28 Hours Between Flights in San Francisco .. Where to stay?
 

We arrive San Francisco at 8:00 pm and have a 28 hour stopover. (February 2008) We aren't sure if we should stay at an airport hotel and go downtown next morning for the day or go straight to the city centre to stay the night. We'll probably be pretty tired having travelled almost 24 hours. In either case we'd leave for the airport after dinner next day for our midnight flight. We don't need a higher end hotel but would like something nice for a reasonable price. Is it possible to get good rates in SFO at that time of year? We'd also like a hotel which offers a good day rate so we could leave our bags while we're out during the day. Which option do you think is best and what hotels would you recommend? Many thanks for your suggestions!

The airport area has a number of reasonably priced hotels who provide 24 hour shuttle service. Doubletree, Courtyard, Embassy Suites and Sheraton are a few. The hotel shuttle should take you back to the airport BART station in the morning to spend a day touring the city.

I believe you will pay a premium for a downtown hotel, plus cab fare late at night, and still only have a closer starting point by 30 minutes via BART.

Your airport hotel should keep your bags while you do a tourist day and provide shuttle service back to the airport.

ooo! Nice, stumpworks, that's what I would do, too. There's like a whole cluster of hotels near the airport; since they are not in the city center the rooms are much more spacious so you'll be comfortable after traveling for 24 hours. Pick a hotel that has a frequent shuttle to the airport so that you can take the BART from there (I don't think the airport hotels are near the BART line) into the city--cheaper than a cab!

I live in the city where all the airport hotels are located. Melissa is correct that the hotels are not near the BART station (well, they're close, but certainly not walking distance). But BART is a great way to travel into the city.

I've stayed at the Marriott (is still the Marriott?) at SFO a couple of times. I like it the best of the hotels around the airport as this one is right on the Bay, has great views of the Bay, the east bay hills and of the planes landing.

What is your budget? If you happen to stay overnight on a Friday or Saturday, then you can consider business hotels such as the Hyatt on California Street (right next to the cable car terminal). These hotels often offer super low weekend rates. The Hyatt is located directly outside the Embarcadero BART station. Therefore, there is no need to worry about catching a cab to the BART station. The BART is clean, safe, and on time. You can still have a great meal somewhere in North Beach and take some cable car rides.

If you don't go downtown to SF, then there are hotels around the airport. But these locations are in the suburbs and you'll, unfortunately, find mostly big national chain stores such as Target in these areas. Also, transportation is not convenient within these burbs.

Try this site for hotel deals around the airport - http://www.hotelres.com/