Summer Travel Guide: San Francisco on a Budget

A trip to San Francisco can be highly affordable to the budget minded traveler who knows where to look. Here are some hints and tips for where to stay, where to eat, and what to do to keep to a budget on your San Francisco trip.

Hotels near the airport are considerably less expensive than in other areas. Looking anywhere else in the San Francisco area will mean paying roughly $100 a night, but if you can handle staying by the airport, you can pay as little as $60 or less for a hotel of reasonable quality. Having stayed at the Ramada Limited (where you can stay for roughly that price), I would highly recommend it. There is also a Travelodge and a Howard Johnson for quite a bit less, though the quality of these two places definitely show the price. The East Bay is another place to look for more budget friendly hotels for anywhere from $60 to $100 per night. You can get a great deal at the Park Plaza hotel, which has its own restaurant and pool. The East Bay is a little bit farther out, so you will have to look a little harder for transportation.

For food, there are many different options available in San Francisco. North Beach Pizza in (you guessed it) North Beach has great pizza options and a fun atmosphere. Mel's Diner has several locations in San Francisco, with a highly affordable menu. Park Chow near the Golden Gate Bridge is another fun and budget friendly place to eat.

One fantastic and extremely affordable way to see San Francisco is the free City Guide. These are free walking tours that really allow the traveler to get a glimpse of all or part of San Francisco. Many museums are also free in San Francisco, including the Maritime Museum and the San Francisco Fire Museum. There are also a few museums that offer a free day, so check ahead of time to see if the "must see" on your list offers one of these days to save quite a bit of money. One museum in particular stands out to me: the Exploratorium is free the first Wednesday of any month.

Some of the hottest places to visit in this lovely city are free, or nearly so. Riding the cable cars is cheap and a fun way to see the city. Alcatraz is technically free, though you will have to pay to get there: taking one of the ferry boats out to the island costs a bit, though you can get a bit of a discount if you purchase a family ticket (two adults, two children). Going during the day or early in the morning is less expensive than at night. The Golden Gate Bridge is the icon of San Francisco. If you do not wish to drive your car, or wish a better opportunity to take photos, you can take a ferry or bus for a small fee.

As with most large cities, you can save some money with a CityPass. For San Francisco, the CityPass costs $59 for adults, $44 for children. However, quite a few of the attractions available by using a CityPass for San Francisco are free or reduced on certain days, so make sure that you won't be able to check out those attractions on the discount days before making a decision about the CityPass for San Francisco.

San Francisco can be a wonderful place to visit, full of all sorts of special nooks and excitements. It can also be a highly affordable vacation, though you will probably find the hotel prices in this city are slightly higher if you are not used to traveling to California.