San Francisco
Trainers from SF,
What are some PoGO hotspots for decent spawns, in San Francisco? I'll be going there this coming weekend, staying near Union Square (downtown).
Thanks guys.
Answers
I've only been there one time to visit friends and family and it's widely known for 3 spots. 1. Fishermans wharf/pier area (your usual water biome and from what I hear a ton of Dratini so bring those Pineapp Berries) 2. Lands End (Steel/ Electric/ Rock biome but spawns 1 Snorlax or 1 Lapras every 12 hour cycle so if you're lucky) 3. Ocean beach which use to have Lapras nests from what I heard. Friend s took screen shots of multiple Lapras cluster spawns together early on. When I went to visit I saw rock and water biome and caught a Aerodactyl there.. All 3 sites are great toursits sights. The 4th site I'm more sketch on is Golden Gate Park. This is where Snorlax spawn the most, and parking is the easiest here but it is a maze unless you're a local.
Side Note: East and South Bay are known to have superior spawns than San Francisco itself. South Bay is known as a desert biome and a Chansey haven. During the event my friend who lives there obtained over 200 + candies. The specific city would be Palo Alto and in the East Bay: San Leandro Marina and Crab Cove spawn more Lapras than SF and have just a slightly fewer amount of Dratini. So the Bay Area in general is a Poke Go haven...
Longtime Bay Area resident - I lived in NYC for a while and recently relocated back to the Palo Alto area so I can definitely speak to the spawns in the SF region.
SF itself sees a lot of water/grass type spawns along with the usual commons. It's nothing particularly special, but rares will definitely spawn downtown (I heard there was a local T-tar this past weekend and I also caught an Aerodactyl on a visit yesterday).
The aforementioned Embarcadero strip (thanks GGTWNYC) extends past Ghirardelli Square all the way West to Fort Mason and is a surefire way to pick up water biome spawns. Dratini are pretty common (1-2 per hour) and there is a local map, sfpokemaps.com, if that's your thing. Be aware that the Embarcadero is a tourist hotspot and is usually insanely crowded on weekends, especially on nice days. Golden Gate Park is a huge nest (currently Misdreavus) and is absolutely gorgeous, so I'd definitely recommend a visit whether or not you plan on playing PoGo there. It's a must-see.
As far as the South Bay goes - there is a very dedicated community in San Jose with an active Discord channel. The scene down there tends to be a lot of players driving around snagging rares off Twitter feeds - as s0measnguy said it's a desert biome and there are many Blissey/Chansey spawns every day (I acquired exactly 1000 Chansey candies during the event). That said, it's a pretty big area so I wouldn't go there expecting to catch any rares just wandering around. And since you'll be in downtown SF it's probably not worth a separate trip.
SLM is also supposed to be great but it's the only "hotspot" I haven't yet made it to. If you do end up in the East Bay, Lake Merritt in Oakland is nice to walk around and spawns a few Dratini an hour. Land's End didn't impress me (in terms of spawns - the view is incredible, though!) and Ocean Beach just doesn't have a lot going on so I wouldn't go there explicitly for mons.
Hope this helps!
Bay Area resident here. Ferry building and pier 39. All you can eat Magikarp. Get just the right table at Boudin's, and enjoy a sourdough bread bowl of clam chowder to go with your floppy fish. And expect to see a couple dratini per hour.
As far as the east bay, I'd recommend Berkeley Marina for more water types, or inland toward Dublin/San Ramon for Eevee and Growliths.
There's a supposed dragonite spawn near Cupertino, if you know where to look, but I've never had any luck there. And if you want volt orbs and magnemites, head to south shore center in alameda. Seriously. They have waaaay to many there.
