I'm planning to take my two sons to SF in
March. They have never been to a big city
except for Phoenix. I'm looking for the best
place to stay with kids that isn't too
outrageously priced. I have made 2 reservations, one at Handlerly in Union Sq.
and one at the Pacific Heights Inn. Any
comments or suggestions on where to stay?
And also what the must see places are. We
will be there for 4+ days. thx. Deb

Hi Deb,

There are a lot of posts in the past few weeks regarding SF (hotels, things to do, etc). If you do a search or scroll through the back logs, you'll find a lot of info.

How old are your sons? Will you be renting a car? That might help us suggest areas to not miss. But regardless, here are 3 must-do's I think your family will enjoy:

1) Alcatraz Island--fantastic, fantastic tour. Not at all boring, which I first thought it would be but was very pleasantly surprised. Buy tickets in advance (get the audio tour) and bring a sweater because it gets chilly on the island.

2) Shopping and Dim Sum in Chinatown. Walk around the alleys, look at the trinkets.

3) Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. If the day is clear, the view from the bridge is absolutely amazing. There are also hiking trails across the bridge in Marin if your family likes the outdoors.

Sorry, I can't help with the hotels as I've never stayed in either one, but you should know that most SF hotels have tiny rooms. Union Square is also very centrally located (you can walk or take public transportation anywhere) but can be gritty. The Handlery though, is in a very touristy spot so you should be ok/safe.

Check out Holiday Inn, Fishermans Wharf. Go to web site www.hiwharf.com rooms for 119.

I don't know about the Pacific Heights Inn, but we stayed with my then-5-year-old daughter at the Handlery Union Square 2 summers ago. We stayed in a suite for 4 days (then drove up to visit friends in Sonoma) and had a great time. The hotel staff was friendly but often harried, the room was adequate but not luxurious, the location was great for us, and most important to my daughter, they had a pool (outdoor).

For breakfast we went to Dottie's True Blue Cafe (Loved it, but it's a little further into the Tenderloin - or seedy - district .)

As for activities, our child loved the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts - you can spend nearly all day at this science museum and kids from 3-13 can probably find something fun to do. And she loved the Children's Playground in Golden Gate Park, as well as the Japanese Tea Garden. We also made it to the Yerba Buena Gardens on the roof of the Moscone Convention Center in SoMa. She liked the playground (more for littler kids I think, and too concrete for me) and the carousel. Sony has an indoor "entertainment center" there called Metreon. We never made it in there (I dragged everyone to the Museum of Modern Art instead), but it looked interesting, although probably expensive. I think they have movies, including IMAX, video games, restaurants and a Maurice Sendak-inspired space for the littler kids.

Have fun!

Depending on what age your sons are, they might like going to Alcatraz at night. If they are very little, it's probably easier to go during the day because there are more frequent boats back to the mainland. However, if they are older than about 9, they would probably LOVE the spookiness of being there at night. Ask a ranger about going on a special behind-the-scenes tour at night, too -- they offer them, but they are first-come, first-served so find out from a ranger how to get a reservation card for one of them.

Be sure to buy tickets several days in advance and, as another poster mentioned, dress warmly!

Kate