San Francisco

Currency

Expensive by any standard, and the listed price is never the final one: add about 8.6% sales tax, and expect a "SF mandate" surcharge of 4-6% on restaurant bills, which pays for city-required health cover and is legal and printed at the bottom of the menu. Tipping is 18-20% on top of all of it.

ATMs & cards

Use a bank machine — Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo — rather than the corner-store ones that charge $4 on top of your bank’s fee. Cards and phones work everywhere including on Muni; you will barely touch cash except for tips.

You will barely need cash. Sales tax and a 4-6% city mandate surcharge are added to restaurant bills, and tips are 18-20% on top.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety

The honest version: violent crime is concentrated and avoidable, property crime is not. Car break-ins are close to a certainty if anything is visible in a parked car, rental or not — locals leave the glovebox open and empty to show there is nothing to take. The Tenderloin and parts of Sixth Street are grim and best skirted, especially at night. The rest of the city is fine, and the fog in July is colder than visitors expect.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa

Health & emergencies

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Worth having

• Routine vaccinations up to date

Getting treated

The care is excellent and the bill is the risk. There is no universal system, an ambulance ride alone can run into four figures, and an uninsured hospital stay can be genuinely ruinous. Comprehensive travel insurance with a high medical limit is essential — this is the one destination where skipping it can cost more than the trip by an order of magnitude.

Orientation, not medical advice. Entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history and where you have been — check with a travel clinic or your national health service four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

The Mission for burritos and Chinatown for dim sum are the two things everyone gets right. Beyond that, this is one of the great eating cities: sourdough, Dungeness crab in winter, and a Ferry Building farmers’ market on Saturdays that is a sight in its own right. Book Alcatraz weeks ahead — it sells out, and the ferry is the only way there.

Getting around

• Muni — buses, trams and the cable cars, all on a Clipper card or contactless; the tram tunnels under Market Street
• Cable car — $8 a ride and worth doing once; the Powell-Hyde line is the one with the view
• BART — the regional train, and the way in from the airport in half an hour
• Walking — the centre is compact and the hills are as steep as they look; the 45-degree blocks are real
• Do not hire a car unless you are leaving the city, and if you do, never leave anything visible inside it

Internet speed

Broadband here runs at 2.4× the global median of 128 Mbps. Mobile runs at 1.7× the global median of 110 Mbps.

Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured May 2026

Must-see

Things to do

• Walk or cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and back
• Take the ferry to Alcatraz, booked well ahead
• Ride the Powell-Hyde cable car down to the bay
• Eat your way through the Mission
• Spend a morning in Golden Gate Park and its museums
• Drive or ride down to the beaches at Ocean Beach and Lands End

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

American English — local usage

• HelloHey / How are you doing?
• The bill, pleaseCan we get the check?
• To go, not eaten inTo go
• Fizzy drinkSoda
• The undergroundThe subway
• QueueLine
• Ground floorFirst floor
• Thank you very muchThanks so much

Religion

Christian majority, no state religion

Constitutionally separated from the state, and enormously varied by region — the south is far more observant than the coasts.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Tip 18-20% at restaurants and bars — servers are paid below minimum wage and depend on it
• Expect sales tax to be added at the till, not shown on the shelf price
• Make small talk with strangers; friendliness is genuine and not a prelude to anything
• Carry ID if you look under about 35 and intend to drink

Don't

• Do not skip the tip to make a point — take it up with the manager instead
• Do not discuss politics, guns or healthcare with strangers unless invited
• Do not stand too close; personal space is larger than in Europe or Latin America
• Do not joke about security at airports or borders