Need some info on San Francisco

[Minnie824]

We're attempting to plan a California vacation next year. I've never been. Our plan is to fly into LA, stay at Disneyland, then go to Beveryly Hills/Hollywood for a couple nights, then drive to San Francisco for a few nights and fly home from there. So, I think we're set on hotels in the first two stops...but need some info on San Francisco area. We're trying to figure out what a good area is to stay in. We'll be traveling w/our DDs then ages 8 and 6. We'd like to do the normal tourist stuff. We looked into the Omni which looks really nice, but seems cheaper than other hotels (like Ritz, etc) and I'm curious as to why. I think its near Chinatown and Financial area? Anyone familiar with this hotel, or recommend any others that would be good? Thanks!

 

[siouxi31]

Hi Minnie824,

While I do not know anything about the Omni, I can tell you that Parc55 and the Hilton are both nice hotels. I stay at Parc55 about once/month for work and love the location because it's very close to shopping and restaurants.

In addition, it is right next to the BART Powell station and also the end of the Powell line for the cable cars. Hilton is about a block farther from the BART station. It's not right next to Fisherman's Wharf but being right next to BART you can get anywhere quickly.

The Powell BART station does attract alot of "characters" but I have also noticed a good deal of security there so I always feel safe.

I just thought I would comment on these locations in case they were options for your plans.

Have you tried reading about Omni in tripadvisor.com? Sometimes they have helpful comments from other travellers.

Good luck with finding a hotel.

 

[OctMtnWoods]

If you don't mind being north of the bridge, we've stayed at the Holiday Inn Express / Mill Valley Sausalito and loved it last year. Near highway, but very quiet. Nice outdoor pool & firepit. Of our 5 hotel stays during our CA road trip, it was probably my favorite.

 

[dnoyes]

We stay at the Radisson Fishermans Wharf. It's in the North Beach area and very near the Embarcadero (about 3 blocks?) You enter on Beach st. but they have a pass key (your room key) that allows you to enter/exit on Jefferson st. where the Wharf begins and all the cool little shops too.

Rooms are around $150 a night with taxes up to $275 if you want a view of Alcatraz.

Cracked crab and french bread ..........

 

[dec5girl]

I think you might consider staying close to the Wharf. That is a great place to be for "the normal tourist stuff". Take the Alcatraz tour. Ride the street cars. Go the Ghiradelli chocolate. Go the Pier 39. You can walk to it all from there. We did a road trip there this spring and we stayed across the street from the Wharf in a little hotel. It was perfect!

 

[sue1013]

When we went to San Francisco we stayed at the Tuscan Inn. It's a short 2 blocks off the Wharf. We liked to use the on/off busses to get an overview of the city one day then we walked pretty much the rest of the time. We started at San Francisco then drove down the coast to San Diego. Of all the places we stayed I enjoyed San Francisco the best.

 

[dec5girl]

I found the hotel we stayed in. The kids also loved that there was a 50's diner next door and we had a great breakfast there. Here is a link.

http://www.radisson.com/sanfranciscoca_wharf

 

[Glenn]

San Francisco is a great town. I was there 3 yrs ago & stayed at the Holiday in Fishmans wharf. Just a nice clean place with a great location. Walk out the front door, turn right & look down the street & you can see Alcatraz in the distance. It is about 1 1/2 blocks from the end of the trolley line, the F line street cars ended 1/2 block behind the hotel, there was a Walgreens in that same area. Across the street there were several small restaurants that were priced OK and had good food. They do charge for parking. Its also a short walk to many things like Fishermans wharf, Pier 39, Maritine Museum. Look on line for local coupons & there were boxes on corners offering advertising broachures with coupons too.

 

[mnrose]

If you drive I-5 (boring beyond belief) it's about 7.5 hours, depending on traffic. If you take the coast route (much prettier), maybe 9-10 hours.

The Omni is adjacent (not in, but adjacent) to a not-so-nice neighborhood in the City. The thing about SF is there isn't much distance between great neighborhoods, and bad neighborhoods, where you probably don't want to be walking after dark. During the day, I'd pretty much walk anywhere in the City and think nothing of it. After dark, not so much.

I worked in the City for 16 years, and loved it. But, now that I've moved away, when we return, I always opt to stay in Marin, which is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Either downtown Tiburon or downtown Sausalito have easy (and relatively inexpensive) ferry boat rides that take you directly to San Francisco. Since many tourists opt to take a ferry "tour boat" as part of their experience, you can kill two birds with one stone this way. Get your ferry boat ride, and stay in a quieter, more peaceful area. The Holiday Inn (in Mill Valley, mentioned by a PP) is not close to the ferry, but it's a short 6 minute drive to the Golden Gate Bridge, and rarely encounters any heavy traffic delays.

