Why did we almost skip San Francisco – one of our most anticipated bucket list destinations? One word: bipping. If you’ve never heard of bipping, you haven’t been to San Francisco lately.
Bipping is slang used for smash and grab car break-ins in the Bay Area. Theft from vehicles is so rampant that San Francisco has earned the nickname Bip City. Yes, it’s that bad. To give you an idea of the severity of the problem, the San Francisco Standard reported 1,500 thefts from cars over a 30-day period in 2023. Yikes! The fact that this rate was down slightly from the peak in 2017 was of little comfort to us.
The most common advice to avoid becoming a victim of bipping is “never leave any items inside your car”. An impossible task for our little crew, who was on a multi-month, cross-continent adventure, and living out of Slow Sally, our rolling home. In this post, we share the parking options we explored for visiting San Francisco, our “to risk bipping, or not to risk bipping” decision process, where we ultimately parked for the day, why we’re so glad we took a chance on this city, and our recommendations for other RVers and Vanlifers.
Exploring Alternative Parking Options
Upon learning about bipping, we set out to devise a plan for visiting San Francisco without having to park downtown. We explored what felt like every possible option, including:
- Ubering from Pacifica Beach, south of the city;
- Riding public transportation from Pacifica Beach;
- Parking in Sausalito, north of the city, and taking a ferry or an Uber; and
- Camping in an RV park within the city, and Ubering into downtown.
After hours of research, we concluded that none of the options we explored were practical. They were either prohibitively expensive, ridiculously complicated, and/or not pet friendly. We were back to square one and facing the ultimate decision…
“To Risk Bipping, Or Not To Risk Bipping?”, That Was The Question.
We spent the better part of our day at Pacifica Beach agonizing about whether visiting San Francisco was worth the risk. On the one hand, our hearts had been set on exploring the city from the outset of our trip. And being from the East, who knew when we might have another opportunity experience this iconic place. On the other hand, we weren’t sure that any experience, no matter how epic, was worth risking a broken window (which could be very difficult to replace on a 1994 campervan), having our stuff stolen, and suffering the emotional toll that would take.
We scoured the internet for information about “safe” places to park. It seemed that no place, including expensive parking garages, was safe. We were further discouraged by watching a Vanlife couple on YouTube tour San Francisco without ever leaving their van, taking turns hopping out to snap photos at each landmark. Their timidity seemed a bit ridiculous until they personally witnessed a bipping incident just a couple of cars over from where they were parked. Argh!
We were about to opt out of our San Francisco adventure when we came across a few different sources identifying Crissy Field East Beach, a public recreation area on the north side of the city, as a relatively safe place to park. As an added bonus, parking there is free! Did someone say free? Well, that tipped the balance, lol.
Parking At Crissy Field East Beach
We left Pacifica Beach early in the morning, still feeling nervous about the risk of bipping. As we navigated through the city on the 101, we somehow missed the last exit, accidentally crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, had to pay a toll to re-cross into San Francisco, and then proceeded to get lost in the Presidio area. We were flustered and stressed by the time we arrived at Crissy Field Beach; was the universe trying to tell us something?!
On the bright side, we were relieved to find several other vans and RVs parked at the far end of the lot and we pulled in amongst them. We spend 15 minutes hanging out in Sally, trying to act casual as we spied on each passerby. We didn’t witness any sketchy activity and the area was giving good vibes so we lowered the curtains, stuffed as many valuables as possible into our backpacks, and stealthily snuck away from the van for a day of sightseeing, fingers double crossed.
Spoiler alert: we returned to Slow Sally at the end of the day to find her safe, sound, and basking in the glow of the sunset.
Why We’re So Glad We Didn’t Skip San Francisco
San Francisco was as awesome as we had hoped, and we spent each moment of the day thankful that we hadn’t passed it by. We knew at the outset that one day wouldn’t be nearly enough to explore the whole city, so we had to be strategic and pick a few neighbourhoods to explore. The highlights of our day included:
Catching an early morning glimpse of Alcatraz…
…shrouded in mysterious dark mist, adding to it’s dramatic presence. If we’d be visiting for longer and without Walter, we’d have been very tempted to do a tour.
Huffing and puffing up and down incredibly hilly streets…
… which include some of the steepest in city streets in the world. The grades in San Francisco were truly mind-blowing. The urban planner in me just kept thinking “the engineers at the City of Ottawa would never let this fly“.
Capturing photos along Lombard Street…
… along with the throngs of other tourists. It’s not San Francisco’s steepest street, but it’s undoubtedly spectacular and arguably the most famous. I do feel bad for the locals; it would be like living on a movie set.
Exploring every nook and cranny in China Town…
… it’s where we spent most of our day. We loved everything from the ornate archways, colourful hanging lanterns, and stores filled with neat Chinese stuff, to the mango bubble tea and fresh fortune cookies from the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.
People-watching in the huge, leafy green parks…
… the sunny Spring day brought lots of people and good vibes to all the public spaces.
Appreciating San Francisco’s unique streetscapes…
… there is eye candy everywhere. Cool buildings and structures abound, streetcar cables form urban art, and the Golden Gate Bridge is every bit as idyllic as we had hoped at sunset.
Camping for free at Vista Point …
… on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Urban camping doesn’t get much better than drinking your morning coffee overlooking one of the country’s most iconic landmarks.
Our Recommendations For Vanlifers & RVers
If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair… and lock your car doors!
Seriously though, here’s our practical advice for parking in the city, based on our experience:
- Park for the day at Crissy Field East. It’s free, van/RV friendly, and based on the information available to us, the risk of theft is relatively low. Bipping can happen anywhere, however as of the writing of this post, no one on iOverlander has reported their vehicle being broken into there.
- Park amongst other vans and RVs if possible. We felt that there was safety in numbers, particularly because it was almost impossible to know if people were in their vehicles (everyone’s curtains were down). I would imagine this would be a disincentive for thieves.
- Once you’ve parked, spend a bit of time in your vehicle, observing the surroundings to make sure there’s no questionable activity.
- Unless you have a very reliable and/or hidden safe, take as many valuables with you as possible; they are safer on you than in your van.
- Run your own “to risk bipping, or not to risk bipping” scenario. If a break-in would be truly catastrophic, a visit might be worth reconsidering.
SLOW SALLY & CREW 