Is Berkeley a safe area to stay?
 

We are using Radisson points to stay 3 nights free in San Francisco in October. Unfortunately, the only properties available were at the airport or at the Radisson Berkeley Marina Hotel. We booked the hotel in Berkeley. Someone has told me this is not a safe area to stay. (they called it the "Harlem" of San Francisco) Does anyone have any advise/info about this area? Is it safe? How far is it and how long to get to downtown San Francisco? Is public transportation available?

The Berkeley Marina is perfectly safe during the day, it's a peninsula sticking out into the Bay that contains a couple of popular parks, a couple restaurants, and a trail along the waterfront (and a long fishing pier) with views of San Francisco. I haven't been there at night for a few years, but it used to be a hangout place for local gang members late at night. As long as you don't go wandering around University Ave at 1am it's probably fine. <BR> <BR>You'll want a car. There is one bus line that connects the Marina to the rest of the world, the 51M, which runs up and down University Ave to Downtown Berkeley. It's virtully impossible to walk across the freeway into Berkeley without getting killed, so without a car the 51M is the only way in or out. <BR> <BR>Some other things: <BR> <BR>*Traffic across the bay is hell, if you end up staying in the East Bay you should try to use BART to get to SF (take the bus to the Downtown Berkeley BART station if you don't want to worry about parking). <BR> <BR>*Your friend who called Berkeley the"Harlem of San Francisco" is an idiot(sorry). <BR> <BR>*Berkeley ain't San Francisco. <BR> <BR>*If you want to know anything about Bay Area public transit go to transitinfo.org

I hear Harlem is becoming quite the mecca for art and culture these days so perhaps Berkeley should take that as a compliment (even though it obviously wasn't meant as one). Berkeley is a fun town -- great food would be an understatement. You should have a beautiful view of SF from your hotel and don't feel you need to spend all your time across the bay in the city. Check out beautiful Berkeley.

My family stayed at the Radisson recently while my husband and son took sailing lessons. I never felt unsafe at all. It is quite a ways away from the town though as mentioned above. We got a great meal with the room. Our only dissappointment was we did not have a water view. Without that it did not seem much better than a travellodge.The location is great though and don't miss that great little foodstand at the Marina entrance!

We stayed at the Berkeley Marina Radisson last year and it was a fine property. The hotel has a free shuttle to take you to the local subway transportation if you want (although we didn't use it because we drove the car into SF and always found plenty of parking (we were lucky). Berkeley itself is kind of scrubby in places, although the university has a nice campus.

Berkeley is a very diverse city-from the decaying urban areas (or "scrubby" areas as one poster put it!), Univ of California, and the multi-million dollar homes in the hills, Berekley is a very interesting and fun place (IMO anyway!). In case you want to spend a couple hours poking around Berkeley, here are a few suggestions-walk through the campus of Cal and then down Telegraph St-GREAT people watching. Pop in Mario's La Fiesta for some cheap, good burritos. Peruse the book selection at Moe's and Cody's. Have a drink at the Claremont Resort up in the hills. There is a famous restaraunt in Berkeley called Chez Panise (I think?)that is supposed to be excellent. Also, there is a good shopping district on 4th? Street-Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware etc...Have a great trip! <BR>

Chez Panisse has extraordinary food, in my opinion. On our last visit to San Francisco, we made a special trip to Chez Panisse - but the cafe, not the restaurant, since we had our 6-year-old with us. And, surprisingly, the cafe had a children's menu. And it was the best kids' menu food she'd ever had, along with Mr. B's in New Orleans. Our grown up food was none to shabby either!

You'll like the Berkeley Radisson. Ask for a room with a view of the Bay. The Marina has lots of places to walk, and there's sailing, windsurfing, kite flying and other activities. If you have kids, be sure you let them loose at Adventure Playground. If you don't want to take BART into the city (SF), go to Jack London Square in Oakland and take a ferry--great ride. You'll want a car to explore Berkeley: North Berkeley is the nicer area, Check out Solano Avenue and North part of Shattuck; Tilden Park is lovely; good restaurants abound (Chez Panisse, as someone mentioned, is world famous, but very expensive. However, there's a cafe upstairs that serves great food at lower prices.) South Berkeley (the University is the dividing line) is funkier. Telegraph Ave. is interesting but there are a lot of street people hanging around. Further south, there are some nice shops and restaurants along College Avenue. Enjoy your trip--October is a great time to be in Northern Calif.