Generally, you will also get more bang for your buck with your hotel too. Some places I personally recommend are the previously mentioned Holiday Inn, The Water's Edge in downtown Tiburon (literally about 100 feet from the Tiburon ferry dock...a beautiful location), The Tiburon Lodge (a bit further away from the dock, but still walkable), Hotel Sausalito (downtown Sausalito), and the Mill Valley Inn (in very charming downtown Mill Valley).

HTH.

 

[barkley]

we're going back to the bay area in a few weeks (originaly from there going back to visit).

i agree with those who suggest staying in the marin area. it's close enough to the city to drive or do one of the ferries. it's a nice area and we just feel it's much safer (as someone else posted, neighborhoods can differ block to block in san francisco greatly).

i checked on rates at the holiday inn express someone else suggested and actualy got a better rate at the embassy suites in the same vacinity. the nice thing about the embassy suites is that you end up with basicly 2 rooms-the living room and the b/r. in the living room you get a pull out couch which is fine for our two kids. i also like that this provides us with 2 tv's (no bickering among kids), a wet bar (small fridge, sink, microwave) and the full breakfast each morning (the 2 hours of free cocktails each nite is'nt bad either).

if you look at any hotel in san francisco make sure to look at any of the potential "extra" costs above the room rate-some charge hefty per day parking fees as well as "health club" fees (an added expense that is automaticaly tacked on weather or not you use their pool or exercise equipment).


if you are traveling before march 2010 you might want to check out the king tut exhibit at the de young museum in san francisco-but if you want to go order your tickets now.

 

[mnrose]

we're going back to the bay area in a few weeks (originaly from there going back to visit).


i checked on rates at the holiday inn express someone else suggested and actualy got a better rate at the embassy suites in the same vacinity. the nice thing about the embassy suites is that you end up with basicly 2 rooms-the living room and the b/r. in the living room you get a pull out couch which is fine for our two kids. i also like that this provides us with 2 tv's (no bickering among kids), a wet bar (small fridge, sink, microwave) and the full breakfast each morning (the 2 hours of free cocktails each nite is'nt bad either).

.

The Embassy Suites is north of the central San Rafael exit (about 6 miles north of Mill Valley). However, those 6-8 miles will add (no exaggeration) 45 minutes to a commute during heavy traffic periods. As a tourist, it is possible to avoid those time periods, but you would not want to be heading south (into the City) much before 9:30, nor would you want to be going north (out of the City) before 6:30. I used to live in that area of Marin, and there is a reason that I do not stay north of Mill Valley. The traffic is horrendous at some times of day.

You make an excellent point about parking costs in the city. Most hotels will charge you a small fortune to park your vehicle in the City. I know of no hotels that charge in Marin for parking.

 

[barkley]

The Embassy Suites is north of the central San Rafael exit (about 6 miles north of Mill Valley). However, those 6-8 miles will add (no exaggeration) 45 minutes to a commute during heavy traffic periods. As a tourist, it is possible to avoid those time periods, but you would not want to be heading south (into the City) much before 9:30, nor would you want to be going north (out of the City) before 6:30. I used to live in that area of Marin, and there is a reason that I do not stay north of Mill Valley. The traffic is horrendous at some times of day.

You make an excellent point about parking costs in the city. Most hotels will charge you a small fortune to park your vehicle in the City. I know of no hotels that charge in Marin for parking.

thanks for the info. but as a former commuter there believe me when i tell you that we have purposely planned all excursions into san francisco around the hours you speak of.

we're only going into the city twice-one day for an alcatraz tour and one day for tut-and i've purposely set those for times to avoid traffic (but allow for finding parking).

now i just need to figure out an hotel (simple, safe, clean) for the night before we fly out of oakland-any suggestions?

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Hi there OP,

My dad lives in SF and I go there on my own quite a lot, especially now that I am 22. I've been as a kid and now as an adult.

If you're looking for a good touristy place to stay, there are 2 good places for this being Union Square / Mission Street area and Fisherman's Wharf. Both have their pros and cons.

Union Square / Mission is more of an adult area with shopping, nightlife and great dining. But keep in mind that this is a very busy area... I remember one time I was there the day after Thanksgiving and we had to wait well over an hour to get a pager for a restaurant to THEN wait 2-3 hours to eat... um, no. We went elsewhere.

My personal favorite place to stay in this area is the Westin St. Francis which is RIGHT on Union Square and the cable car line. It's where I am staying in October for running the Nike Women's Marathon.

For me, as an adult, this is my favorite area to stay.



