anyazie

Hi, Everyone. I desperately need help on picking a good area to stay in San Francisco. I'll be there for 2 nights in April... Wed & Thurs night. We'd like to sight-see a little bit, maybe see some of the nice beaches (i.e. Pebbles Beach). We ARE renting a car so not sure if staying in SF is a good idea or not. Then again, I've heard there are some "bad" parts of SF we should steer clear of but I don't know what these locations are. Can you please throw out some names, area names, hotel names, city names, anything that will help us. We are booking our lodging this weekend so need to know ASAP please. Any must-sees, must-dos... Your help is soo appreciated. Thank you!

-Aisha

happytrailstoyou

It is always a good idea to stay in San Francisco.

I'd pick a hotel in or near Union Square, but I wouldn't rent a car until I was ready to leave town because it costs $40+ a night to park a car there.

easytraveler

There are hundreds of hotels in San Francisco. It's hard to just "throw out some names".

Can you tell us a bit about your budget? Your preferences - view, no view? No fee parking? etc. etc.

GENERALLY speaking, the Fisherman Wharf hotels are the most popular because they are fairly centrally located as to places people want to go and are moderate in price. i believe the most popular hotel there is the Argonaut.

The Union Square area is the second most popular area for hotel choices. Lots of smaller and boutique hotels to choose from, as well as large ones like the St. Francis and the Hyatt. You want, however, to find a hotel to the "east" part of Union Square (which actually includes Union Square and a couple of blocks to the west of Union Square), as the hotels on the "west" are either very close or are in the Tenderloin area, which is a sketchy part of town.

A third part of town is the Embarcadero - not as many hotels and not as centrally located, but some very nice hotels there such as the Vitale and the Hyatt Regency.

Nob Hill has two grand dames - the Mark Hopkins and the Fairmont as well as the smaller Stanford Court - but it's not centrally located to the sights and you want a car because that hill is a killer to walk up.

You want to avoid the hotels on Van Ness Avenue.

jnjfraz

My favorite area is Union Square and my favorite hotel is the Monaco.

StuDudley

Pebble Beach is 2 1/2 hrs away from San Francisco.

If you have a car, also consider Lombard St. Short distance to the Golden gate Bridge, Uniion St (not Union Sq like others have mentioned), and Chsstnut St. This area is much more "neighbor-hoodie" than any of the other sites mentioned, and you'll find distinct architecture (Victorians, Art Decco) and perhaps 40 different restaurants with about every ethnic pursuation possible. This area is very popular with the younger set who live in the SF area. Fewer tourists - especially compared to the Wharf. Parking is free at most hotels on Lombard.

Stu Dudley

anyazie

Ok, well we are all young girls (23-26 years old) and would love to be around young people... don't care too much for tourists but it'd be nice to do some sight-seeing. We don't want to pay for parking at all... we'd like to avoid that and still be close to the City and surrounding areas. What about Union City? Nice or not? My friend recommended that because we'd be central to everything. Is that true?
I'll check out some of the hotels you mentioned but not sure if we are willing to pay for SF parking so please send us other suggestions. Looking to spend no more than $200/night for hotel.

dmlove

Do you really mean Union City, or do you mean Union Square? If the former, the answer is no, you do not want to stay in Union City, which is a suburb about 30 miles from downtown. If you mean Union Square, on the other hand, that would be perfect for a group of young single girls - since it's in the middle of San Francisco, and the heart of the shopping, restaurant and theatre districts!

dmlove

The other possibility is that you mean Union Street (see Stu Dudley's post above). This is also IN San Francisco, and is more of a real neighborhood with fun shopping, good restaurants, a lot of Victorian architecture, etc.

anyazie

dmlove, I was talking about Union City so I guess your answer is no. easytraveler (or anyone else) why should I avoid Van Ness Ave?
Stu, thanks so much for the recommendations but there are some really cheap hotels on Lombard. I'm concerned that the area is not so nice??

dmlove

VanNess Ave. and Lombard Street both have a lot of motels (the kind with outside entrance to your room, although I can't say I've actually looked at all of them). The ones on VanNess are in a somewhat sleazier neighborhood, not the right place for a group of young women. Lombard Street on the other hand (even though it intersects VanNess) is perfectly fine -- nearer some nice neighborhoods, even though Lombard itself is a wide and heavily trafficked street (you go down Lombard to get to the Golden Gate Bridge). Personally, I wouldn't (ever) stay in any motel with an outside door to my room (I did when I was your age, I haven't for many years -- I just think its safer).

anyazie

We definitely don't want to stay in a motel and we don't want to stay in a bad neighborhood or somewhere we have to pay for parking and don't want to stay in Chinatown either..

