San Francisco Trip Advice Needed
 

Hello San Fran experts! My husband & I will be bringing our 17 y.o. daughter from Atlanta for college tours at Stanford & Berkeley in mid-March. Will be flying in to SFO and thinking it will be best to stay at a hotel near the airport(possibly Burlingame)to be in a central location to the two schools. We may rent a car for the extra day or two that we have to sightsee but are wondering how easy/difficult it would be to get to Stanford & Berkeley(2 different days of course)on public transportation so that we are not at the mercy of the traffic when trying to get to scheduled appointments for the college tours. We would appreciate any thoughts/advice. We can't wait to visit San Francisco for the 1st time & plan to use some of the many suggestions on this site to fill our extra time. Thanks in advance!

I'd stay at an airport hotel if you are driving, otherwise I'd probably stay in the city. That said, it is possible to get to both schools via public transportation. If you stay at an airport hotel on Bayshore Blvd., you would have to take a shuttle (I think all the airport hotels have them), or you can stay on El Camino Real and walk, to the BART/Cal-Train station (it's one big transportation center). From there, you could take BART to Berkeley, and walk to campus from the BART station. You would take Cal-Train south to Palo Alto, and walk to the Stanford campus from the train station. Be aware that both campuses are huge. I'm not sure about Berkeley, but Stanford has a free bus system called "The Marguerite" that I think goes to the Cal-Train station too. It isn't far to get TO campus from the train station, but it's about a mile from the train station to the Visitor Center, for example.

BTW, if you do decide to stay in Burlingame, there are lots of good restaurants to choose from!

Thanks for the insight, sf! We will have a rental car but husband is worried about trying to navigate traffic & find parking once we get to the schools and still be on time for appointments. But it may be easier to drive as both appointments are first thing in the morning and our daughter also wants to tour the Linear Accelerator at Stanford while there(she will be studying physics/astrophysics). I think it is out from the campus a ways so that would be even more walking. We are looking at Embassy Suites in Burlingame to stay because we are Hilton Diamond memebers & could get the room free! Can you suggest some good restaurants in the area? Thanks again!

First, you can't really walk to Linear Accelerator from campus - and its 3-1/2 miles from the Visitor Center. I don't know whether there is a shuttle, so you might want to call the Visitors Center to ask.

Sure I can recommend restaurants -- what do you like?

Oh, parking on the Stanford campus is not bad -- just don't park at a meter (park in a lot where you buy a ticket from a machine for hours) -- some of the meters are in 3-minute segments! Best to park behind Tressider Union.

In Berkeley, I don't think there is much parking on campus, but there are several parking garages around.

Traffic probably won't be terrible if you can avoid the commute hours, i.e. go after 9:00 AM, return before 4:00 PM.

Early morning traffic will be a problem going from Burlingame to Berkeley if you go through SF to get to the Bay Bridge since you will be in commute traffic into the City.

"<i>both appointments are first thing in the morning</i>"

In that case driving -- especially to Berkeley - will be a real bear (and not a Cal Bear :) )

I'd consider staying the first night in Berkeley/Emeryville and visit Cal the next morning. Then move across the Bay (Burlingame or wherever)for the rest of your nights.

If Stanford is the first appointment - you'd adjust for that. Stay on the Peninsula the first night then move to Berkeley/Emeryville for the next night.

Janis' plan is fine if you don't mind moving hotels. From Burlingame to Stanford at commute hours will be 45 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic (with no traffic, it's 30 minutes). From Burlingame to Berkeley at commute hours will be about a little over an hour. By public transportation, Berkeley is 50 minutes by BART from the Millbrae station plus the time to get to and from the BART station and wait for the train), and Palo Alto is 26 minutes by Cal-Train from the Millbrae station (same as far as getting to and from the train station).

If you don't mind changing hotels, I think I'd stay IN either Palo Alto or Berkley rather than trying to split the difference - stay near her 1st choice school. This way you don't have long commutes for both visits and you can get a feel for the area. Your daughter is considering spending years at one of these schools - it would be good for her to get a feel for the area.

november_moon: The problem w/ that plan as I see it, both appointments are in the AM and the commute from Berkeley > Palo Alto or vise versa would be hellish.

I usually don't like moving hotels either. But if it avoids the Bay Area morning commute -- twice -- I'd at least consider it.

Hi guys-thanks so much for taking time to help me. Our schedule is to fly in on a Tuesday(from Seattle after visiting UW), Tuesday afternoon free, Wed. AM: Berkeley from 9 am to noon with afternoon free, Thursday: our free day to sightsee, Friday: Stanford from 9 am to 3 pm & then fly out Saturday noon. After seeing your comments & talking to hubby, we just might stay the first night near Berkeley campus & then move to a hotel between SF & Palo Alto for the next 3 nights. We're pretty flexible & don't mind switching hotels to make things a bit easier.

Given your schedule I might suggest that you stay in SF on Tues, Wed, nights and take BART to Berkeley on Wed morning to go to CAL. You could spend your free time on exploring SF then stay the evening near the Stanford campus on Thursday and you would not need a car until then.

I agree with SAB:

Tuesday: SF, overnight in the city
Wednesday: visit Berkeley (take BART), explore Berkeley and SF, overnight in SF
Thursday: SF, drive to and overnight in Palo Alto or environs
Friday: Stanford, explore Palo Alto, overnight in Palo Alto
Saturday: Drive to airport, leave for home

Stanford hotels: When we chaperone a bunch of HS kids to Stanford for the Stanford Model UN conference every year we stay at the Sheraton Palo Alto--it has parking and the rooms are nice. It is about I mile to campus. The Stanford Park is supposed to be very nice, but out of our price range with 40 students!! Oh, the Westin is right next to the Sheraton, but since it costs more per room, we use the Sheraton.

BTW practically every kid we take ends up wanting to go to Stanford because the campus is so beautiful--unfortunately for them they actually have a better chance of getting into Harvard or Yale than Stanford. Stanford seems to only accept about one kid a year from most NorCal public HS.

<<<Stanford seems to only accept about one kid a year from most NorCal public HS.>>>

Unless it's Pali or Gunn :-)

Yes, the kids from Gunn and Paly do well, but then again it does not hurt to have parents who teach at Stanford!!!

Just wanted to say thanks again to all of you for taking the time to advise me. We are settled now on staying in SF for Tues & Wed nights(UC Berkeley on Tues & sightsee on Wed)and then move to hotel in Burlingame for Thursday night(Stanford & National Accelerator Lab on Fri). We are actually now taking the red-eye flight back to Atlanta on Friday night so will use Friday afternoon & evening to explore Palo Alto.

sf, would love to have those restaurant recommendations for Burlingame. We like pretty much anything-daughter is vegetarian but Dad & I are not. Thanks!

You need to sign up in advance for the tour at SLAC. Their tours do fill quickly.