San Francisco Hotel/activities for us and our 3 teens at Fisherman's Wharf
 

We are looking for recommendations for a 4 night hotel stay at Fisherman's Wharf for July 4-8 for my family (me, husband and 3 teenagers). Would like to keep the price right around $200/night.

Also, what sorts of activities would you recommend for a family from Ohio with 3 teenagers? We are planning to go to Alcatraz one day but have no plans set in stone.

Thanks so much!

Karen

There are fireworks, of course, the night of July 4th. I've heard they're excellent (although I haven't been in 30 years) as long as it's not a foggy night -- do dress warmly.

Are you looking for 4 days worth of activities AT Fisherman's Wharf (I think FW is okay for an afternoon, plus Alcatraz, but otherwise, won't you want to be touring the rest of San Francisco?)

As for hotels, there are some suite hotels in the general area (look up Cow Hollow Suites), but not sure about FW itself.

Oh, no.. we're not spending the entire 4 days there.. just wanted the hotel to be there.

Thanks.

I'd choose to stay in another part of SF other than FW - you'll probably want to just spend 1 of your days in that part of the city. Since you pick up the boat to Alcatraz at FW, you can see what there is the see the same day you go to Alcatraz.

Other things to see and do, keeping the teens in mind -

Rent bikes and ride across the GG bridge - I understand that the ride to Sausalito is good and then you can take a ferry back.

Golden Gate Park - there are several museums, the Japanese gardens, and a bunch of other things. There are concerts in the park sometimes.

Cable Cars - always fun

Chinatown - you can go to wander around and shop and have dim sum - there are also walking tours which are pretty interesting.

Having a friend (also from the Midwest) strongly recommend we stay by the Wharf. I did, however, look up Cow Hollow, and it will accommodate all 5 of us. How accessible are areas like the Wharf from Cow Hollow? How hard is it to get to the other activities from the Wharf?

Thanks for your expertise!

So you'll be in San Francisco for 4 nights, and someone has recommended you stay in Fisherman's Wharf. FW is okay, but it's hardly "really San Francisco" -- it's more of a large tourist destination, nice for an afternoon (especially if it's nice weather), but otherwise not much to recommend it.

As for the area near Cow Hollow Suites, the advantage is that the hotel is near two different neighborhoods (Cow Hollow, the main street of which is Union Street and the Marina, the main street of which is Chestnut Street). Both of these are "real" neighborhoods,, with excellent shopping and eating opportunities. There are no tourist "destinations" in those areas, although there are some that are close -- example, the Exploratorium, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco end of the Golden Gate Bridge).

Will you have a car? I understand that group of hotels offers free parking, which is a big deal in SF, as parking is very expensive.

Do you intend to get around the city by public transportation (public transportation in SF is very good, but I think you'll be limited to buses in the Cow Hollow and Marina areas, whereas in FW, you'll also have the cable cars and trolleys)? Some places are actually easier to get to and around by car, almost everyplace is accessible by public transportation.

StuDudley is Fodor's resident San Francisco expert. He has an extensive San Fran guide. If you search the forums for his posting, it's worth reading.

My personal favorites are walking across the Golden Gate Bridge and visiting Muir Woods. Giracelli Square in walking distance form Fisherman's Wharf has several superb view restaurants.

Just got back from a day "playing" in SF.

Here are some ideas:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35129049

Stu Dudley

Wow Stu.. thanks for all of that! I'll take a while to read through it.

Any particular place you'd recommend we stay? We will have a car.. flying into SF from Ohio, staying 4 nights then driving to LA via Yosemite and Sequoia.

If you are going to have a car, parking is a fortune in SF.

I personally don't think your 3 teens are going to want to stay in Cow Hollow area, it is pretty residential and yuppie-ish to me.

Columbus Motor Inn is a an area that is a bit more lively [from a teen view]area, close to FW, North Beach [Little Italy], Chinatown. They have free parking, family suites.

http://www.columbusmotorinn.com/

thanks for the recommendation.. can you tell me how far away it is from the Columbus motor inn to FW? Would we be able to get there without the car?

Do you mean get there on foot or get there by public transportation? You can get anywhere in SF by public transportation. Walking, googlemaps says the Columbus Motor Inn is 1/2 mile from Ghirardelli Square, so Debit might be on to a good thing. It's close to FW but in North Beach (the "Little Italy" of San Francisco). I don't know anything about the hotel, but I think it would be an interesting neighborhood to stay in - plenty of walking, shopping, browsing, being-a-tourist, eating, people-watching.

either walking or public transporation would work. It kind of begs the question.. if we are spending several days in SF before we head to the national parks.. do we even need a car until the day we are leaving? We could get from the airport to the hotel with a shuttle or something.. would we need a car to explore SF? It would probably save some rental car $$ if we knock off 4 days of renting one.

