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Comment by kieckerjan | Hacker News Reader

European here. My girlfriend and I are excited to do a tour of the West Coast later this year. As a tech I feel it would be silly to skip San Francisco and Silicon Valley, but I must say the stories I have been hearing have dampened my initial enthusiasm considerably. I now wonder if it is worth our while. If "avocado toast and class warfare" are the main attractions nowadays, we can probably spend our time more wisely.

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I did a similar trip last year. San Francisco can be a charming city at times, I especially recommend doing a bike tour across the golden gate bridge via the golden gate park. Alcatraz was interesting to visit too.

Just beware that it is a pretty run down and dirty city. The streets downtown are full of homeless people who seem to be not all there. I've never felt as unsafe in any city as when walking in downtown SF in the evening, it's very counterintuitive if you're used to downtown areas in Europe. Also avoid public transit at night.

I’ve seen quite a bit of homelessness in Paris, Stockholm etc. it’s mostly gypsies, not local Swedes, but nevertheless.

There's not much to see in SV apart from the computer history museum, unless you like seeing parking lots and industrial buildings.

The Stanford campus is worth a visit.

On the other hand there are many nice places around the valley. I think that's the only thing I miss from the valley, drive 40 min in any direction and you're either in a forest, a desert, on top of a mountain or at a sea side. I live in berlin now and it's quite the opposite, the city if full of life but the nature sucks for a good 200km radius.

Mountain roads with nice view on top:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.5880399,-121.8692997/37.4...

Nice road in the woods:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.5880399,-121.8692997/37.4...

Small twisty road to santa cruz:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.5880399,-121.8692997/37.4...

I also remember remote hiking trails going up the hills south of mountain view but I can't place them on the map. They were always empty, best place to chill and get out of the stressful environment.

To be fair, 200km - which is quite a distance for a small country like Germany - around Berlin includes a LOT of nice nature areas, e.g.: Baltic Sea, Mecklenburg Lake Plateau, Saxon Switzerland, Harz, and many more.

Mecklenburg Lake Plateau is the only one under 200km though, anyway, it take some preparation to do that kind of trip.

Baltic Sea = 200km to the first coast

Saxon Switzerland = 250km

Harz = 275km

I measure geographical distance using google maps starting from Berlin (52.515277, 13.405301):

The german part of Saxon Switzerland is at most 200km. Distance through Dresden up to German-Czech border is 200km.

German coast of Baltic Sea is 200km, yes.

Brocken, highest "mountain" in Harz, and more or less its center, is 206km away.

Another nice area for canoeing or hiking is Jena/Naumburg(Saale) 200km south-west-ish.

Your distances are probably more useful though, when you want to get there, as I suspect them to be travel distances.

Ah yes indeed, I'm talking about traveling distance, I'd love to be able to fly there in a personal helicopter though.

San Francisco’s very pretty but the best part of the West Coast is the United States National Park System.

Yosemite, Sequoia, John Muir Woods, Death Valley! All around there is Arches, Glacier, canyons, deserts, forests, and more.

I wouldn't bother with SF or Silicon Valley.

SV is really just office buildings. They don't have formal tours for visiting engineers or anything like that. Most of the campuses don't even have a visitor center.

As a tourist SF you get to avoid most of the really bad aspects of SF a bit but I don't really think it's a good tourist city. There's just not a whole lot to see that you can't see anywhere else.

To counter some of the suggestions elsewhere:

- The bridge is just a somewhat visually appealing bridge and it's often difficult to see due to fog.

- Muir Woods is a nice place but it's so heavily trafficked it feels more like a garden than a forest.

- Land's End is mainly special for its' view of the bridge I think.

I'm being a bit negative but these aren't bad sights and I don't regret going there as a bay area resident, I just don't think they're special enough to take a substantial amount of time out of an international trip.

I'd suggest: If you're after cities, head to the bigger ones like LA, New York or Chicago. If you're after culture and/or history go to the east coast (I think DC is probably the best place, it has the Smithsonian after all). If you want food, go south. If you're after natural beauty, the best places are pretty far from major cities (e.g. mountains, grand canyon, yellowstone).

Most of what you are reading is basically fake news. Yes, there are homeless in SF, but overall it’s a beautiful city and it’s surroundings, check out Muir Woods

The Bay Area is absolutely worth visiting. The Computer History Museum alone is a must see if you're into that sort of thing.

The wealth inequality and housing crises don't make it a bad place to visit any more than New York, London, or any of the great cities.

People wouldn't complain about the changes in their home regions if they didn't love those places. There are many things about SF and the South Bay that make them really wonderful places: climate, natural attractions, cultural attractions, etc. And those things are very much available to tourists. The dystopia only starts when you try to find an apartment.

As someone who lives in NYC but visits San Francisco for work, the homeless there are a lot more visible. I see homeless people in NYC for sure, but the numbers in San Francisco are staggering.

I can’t name a neighborhood like the tenderloin.

That being said, I don’t feel particularly threatened generally (although I am a tall man), but it is depressing.

In NYC I don’t mind tossing out a buck here or there, but in San Francisco it just feels too innumerable to even start.

As someone who has been to San Francisco enough to hate it there (which doesn't take that long, really), I still think a couple of things are worth seeing:

* Land's End (just outside the city) is beautiful, and worth a visit

* The Palace of Fine Arts Theater (not a theater, rather a sort of "monument" made to look like old-world ruins) is very pleasant, and in a pretty area.

* I've heard the Presidio in general is really nice, but I haven't gotten a chance to go there.

After that, I recommend hopping in a car, and driving away from San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway. You've seen the best parts, and hopefully avoided the various near-stabbings or human-excrement-piled sidewalks that are emblematic of the city's current state. It's basically a corporate monument to income inequality, on its way to being transformed into some version of an 80s-future dystopia.

I’d probably add Telegraph Hill and Alcatraz. But, yeah, mostly the Northwest of the city. Unless you’re really into architecture I’d avoid downtown and surrounding except for maybe the Ferry Building.

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