Best SanFran on crutches?

April 20, 2019 2:31 PM

I’ll have one full day in San Francisco next month. Normally I’d explore on foot, but I’ll be on crutches, and, well, hills. So what’s one place I could easily visit that would be accessible and memorable?

I was thinking MOMA, or something similar. I will be en route to Spirit Rock for a week-long meditation retreat.

posted by tr33hggr to Travel & Transportation around San Francisco, CA (8 answers total)

Best answer: If you've never been, the open air bus tours are great. You get a great view of the city, it's narrated and you get to go over the bridge.
posted by bleep at 2:36 PM on April 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: If you went to the DeYoung, you could also spend some time exploring Golden Gate Park and possibly also go to the Academy of Sciences or the Botanical Garden, which are both nearby. Parts of the park are fairly flat. There are also electric scooters everywhere...I'm not sure if you could safely ride one with crutches, but it might be a more comfortable way to get around.
posted by pinochiette at 3:11 PM on April 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: About 1/3rd of the city is essentially flat. If you're at the MOMA, you've got free reign around SOMA and the Mission. That includes a decent chunk of the city's amusements.
posted by MillMan at 3:14 PM on April 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

MOMA is not far from the excellent Asian Art museum, though probably not an on-crutches walk, so you could spend time in each.
My favorite is the wonderful Legion of Honor (nowhere near downtown though). I can happily spend days there.
posted by anadem at 9:42 PM on April 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

We drove through a couple blocks of the emporium known as China Town with our kids, and when you research destinations, look for accessibility maps on the website to plan shorter routes and avoid stairs. Some places with longer paths offer rentals to help people with mobility limitations manage distance.
posted by childofTethys at 7:37 AM on April 21, 2019

Best answer: You might find resources such as this AccessSF brochure handy. SFMTA has information as well. There is a Guide to Accessible Tourism available.

Getting around via Lyft or Uber is extremely common. You can overcome hills with rides.

Enjoy!
posted by blob at 4:34 PM on April 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

The thing I didn’t understand about SF before I visited was that often times, the hills are essentially purposeless. Pick one route, and you’ll have a steep climb followed by a steep drop. Pick a route a block or two over, and you’ll almost completely avoid the hill. The hilltops are great for views, but otherwise, they are mostly residential, so you can avoid them without missing too much. Definitely check out a terrain map.

I think a bus tour is probably your best bet, especially if you can make it up the stairs to the top floor of a double-decker bus. You’ll get to see all the sights without doing the legwork. I can’t think of one singular experience that would rival touring the whole city.
posted by mantecol at 5:29 AM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: If you're here on a weekend that's sunny and warm, go to Dolores Park. It's the best people watching in town, it's a genuine locals hangout routine, and it's surrounded by food and drink options (including the people who inevitably stroll through the park selling everything from pizza to cocktails to weed truffles, if that's your thing).
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 10:51 AM on April 22, 2019 [1 favorite]