I have to add: There are plenty of budget hotels near the airport, and most of them run regular shuttles to the airport. From there, you can take the EL to downtown. I found it to be so absosmurfly perfect! And I recommend some of those trolley tours that allow you to get off and explore something like the Field Museum and then get back on again to continue with the tour. It’s a good way to get to all the major sights.
True. I love the cable cars.
But as practical tranportation, they pretty much suck. They are so crowded with tourists, and the queues are sometimes so long (especially for the Powell/Hyde St car), that not very many locals use them as regular public transport.
My partner was born and raised in SF, and we go back there quite often to visit her mother, who lives in an area called The Excelsior, south of downtown and near the Glen Park BART station. It’s a fifteen-minute BART ride downtown, and once you’re at Powell Street or Civic Center or the Embarcadero you can get almost everywhere really easily.
Also, the Mission St. buses run from the Excelsior area right up Mission St, and we sometimes take those because, even though it’s slower than the subway, it’s much more interesting watching the world go by from the bus. It’s also really easy to take a cross-town bus (the 44) to Golden Gate Park and the excellent restaurants and bookstores (love Green Apple Books) of Clement Street.
I think SF is a fantastic town for getting around by public transport. Every time i return to Baltimore from a trip out west, i always lament this city’s inadequate public transit system.
Another great thing about San Francisco for a visitor without a car is that it’s a great city to ride a bike. Of course, it gets very hilly in places, which can be something of a strain on the old ticker and the tired legs, but i’ve never had any problems with drivers being rude or aggressive (of course, some SF local will be along soon to tell me how wrong i am). Last week we were out there, and it was sunny and 64 degrees, so i rented a bike from Fisherman’s Wharf and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge and up into the Marin Headlands, and then to Sausalito for lunch, before heading back over the Bridge and back to the Wharf. It’s quite a climb to get to the top of the headlands, but the view from the top is definitely worth the effort; here’s a photo i took on that day. If you go to SF, and know how to ride a bike, i definitely recommend renting one.
Pishposh, driving in Boston isn’t that bad. You just need to know how to merge from seven lanes into one and give up on the map as useful tool as none of the roads are in the same place as they were a year ago.
And as PT goes, I find Boston worse than any other major city I’ve visited. I’d take Chicago’s El, DC’s Metro or hell even Rome’s Metro over the T. I’ve spent more than half an hour waiting for trains on many occasions and compared to what I’ve seen on other occasions in other cities, it’s filthy. I mean it does go some useful places and doing things like driving into Harvard Square is futile under the best of circumstances, but honestly, Chicago is a better choice, and in my opinion, a more fun place to visit with nicer people.
Besides all the others: San Antonio, Texas. Most Texas cities are sprawling things with pathetic transit systems. I live in Houston, which has its good points–but none that would be evident to a carless tourist.
San Antonio has plenty of suburban sprawl–with malls, theme parks & lots of golf courses–but the heart of the city is quite old. Somebody staying downtown has cultural sites, restaurants & shopping within easy walking distance. A motorized “trolley” system links the tourist to even more sites & interesting neighborhoods for walking. Take the city bus for excursions to the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Botanical Gardens, the wonderful McNey Museum & the (other) missions. (The Alamo is right downtown.) A day pass for all the transit systems is$3.00 & there’s a bus route from the airport.
I have no real argument with any of this, especially the implication people in Boston aren’t especially friendly…I remarked on this a lot when I first came here, and I had come here from New York, not exactly the center of the universe in terms of warm people.
But in the spirit of the OP, you can easily visit most of the touristy places in Boston without a car and also without wasting much time waiting for trains, in part because of what gfloyd points out…the city proper is very compact and manageable on foot.
Thanks everyone for their imput so far. I did notice that Las Vegas didn’t make the list. (I’ve never been so I’m not sure, but it seems like it’d be geared a bit more to those not having a car. I could be completely wrong tho.)
I never had any issues waiting for trains, other than the few times I go downtown on the weekend. I also found the people here to be far more polite than say, Denver or Minneapolis.
Yeah, well, f*&k you, pal! 
Oh, and to clarify, it’s not the driving in Boston that’s the issue (as long as you’re not too timid) - it’s trying to find parking that makes driving more hassle than it’s worth, IMO.
St. Louis, Missouri, US has a fine light rail system (Metrolink) and a line of small buses (ShuttleBug, or something.) We go there once a year, and, once we get to the hotel, we usually don’t need the car 'til we go home.