Bay Area / Marin County, San Francisco

The Bay Area is home to the lovely city of San Francisco, which is known all for being one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This was the center of the Summer of Love, and home to Haight Ashbury and the Greatful Dead. Aside from this, the San Francisco Bay Area is surrounded by some of the most captivating outdoor areas, like the windblown coasts of Marin County and the Monterey Peninsula to the south.

San Francisco California is one of those cities that becomes special to visitors who are fortunate enough to spend enough time here. It is a large metropolitan area when you factor in the surrounding cities such, but San Francisco is smaller in scale than other major cities around the country. In fact, most of the population of the San Francisco Bay Area includes the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and San Jose, which is actually has a larger population than San Francisco.

The city of San Francisco California has an incredible array of neighborhoods, and is the center of culture in Northern California. The San Francisco Bay Area has an enormous Asian population, both Chinese and Japanese. In addition, the largest Afghan American population is in the Bay Area. Add a healthy dose of Indians and Arabs, and you have the diverse conglomerate that combines to create a unique experience every time you visit.

The Mexican American population is significant here; all the way from the San Francisco's Mission District to San Jose, Chicanos have a high profile in the San Francisco Bay Area. A visit to 16th and Mission will take you to the heart of Mexican culture. All the best taquerias serving the most authentic Mexican found are on every block, it is just a matter of which family's salsa recopies you enjoy.

Getting around the city is a breeze. Even if you get a good deal on a rental car, there is not a lot of parking, and if you do find parking, it is going to be expensive. The public transportation in San Francisco California is excellent. There is the streetcar, the Cable Car, the buses, the MUNI light rail, and the BART subway, which has recently added an extension to the San Francisco International Airport. The BART (which stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit) also goes to other local cities in the like Oakland and Berkeley.

San Francisco vacation packages take a lot of hassle and expense out of your trip to the city by the bay. Whether you purchase it online, from a hotel or through a travel agent, you can get lodging, airfare, and tickets to the top attractions when you purchase one of the many San Francisco vacation packages available to you. Attractions like a Bay cruise or a city tour is often included in the San Francisco vacation packages, so you know ahead of time roughly how much your trip is going to cost you.

Cities like Berkeley are smaller communities, but have a strong cultural feel to them. On the main strip called Telegraph Avenue, you can find Indian restaurants, rastas street vendors selling hemp jewelry, and hippies mixed in with the young college students that attend the nearby UC Berkeley. Oakland has a strong black community, and some of the best restaurants in the area. Oakland is probably one of the most industrial and least scenic cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it is a great way to enjoy the culture of the Bay Area from a different vantage point.

Just north of the city, across the Golden Gate Bridge, is one of the most exclusive areas in the entire Bay Area. Marin County has towns like Mill Valley, Tiburon and Sausalito that have some of the most expensive real estate in the San Francisco Bay area. Many of these houses are very old and beautiful, but sometimes you will see a brand new condo gleaming from the trees. The hills and valleys mean that there is little available real estate, and that is just the way the well-heeled residents who enjoy the ocean and bay views like it.

If you're planning a trip to California, you should definitely include a visit to the Bay Area. This relaxed, friendly, interesting, and lovely city charms the pants off anyone who comes to visit. Once you visit the city, you too will leave your heart in San Francisco.