Expert: Ernest Tufft - 8/13/2006

Question
good day

Please can you recommend an RV site as close to San Francisco ?   The KOA site is 34 miles away, making it difficule to get back and forth.
OR, is it possible to park somewhere in San Francisco in a 31' RV ?
We will be in San Francisco next month

All the best!
Thomas


Answer
Hi Thomas,  Thanks for the message...

Tell me the exact location of the KOA site, and maybe I can be more specific in my help.  Also, I'd like to know if you have a car in tow.  Certainly, I would not recommend parking in SF itself, or any of the immediate urban communities adjacent to SF for reasons of lack of availability, price, and security.  Driving an RV in SF won't be practical as parking will be virtually impossible, and because the tight urban and steep slope roadways a gear shifters nightmare, so 31 miles away wouldn't be so bad assuming you can walk to the nearest BART or Golden Gate Ferry terminal, which have frequent trains and ferries heading directly for the city.  Even if you have an alternative vehicle in tow, I'd not use it and, assuming that you are ambulatory and otherwise capable of visiting the city as would most tourists, find a place to park in Larkspur, the most upscale and least urban region near SF, and then take the ferry into the city.  I don't know exactly where the parking spot would be in this community, but the relative safety and open space of the area, combined with easy access to public transport into the city makes it a good place to investigate.   A good alternate solution, should Larkspur not appeal to you, would be to park near a BART station in the East Bay area, so that transportation into the city will be fast and efficient.  I understand that Walmart, Home Depot and other big box stores will allow you to park the RV in their parking lot, so look up locations for these stores, and compare with the BART station map (http://www.bart.gov).  I would hesitate to consider parking an RV along the red, orange, or green lines, especially in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, San Leandro, or Fremont.  Rather, look toward the end of the yellow and teal colored lines, except for the teal line down near the Airport in San Mateo County, where, again, prices, congestion, and security would be unfavorable.  But, all in all, the smartest place to park would have to be very near the Larkspur Ferry Landing (http://goldengateferry.org/schedules/Larkspur.php), which has several high speed ferries.  This trip is about 30 minutes across one of the most scenic commuter routes in the world.  You can easily do without a car in SF as the public transportation is fun, fast, and safe everywhere in the city.  See the MUNI website (http://www.sfmuni.com/cms/mms/home/home50.htm) for more details.