lgazz

We (family of 4 - myself, DH and sons ages 15 & 13) are planning a trip to San Francisco in mid-August. I'm researching hotels right now and have questions…

We plan to spend ~3 days doing touristy things in & near the city (Alcatraz, Golden Gate, Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, Chinatown) and we plan to spend a few days outside the city (Muir Woods, San Jose, Coppola Winery).

We do have a budget and the hotels downtown are a bit pricey (no surprise!). We are considering the Embassy Suites near SFO. It is one of our preferred brands and we especially enjoy the breakfast and manager's reception. The hotel website implies that we can use BART to get downtown. (We will have a rental car, but I suspect that driving downtown will be a hassle.) The Embassy Suites is ~10 miles outside of Union Square (per Mapquest).

My question is: What do you think about making the commute into the city using BART? Is there a station relatively close that we can catch a train? Are there stations we can get off at near our destinations? How much time should we allow for commuting in and out of the city? (I suspect we'd go into the city in the morning and leave in the afternoon after touring. We are not the type to go back and forth between our hotel and destination throughout the day.)

We are mid-westerners making our first trip to the San Francisco area. My boys are excellent, independent travelers. We have successfully maneuvered Chicago and DC public transportation systems.

Please let me know what you think!
Thanks in advance!!

DebitNM

BART is going to be expensive for 4 people each day going into the city. Parking IN the city will also be expensive.

I suggest really trying to find a room at a reasonable price, not renting a car until you hare heading out of the city for good. It will cost less to rent the car in the city than at airport and Dollar [O'Farrell St or Fisherman's Wharf area won't charge one way drop off fee].

With the money you save on BART and car rental for those days, you can up the bump up the hotel budget.

Also, I don't think you teens will want to spend a whole day at winery.

janisj

• San Jose? Any particular reason why?

• Staying at SFO is a huge hassle except for maybe and early morning flight out. First of all BART doesn't connect to the Embassy Suites so you'd have to take the shuttle to the airport and then BART into the city. R-T on BART for 4 makes the Embassy Suites a really false economy. You don't at all need a car in SF so don't pick up you rental til you are heading north. The savings from no car, no parking, and no BART means you can probably afford a hotel downtown.

• If you go to Muir Woods - get there very early. It gets awfully crowded and they even close the parking to new arrivals and then you have to park remotely and shuttle into the park.

• I sure hope you have more on your wish list than just Coppola . . .

Shar

check Kayak or other search engines for reasonable hotels in City. Not easy to get to BARt from embassy Suites and it will be expensive for round trip for 4 people every day. bART will take you to mainly downtown stations and then u would have to catch a muni bus to get to other places you want to see. stay inthe City. try Fishermans wharf or perhaps you might have some hotel reward points you can cash in. I would highly recommend the Alcatraz tour from pier 39 area. Best tour in the City and your boys would really enjoy it as well as the adults.

lmichael

Google apartment rentals. My dad was at UCSF for over a month, two years ago, we opted forth a VRBO.com property rather than a hotel. Will never stay at a hotel in SF again, unless it is only for one night. We only live 2hrs for SF and down there often. Also check homeaway.com.

5alive

San Jose could be for Great America Theme Park (actually in Santa Clara though). There are also some Tech Museums in the area that teens might like. I would recommend against Winchester House if that is on your itinerary. One of the worst tourist venues we've ever paid to visit.

Many teens will likely think taking Bart into the city is fun. Maybe you could find a hotel closer to the Bart line?

sf7307

First, if you do stay at the Embassy Suites SFO, do not, I repeat NOT, travel into the city from the airport BART station - there's a huge premium to travel between the city and SFO vs. the City and the Millbrae station. Millbrae is actually closer to the Embassy Suites but you'd have to check to see whether the hotel shuttle goes there. Even if you do use the Millbrae station, round trip is about $9.00 person (r/t from the airport is about $18.00 per person)

Second, if you want to go to Great America, there are hotels in Santa Clara - no need to go to San Jose (I wouldn't make a special trip, but there are a few interesting stops if you're passing through).

nelsonian

Have you tried any of the motor-inns, like the Coventry Motor Inn or the Columbus Motor Inn. These are good value, free wi-fi. free parking etc. We have stayed at both ans thought they were very comfortable.

Dayenu

Yes, what Nelsonian said. Hotels/motels on or close to Van Ness.

lgazz

Thanks for the great responses! Here's an update (and more questions!):
1. San Jose is "out"…thought we might meet-up with some friends, but it won't work. Doesn't really seem like there are major "must-dos" for first-timers anyway.
2. Does anyone know anything about CLIPPER passes for transportation? Seems like they offer quite a discount if we purchase those passes.
3. Looking at VRBO, but don't know a thing about what area to look in. Can someone recommend a "neighborhood" to narrow my search? (I'm nervous about getting a rental and finding out it's in a "bad" neighborhood!)
4. We'd really love to see Yosemite (at least catch a glimpse of the park while we're out west) and I see that many companies offer day trips. Does anyone have a recommendation for a tour company or know of one we should steer clear of?

Thanks again so much!!

DebitNM

For use within the city (not on BART) you need a 3 day Muni Visititor Pass. This offers unlimited rides on bus, cable car, historic Market F streetcar, subway/metro.

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfares/passports.htm

The Clipper doesn't offer unlimited rides, it is only a card to carry cash value.

nlg

We also love Embassy Suites, but would not recommend for SF-too far out of town. We were in SF in March and stayed at the Wyndham Canterbury on Sutter St.-it was a central location for getting around. The room setup is similar to Embassy Suites, but without the breakfast and manager's reception.

We took the Dylan's City tour(that also included Muir Woods) and we loved the tour. We left at 10am and returned about 3:30pm. You see a lot of the city and have many photo ops and we loved Muir Woods. Price was $65 per person.

We didn't rent a car-we rode the cable cars and walked. We did buy the weekly Muni pass and it worked out great for us.

sf7307

>>

Not exactly. I don't know about the 3-day pass, but my monthly unlimited pass is loaded onto my clipper card. It is true that the OP is confusing the Clipper and what gets loaded onto the Clipper card. The Clipper card is just a card, like a credit card, onto which you can load cash value useable on Muni, BART, Cal-Train and various ferries. You can also load various Muni passes, as I do. I keep both my unlimited monthly Muni pass and a cash balance on the Clipper Card, in case I take a ride on another means of transportation.

DebitNM

I didn't know the exact words to use to describe it, but for a tourist for 3 days, I don't see that the Clipper is going to be of much help; it certainly isn't going to get them cheaper/unlimited use of BART which the OP might have been thinking.

sf7307

There are no passes on BART, short or long term - everyone pays the same cash price for every trip, which is distance-based.