Whether you're heading out to the Polo Fields to catch three days of music, wine and food or maybe you just live in one of the surrounding neighborhoods and don't want to deal with the hippies and the hipsters descending on your streets - there ought to be plenty of room for everybody on the Western side of the city this weekend, so long as we all know how to behave like courteous neighbors and music fans. So, with that in mind, we bring you our brief survival guide for what to do both inside and outside Golden Gate Park this weekend:

Inside the Festival:

So who should I see? You bought the tickets, surely you have someone in mind you're dying to see, but killing time by dropping in on unfamiliar acts can be a gamble. That said: our friends at local music blog The Bay Bridged have posted their recommended itinerary. As you might expect, it leans toward local music and the indie genre, but that can be handy if you weren't planning on spending four hours with Phish. The SFAppeal also posted their staff picks.

If you're looking for something new, All Shook Down has a nice round up of 15 lesser-known bands you ought to check out. We'll second the nominations for tUnE-yArDs, Ty Segall and Wye Oak.

For anyone with a smartphone (all of you, probably), we highly recommend checking out the Outside Lands Mobile apps because A) you'll inevitably take one too many swigs from the flask you smuggled in and forget who you wanted to see and B) who prints out paper itineraries? Your parents sure as hell weren't consulting a paper printout at Woodstock.

OK, but now I'm hungry. What should I eat? Everything. It all sounds delicious. But if you need a narrower focus: GrubStreet brings you their What to Eat at Outside Lands highlights and the food and drink pairings guide from this week's Guardian is fairly comprehensive as well. Virginia Miller's musical taste might not match ours, but she'll point you in the direction of cucumber-melon spritzers (for hydration purposes), the best coffee (for late-afternoon rallying) and nice wine (because you're a classy drunk).

I'm bored, what else is there to do here? If you need a music break in the middle of the day, we recommend dropping by the offbeat, vaudevillian sideshow tent The Barbary. Comedian Paul F. Tompkins will be there doing a few sets on Saturday and Gallagher (yes, the watermelon-smashing one) will be doing an evening show on Sunday. Added bonus: burlesque pianist Kitten on the Keys MCs throughout the day.

If you need to ride out your ecstasy trip, you might try the DJ dome. It was sponsored by Heineken last year, so the green lighting can get a little intense, but the womb-like dance party isn't a bad place to sweat it out for a bit.

If you're feeling friendly, the area around the Panhandle Stage in the middle of the festival will be showcasing local nonprofits like the SF Bike Coalition, Sunday Streets or The Wigg Party. It's a nice change from the vendors and sponsors you'll find in the Polo Fields. Stop by and say hello.

I don't know what's going on and I need to feel connected to my surroundings via impersonal social media, who should I follow? Music blogs: TheBayBridged and AllShookDown are a great bet. The SFAppeal will be bringing back their dedicated Outside Lands twitter account for live updates. And this particular SFist editor will also be wandering around, tweeting aloof observations. You should say hi.

Outside the Festival:

Where do people park out here? As a general rule of thumb (and the official word from the festival): Don't bother! If you absolutely must drive, some local schools in the Richmond and one in the Sunset are taking advantage of the festival and raising funds by selling daily parking spaces. Prices are a very reasonable $25 per car and you'll be helping out local elementary school.

I live in one of the surrounding neighborhoods and I'm not going to the festival, is my life going to suck all weekend? Maybe not! If you're in the Sunset, check Ocean Beach Bulletin's neighborhood guide to surviving Outside Lands 2011. Or if you're on the North side of the park, RichmondSF has a similar guide for their neighborhood.

I love live music, but I hate crowds, can you suggest something else for me to do? Check out Five non-Outside Lands ways to see music this weekend, again from the fine folks at The Bay Bridged.

Nailed it! Everyone's excited, right? SFist will bringing you daily recaps, photos and highlights, but in the meantime let's all have a pleasant weekend.