We are travelling to Monterey in March and need a hotel somewhere between SF and Monterey. Our flight to SF doesn't arrive until 9 pm and we don't want to do the full drive to Monterey that night. We have a 12:30 tee time at Pebble Beach the next day so we will not be lingering at the hotel. Nothing fancy needed. Someplace clean, quiet and comfortable, and which would leave us a nice a.m. drive to Pebble Beach would be great. Budget $150 or less. Thanks.

There's a pretty nice Residence Inn in South San Jose, which is about 1/2 way to Monterey for you:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/maps/...an-jose-south/

Take Highway 101 South from SFO. Exit Bernal Avenue.

If you want to go even further south, there are hotels in Gilroy and even further south in Salinas.

I'm a fan of Holiday Inn Express and there's one in Morgan Hill
http://www.hiemorganhill.com/

OR the Hilton Garden Inn in Gilroy
http://www.hiltongardeninn.com/en/gi...tyhocn=SJCGHGI

Another option is to stay closer to SFO. Once you travel even 5 miles south on 101 you'll find reasonable chain hotels with free parking. The hotels right around SFO all charge for parking.

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That's true of the hotels on Bayshore Blvd., but there are plenty of motels on El Camino (runs parallel to the freeway about 1 mile west) that do not charge for parking.

Anyway, I'd agree that you should drive an hour or so (if it were me, I'd drive all the way to Monterey, but I can certainly understand you not want to do so). South San Jose, Gilroy and Morgan Hill, as suggested, are all good choices.

It'll depend on how long your flight is and whether you will have checked-in luggage or not.

By the time you deplane, collect luggage, and get your car, it'll be about 10 pm.

Driving for about an hour to get to a hotel with easy on-off to the freeway is a good choice.

You should be in bed by midnight.

The easiest way to get to Pebble Beach from whichever hotel you choose on Highway 101 (San Jose, etc.), is to continue south on 101, then take the relatively short Highway 156 across to Highway 1. Highway 1 should get you to Pebble Beach. A little over an hour's drive.

Sounds like a great golfing vacation!

Thank you all. We will be traveling all day (from New Hampshire). We will also will be checking bags and picking up a rental car, so we probably won't be pulling out of SFO until after 10. We are just looking to get out of the city to the less expensive hotels and to get as much of jump on our a.m. drive to Pebble Beach as possible without killing ourselves at the end of a long day. Morgan Hill/Gilroy seemed just right. Unfortunately, the Holiday Inn Express in Morgan Hill had no rooms for our Saturday night stay (maybe a wedding?). The Hilton Garden Inn in Gilroy had rooms so we've booked there ($120 including breakfast and taxes). Thanks again to all of you for your help.

Check and see if you can get a cheap rate at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto. I know that's probably not possible. I don't think you should drive more than 20 to 30 minutes for a hotel that night. Mountain View would be the furthest I would drive, and there are plenty of hotels along 101. Morgan Hill and Gilroy - ugh! Never! Way too far for your purposes. You just need to leave for Pebble Beach by 9am no matter where you are the night before.

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Why do you say that? It's an hour to Morgan Hill from the airport (less than 60 miles, all freeway). Very doable.