Traveling to San Francisco

I'll second the KOA in Petaluma especially if you have kids. I think there were 2 or 3 thousand kids there when we stayed there last summer for a week.:E Almost exactly a year ago actually. It's not that bad to get into the City from there but I can't imagine pulling our 5th wheel through San Francisco. Many years ago I got on a wrong road trying to bypass the City in our old C class towing a motorcycle trailer. That was almost a huge disaster. The Petaluma KOA is probably one of the largest KOA's I've ever been to but I will avoid it in the future because it is so noisy and busy. If you have kids great, if you will only be there for the nights, you should also be fine.

I've also stayed at San Francisco RV resort in Pacifica. Nothing really there but a great view. No storm for us but lots of fog. The bus is right out front so you can take it to BART then to downtown. There is another place closer to town I think it's at candlestick park when they don't have a game going. It's not close to downtown but closer than pacifica.

I used to live in that area and I can honestly say that I'm not familiar with any regular RV camp parks close to SF. I guess I had no reason to know at that time in history either but no matter, I believe that there is something on the north side of the Golden Gate and maybe even something in the Presidio. Google may be your best bet here.

But if anything, I'd highly advise NOT trying to pull a large trailer anywhere near the heart of SF. Traffic can be terrible, very congested, and people have zero patience around there. I've seen small RV's in the city and I think those people are crazy since finding parking would be next to impossible.....and very expensive. If you must pass through then stay on the major freeways to get to your destination, but just make sure you know exactly where you're going because there's lots of junctions as the 280/101/1 are close together, lots of turn offs, and trying to get off to turn around would be very difficult.

Its an amazing city if you know where to go. Having been there many many times, tourist points are fun but the real fun is knowing where the non-tourist spots are.

We also stayed at the San Francisco RV resort in Pacifica and experienced a storm that made us move our little "C" in between two big "A"s. But the bus stopped right out the gate to take us to the Bart and into SF. We were there for a week and really has a great time. But the resort was only slightly above mediocre.

The KOA in Petaluma would be a good choice. We live 80 miles from S.F. We take our 5er to Petaluma. Hwy 101 is just few miles away. We pick up 101 follow the signs to Tiburon (a wonderful little sea coast community) about 45 miles. We park our truck in Tiburon and grab the Blue & Gold Ferry that takes you to Pier 41 at Fisherman's Wharf in S.F. (A very iconic part of the city).The ferry passes Angel Island, gets you really close to the Golden Gate and passes near Alcatraz . On a clear day you see the entire landscape of the city along with a wonderful view of Golden Gate and Bay Bridge. It's a great way to see the city without the fuss of driving in the city. Fisherman's Wharf has lots of restaurants and from there you can walk around,soak up the aptmosphere,walk to catch a trolley ,hail a cab or public transportation, and then choose the time you would like to return to pier to take the ferry back to Tiburon. I believe the ferry runs later on weekends but if you go to www.blueandgoldfleet.com you will find the schedule for Tiburon/S.F.
A couple,of precautions. If I remember,the first ferry during the week doesn't depart until 10:30 or a bit later. That's good. Allow yourself at least twice the amount of time you think you need to drive there. Commuter traffic on 101 is heavy during the week so sometimes you are driving at a snails pace. We always allowed a couple of hours just to make darn sure we got there in time,and if we were really early we just purchased our ticket at the ferry building and then walked around a bit. Sept can be beautiful or it can be foggy/cold. We keep and eye on the local weather forecast and pick our day accordingly. The fog will often burn off by the time the ferry departs but wear slacks,good walking shoes,and carry a warm jacket,especially if you want to stand outside as the ferry passes near the Golden Gate. It's powerfully beautiful. We love the city in late Sept and almost always have found a wonderful mixture of fog/sunshine. If you have any other questions you can message me. Petaluma is a great town and it's really easy to get there and to drive through. We spend a lot of time RVng near there and along the N. coast.

It was tight but we crossed the Golden Gate bridge three times and that was kind of cool but the down town part was tight at 8'. We had a good time on an old army camp site that you have to go through a tunnel to access. The kids swam on the beach at that location and we climbed the hills to old gun embankments. It does not have approved camping area per signs we saw the next day.

The tour by van sounds like a good idea.

We stayed at sanfrancisco Rv resort on the coast in Pacifica. Big storm when we were there so didn't enjoy it much Rv rocked with scary wind and sea spray turned my black truck white with salt spray. . I think next time we would try the Koa in Petaluma or stay near San Jose and drive in. Sanfrancisco can be very cold windy and foggy so be prepared. It is a micro climate and very different than areas like Silicon Valley or wine country in napa. We took a tour in a van with a small company called California land safari and it was very good. All the highlights except Alcatraz which we weren't interested in. Very informative guide. We never would have come near seeing as much on our own. 2nd day we took the Bart back to Chinatown to shop. It is a very historic city and the background stories are fascinating and a good guide will tell those stories to make it come alive. Enjoy your trip.