If you mean a shared shuttle, like SuperShuttle, yes you can do that, I think it's about $17 per person one-way, so with 5 people, at $170, not sure it would be worth it. You can't fit 5 people with luggage in a regular taxi (which would be about $40+ to FW area). There are no hotel shuttles from the airport.

Also, some things are just easier with a car. For example, if you want to go to Muir Woods - drive. If you want to go to Twin Peaks - drive. If you want to go to the Cliff House/Land's End - drive. If you want to do the 49-Mile Drive- well, drive. It's not that you can't use public transportation, it's just that some things are more distant and therefore more difficult and time-consuming to get to by public transportation. (It's not like NY where it's "dense" throughout). You can leave the car at the hotel to do the more "downtown" areas like North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, the Financial District, Chinatown, and even to do the neighborhoods like Noe Valley and the Castro.

Aha.. I understand better now. Think we'll just pick up a car at the airport then.

And, as I'm understanding, if we do stay at the Columbus Motor Inn then we'd be able to get to those mentioned "downtown" areas without having to drive/pay for parking? Either by walking or public transportation we'd be able to access those areas, right?

Yes, absolutely. I work downtown (in the Embarcadero Center, across from the Ferry Bldg) and I love to walk downtown -- all easy walks (my office to North Beach - 15 minutes), plus you'll be close to various means of public transportation, including the famous SF cable cars. I understand it's a good idea to get a Muni pass, which includes the cable cars -- the cable cars are otherwise something like $5.00 per ride (as you can tell, I haven't been on one in a long time, but I used to "commute" downtown on the California Street line).

If there's any chance you're baseball fans, a game at AT&T Park would be a fun thing to do. I also walk there from my office (1-1/4 miles, in the opposite direction from FW) rather than fight the crowds on Muni on game day).

ok, now I am understanding it better. You are flying in to San Franciso. I would suggest that you do not get a car until you are ready to leave SF, or maybe a day ahead if you want to go north to Muir Woods. You do not need to get a car at the airport, you can actually get one at different hotels in Fisherman's Wharf.

It will be less money for the rental [airport rentals have extra fees] and you would have to pay to go to airport, pick up the car and return for the others [if just the renter went] or you would all have to pay to return to the airport and get car.

We like renting with Dollar, they don't usually have a drop off fee for one way rentals [which it sounds like you are doing - you are flying home from LA?] It is at the Sheraton on FW.

We walk all over SF when we visit and use public transportation. We took the bus to Twin Peaks, F trolley to The Castro, the bus to Golden Gate Bridge. We walk from Union Sq to FW. SF is a very easy town to get around without a car.

If you rent the car at FW, you will only need transportation 1 way from airport -- which airport, by the way??

For 5 people maybe a town car would be cheapest, easiest option. We took BART when we stayed last trip at FW. But we know our way around and were able to get on F trolley to FW and walk the rest of the way. It would be a bit trickier to someone not familiar with SF or the transit system and if you stay at Columbus, it would be a bit of a walk with luggage.

Your biggest obstacle is having 5 people, I don't think most single rooms will allow or fit 5.

Without a car to worry about parking, it opens up a lot more options, but I think you would do well with the Columbus.

I just booked the Columbus, which, by the way, has a cancellation policy of up to the night before the reservations, so if we find something else I can cancel with no fee. I think we might have to pay an extra $10/night for an extra person, but it allowed me to book the room (a suite) for the 5 of us, so that was great. And, also, sounds like the free parking is a definite bonus. Thanks for the suggestion.. it looks great!

As far as the rental car, yes, we are going to need one for the rest of our trip after we finish in SF. I guess I need to price out the cost of getting the 5 of us from the airport to the hotel vs the extra cost of having the car for some days when we might not need it.

We are flying Southwest into SFO, which I think is just called San Francisco airport? And we usually rent from National because of the convenience of not needing to go through the counter.. just go directly to the lot, pick up the car of our choice, and drive away.

Guess I'll price picking up a car from FW vs the airport and see where that gets me. I really appreciate all the helpful suggestions. It's very difficult to plan a trip to CA while living in OH and not knowing anything about the area at all!

My DH and I stayed at Columbus Inn a couple of years. We did the Alcatraz tour one day, took a tour to Muir Woods one day, and did the Hop On Hop Off tour to the Golden Gate bridge another day . All these left from Fisherman's wharf. It took us about 10 minutes at the most to walk there from the hotel.

There is also a bus stop outside the hotel which we took to Union Square and other places, and a cable car stop only a block away. We thought the location was great, and the price was good too.

We flew into SFO from New Zealand, and took the super shuttle to the hotel. We probably wouldn't do that again as it seemed to take forever. We will probably take a taxi next time or maybe BART.

<<<We will probably take a taxi next time or maybe BART.>>>

Just to clarify - BART is not a cost saving alternative for 5 people, as the one-way trip is now about $8.00 per person. Also, once you get off BART in the city, you still have to get to the hotel, either by public transportation or taxi (there is no BART station near any of the hotels/areas being discussed).