I'm trying to decide on the following locations for the last three nights of my honeymoon. One of them is near SFO, but that's not a problem for us - we don't HAVE to be in the downtown area like many people say is a necessity. Help me decide, please!!!

1. Marriott (55 4th St.) - regular king room for $249/nt
2. Embassy Suites (Airport) - executive king room for $159/nt
3. Warwick Regis - junior suite for $179/nt
4. Renaissance Clubsport Walnut Creek - king room for $149/nt
5. Hotel Majestic - full 1 BR suite for $195/nt

Which do you think I should choose? These are the only ones I have to choose from. Thanks!

Walnut Creek? It's 25 to 35 minutes to the city, traffic depending.
I haven't stayed at any of these, but I did look into the Warwick Regis once and it looked great. It's rated well on www.tripadvisor.com. I think that's the one I'd pick (it's on Geary Street near Union Square. .

For honeymoon, I'd stay in the City, even if I didn't HAVE to. That would knock out the Embassy Suites and Renaissance Clubsport for sure.

The other 3 I don't know.

Thanks for the info - but I just took a leap of faith. I found a special travel deal through the internet. I got 3 nights at the Palace Hotel in a king deluxe room for $139/night. Other sites have it for over $300/night, so I booked it before they all got taken. Hope it was a good choice!!!

I don't understand the logic of going to visit SF and staying across the bridge or at the airport. Even if you don't stay downtown, at least stay in SF. It would be a shame to have to commute into SF everyday.

You will be happy with the Palace. It is a lovely hotel. The atrium is beautiful there. it also has an indoor lap pool. Make sure to tell them when you check in that it is your honeymoon. Many times hotels will upgrade you for free for this special occasion. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Palace hotel is in a good location, and yes, it's better to be in the downtown area!

I can tell you that the rooms at the Warwick Regis are tiny and if you are willing to honeymoon at the airport you don't need to go all the way to San Francisco.

To say that if you don't stay in the city then there's no reason to go to San Francisco...makes no sense to me. To spend $100 more per night to stay in smaller rooms with expensive parking - I was taught to use my money better than that. We will be seeing other areas besides the San Francisco area, so we will definitely have a rental car. You add the parking fees, and some of the downtown areas are outrageous - a total waste of money.

Why can't people just answer the question that you post?

Thank you to those of you who answered the question I asked - you guys make this site wonderful!

There are options other than the ones you pose--inexpensive motor inns in the city with great locations and free parking, for instance.

Expect that if you put people in a straightjacket, some of them will become testy.

As someone who commented about your consideration of hotels outside of SF, let me explain the reason for my comments.

Yes, parking in SF is expensive. You also don't really need a car in SF. For day trips out of SF, it is easier to rent a car for the day.

Downtown and out of SF are not your only options. There are many neighborhoods in SF without the high prices of downtown. As others have suggested, there are even options with free parking if you need/want to keep your car.

If you stay outside SF, you will have to commute into SF each day that you want to visit. Commuting in and of itself can be expensive and time consuming. If you bring a car in, then you have to pay to put it somewhere. Public transportation is an option, but it takes time. You've only got 2 full days in SF. I would be a shame to spend too much time commuting.

The area around the airport is quite bland and fairly far from SF itself. I am a frugal person my nature, and I don't think it would be worth the savings to stay out there.

Walnut Creek is a nice town and there is BART into SF. But you will still spend a fair amount of time getting into and out of SF.

THESE are the reasons I and others have for recommending staying IN SF itself. I'm sorry it upset you that we didn't answer only the question as posed. One of the nice things about this board is that if people think you are headed in the wrong direction, they will try to help you have a better trip.

But in all fairness to the original poster, it was stated right in the first post the thinking behind not needing to be downtown. It seemed pretty clear the poster wasn't looking for help in that direction. That's why I didn't answer it. I know that the poster's likes and mine must be very different, and I couldn't relate.

I have to agree that since the poster made it clear that staying outside the city was not an issue, why would we try to persuade them otherwise?
I think this post was a little different from someone saying something like "I thought we'd stay out of the city to save money" and having people explain why that was false reasoning.

I'm confused hasn't pianograd you already booked the Palace , which is in fact downtown. ANyway pianograd if you are going to be parking overnight in SF I would recommend the Hearst garage which is behind (or next to) the Palace depending on direction. It has a $19 max and has overnight parking.

Hi
Can you share with us which Internet site offered a 139/ night rate at the Palace?
Thanks.
Peterman

It was offered directly through the hotel's website. I found out about it through travelzoo.com. It's a special for weekends through the end of June.

As far as the whole thing about downtown vs. out of town. I've read sooo many posts on here to do a lot of research for about a month and a half looking at all of the pros and cons of where to stay. For me - the commute doesn't bother me at all to be able to do the sightseeing for one day which is all that we really wanted to do. The other full day will be spent driving down the coast to Monterey.

It just seems like some people on here think that others don't know how to research anything and can't make an educated decision. For me - being without a car is not an option - kind of the security blanket thing. So parking fees, location, etc. weighed heavily in the decision. That's why I wanted to consider something a little further out - cheaper parking but really nice hotels that I didn't have to be worried about what the quality was.

But I did offer in my choices something out of the downtown area, something close to downtown with cheaper parking (Majestic), and something right in downtown (Marriott).

I chose Palace because the room price was so great that I can now budget in higher parking fees, etc.

Make any sense at all? The truth is that what people suggest is simply their preference - so state it that way. Don't say it in a way that makes the original poster look like we're traveling idiots and shouldn't be visiting SF. Some of us are very non-conventional in our travel plans and just simply want info about specific places.

Thanks for all of you who actually did help!

well stated, pianograd99

Thank you, Pianograd99, for that information.
Enjoy yourself in SF!
Peterman

I would like to just post a little follow-up. I'm planning a trip to NYC, and planning to stay outside of the city in NJ. Posters are giving me a rough time because we're not gonna stay in the city.

We did stay in downtown SF at the Palace Hotel. If I had it to do over again - I wouldn't. I wish we would've stayed outside the area to have bigger rooms, cheaper prices on everything else, etc.

The Palace Hotel is amazing, and the staff were excellent. But I would definitely stay outside of downtown if I go back. It's really easy to get around SF if you're driving, so I would not be apprehensive of that again.

I don't think you can blame people for having that view-they are just trying to help you make the most of your trip, and your preferences seem to be unusual. Many (most?) of us value our vacation TIME more than money or extra space in a hotel room, so it's hard for us to understand why someone would want to spend their precious vacation time commuting (if you had spent hours stuck in traffic to and from Walnut Creek, you might have a little more sympathy for this view). You might just have to point out very emphatically you know you are in the minority on this, but you like to stay in the 'burbs, and just ignore the advice that doesn't meet your needs.