeny tiny journey umbrellas pack down right into a palm-size case and weigh hardly something. We hold them completely in our day bag, which implies that at any time when it begins raining, we at all times have an umbrella able to go! They’re the right set-it-and-forget-it day bag important.
• Popsocket for your phone: These telephone equipment had been all the craze in some unspecified time in the future a couple of years in the past, and I now contemplate them a vital theft-deterrent gadget to your telephone – which is a significant theft goal. Telephones are in all probability essentially the most generally stolen gadgets in San Francisco (aside from actually something left within the backseat of a automotive) and it’s just about all alternative theft – particularly somebody snatching your telephone proper out of your and when you’re in the midst of utilizing it, as a result of they’re simple to seize and laborious to carry onto. I can’t inform you what number of buddies have had their telephones stolen whereas utilizing them on public transit – somebody nabs it proper because the doorways are closing, and bam, no extra telephone and no solution to get it again. However the popsocket makes your telephone actually, actually troublesome to seize out of your palms (which additionally means you’re much less more likely to drop the dang factor on the bottom and break it!) I discover them extremely handy – and cute, too!

• Toiletry Case: We hold all of our toiletries organized into this useful dandy hanging toiletry case. It matches into all of our baggage simply and hangs on any obtainable hook within the lavatory. It’s so handy that we by no means hassle to unpack it; we go away it hanging up in our lavatory at residence in between journeys!
• Sunscreen: Solar safety is important once you’ll be out exploring all day lengthy. We advocate Mineral Sunscreen, which is best for the atmosphere and protects your pores and skin with a bodily zinc oxide barrier relatively than chemical substances that soak into your pores and skin. My favourite face sunscreen is this one.
• Packing Cubes: To maintain our resort room wanting considerably organized, we roll up our clothes and set up them in packing cubes.
• Reusable Water Bottle: Don’t go searching for water bottles in San Francsco. Very like public restrooms, there aren’t many, and those that do exist, are gross. Carry your individual reusable water bottles as a substitute – it’s not solely an environmentally pleasant alternative, however they’ve a significant benefit over low-cost, clear plastic water bottles: they really hold your water COLD.
• Away Carry-On Suitcase: You don’t need huge heavy suitcases in San Francisco – there are means too many hills to navigate! This stunning carry-on suitcase isn’t solely beautiful, nevertheless it’s extremely high-tech. It’s obtained two compartments: one for mushy clothes, and one for laborious stuff, like sneakers and toiletries and 18 hair instruments although you swore you had been going to strive to not be additional this journey. It features a built-in moveable charger, which suggests no extra combating over shops or digging round to your charger. It’s obtained a built-in laundry bag, with a built-in compressor, as a way to ditch the wadded-up plastic bag and really have room in your suitcase after you’ve delay doing laundry for a stable 2 weeks. It’s extremely injury resistant and gained’t crack underneath the stress of everybody else’s stuff, retaining no matter’s inside secure too. And naturally, it does lock issues and wheel issues and all the opposite stuff that grown-up suitcases do.
• PacSafe Carry-On Backpack: In the event you’ll be taking public transit and strolling to your resort, it’s frankly quite a bit simpler to be carrying a backpack relatively than a rolly bag. This PacSafe bag ticks all of my containers: loads of area, extraordinarily theft resistant (that’s like, the entire PacSafe factor), extremely comfy to hold (it’s obtained all of the consolation and ease of a much bigger pack, with a great deal of adjustable straps) and with sufficient pockets and sections to maintain you properly organized in your journey. I deliver this on most journeys, and it’s one of the comfy backpacks I’ve ever carried!
• Knack Carry-On Backpack: This nifty bag carries like a backpack however opens like a suitcase, making it the right in-between for once you’re not fairly a backpacker, not fairly a suitcase….er? The bag is principally like a giant rectangle that opens precisely the best way a suitcase does, permitting for A TON of area.

What NOT to Pack for San Francisco

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

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

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

I wouldn’t hassle bringing a swimsuit. Your resort gained’t have a pool and the Pacific Ocean is the coldest physique of water in the whole world (OK, no, probably not – nevertheless it would possibly as properly be once you’re making an attempt to swim or surf in it). In the event you do find yourself going within the ocean, for like … scuba diving with nice white sharks or no matter, you’ll be sporting a wetsuit and your face will likely be numb. So that you don’t want a swimsuit.

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

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 actual although, sporting a Dodgers hat means inviting soiled appears to be like and poor service, so … at your individual threat, I assume.

Able to pack your down jacket and favourite sweater and dive into some clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl? What questions can we reply that will help you put together to your journey to San Francisco? Drop us a remark under!

Psst: Planning to go to the Bay Space? We’ve obtained a ton of weblog posts about our adopted residence metropolis of over a decade! Listed here are a couple of of our favorites that will help you put together to your journey.

In the event you’ll be 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:

Searching for extra San Francisco inspiration? We’ve got a self-guided strolling tour of San Francisco which visits 6 of our favourite native neighborhoods. Click on the hyperlink under to subscribe and we’ll ship a printable model proper to your inbox!

We even have a Podcast episode about San Francisco! Discover out what to eat, the place to drink, & the perfect issues to do, plus solutions to questions you by no means knew you had… like whether or not there’s weed in every single place (sure) and in the event you’ll 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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