The Fisherman's Wharf is where we stayed often when I was younger... we never settled on a specific hotel but the Wharf is slightly spread out, from Ghirardelli's to Pier 39 (you know, the one with all the sea lions). I can't recall how far it is but I would guess it's about a mile if not longer. The closer you get to the water, the more $$$ it will be.

I think The Wharf is a better area to stay with your children, a lot more kid friendly things to do and places to eat... it also has my favorite Johnny Rockets.



I would not suggest staying in the Financial District with kids. There is nothing... and I mean NOTHING close to that area for kids to do, you will have to travel to do anything.



A couple of things I would suggest not missing other than Union Square and the Wharf are... Golden Gate Park, it's a very pretty park and at the west end of it, it leads to the beach- it's a beautiful low key beach. Another would be the battery at the edge of the SF end of the Golden Gate, it's called Fort Point and it's a really nice place to go to and the drive going there is very pleasant as well.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

If you drive I-5 (boring beyond belief) it's about 7.5 hours, depending on traffic. If you take the coast route (much prettier), maybe 9-10 hours.

The Omni is adjacent (not in, but adjacent) to a not-so-nice neighborhood in the City. The thing about SF is there isn't much distance between great neighborhoods, and bad neighborhoods, where you probably don't want to be walking after dark. During the day, I'd pretty much walk anywhere in the City and think nothing of it. After dark, not so much.

I worked in the City for 16 years, and loved it. But, now that I've moved away, when we return, I always opt to stay in Marin, which is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Either downtown Tiburon or downtown Sausalito have easy (and relatively inexpensive) ferry boat rides that take you directly to San Francisco. Since many tourists opt to take a ferry "tour boat" as part of their experience, you can kill two birds with one stone this way. Get your ferry boat ride, and stay in a quieter, more peaceful area. The Holiday Inn (in Mill Valley, mentioned by a PP) is not close to the ferry, but it's a short 6 minute drive to the Golden Gate Bridge, and rarely encounters any heavy traffic delays.

Generally, you will also get more bang for your buck with your hotel too. Some places I personally recommend are the previously mentioned Holiday Inn, The Water's Edge in downtown Tiburon (literally about 100 feet from the Tiburon ferry dock...a beautiful location), The Tiburon Lodge (a bit further away from the dock, but still walkable), Hotel Sausalito (downtown Sausalito), and the Mill Valley Inn (in very charming downtown Mill Valley).

HTH.

Although I am strictly an in-the-action type of vacationer and I have to stay IN the city, there's a lot of useful info here.

If you do plan on going 1-5, it's an OK drive. PCH or 101 is a MUCH better drive especially in the Carmel, Pebble Beach and Monterey area... but I also think that 17 (?) mile stretch of highway has a toll to pay, but it's definitely worth it. It's the nicest and most gorgeous stretch of highway I have ever seen and will probably ever see.

And mnrose is definitely right... good and bad neighborhoods are very close to each other. You're safer in selecting a hotel around the Wharf than in the downtown area. That's part of the reason why I always stay IN Union Square because not far away from the area is a not so great part of town.

I also never drive... ever unless I'm visiting my dad in which he's the driver but I have stayed in the Moraga/Walnut Creek area because I have had a friend there and it's a very nice area to stay, idk if I'd recommend it for someone on their first visit but it's only a short BART ride away and a very safe and nice area.

 

[Uuaww]

If you want a place to stop driving north, stop at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. It is pretty much exactly half way and even if you don't stay in the hotel, you need to at least use the bathroom.

 

[Minnie824]

Thanks for all the great info! It gives us a lot to look into and a lot of great ideas. Is anyone familiar w/Cavello Point? DH is looking into hotels and came across this one...I guess its right across the bridge? I know its a little pricey, but if its nice and in a nice area, it may be worth it. Thanks!

 

[Judy from Boise]

Hi, did you know we have a board right here on the DIS for planning vacations to most locations out west? The board is called "California and the west" and is located in the DLR section. We have pages of threads on things to do in the area!

 

[mnrose]

Thanks for all the great info! It gives us a lot to look into and a lot of great ideas. Is anyone familiar w/Cavello Point? DH is looking into hotels and came across this one...I guess its right across the bridge? I know its a little pricey, but if its nice and in a nice area, it may be worth it. Thanks!

This was in the planning stages, but man, what a FABULOUS location. I'd stay in a heartbeat. So nice! We used to go hiking in that area, and loved it. You could easily walk to the GGB (unless it's closed still because of security issues...I think they were talking about reopening it?), and it's extremely close (walking distance) to the great children's museum located there. It would be "ok" for your 8 year old, and great for the 6 year old. And, that reminds me, the exploratorium is just across the GGB from that location....that is a "must do", IMO, for people with kis