Travelers and explorers love to come to California and San Francisco. I mean, why not? We are an amazing state and San Francisco is a cultural city. But, every year I see travelers make the same mistakes. Here are some tips to get the most out of your travels:

SUMMERS ARE COLD: San Francisco is chilly from June through August. The city is generally not a hot to begin with, but San Francisco gets more fog during the summer months. So please, please, please, bring a jacket, jeans and a scarf. However, if you are planning to do one day of wine tasting in Napa or go hiking in Berkeley, bring a summer dress and/or shorts. Once you get outside San Francisco, you will be warm.

BART DOES NOT TAKE YOU TO THE BEACH: I know, I know, you want to see the beach; however, BART, our Metro, does not take you to the beach. You will have to take a Metro bus to the Sunset district and then walk to the beach.

WE DON’T HAVE A CENTRAL PARTY AREA: Most cities have one central party area. If you are traveling from Europe or South America, you may be used to having a few streets as the party area.  We have a few blocks in every district with bars. Mission district is for the young, hipster people. Marina district is for the older, wine lover crowd and Polk Street is for the people in between. Be careful and stay close to a BART stop.

WE ARE A DRINKING CULTURE: We love our bars. We have many of them. We love our beer, our wine and our cocktails. We treat our mixologists like long lost soul mates. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea. So, if you want to get a drink, you can, but only until 2 a.m.. Sorry, we are not Europe; you will get kicked out of the bar at 2 a.m.. But before 2 a.m., you can try something new and exciting.

TRY PHILZ COFFEE: We have a million coffee shops, cafes and tea shops. Seriously, we love our beer at night, but we need our coffee in the morning. Philz Coffee is a growing chain on the West Coast. If you come to our grand city, please try it! You will not be disappointed. The coffee is strong but smooth. It’s made the way you always wanted your coffee to be made. You do have to be a coffee lover, not a Starbucks lover, but a coffee lover.

Those are the 5 things you need to know about our grand city! Now, come to San Francisco.