I need help again! I have friends coming from Germany, and I need to plan things well because they don't speak good English and they've never been to America. It's not finalized how many people are coming yet, but it's about three persons, plus me, so four adults. They're coming during New Year's week, which means that I'm under pressure to save money.
Planned as much as I can but I still have some problems. I've already found a good hotel deal in Burlingame, it allows easy access to SFO when it's time for them to go. I have two days left over that are not planned yet, and I would like to include these attractions in those two days:
Presidio
Fort Mason
PCC Trolley
Great Highway
I will not rent a car and I will not ride Caltrain, don't try convincing me to use those. I'm willing to ride BART if it's convienient and not too expensive, but remember, we're talking four adult tickets here. The SamTrans Routes 292 and ECR are going to be important. I strongly prefer high-floors over low-floors, so I would like to avoid Orion VII's and Gillig Low Floor's if possible.
Another matter, should we just look at the Golden Gate Bridge, should we ride over it on transit, or should we take a ferry to Tiburon. I know it's cheapest to just take a look at it from Fort Mason, but if time and money allows, I could consider something more here. Personally, to me it's just a bridge,a good bridge, but nothing to waste lots of money on. On the flip side, Marin County is nice.
I could also stay on the East Bay but I don't think that would be a good idea. Staying in Downtown is not going to happen. Willing to walk up to 45 minutes as long as the area is safe, but not willing to walk up a steep SF hill for too long.
The two unplanned days are 1 January and 2 January 2014, which are hard to plan because of holiday transit reductions.
Thank you in advance for your time and effort.