Claremont Resort or White Swan

[PamOKW]

Just curious whether anyone has had experience with either of these two resorts from CC. Pros/cons? I'm also not clear on whether the White Swan can accomodate more than 2 in a room. I'm looking at SF area options for my brother, SIL and their 21 year-old daughter. How about Club Donatello or San Francisco Suites (World Passport options)?

 

[PamOKW]

Just bumping back to Page One in case anyone this evening is familiar with these resorts.

 

[RoutemanDan]

Hi Pam,we stayed at The Claremont a few years ago and loved it.Here are a few photos...
http://worldzone.net/travel/routemandan//djdvc.html

 

[PamOKW]

Thanks for the info, Dan! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. It looks like it would be very nice. Is it possible to sightsee in San Francisco from here? Would you need a rental car or can you take a cab over to SF? Do you know if it's fairly convenient to the airport?

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I stayed at the Claremont... I loved the restaurants but I couldn't justify doing any of the spa packages in combination with DVC. This was definitely one case where if you want to REALLY experience the hotel you might be better off paying cash because the room plus spa experience made more cash sense than points plus spa experience.

I don't know what the pictures look like today but I thought the Claremont was on the water...and it definitely isn't. It does have great views of SF.

Also...I thought the restaurants were well above Disney quality..absolutely fabulous... but the hotel staff was below Disney quality...so I was quite disappointed in that respect.

If I had to do it over again and I could get in I'd go with the White Swan or its sister Inn...assuming my purpose is to tour SF... I found a used up a lot of time just trying to find my way over there. If on the other hand you are interested in Berkeley/Oakland its a good location.

 

[RoutemanDan]

You would definitely need a car.It was quite a ride from the Airport.If San Fran is the main focus of the trip I would choose something on that side.

 

[ihenrich]

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) has stations near the Claremont (1.5 miles) see bart.gov. BART has a station inside SFO airport.

 

[PamOKW]

Thanks for the info on BART -- that's very helpful & something I hadn't considered. Is the system a good/fairly safe way to get around the SF area?

 

[ihenrich]

BART stations are at transit hub points in downtown SF where you can hop on Muni light rail, bus or cable cars to most places you would want to go in SF as a tourist.
The Bart system is good/safe system with the focus of getting commuters to downtown SF from outlying areas. The direct line from SFO airport just opened recently. Fares can be a bit steep however.