This is my first post here so hopefully I get some good responses. I'm thinking about a San Fran (first visit) valentines weekend trip in 2004. Time flys by so I'm already researching. It would be my girlfriend and I (both mid-20's) with breakfast lunch dinner obviously, small sightseeing during day, bars/clubs until late. Flight and transportation I can figure out myself. Hotels, bars and restaurants are my big question.

Hotel-
My big thing is staying in a hotel in a cool/hip area. The area is more important to me than what my room looks like because I use the hotel to sleep, that's about it. I'd LOVE to spend less than $100/night for a hotel in a good area, $125 at the most. Any recommendations for hotels, or a good area to look for a hotel?

Bars-
Where are a few of the party areas as far as bars go? I would like to not have to travel too far from my hotel when I go out and party for the night. Any specific bar recommendations?

Restaurants-
Inexpensive, not-to-miss, local flavor restaurants in San Fran? Those kinds of places during the whole trip except for dinner on Valentines. For that dinner I'd like something romantic but not too expensive.

I want the best values possible, most bang for my buck. I'm not afraid to spend, just don't like to. The hotel is my big concern because I'd like to find one close to bars/restaurants of interest. I have many questions, but if you have any recommendations it would be most appreciated.

pdubya,
My boyfriend and I just visited San Francisco for the first time this past August. We are in our early 20s and just getting ready to graduate from college, so our budget was a bit tight also. Ill tell you what we did, and we had a great time! We decided to stay at a small place a few blocks up from Union Square, called the Golden Gate Hotel. The location was great, 2 blocks down from Chinatown, and there are tons of places to shop and eat around Union Sqare. Even if you have to travel around the city, it is really easy to navigate. I think we paid $115 a night, and that included good strong coffee and the BEST cinnamon croisants in the morning. The hotel had a bit of a European feel, but we were really only there to sleep at night and eat in the morning. While we were there we were looking for really good thai food, and got a recomendation for a place called Osha's. It was really good and inexpensive,if you like thai. North Beach was also a great place to find small romantic Italian restaurants, without neccessarily breaking the bank.
Wherever you stay, Im sure youll love it! have a great time.

Hotels: Priceline (biddingfortravel.com) or look at the SFCVB website. Every year they have a Valentines day hotel specials (usually free parking).

Restaurants: There are billions. I love Momma's for brunch (North Beach) and Michaelangelo's for Italian (North Beach). Both are very reasonable.

Bars: The areas to go to are 11th street (South of Market), Valencia Street (Puerto Alegra for $12 pitchers of Margaritas, Blondies, Casa Nova, etc), North Beach, and Castro (Gay bars mostly--straight friendly). XYZ at the W hotel is fun for a VERY overpriced drink. Great people watching there. Union Street has a young rich crowd--lots of bars. Cha Cha Cha has the best sangria in San Francisco.

Have a great trip!

We stayed at the Commodore earlier this year, which seemed to have lots of cool people staying there and a fun, hipster bar downstairs, the Red Room. You can usually get it for around $100, but on Valentine's day itself, it may be more. It's in Union Square, although it's close to the Tenderloin, which me and ALL my young friends have no problem with, but other people will tell you to avoid it like it's a warzone. Geez, it's fine, it's just a colorful funky neighborhood. The Commodore was a cool hotel and we had a good time there.

love
roxy

I just used Priceline to reserve a hotel in San Francisco for $83.00 a night. We are staying at the Parc 55. We are there in Jan. for 3 nights. Look at www.biddingfortravel for the hotels used by Priceline. Good luck

Thanks for the quick and great responses to my question, keep them coming!

As an SF resident my advice is please don't stay in the downtown/Union Square area. It is really not very desirable especially with the homeless problem we have as well as the Tenderloin area that a previous poster referred to. I'd suggest the Marina or Cow Hollow areas as an alternative. The Cow Hollow Motor Inn and the Columbus Motor Inn are both nice and have free parking. Most importantly the neighborhood is safe.

Recentlt the local newspaper ran some stories on what neighborhoods in SF that seem to be more of a problem with being on the seedy side so to speak.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NGRA3E0RI1.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...2/BU133124.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NG7M3ER411.DTL

Hi, I'm an SF native, and just posting for the first time too.

Hotel - I like the Commodore idea, and *love* the red room bar downstairs. Seems appropriate for V-Day since it's all very red - small though. There are two groups you should check out - the Kimptom Group and the Joie de Vivre group. Both own small indy hotels all over that they are upgrading, and in some cases, hipifying. One of them owns the Phoenix, also w/ cool bar (the Banbuddha), in a gritty area, but w/ lots of new gritty/hip bars.

Bars - if you were staying at Commodore in the Downtown area, there's Tunnel Top (club music, drafts and happy hour), Irish Bank (authentic pub), Redwood Room (NY/Ian Schrager/rockstars scene). If you don't mind hopping in a cab or bus, there's a *lot* of choices. I recommend going to Citysearch's SF site. Their editorial has suffered since they got bought, but their "Best of" picks are still accurate since they are generated by people voting.

The SF bar scene ranges from the 20-something-exfratboy scene (the Marina-Cow Hollow) to the edgy-pierced bodyparts-clubbing thing(more the SOMA/Mission/Potrero/Haight areas) and everything in between, so you're probably best off picking your own by reading the descriptions and comments about the scene and the crowd. When I'm looking for something new, I use their Best of New Bars category.

As for V-Day dinner. Book now. My rec is Cafe Jacqueline for souffles in North Beach - which is a totally romantic place to stroll and bar-hop. If you can't get that, Rose Pistola.

Wow, i got longwinded. Have fun. BTW, don't be too scared off by the seedy comments, if you can handle. If you want to insulate yourself (and you might, on a romantic V-day weekend), Marina/Cow Hollow are great - pretty/clean/safe/fun, but sometimes feels like you might as well be in anytown USA.

Area-wise Commodore is not a Tenderloin area. All hotels along Sutter and Post streets are safe for walking to at night. I live higher on Sutter and know the area, and never afraid to walk there alone (female). It's Geary and south of it I wouldn't recommend.

I second the idea of going to Cafe Jacqueline for dinner (Grant Ave. in No. Beach) A wonderful, romantic place. Very few tourists.

The San Remo Hotel in North Beach is inexpensive, cute and funky. It's European style which translates to no bathroom in your room; you share showers and bathrooms but they are centrally located. You can get rooms with sinks in them. It's along the lines of a bed and breakfast with each room decorated differently. Some rooms are a little small (but you only want to sleep there, right?) and make sure get one off the street so it won't be noisy. It is within walking distance to many restaurants, the Wharf, and cable car lines. Check it out at www.sanremohotel.com.