Early flight out of Oakland. Hotel ideas?
 

We are traveling to the SF area and will be staying in Sausalito. We are flying out of the Oakland airport and need recommendations on nice/safe hotels to stay at. Our flight leaves at 6 am so we need somewhere kind of close. We are up for a little bit of a drive (~30 minutes) if it means a much better hotel experience. I am not familiar with area. Can you give me some hotel suggestions or nearby towns I should look into?

12, the area right around Oakland Airport is not nice, so don't stay there (although there is a Hilton nearby, so if you don't mind staying in the hotel once you're there, that would be okay). Within a 30-minute drive at 6 am, you could stay in downtown San Francisco (anywhere in the financial district or Embarcadero areas would be fine) or in Emeryville.

Have you checked to see if your car rental place is open around 4AM?

Here are some hotels nearby... http://hotelguides.com/california/oa...rt-hotels.html

@rastaguytoday The car rental place is not open that early but has an option to return the car and put the keys in a drop box. Bigger question is if the shuttle goes from the car rental area to the airport at 4:45 am!

The car rental shuttle does run at 4:45 a.m. but I think at that time of the morning you have to call for it.

From Emeryville that early in the am it should take only 15 mins to get to the airport.

Hilton Oakland airport closest 3 minutes away. You could turn the rental car in the night before and take the hotel shuttle in am. Hotel grounds are nice not too loud airplane noise but understand the area around it is bad.

My 1st choice is Waterfront Hotel on the water in Jack London Square quick 15 minute drive down the freeway to the Oakland airport. You can even take the water ferry over to San Francisco that night for a last night dinner.

https://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/cal...terfront-hotel

The <B>ONLY</B> place I'd stay near the airport is the Hilton. Very close, and good security. I'd turn the car in the night before and have it done with. Then the hotel shuttle will have to at the terminal in minutes.

Any farther away (Jack London Sq. Emeryville, etc.) would be nicer areas, but the car will be a hassle

I have stayed in more that 15 hotels in Emeryville/JLSq/near the airport/San Leandro and in this situation the Hilton is probably your best bet.

Double check that the Hilton's shuttle is running at that hour to get you to airport at 5 am [or whatever time you want to arrive at OAK]. Surprisingly, we have stayed at places where the shuttle wasn't 24/7 or didn't run that early which necessitated a taxi.

Good to double check of course. But the website states: >>24-hour complimentary shuttle service to Oakland International Airport (OAK) and BART<<

Should add - for really early AM like this, you may need to arrange the shuttle time w/ the front desk when you check in. However, w/ so many early AM flights it probably runs pretty regularly.

Oakland Airport Hilton is primarily a Business traveler destination. I've booked conferences & stayed many times. They are reliable 24 hour shuttle.

The rental car Shuttle is a little more of a concern at that hour which is why I rec turning the car in the night before.

http://www.oaklandairport.com/car_rentals.shtml

There are several hotels in Pleasanton/Dublin (area where freeways 580 & 680 intersect). The drive to OAK for your early morning departure would take 30 minutes max (take 580 west > 238 north> 880 north > 98th Ave > airport. route = http://goo.gl/maps/YkIYY). This is a nice & safe suburban area. Here is a list of the hotels: http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc...ton%2C+CA&ns=1
If you want to stay in Pleasanton/Dublin (they are adjacent towns) I'd check hotwire and/or priceline for your specific date -- could save you some $.

From Sausalito you could head a few miles north and take the Richmond/San Raphael Bridge and follow Fwy 580 east to get there, saving you the toll on on the Golden Gate Bridge.

If you arrived early afternoon in Pleasanton some things you could do:
visit an area winery
explore historic downtown Pleasanton's Main Street
shop at Stoneridge Mall
catch a movie in Dublin or San Ramon
visit the Blackhawk auto museum
ascend Mt Diablo State Park