I hope this limits it and you can give some more suggestions...

I really appreciate all of your help!

gofrank150

FWIW - A hotel IN SF that doesn't charge you for parking is a rare find. Just plan now to pay an extra 25-35 bucks for parking.

I just got a room at the holiday inn express room in fishermans wharf for $62 a night for august (hotwire.com). I'm gonna have to pay 30 to park, but its still a steal.

StuDudley

I still think the best choice is Lombard St. This is a VERY nice neighborhood (except for Lombard St itself). Lots of yuppies (if they still call them that) - probably the highest concentration of people your age than anyplace else in the city. Very active on Sat night, and Sunday & Sat daytime. You may want to move here after spending a weekend hanging out on the Chestnut/Fillmore/Union St corridor. Good shopping, lots of coffee shops, cafes, bars (Matrix, Circa, Bus Stop), restaurants, outside dining, etc. One of the safest areas in the City. You'll have no problem finding a nice motel for your price range, and free parking. When my wife & I were your age & lived in the City - this was where we spent most of our time (still do).

Not sure what your objection to a Motel is. If you want to be pampered at a first class hotel - you won't find any here. If you want to hop in the car, drive across the Golden Gate Bridge (5 mins aaway by car), see the fabulous views from the GGNRA (see other posts) - this area is perfect. If you stay closer to the Van Ness end of Lombard, it's only a few blocks to catch a Cable Car.

If you post another thread about recommendations on Lombard St (there are probably 30 or so hotels there) you'll get some good recs.

Stu Dudley

anyazie

Thanks so much for your help, Stu. But also keep in mind that we are not there on a weekend. We are only in SF Wed & Thurs night and I've heard from some that San Jose is a more happening place on Thurs nights... that's why I thought Union City would be good because it's central to both SF and SJ, but I could be wrong. I'm going to post a new thread as you recommended. Thanks again!

dmlove

When I was younger, Thursday night was THE NIGHT for young people in San Francisco. Hopefully someone can chime in whether this is still true.

StuDudley

>> I wouldn't (ever) stay in any motel with an outside door to my room (I did when I was your age, I haven't for many years -- I just think its safer).<<

DM - where do you stay when you go to Carmel, Napa Valley, etc? Most of the places we've stayed in have outside doors (Napa Valley Lodge, almost everywhere in Carmel).

I would feel much safer myself in the Cow Hollow/Marina area in my room & outside, than I would in the Union Sq area. (however, I've never stayed in a motel near Lombard).

Last week someone posted here that they felt a little unsafe at a specific hotel at Fisherman's Wharf - and they were from NYC.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

San Francisco and San Jose are 1 hour apart much of the time. On Wed & Thurs they are 2 hours apart (heavy commute traffic - sometimes all day). Union City is really a bad idea.

San Francisco is very active all the time with people your age out and about. We were in the city last night & things were hopping. When we got home to the Burbs, we drove down Burlingame ave (hopping place for the burbs), and it was dead, dead, dead.

Four important words - STAY IN SAN FRANCISCO. Period - end of lecture.

Stu Dudley

dmlove

Listen to Stu!

Bettina222

We just stayed at the Chancellor Hotel in Union Square and loved it.
We got a great price on Priceline

anyazie

Stu & dmlove:
Motels over here on the east coast have a bad rep kind of. It's more "ghetto" for lack of better terms. Dirty, smelly rooms, things in the rooms that don't work, bad management/customer service. Just not really a place to stay when you're on vacation. By motel, I mean places like Motel 6, places that have short-stay rates where people go to "you know what". ha ha ha... I'm not sure how else to explain. Motels are never used on the east coast for people who are on vacation. It's more for people who just want to hang for a few hours... know what I mean?
I'm not sure how motels are viewed on the west coast though.