Travel Blogger Daily Blog Post: The Real Story On San Francisco Summers

Debunking Myths About Summertime In The City By The Bay

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Travel Blogger

You no doubt know the quote that Mark Twain is credited for, tho he may have never said: “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

If you’ve never been to San Francisco, you may scratch your head in puzzlement over it. If you have been to San Francisco – particularly late afternoon at Fisherman’s Wharf or at a night game in the old Candlestick Park – then you know exactly what the phrase means, no matter who said it.

But just to characterize the City By The Bay as a frigid place in a season when all other places are boiling hot is inaccurate. So I’m here to set the record straight about what it’s really like in San Francisco in the summertime.

First of all, it’s not freezing cold.

In fact, it’s quite pleasant. As a matter of fact, as I write this blog in late June, it’s 74 degrees and sunny. But were I in San Francisco today and planned to be outside later in the afternoon, I would be wearing jeans instead of my usual shorts and I would have a sweatshirt wrapped around my waist.

That’s because I know when the fog rolls in across the bay a little before 5 o’clock, the temperature will plunge 20 degrees. The low on this day is 54.

Because of this, one of the things I like to do is hang out by Fisherman’s Wharf about this time of the day and watch the people. This is the city’s prime tourism spot and I enjoy seeing unsuspecting tourists walk around in tank tops and shorts, enjoying the pleasant weather with no clue on what’s about to happen to them.

Then, at about 4:45 when the fog arrives, I get a kick out of seeing them react to the sudden temperature change as if they’ve just seen a ghost. They dance around as if on hot coals, look curiously at each other as if to say “what the heck just happened!?,” and make an immediate dash into the nearest store.

A few minutes later, they all walk out wearing an overpriced sweatshirt with words SAN FRANCISCO (often accompanied by a rendering of the Golden Gate Bridge) emblazoned across the front.

But if you’re prepared, then this little quirk of the weather is no big deal. Besides, San Francisco is a fantastic place to be in the summertime.

“The City,” as locals call it, is vibrant. There are free concerts and neighborhood street festivals taking place nearly every weekend. The Giants are playing baseball, and in a much warmer stadium than Candlestick, in a vibrant area along the bay that you can reach by streetcar.

This year, there’s even an international rugby championship.  Click here for a full guide of things to do this summer in San Francisco.  

Plus, there are many great activities in the area, many of which you can enjoy in shorts and a t-shirt. Get out of “The City” and it gets so warm you’ll be drinking cool chardonnays and roses when you go wine tasting in Napa or Sonoma, for example.

Ride a bike or walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and take the ferry back into San Francisco. Go all the way to Tiburon and the weather is gorgeous.

Ride the cable cars up and down those famously steep hills, walk or drive your rental car (which I don’t recommend having while you’re in San Francisco) down curvy Lombard Street, stroll around the very pleasant Chestnut and Union streets in the Marina District, get some chowder in a sourdough bread bowl as you walk around Pier 39 and eat in “the City’s” fabulous restaurants, many of which are modest-looking places on street corners.

Get on a boat and take a sunset cocktail cruise from Hornblower – there’s even a weekend brunch cruise with bottomless mimosas – or go to visit Alcatraz. (Note: definitely have a sweatshirt for these activities.)

So don’t get chills when you think of spending part of your summer in San Francisco. Just pack appropriately for the sudden change in the weather. Either that, or add to you souvenir collection with a San Francisco sweatshirt purchased at Fisherman’s Wharf. But before the fog arrives, of course.

Cheers!