Hotels SF/ Transportation from airport

Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 06:16 AM
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Hotels SF/ Transportation from airport

Hi,
Traveling to SF to visit USF. Any recommendations for a basic (i.e. not expensive) clean hotel, relatively near to USF?
Our time is quite limited, so proximity is important. This will be day 3 of a 4 day college visiting trip with DD's, coming from the East Coast.
We are flying SW into SF from Portland, Oregon. Will we be able to take public transportation into the city from the airport? SW flys into OAK (guessing that means oakland area).
thanks

rbhm
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 07:29 AM
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"We are flying SW into SF from Portland"

You aren't flying into SF (SFO) - you are landing in Oakland.

What is your budget? "not expensive" to one person could be very expensive to the next.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 08:04 AM
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Check Priceline for hotels. I have found very good results bidding on San Francisco.

The easiest if not the quickest way to get to the hotel is one of the van services like Bayporter. They should run about $15 per person each way.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 08:16 AM
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Please confirm that you mean USF (University of San Francisco) and not UCSF (University of California at San Francisco) and not San Francisco State, because they're often confused and they're in different parts of the city.

Are you sure you're flying into Oakland....Southwest actually flies into all three San Francisco-area airports (SFO, OAK, San Jose).

There aren't too many motels/hotels actually in the USF vicinity, but before we try to find one for you, please respond to my questions.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 11:39 AM
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Sorry about the confusion. We are flying into Oak in San francisco, and looking at univeristy of San francisco.

rbhm
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 11:50 AM
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Oh yes in terms of cost I would like to keep it around 120.00 per night, if the hotel included breakfast that would be great. In terms of distance to the university, just want to be able to use public transportation if possible or a a reasonable cab ride(there will be 4 of us) like 15.00

Am I right in thinking that from Oak we can take a bart shuttle to a bart line ?looks like it on the info. from Oak airport.
Thanks,
rbhm
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 12:01 PM
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Okay. I don't know much about public transportation from Oakland Airport, but I can tell you this...getting to USF by BART will be tricky because BART doesn't go anywhere near USF, so you'd have to use a combination of BART and buses/taxi. The other choice is a shuttle, a taxi, or rent a car. Go into GoogleMaps to see. The closest BART station to USF would probably be Civic Center station (where San Francisco City Hall is). As you can see, it's nowhere near USF.

I checked and couldn't find any hotels/motels within a mile and a half of the USF campus. Hopefully someone else will know if there are any. I would probably recommend staying in a motel on Lombard Street with free parking, and having a car.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 12:02 PM
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Or taking taxis.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 12:16 PM
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Are we talking Turk @ Masonic area? Approximately?

BART will take you to San Francisco, get off at Montgomery or Powell stations and catch a bus on Market St. Line 31 will take you to Turk Street, line 5 (or 21 runs 2 blocks away) to Fulton.

This is the map of the bus lines:

http://transit.511.org/static/provid...2007102343.pdf
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 12:19 PM
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http://www.usfca.edu/online/gen_info/trans.html
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 12:25 PM
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I remember somebody on Fodor's recommended Mosser - close to Market to catch a bus. Also Stratford gets good reviews (I'm looking at Expedia) Also see if Park 55, Villa Florence have rates within your budget.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 01:45 PM
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I am the big fan of The Mosser. Themosser.com The Mosser is kind of a hostel meeets boutique hotel. They have rooms with private bathrooms and also some with sink only and hall shower/toilet rooms [which I looked at and they were immaculate and well kept.] They have coffee and muffins in morning and wifi is extra. BUT it is a great, safe location [close to Union Square] and convenient for getting to other forms of public transportation. They have promotions and special rates,but they are hard to find. You have to go to the actual reservation page; put in your dates and then hit CHECK AVAILABILTIY and when you get to next page, click on PROMOTIONAL RATES, which in the middle of the page, under the box with a picture of the hotel. Depending on date, they have prices under $100 for twins, etc.



I am thinking the poster is not trying to get from OAK directly to USF in one fell swoop.

We recently took BART from OAK into the Financial District. It involved taking a BART shuttle bus {$3 each, cash] from airport [right outside the terminal] to a BART station in downtown Oakland. We then bought tickets {$3.55 each] for BART and got right on a train. We got off at second stop -- the Montgomery Street station and walked to our hotel. The Mosser would be the third stop, Fourth and Powell.

A thought, since there are 4 of you -- it might be only a bit more to get a car service. We paid $45 [plus tip]for a ride from our hotel on 2nd and Folsom to OAK for our flight home. We were told taxi was same price. Sorry, no $15 taxi, but 4 x $7.10 is what BART will cost, so car or taxi might be worth thinking about.

Hope this helps,
Deb
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 01:52 PM
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Meant to add that the PROMO rates include: , Super Saver, Last Minute, Weekly [which are dirt cheap], Best Available. I would also call them directly and ask if they have any specials.

Also, you will not get 4 people into one room at The Mosser, two rooms will be needed.
Deb
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 02:30 PM
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Thanks for the info.
DebitNM, you are right we are not going right from Oak to the university. We would arrive on a Friday eve go to hotel and then on Sat. we have our appt. at the univeristy.
I will check out the hotels listed.

rbhm
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Old Mar 3rd, 2009, 02:39 PM
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rbhm, are you looking for one room for four people, or two rooms for two people each? If the latter, you might want to try Priceline, which seems to give some good deals in San Francisco. Since you're arriving on Friday, I would suggest you stay somewhere "downtown" (Union Square or the area where the Mosser is), have dinner (many many choices in all price ranges), walk around, etc. Then Saturday, you can either take the bus or a taxi to USF. From the Mosser, Hopstop says its about 3 miles and a $12.00 taxi ride to USF. Will you have sightseeing time after your tour at USF?
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Old Mar 4th, 2009, 04:55 AM
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sf7303,
Thanks for info. We are looking for one room for four, my dd's are twins, used to sharing!
We should have some of the afternoon Sat. to do some sightseeing. I would like to walk the Golden Gate Bridge but I think that is only available Sunday and we fly out then.
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Old Mar 4th, 2009, 10:03 AM
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Really? Doublecheck, I don't think there's any restriction on when you can walk on the Golden Gate Bridge anytime. If you stay on Lombard Street (check out the Cow Hollow Suites chain), you'll be very near the GGB, and also two great neighborhood streets for strolling, shopping and dining (Union Street and Chestnut Street). I would recommend Betelnut on Union Street for dinner.
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Old Mar 4th, 2009, 10:22 AM
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Maybe there is a marathon on the bridge?

Kal? Is your wife running the bridge?
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Old Mar 4th, 2009, 11:30 AM
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There are indeed restrictons as to when you can walk on the GGB, which side etc.:

You can walk only on east side sidewalk and through March 7, you can walk from 5 am to 6 pm; after that you can walk until 9 pm [March 8 until Oct 31]. There are gates that get locked.

http://goldengatebridge.org/bikesbridge/bikes.php

Deb
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Old Mar 4th, 2009, 11:50 AM
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I'm glad you posted those restrictions, Debit, because they're far from only being allowed on Sunday!
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