SOMA area
 

Hi
We are visiting SF for 2.5 days (3 nights) in late September and have got a really good 4* hotel deal on Howard Street and 5th Street
We just wondered what the area was like and how much walking there would be to get to bars/restaurants/attractions?

Is there a centre to SF?. From the maps, it's hard to tell

Any advice on "must sees" also very welcome
Cheers
Dave

Specifically, What hotel? That appears to be in the Tenderloin area which is not the best area.

Did you get this hotel on a site where you bid? How much is the room with tax? Can you cancel? September is probably the highest priced season in SF.

For first time Visitor's union Square is a pretty central location.

As for what to see or do, what are your interests? Use the Destination tab up top to get info and the search box as there are lots of posts on what to do.

Am guessing it's the Intercontinetal, you will need to make sure that you don't head into the Tenderloin, which is close by, always head towards the convention center.

In addition to what DebitNM suggested, take a look at this narrative style guide to get a good overview of SF attractions.

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/s...city-guide.htm

One way I use to find the "centre" of a city is to take a look at the transportation map. For SF, here's what it looks like. The centre of transportation is on the bay side of the city.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/20..._qweqwe321.png

There are "worse" areas South of Market depending on your orientation but you aren't really close to those.

Deb is correct Howard and Fifth is probably the Intercontinental. As for the neighborhood, it is right near Moscone Convention Center and depending on what direction you wander it is trendy, scary, run down, upscale, hipster. What you have to know about SF is that within a few blocks neighborhoods can dramatically differ. Therefore one block away at 6th and Howard are skidrow type hotels, but in another direction is Moscone.

As a first time visitor, it would not be my choice location unless you are an urban savvy person.

Friends of ours stayed there recently and the hotel is very nice. As long as you know to turn left out the front door, or right and then right again (on 5th) you'll be fine. It's only two blocks to Bloomingdales. The problem is as the others mentioned that if you go in the other direction (west), the neighborhood gets sketchier.