You will find plenty of material out there to help you find out what you want to do in San Francisco. What you’ll find hard to locate, is a guide on what it takes to do everything you want here without breaking your budget.

For cheap travel, San Francisco does offer better choices than many other cities.

Let’s start with where you can decide to stay once you come here. For tourists on a budget interested in cheap travel, San Francisco has a great network of hostels where are you pay no more than $35 or so a day, and get breakfast thrown in.

If the sound of a hostel room feels like slumming it, you’ll find plenty of quality budget hotels in the Union Square area. The great thing about staying here is that you’ll find lots of great public transport options to get anywhere in San Francisco that you wish.

You’ve probably heard a lot about San Francisco’s great dining. Do the dining opportunities have to pass you by just because you are on a budget? Not likely. For the latest information on where the budget eating is, you should try SFGate.com. There are hundreds of restaurants in the San Francisco area where you can get a full meal for under $15. If you like Chinese, it gets even cheaper. If you are feel like you finally need to give yourself a real treat in San Francisco, you really could without breaking your budget. For those completely decided on cheap travel, San Francisco has the romantic Pesce on Polk Street where meals start at around $35 a person.

One of the best ways to take in all the sights that San Francisco has to offer is on one of the official San Francisco Walking Tours. The tours run in dozens of areas, and there is a free guide who comes along with you. The tour itself is free, but the guide does get by on tips. One of the best ways to save money on the price of admission at any of San Francisco’s attractions is to buy a City Pass. It only costs $64, and you get a $128 value on San Francisco’s cable car rides, and its Bay cruises. Alcatraz happens to be one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist spots.

You might think that a visits to the former prison would require you to pay an admission fee; it doesn’t require one. It’s run by the National Park Service, and admission is free. All you need is to pay for the ferry to get to the island. There are a number of operators that give you an Alcatraz excursion. They all charge their own prices, and you’d do well to shop around. Some of them will sell you a combination excursion out to Muir Woods, Angel Island an Alcatraz all together. That would make for a great value purchase.