below_gravity

The BF and I are heading out to San Fran October 3-4 (then heading to a timeshare in Angels Camp for a week). I have been searching for a hotel for Wed night (the 3rd) and a rental car but gosh are all the in city taxes adding up! Does anyone have any suggestions about where to rent a car to avoid paying the 15% city tax? We are not opposed to traveling a little to get a good deal as we will be renting the car for 2 weeks (3rd-17th). We would like to see a bit of San Fran (since neither of us have ever been) but we are not "city people" (We are specifically interested in Golden Gate bridge, Japantown, and fishermans wharf, but are totally open to what ever happens!)

Any suggestions on places to stay, public transportation to and from, and were to rent a car without sky high taxes...

tomfuller

Stay at one of the 3 HI Hostels in San Francisco http://www.hihostels.com/dba/Hostels...FWHZQgod3GQAXw
Take the Amtrak bus over to Emeryville and take a San Joaquin train south to a place you can rent a car at a more reasonable cost.
You can walk across the GG bridge. There is a new visitor center in SF. Go there before you pay for a single ride on a cable car. There is a pass.

below_gravity

Thanks for the Hostel suggestion, but there is NO way the BF would go for that!

As for the car, San Joaquin?!?!?!? that is a bit far and i would think it would cost us as much to get down there than pay the taxes. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I guess I wanted to know more along the lines of - is it cheaper to rent a car in Oakland? Sausalito? Somewhere close by (that we could take a taxi to or get the rental car to pick us up..) Or is it more reasonable to suck it up and deal with the 15% taxes?

below_gravity

I now see that the hoste does offer a individual room, thanks for the suggestion, not sure it's a very competitive rate, but certainly worth checking into. Thanks again.

DebitNM

First, you do not need or want a car IN San Francisco. The cost of parking is prohibitive at most hotels. There are a few with free parking, but the vast majority charge around $40 and up per day. Use public transit and/or walk. Easy to do.

Rent the car the morning you are leaving the city. Renting a car in the city is far cheaper than renting at the airport. Dollar Car rental has no fee, one way rentals meaning you can pick it up in the city and return it to the airport without a hefty fee. They are located in Union Square on O'Farrell St and also have a location at Fisherman's Wharf.

What is your price range for hotel?

I always recommend The Mosser hotel. Great location with small but very clean rooms. They have some rooms with private, in room bathrooms and some with hall baths. The hall baths are very clean and are well maintained.

themosser.com

StuDudley

Here are some ideas for alternatives to Fisherman's Wharf.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

MichelleY

The San Joaquin is the name of the route the train takes. Not sure if you would save any money that way plus the places the San Joaquin stops may not have handy car rental outlets. For example, the train stops in Stockton, which is on the way to Angels Camp, but the station is in a bad part of town and not sure what kind of car rental agencies, if any are there.. Bite the bullet and do as Deb suggests and rent the car relight as you are leaving SF.

Nice time of year to be heading to Angel's Camp: the wine grape harvest will be going on, colors will be starting in the higher elevations. Are you going to Yosemite? Beautiful time of year.

below_gravity

Thanks for the clarification Michelle.

We don't plan to spend long in SF. We are not "city oriented" people (and live within a hour of NYC so we get our fill),however, that said, I think we would be stupid to not check out SF. Our flight comes into SFO at 1130 wednesday, so we were planning on spending wednesday afternoon/evening in SF and possibly thursday if we like what we see, and probably getting a hotel outside the city on thursday (location TBD). Our timeshare starting friday at 4pm in angels camp.

@DebitNM, our price range for hotel is less than $150. requirements: clean, good neighborhood, close to what we want to see (especially if we don't rent a car till thursday).

Thanks so much for the suggestions!!!

below_gravity

And, yes, our BIG destination is Yosemite while we are in Angels Camp (if you have any other recommendations about that, please share, or I could start a new thread). After our timeshare, we have another 4 days in which the BF would like to drive up north and explore. We have no reservations and were just going to shoot from the hip. We have several recommendations for visiting Lake Tahoe, and also the highway along the pacific. We fly home on Wednesday the 17th.

DebitNM

The Mosser bits your requirements. Unless you are going during convention, you should find a room there that will work well for you.

