donnapg

and we (2 adults and 2 boys 11 & 15) can;t wait to go.

We are spending 5 nights in SF at Grosvenor Suites and 2 nights in Coloma. So far we have the following planned:

Arrive: Saturday
Sunday: Giants/Mets game for older son a& dad, Exploratorium and similiar for mom and 11 year old.

Monday: 10:15 Alcatraz

Tuesday or Wed: Have to do Muir Woods/Napa day trip

Thursday am - leave for Coloma - have rafting trip reserved there.

I know we will also be doing the Wharf, Cable Cars, Golden Gate Park....

We like to keep things pretty loose instead of over-scheduling everyday - my question is anything special going on the next week? Anything we CAN'T miss?

We'd love some restaurant suggestions - we are pretty liberal eaters and will try anything once.

I know my kids can;t wait to go to Chinatown - what can you recommend there?

Many thanks.

Donna

J_Correa

In Chinatown, definitely have lunch at a dim sum restaurant. I recomend New Asia on Pacific. City Guides does a free walking tour of Chinatown which is really good - lots of info about the culture and the history. It takes a couple hours, www.sfcityguides.org is the web site if you want to check them out.

lenleigh

JCorrea always gives excellent, especially on California.

We ended up at the R&G Lounge in Chinatown since it was recommended in our Frommers book. It's an interesting little place, on the lower level and nothing fancy but clean. The food was pretty dang good and unique to us. We tried what our book recommended which was the marinated beef (excellent) and the salt & pepper crab which was very good and different!

applejack

jcorrea - can you recomend a good hotel at Fisherman's Wharf - I know some say it is a tourist trap etc - but we cannot do the hills and looking for the flat part of the city - we won't have a car and will do the tours with greyline etc. thanks.

J_Correa

Thanks for the compliment lenleigh

For FW hotels, I have stayed at two of them. My husband's company had their winter party in SF a couple times and had a shuttle service from a group of FW hotels, so we went up there and made a weekend out of it.

The Marriott on Columbus and Bay was pretty nice - nice people, convinient location, very comfortable room with nice linens on the bed and a really nice matress, possibly the nicest matress I have slept on in a hotel. We also had a down comforter on the bed. The place was very quiet too. Our room was small, with only 1 bed. I don't know if they have rooms with 2 beds or suites - they probably do.

The Sheraton was pretty nice too, although not as nice as the Marriott. The people were great. Our room was very spacious with 2 queen beds and a pretty big bathroom. The matresses were a little on the hard side though, but fine. I think we were in an older wing or something because the carpets and wallpaper in the hallway seemed to be a little worn, but everything was very clean. There were lots of families with kids staying in this hotel, so it was a bit noisy, but the walls seemed to be fairly well soundproofed, so it wasn't a problem.

Other friends stayed at the Radisson and the Hyatt in the FW area and they said their rooms were fine. I didn't hear any complaints from anyone.

curmudgeon

Donna,
I would consider doing Napa on your way to Coloma. It is somewhat on the way. Maybe on the Muir Woods day spend time at Pt Reyes or Sonoma instead of Napa. I think it is pushing things a bit to try to do Muir and Napa on the same day. Another option on the way to/from Coloma would be to stop in old town Sacramento - nice historic area, and a great train museum.

In Chinatown, the "Empress of China" is an old standard for us. The food is decent, but the view is great.

The rafting at Coloma is a lot of fun; there is an extra stretch of whitewater at the end of the run this year since the water level at Folsom Lake is low.

lenleigh

Your welcome JCorrea. You had some great info for me when I was researching our california coast trip last Sept and I always see you giving great advice to others!

Spygirl

Applejack-do not overlook the Holiday Inn FW-it gets good reviews on tripadvisor.com-and it's very convenient to all the sites-you may get a room that looks out onto the Wharf and across to Alcatraz. It's a 5 min. walk to Pier 39, the Cannery, the cable cars, etc.

For a different restaurant experience near the Wharf, you might want to try part-owner Don Johnson's lovely and atmospheric Vietnamese fusion cuisine restaurant "Ana Mandara" on Beach Drive-right across from the S.F. Maritime Museum-a favorite restaurant of mine in a city where I have many favorites!

lenleigh

Applejack, we stayed at the Marriott that JCorrea talking about (Columbus & Bay). Our room was nice, we've also had some really comfy beds at Marriotts and the location of this hotel is pretty good. It's a couple of blocks up to where the piers are and then over a few more and you are at Pier 39/Fishermans Wharf. It's also more in the middle so you are closer to Ghiradelli Square and close to that is (I forget the name) another square where you can pick up the cable cars. The Marriott's shape is a little weird so we had a very long hike to our room from the elevator but we went over Labor Day and you might get better.

J_Correa

Yes, the shape of the Marriott is a little strange. The streets right there are not perpendicular, so the hotel is kind of wedge-shaped. I did have trouble finding our room once, but that might have had more to do with me than the hotel

lenleigh

LOL JCorrea, our room was the farthest from the elavators. We had to turn right, go down an endless hallway,then turn left and head down another long hallway, then turn left again and halfway down it was on the right. Aside from getting the direction to our room down is was a good location, nice room and we got a fairly good rate for that weekend! I love SF, if we weren't building a house right now I would plan another trip this year!