About San Francisco: A Quick Travel Guide, History & Places To Visit in San Francisco (2024)
About San Francisco :
San Francisco is the fourth populous city of California and 16th largest town in United States. San Francisco is the commercial center of California and western USA. It is second financial center after New York in USA. Close to 900,000 people live in San Francisco. The population of metropolitan area of San Francisco is about 4.7 million. The salary, rent and value of the house is higher in San Francisco than other part is USA. San Francisco is a cultural and financial nucleus of United States. The city of San Francisco was established by Spanish immigrants in 1776. The city was growing rapidly because of climate and gold rush. In 1850 the city was the largest city in USA. The United nation was established first in San Francisco in 1945.
Towns That Are At Driving Distance From San Francisco
- Napa Valley- 50 km, North
- San Jose- 50 km, South
- Sacramento- 90 km, North
- Los Angeles 380 km, South
- Las Vegas 570 km, South East
- Portland Oregon 680 km, North
San Francisco- A Preferred Town By Fortune 500 Companies
San Francisco is the preferred town by several fortune 500 companies like Levi Strauss, Gap, Fitbit, Dales Force, Dropbox, Reddit, Square Inc., Airbnb, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia and Craigslist. 
History of San Francisco:
- 3000 BC- Early Inhabitant
- 1769- Spanish migration
- 1821- Became part of Mexico after Independence from Spain
- July 1846- Mexican American war was won by John Sloat
- January 1847- City Yerba Buena was renamed as San Francisco.
- 1849- The California Gold rush also known as “Forty Niners” brought several thousand people from east of America to San Francisco.
- 1850- The two forts were built. Fort Point at Golden Gate and Fort of Alcatraz.
- 1933- Golden Gate Bridge was built
- 1970- Several banks and businesses started opening their head office in San Francisco
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San Francisco Airport
San Francisco International Airport is about 13 miles south from city center. The airport gets domestic flights from most of US towns. International flights arrive at the airport from South America, Asia, Australia and Europe. San Francisco International Airport is the second busiest airport on west coast of USA and 24th in entire world. The airport is operated by city of San Francisco. The airport was open May 7, 1927. Local and international tourist can take a taxi or rent a car to drive to city center. Every year 2.9 million international tourist come to San Francisco. Most visitors come from Canada, Mexico, Germany China, Brazil, India, France and the United Kingdom. 
Traveling from Airport to San Francisco City
- Clipper Card- Clipper card is reloadable card. The traveler can use the card to pay for traveling by train, ferry and city bus within San Francisco bay area. The card readers are installed at every train, ferry and bus station. The fee for adult card is $ 3, but the card is free for children and senior citizens.
- Train Service- The passenger train regularly runs between airport and city of San Francisco. The train service is known as BART. On an average 4 trains run every one hour. The train station is close to International terminal and close to terminal 1 and 3. It takes 30 minutes to reach San Francisco city center and cost of ticket is about $ 10.
- Uber and Lyft- Local visitors and International tourists can use the Uber or Lyft app to engage a transport service. The price depends on distance and time of traveling. Uber and Lyft traveling can be 20 to 30% less expensive.
- Taxi- The cost of taxi from airport to down town San Francisco is about $ 45 to 50. The taxi stand is easy to find and often located just outside baggage claim.
- Super Shuttle- The shuttle bus carries up to 10 passengers. The share fee can be from $ 18 to 20. The shuttle bus do drop passengers to office, residence or hotel.
- Rent a Car- Almost all car rental services are having office at the airport. Most traveler rent the car online using credit card. The cost of car rent varies from $ 30 to $ 90 per day depending on value of the car.
14 Amazing Places To See In San Francisco
The visitors need 4 days to see following 14 places in San Francisco. Few international and local tourists may want to spend only 3 days or 2 days to see the places in San Francisco in that case either one can eliminate few places or hire or rent a car and visit 7 to 8 places in one day. It is difficult to see all places including islands in 2 days since return from island can take more than ½ day. 
Day Wise Tour Itinerary of San Francisco
- Day 1- Downtown San Francisco, Golden Gate, Fort Point, Cable Car and Walt Disney Museum.
- Day 2- Fisherman Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, The Coit Tower and The Palace of Fine Arts
- Day 3- Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, Asian Art Museum and The Oldest Japanese Tea Garden
- Day 4- Angel island and Chinatown