DebitNM

Fits, not bits...

tomfuller

The bad news: The Amtrak bus leaves San Francisco about 4:45AM and goes to Stockton (2.5 hours) then you have a 35 minute trip on the Amtrak San Joaquin to Modesto which is the closest to Angels Camp (36 miles). http://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/loca...x?location=MD7
Budget and perhaps Enterprise will pick you up at the train station in Modesto shortly after 8AM.
Amtrak also has a deal with the YARTS bus out of Merced to go to Curry Village in Yosemite.

NewbE

tomfuller, for pity's sake, leave off with the Amtrak! Even you have to see it was never a good idea, even if the timing had worked. Honestly, these recommendations for tourists on tight schedules to waste their time taking Amtrak hither and yon are on my last nerve!

MichelleY

You could spend both Wed. And Thu in SF. Leave SF by noon to head to Angels Camp, that way you are ahead of any traffic and get there inplentyof time. Murphys is a cute town with shops and tasting rooms. After AC, you could go to Lake Tahoe or head over to the cast to check out Monterey and Carmel area.

bluestar

One way to save a lot of money on your car rental is to rent from the Avis located in the Sears Automotive dept. in San Bruno. You would take BART from the airport just one stop and walk to the store, which is located right behind the San Bruno BART Station in Tanforan Shopping Center. This location won't have the extended hours of an airport facility (it's probably like 9-5, you should definitely check the hours) and it won't stock a bunch of different kinds of vehicles -- but check the rates on avis.com for this location and compare with airport and downtown rates to see how much you would save.

Hotel rates across the board seem pretty high in SF throughout Oct. Since you're not that keen on the city anyway and you basically just want to see a few things within a day or two, maybe stay outside SF and drive in to the things you wish to see/do. In Pacifica there's a motel right on the surf at Rockaway Beach called the Sea Breeze Motel. It's like something leftover from the 50s but it's cheap and would work for a night or two. And in Berkeley there is a La Quinta near downtown on University Ave --- it usually has good rates.

StuDudley

I'm curious as to why Japantown is on your list of 3 things to see in San Francisco. It is so un-sightly that there is a move to plow it under & start over again.

"No Comment" from me about the Wharf - I've spent too much time on that soap box.

If you don't like "big cities" - get out in the neighborhoods & explore them (see my previous link).

Stu Dudley

Songdoc

Try Fox Car Rentals. I'm going to p/u at OAK 10/31 and return at LAX 11/11.

Best price at Hotwire: $1194 (pre-paid and nonrefundable)

Fox: $450 !!! (This includes a $24 saving because I signed up as a corporate member.) And no need to pre-pay. CRAZY!

FYI, I need the car in SF --not in the city itself, but because I'll be visiting friends in San Rafael and Novato, and will be needing to carry large items with me to some business in SF. I also like being able to drive out to Muir Woods and Muir Beach.

I'll choose a budget hotel that includes free parking. (Cow Hollow; Travelodge Presidio, etc ...)

DebitNM

Have you used Fox before? I have heard some less than good things about them.

1JAR

A less costly option is to fly into oakland, p/u rental car and dre to Oaklnad's Waterfront Hotel. They have 109. per night rates on website. From there take Oakland ferry to San Fran Ferry terminal (saves on parking, pain of driving over bridge, getting lost, etc.)and then take public transport from there.


http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/sanf...bay/waterfront

Songdoc

I've never had a problem when I rented with Fox in Los Angeles. And even if I had -- for $750 I think I'd take my chances! ;-)

Public transportation is great in SF, but I've never had any problem driving there with my portable GPS.

1JAR -- The hotel looks very nice, but I don't want to stay in Oakland. I love being able to wake up and go for a stroll in the Marina to the waterfront; watch the dogs play on the beach with the Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop; walk to restaurants in the Marina area, etc ... and as I mentioned I have to carry heavy items on my work days in SF. I hate the idea of having to take a ferry and public transportation every time I want to go anywhere--and again to get back at night. But I'm sure it would work for some people.

With Hotwire I can get the Travelodge Presidio for $110/night -- including free parking, WiFi, and breakfast. (Yes, many times you can figure out which hotel you'll get with Priceline and Hotwire. In this instance, it's the only 2-1/2 star hotel in that zone--and all the amenities match.)

Cow Hollow Motor Inn is $140 with the same amenities. They're not 4-star, but they're fine for me and I love the location and being right in the heart of things w/o taking a ferry.