Looking for San Francisco advice

[MickeyMagic]

We are flying into San Francisco for a few days before going to DLR. We are a party of 5 - 2 adults sisters with 3 kids (16, 14, 5). A few of our must do's in San Francisco are ride the cable car & go to cable car museum, visit Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Ghiradelli's. We will set aside a day to go over the Golden Gate bridge to Muir Woods.

We are trying to figure out the best area/place to stay. We are looking for a safe area with some not-so-fine dining options (fast food is fine). Depending upon where we stay will determine if we rent a car or not.

Any advice on accomodations, transportation from SFO airport to hotel, and must-see/must-do atractions will be hugely appreciated!!!

Thanks!

 

[Lissete]

I just started posting our recent trip on my blog and our 1st stop is SF which is already up along with a prologue.

My blog

 

[run4me]

My dd10 and I go to SF once a year. The last two years I've used priceline for the room. The first year I go the Chandler for $55 a night. It was in Union Square on the Cable Car ride. Great location and fun. Last year we got the Marriots (SP) Union Square for $68. a night. It was also great. We stay a week and never have enough time for everything we want to do. I recommend the tour book "San Francisco with kids" book. Also the City Pass has great savings for many activities.

 

[travelgirl06]

Union Square is a great location. There are a lot of nice hotels (the Hilton is amazing!) and you are close the the cable car to the Wharf and the BART. There are a lot of nice restaurants and less expensive restaurants in the area, and its pretty easy to get most places from here using public transit. There are a lot of really nice hotels in this area that you can we have found for decent prices (less than 100 for a 4 star) on Hotwire and Priceline.

I would stay in Union Square over Fisherman's Wharf, since a lot of the hotels at the Wharf are not so great, in my opinion. We stayed at the Radisson once, and it smelled awful the whole time, and just didn't feel like a nice hotel (even though we were paying a lot for it). I've also had trouble finding affordable food (especially for breakfast) in the past near the wharf.

You can get downtown easily from the airport (SFO) on the BART (it picks you up a the airport, and has several downtown stops. I think its about $5 a person each way, or you can get a cab, but I seem to remember that being more expensive. I wouldn't recommend getting a car in the city, as public transit is really good, taxis are easy to find and parking is outrageous (most hotels charge at least $20 a day, and you will pay (a lot) to park everywhere you want to drive to).

You may want to try biking the bridge. There are several bike rental shops near Fisherman's Wharf who will rent out bikes for the day and you can bike across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito. It's a great way to enjoy the bridge and a lot of fun. I liked biking because I could stop whenever I wanted to enjoy the scenery and take pictures.

 

[barkley]

pier 39 is nice but unless you just want to be going in and out of shops i'de not spend alot of time there. a ride on the red and white fleet is fun-you'de get to sit back and enjoy the sites from the water (and they sell snacks on board), the alcatraz tour is also realy popular.

if you're into hiking at all, you can go to angle island via the ferry. you can also take a ferry to and from sausalito-it's kind of a fun place to roam around (again like pier 39 mostly touristy or high end shops).

the trip advisor web site has some great recent reviews of different lodging options in san franciso-you might check them out.

 

[4girlsmom]

I was born & raised in SF (now living out in the burbs).

We love going out to the Cliff House (at the north end of Ocean Beach) and walking down the steps to the ruins of Sutro Baths. The Cilff House is a bit pricey, though, so if we're eating out we prefer the Seal Rock Inn's restaurant up the street. There is also a parking lot just up the hill from the Cliff House where you can park (or if you don't have a car I'm sure one of the city bus lines goes out there) and walk out on a trail around the cliffs (just follow the people walking their dogs) and see a lovely view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Pacific side.

If you have a car and a clear day (or better yet, night), I'd say the view from atop Twin Peaks is a must see.

The crooked part of Lombard Street is also fun.

 

[almostGoofy]

I want to caution you about hotels in the Union Square and downtown area. Many of the rooms are small and have a maximum occupancy of two. Roll-away beds cannot be used in some of these rooms even if you thought you could squeeze one in due to fire hazard laws. If you need a room for three or four, be sure to ask if booking in this area.

 

[Mazzy]

I have been researching accommodation in san francisco for our trip next august, and I think we will be booking holiday inn express suites on fishermans wharf, they have a family suite which would have enough room for you. This is their website: http://www.holidayinnexpress.fishermanswharf.ichotelsgroup.com/

 

[Claire L]

Looking at what you want to do I would suggest staying in the Fisherman's Wharf area as there are pleanty of places to eat around there such as the Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gumps, McD'd etc. We have now been to SF twice and stayed at the Sheraton and Hyatt. As Mazzy says the HI has family suitesis ideally located and could accommodate your party well. Also the two cable car turn arounds are very close by for getting around on and offer an allday travel card for just $10.

Claire

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

We've booked to stay at the Wharf Inn, Fisherman's Wharf. It's much more of a 'motel' than hotel but the big pluses for us are the location (2 blocks from Peir 39) and the free parking!

There is an IHOP next door for breakfast purposes and a Starbuck and aMcDonalds just one block away - as well as all the cafe's and things at Peir 39.

They are mostly bog standard motel rooms but they do have a penthouse suite that I think sleeps 4 - they might be willing to up this to 5 as one of the children is quite young. Website here

We've stayed in the Fishermans Wharf area before and always felt safe!

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf at Easter before our trip to Lake Tahoe and Heavenly for some serious skiing.

The location was brilliant, just down the road from the cable car, the piers where so much was going on and the restaurants. There were loads of different fast food restaurants, can't remember all of them but there was McD's, a Rainforest Cafe if you wanted and a drive thru type burger place (can't remember the name, but it's a chain over there in the US).

We would not hesitate to stay there again - and I would really recommend a visit to Alcatraz, it was amazing.

Enjoy your trip

 

[mmmears]

There is a nice aquarium at Pier 39, small, but nice for a few hours. They have a very nice set of touch pools where my daugher spent over a hour touching sea creatures. There is a Rainforest Cafe a few piers down, across the street from Fisherman's Wharf. It's not as big as the ones at WDW, but still a fun place for families.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Hmm, we just visited SF in April and had an excellent time. We visit usually every couple of years but end up staying in the West Bay area (Livermore, Dublin). We stayed at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf, and I couldn't say enough good things about it. Staff is by far the nicest hotel staff Ive ever incountered. The location is within walking distance of The Canary, Cable Car Turn Around, Pier 39 and Gherideli (sp?) Square. Excellent restaurants and little "whole in the wall" bars are everywhere. The Marriott is across the street from the previously mentioned "Holiday Inn Fishermans Wharf". One thing that really blew my mind while in SF was the amount of street people. Im not one to complain, nor am I new to the whole poverty issue (yes, i live by Detroit) but the homeless people were literally everywhere. But all that aside, SF is a one of a kind city, like no where else in the world. Also, BART (Bay Area Rapid Trans) is the most amazing public transportaion system in the nation! If you don't mind riding busses/subway's, there really is no need to rent a car...

 

[woody73]

. . . We stayed at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf, and I couldn't say enough good things about it. Staff is by far the nicest hotel staff Ive ever incountered. The location is within walking distance of The Canary, Cable Car Turn Around, Pier 39 and Gherideli (sp?) Square. Excellent restaurants and little "whole in the wall" bars are everywhere. . .

We have enjoyed staying at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf. Excellent location.

Woody

 

[Disneyjosh229]

We have enjoyed staying at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf. Excellent location.

Woody

Yep, not to mention tons of rewards points I got 5,500 for a 2 night stay...lol