Help planning our visit

My husband and I will be visiting in late July and would love some help with our planning. We are arriving on Saturday and leaving on Wednesday.

We want to do Napa or Sonoma one day. We really aren%26#39;t sure the which one as we don%26#39;t really know the difference and we also aren%26#39;t sure if we should book a tour or do it ourselves (we are renting a car). If a tour, which one there are so many?

We are staying a Pacifica this is already set so we can%26#39;t change that. We are definitely willing to do public transportation into the city but are a little overhelmed with by the best ways to do so with so many options (BART, cable cars, buses etc).

We would love to do a nice dinner with a beautiful view one night as we will be celebrating my birthday and a five year anniversary. We were thinking maybe Cliff House or Beach Chalet for this? Do we need to drive to this area or is a public transportation a option for out here? Or is there some where else we should be considering?

Some of our highlights we are interested in doing are Tibourn/Sausalito area, Boulevard Restaurant, Rogue Restaurant, Chinatown, Union Square, Ferry Building on Saturday maybe?

Also, we would love some info on nightlife, what do, what are safe areas? We not really into ';clubbing'; but love great places with good drinks and music. What about public transportation at night?

Sorry I know that%26#39;s a lot of questions any info you can provide would be great!

Help planning our visit

For your anniversary dinner, the Cliff House would be the better choice. Beach Chalet is a nice place for a casual lunch or dinner, but doesn%26#39;t have the same ambience as the Cliff House. There are a couple of parking lots available near Cliff House so you shouldn%26#39;t have issues finding a space.

As far as transportation from Pacifica, there are a couple of options depending on how you plan to spend the day.

An option is to drive and park your car at the Daly City BART station %26amp; then, take the train into San Francisco (approximately, 15-20 min ride into Powell Station in San Francisco). Union Square is just a few blocks away. From there, it is a quick walk to Chinatown or you can hop back on the train and get off at the Embarcadero Station to visit the Ferry Building.

If you plan to spend a few hours at the Fisherman%26#39;s Wharf/Pier 39, I would drive and park the car in the lot. Also, street parking is available at Golden Gate Park.

Help planning our visit

it might be nice for the anniversary and birthday meal to take a trip to wine country and have a nice dinner at one of the vinyards. Here is some information on that:

On the San Francisco Sightseeing/Gray Line Wine Country Tour, discover Napa Valley, Sonoma and all that the Northern California wine country has to offer. This full-day winery tour departs from San Francisco. From the beautiful scenery to the famous wineries of California’s wine region, Sonoma and Napa counties’ Mediterranean climate makes them the premium wine-grape growing provinces of North America. You will experience Napa and Sonoma to the fullest with this tour. Visit both large scale/high tech and small boutique wineries as you learn about wine production and techniques and enjoy wine tasting and winery tours. Lunch opportunities abound at either Sonoma’s historic Town Square or Yountville’s rustic Vintage 1870- a collection of 30 specialty shops and galleries.

www.graylinesanfrancisco.com

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

It sounds like a wonderfui trip. If you like tours, then by all means take a tour of the wine country. If you enjoy driving and taking your time, you can easily drive to the wine country from Pacifica with your rental car. You don%26#39;t need to see everything - choose a few wineries that you would like to check out, make a lunch reservation, and you will have a relaxing, beautiful day.

One of my ';visitor favorites'; in Napa Valley includes Niebaum Coppola Winery (owned by Francis Ford Coppola). There are several other very large wineries on that road that are easy to check out. There are many great restaurants - I like Bistro Jeanty (casual French), Bouchon by Thomas Keller, Tre Vigne, and many others.

The Sonoma Valley is also beautiful. It is closer and perhaps less straight forward for a visitor. Healdsburg is a popular town, and the wine country close to it - Alexander Valley - but it may be a little less visitor oriented than the Napa Valley. The town of Sonoma is charming, but not on the same route as Healdsburg. My favorite restaurant there is Della Santina%26#39;s in Sonoma.

