San Francisco - car hire essential?

[SwiftAnchor]

Heading to San Francisco this summer for 8 days, staying near fisherman's wharf area.

The plan was to hire a car one day to head down the coast to Santa Cruz/Carmel area. I'm now wondering if it would be worth having a car for the full trip or if getting around is fairly straightforward on public transport etc?

I'm a fairly new driver and never driven an automatic or in another country before if this makes a difference but I would hire a small budget range car. I thought I could hire/drop off from the airport (slightly worried about being really tired from the flight but I would try to get a bit of a sleep) and my hotel has parking.

Any advice from anyone who has been would be much appreciated.

We spent 16 days in San Francisco and used public transport all the time.
It was great, loved the cable cars and old buses.
We also went to Muir Wood on a coach trip which was good but we would have liked more time there.
We went to Berkeley on the train, also Fantastic though there were SO many young people! It was so energising and the weather there was great.
I do envy you, I adored everything about San Francisco. It was difficult to see such homelessness; sadly the streets of my local city here in Wales Are becoming the same
Try Greens restaurant, lovely, lovely vegetarian food.
Have a wonderful time. 😊

Thanks bojorojo - we have done ESTAs and I will have proof of hotels and flights home in my hand - but do all 4 of us need a copy of those to show immigration officers, along with passports?

DS19 is reasonably confident, but DD17 less so, just dont want her getting asked awkward questions and not sure what to answer, then getting all tongue tied etc and making the immigration officers decide to question her further?!

You won't need to show the esta confirmation because the immigration officers have the info. You don't need to memorise a whole lot of info but just make sure your children know they are on holiday, where they are staying and when the flight home is. They may ask "How long are you staying for?" "What are you doing on this trip?" "Who are you travelling with?"

My DD was questioned when she had an extended holiday in NY and stayed in an expensive area. "How do you afford that?" "What are you doing whilst you are here?" They wanted to make sure she was coming home and not working.

Mostly they just make it a short chat and it isn't interrogation but everywhere I've been you do the eye photos and finger recognition and you will normally be separated from teenage children because you are allocated an immigration officer one by one from the queue. It is no big deal though and they will realise your children are on holiday!

I am now totally confused - the responses on tripadvisor are saying the opposite to you Bojorojo - they say we will not be split up, we will go to the counter as a family, with only one member of the group needing proof of hotels, flights etc. They will then take photos etc of us individually, but we will initially be questioned as a family group.

Apparently as its first time with ESTAs, we will need to fill in a family customs declaration, how does that work if we are not seen as a family?

What age do they split kids from their parents, what if kids have problems where they cannot answer questions?

We did the drive to Santa Cruz this weekend, the advantage of a car is that you can stop at some of the little beaches on the way and take photo's etc.

The landslide happened at Big Sur and will remain closed for the foreseeable future, but this is further south, so doesn't affect this drive.

What is the fascination with Santa Cruz?

I was travelling with my partner, first time ESTA, we were waved into the queue as a couple as we were on the same booking. We were questioned as a group. I was a bit concerned as his birth place has been flagged previously as of concern (UK citizen born in commonwealth) but it was fine, they didn't even query it. The staff didn't exactly go out of their way to explain the eye/ finger print thing, so I looked like an idiot. We travelled last year. One thing to note is that if you are on a connection (which we were) the immigration process is done in the first airport where you land, not at your destination airport. I hadn't realised this and our connection at O'Hare involved some running to get from intl arrivals to domestic departures, as there was queuing through immigration.

There is an Avis car hire office near Fisherman's Wharf that we have used - so you don't need to go to Union Square.

Would second getting a coach tour to Muir Woods as the one time we tried driving there the parking was full as were all the approach roads.

We have older teenage children and go through immigration as a family. You always need one customs form for the family.