Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

Society Travel & Tourism
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I’ll be in SF and LA late march for a one week stay. I visit LA often (so I have a good idea about where to go there) but have only been to San Fran once.

I will be departing from Washington, DC…which airport is the cheapest yet the closest place to arrive in San Fran? and LA?

Also please suggest some things to do in San Fran and in case I’ve been missing anything in LA please suggest some things to do there as well…including any good restaurants.

Also how far is LA from SF? can i drive or would it be best to fly.

also if you happen to come across any good deals (while searching for ur own deals) on airfare from washington dc (preferably IAD) please let me know…and if you really have nothing better to do you can do some research on airfares for me :stuck_out_tongue: I will be flying from washington DC to SF then from SF to LA then from LA back to washington DC.

The flights alone is gonna cost me a fortune :frowning:

where is 5abi and queer when i need them? :frowning:

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

dont recommend driving from LA to SF unless you take the scenic route (along the ocean) via Pacific Coast Hwy (Hwy 101), otherwise you may not enjoy the drive. its roughly 5-6 hr long and can get tiresome. get someone to drive for you, if you have to.

tell me what have you seen in LA, so i can get an idea what to suggest you

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

LA to SF, 558 Km; approx 330 miles, your best taking a short flight, unless you want to be bold and hire a car and enjoy the drive up the west coast and take in the sights.

San Francisco International Airport(SFO) 14 miles south of SA.

*Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) 15 miles southwest of LA.*

Check out Union Sq. USA's third largest shopping centre pretty much says it all, prices can be high thou, so be prepared to open your wallet. :D

I was bored, so took 5 mins to researched the above, I'll let someone else answer your other q's. :p

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)


For SF, you can use SFO (which is not a super-pricey airport) or you can also use OAK (Oakland, which is about 30 mins away or SJC (San Jose, also an hour away). OAK is served by JetBlue. JetBlue's sometimes has $99 one way from JFK. Not sure if they have such good deals from DC area or not. You can check.


Depends on your taste there are plenty of things to do in SF. Most obvious choice is Pier 39 (Fishermen's Wharf) area and Ghirardelli Square. Shopping, sightseeing, restaurants and boat cruises. Rent a car (or get a ferry) to go to Sausalito/Tiburon and enjoy gorgeous view of Golden Gate Bridge. Check out Coit tower (end of Lombard street). Travel on SF trolley. Walk around the Union Square (super-pricey shops but nice ambiance). Check out Italian restaurants in the North Beach area (Columbus and Broadway). Plenty of theaters, comedy clubs and live shows (of all kinds). Golden Gate Park offers biking, boating, walking trails and a very nice Japanese Garden. Pretty authentic China Town, if you like hanging out in overly ethnic places. Drive around in Marina area to check out beautifully decorated homes. March may be too early for baseball games, but the SBC Park (ball park) is very nice just to check out. Drive north, past Golden Gate to go to Redwood forests (about an hour drive, past Stinson Beach). Drive South on Highway1 to get to Half Moon Bay, which is a very scenic drive.

Restaurants are aplenty. For Desi fare, check out Shalimar on O'Farrel and Jones. Not the best ambiance but pretty good food. For nice ambiance but ok food, try Naan N Curry on O'Farrel opposite Hilton. China Town and North Beach is full of chinese and italian joints and Fisherman Wharf area has plenty of seafood and clam chowder places.


Driving via shortest route is I-5, which is about 6 hours (pretty boring drive). Highway 101 is about 7-8 hours, a bit windy and more scenic. Pacific Coast Highway 1 is the most scenic and most windy and most slow. Probably will take you a good 10 hours (many parts of it are single lane so you are dependant on traffic in front of you).

Another suggestion is to check out airfares for the new Virgin America airline. With ample advanced booking, they offer $39 one way fares. That may be the best deal. Else check Southwest for their $59 special (again 2 weeks advanced purchase).


Already given above.

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :slight_smile:

thanks for the detailed info** Faisal**. I will most def check out some of those places you have mentioned…inshAllah. You’r post will be very helpful :k:

**5abi- **Ive been up and down Rodeo drive, Univeral Studios, Disneyland, and all kinds of touristy places…I’d like to go somewhere not so touristy if you know what i mean.

Orpheus- thanks for being bored…I’ll check out the shopping center. Mind being bored some more?

oh and what’s the best beach to visit in LA?

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

I am, since i'm here.

PS. **Best Los Angeles Beaches: Walking: **Manhattan Beach: A long, paved walking path with Santa Monica Bay views makes Manhattan Beach our favorite place to take a walk.

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

thanks orpheus.....keep it coming. :D

btw didnt you have a recent trip to cali? where did u go?...what did u do? what did u enjoy the most?

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

Have you seen the great wall of LA? It is an amazing piece of public art. The mural was painted by the gangs on the street under the supervision of an artist named Judith Baca. It depicts the history of LA and the stories of minorites.

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

I hear its nice to take a ferry out to Catalina Island from LA. Also have you done the Warner bros Studio tour, i actually liked that.

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

Nope, we never made it has far as the westcoast, although i had originally planned to finish in Cali. Our adventure started in NY, we only made it as far as Aspen, CO. bummer

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :slight_smile:

no i have not…will be sure to put that on my list of things to see…thanks

i have been to warner bros studio…i liked it as well.

that is a bummer…came all the way over here and didnt visit cali :smilestar:

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :slight_smile:

:mad:

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

you have never been to this LA and you consider this to be the best beach here? Based on what?

I mean you could consider it best beach if you wanted to see some babes which i believe AE doesnt, but then who knows which way she is swinging thesedays ;) (Babewatch was filmed on location here)

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

an AE while you are there to see this mural, take a contingent of security guards, inform LAPD ahead of time that you are visiting there. and under no circumstances take an spray paint with you or carry an Uzi. Drive-by shootings happen a lot there. if you see a '64 chevy wth a couple of heads bobbing driving towards you, run for cover, run fast and dont look back.

PS: j/k

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

I never said i had been there, i simply pasted some info. from About.com.

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

nice beaches in LA are manhattan, redondo, laguna, malibu, and venice..they are the most popular ones too..

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

Faisal has repplied well and I can add a little more into it.
If you like nature then should definitely driver along highway 1 from San Francisco to Monterey. You will find some breathtaking views and scenes along the coast.
If you are fascinated with high tech then should drive through Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara in order to see Google, eBay, Yahoo, AMD, Intel HQ's. Oracle has beautiful campus too. You should also visit Stanford University in Palo Alto - a really beautiful and fascinating campus.

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :slight_smile:

wow…sounds like a kool idea. :dhimpak:

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

Parking is so expensive at Pier 39...is there alternate place to park?

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Re: Cali: LA and San Fran guppies :)

There is some street parking around Pier 39, which is kinda hit or miss; plus it is limited to 2 hours at a time. Otherwise there are some open parking lots two blocks away from Pier 39, which are not as pricey as Pier's own parking, but are not very cheap either.

Lately, we have parked around Market street and taken the trolley to Ghirardeli Square. The ride is a lot of fun too. While you can get cheaper parking in town, the trolley ride adds a day fare to the whole cost.