Since you are staying in Pacifica - I would also spend one day in Marin County with your car. You will cross the Golden Gate Bridge where you can park on the far side of the bridge and take photos. Then check out Muir Woods (ancient redwood grove), and the towns of Mill Valley, Tiburon and Sausalito. There are lots of places to eat on the water in Tiburon and Sausalito and Mill Valley also has great restaurants.

In the summer, there is a tremendous amount of fog that comes and goes in Pacifica. If you wake up one morning and you are socked in - that%26#39;s the day to head to the wine country or Marin County and get out of the fog.

Have a great trip.

Don%26#39;t bother with either the Cliff House or Beach Chalet for a memorable night. Go over to Sausalito or Tiburon- take the Ferry and relax. Or do Boulevard, and walk along the Embarcadero. My personal favorite restaurant for a special night is Foreign Cinema, they have great food and play old black %26amp; white movies on the walls, like Casablanca.

The only problem is you%26#39;re staying in Pacifica, and you%26#39;ll need either a cab or a bus to BART, and then back again. BART closes at midnight so it might be a damper on your night, so an expensive cab ride might entail.

Why did you pick Pacifica? Its out of the general area with nothing of interest close!

If you like staying right by the beach, Pacifica is a great place to stay. It%26#39;s mostly a quiet bedroom community for SF, but all the hotels are either directly on the beach, or within a few blocks of the beach. Pacifica is only a 15-20 minute drive from downtown SF, so it won%26#39;t add much extra driving time if you start your trips from here.

At the end of July, it can be a bit foggy in the mornings and evenings, though.

The closest BART station is Colma, although the Daly City BART station is only a few minutes drive past Colma on I-280 heading into SF. Service is a little more frequent at Daly City, so you might want to use that station rather than Colma. Bus service from Pacifica into SF stinks, and I%26#39;m afraid cable cars are non-existent here.

You also might want to consider driving down to Half Moon Bay, which is a 20 minute drive south of Pacifica on Hwy 1. It%26#39;s a quaint little town with lots of little stores and shops along Main Street.

In Pacifica, the best restaurant is probably Nona%26#39;s Kitchen in the Pedro Point Shopping Center at the south end of Pacifica. It%26#39;s small and loud, but the food is great. And of course, we have our famous Taco Bell on the Beach - one of the top 10 fast food joints in the world, according to the Travel Channel.

(That loser town SF didn%26#39;t have any top 10 fast food joints.)

I reread your questions and I thought I would give you a few more suggestions. Since you are married five years and celebrating your anniversary, you are probably not retirement age. Therefore, I would skip the bus wine country tours and drive to the Napa Valley in my rental car.

In the Napa Valley, definitely check out Niebaum Coppola. The other ';visitor'; oriented wineries include Sterling Vineyards which is at the far end of the Napa Valley that has an aerial tram that takes you across their vineyard. (you can skip it if you don%26#39;t have time to go all the way up) Also, Beringer is a classic old time large winery. Domaine Chandon is a beautiful location for Champagne production. If you are really interested in wine production, then take a winery tour when you are there. If not, don%26#39;t worry about it.

There are a couple of great little markets that everyone likes to check out when they are in the Napa Valley. The first is Oakville Grocery which has sandwiches and wines and is a Napa Valley classic. The second is the modern New York market, Dean and Deluca. I like them both - worthwhile if you need a sandwich or something to drink.

As you plan your Napa trip, keep in mind that the main road through the valley is busy and hard to cut across. So plan to stop at the places you want to explore (in order) on the East side of the road on your way up, and the West side on your way down. That will save a lot of aggravation.

For your ';view'; anniversary dinner - take a look at the websites of Caprice in Tiburon, Scoma%26#39;s in Sausalito, and maybe Spinnaker in Sausalito. All have spectacular views. If you go to Scoma%26#39;s - call (Roland the owner) in advance, and tell them that it is your anniversary and you are coming from Kansas City and that you would like to see if there is a spot in the front waterview room. If not, choose one of the other restaurants. The Spinnaker is very large, so again call (Nelson the manager) and see if you can get a table by the window for your anniversary. Caprice is very small, so all the tables have a view. I am not sure how expensive Caprice is - it could be too much - check the website. Happy anniversary.

zits