Two days in San Francisco
 

Taking family members to San Francisco for two days this summer. Where should I stay to hit the major tourist attractions on foot or cable car: Golden Gate Park, Haight, Fishermans Warf, China Town, Little Italy, etc. Thanks!

A great choice. You might mention your hotel budget for others to give suggestions better.

We went for two days last summer. Do a search for "San Francisco Summer Weekend," the title of my trip report, or look under my screen name. Last post to my San Francisco report was 9-20-06.

I would prefer to stay near Union Square over near Fisherman's Wharf.

We stayed in the Union Square area and found it very central to everywhere. make sure you buy a Muni pass (I am sounding like a cracked record on this) but it was so worth it. You can use it on the cable cars and the buses and trams, and save heaps. Buy it as soon as you get there to maximise the cost. We caught the bus along Mission to get to Golden Gate park, needed to change, but then we also got off at Alamo square to look at the houses. The cable car goes straight from Union Sq to Fisherman's Wharf. enjoy, it is a great town. Schnauzer

Schnauzer or anyone: Where do you buy the Muni pass?

Thanks.

Sandy

We bought ours at Walgreens the chemist, quite a few around, however they only sold the three day pass, you would need to do the maths for the two days you are there. You can also buy them at the cable car terminals, ie at the end of the line. Down on Market and Powell there is a ticket booth. Some hotels also sell them, but ours didn't. There are one day, three days and seven day passes. The cable car alone for one ride, one direction is now $5, so HUGE saving to buy the passes. You can then just hop on and off as you want, even for a really short distance.

Thank you schnauzer

Sandy

You can also buy Muni passes at the SFO baggage claim info booth. I've heard they're available at the Ferry Building, too. Does anyone know?

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Sounds like Union Square area is the best base. Someone recommended the Hotel Juliana which unfortunately is now closed. Any recommendations for other decent hotels in that area in a similar price range (under $200). Thanks.

We liked the Inn at Union Square last time we were there. It's a small hotel about 1/2 block from the square. It's not fancy, the decor may seem a bit shabby, but it's clean, they have a nice breakfast and the staff is terrific, not to mention the location. We'd stay there again.

Although it has been years, I loved the Japanese garden and Tea House.

I have stayed by Fisherman's warf and then my last trip I stayed in Union Square and I prefer that location by far. I stayed at the Marriott due to "points" and it was "fine" ... the location was okay - we walked every place... the hotel itself was just an okay Marriott as far as Marriotts go.

Hello guy, I almost always have stayed at the Villa Florence which is on Powell St., just one half block south of Union Square. It is a wonderful and a very convenient location.

It was owned by the Kimpton Group but was recently sold to a Marin County Group. In the past I have always paid under $200.00 for a room but I don't know if the prices have changed or not.
Here is the website so you can check it out. http://www.villaflorence.com/

If you want a larger hotel the Grand Hyatt is just across the street from Union Square so it is also in a very good location. Have a fun time in SF!!

The last few times I have looked at the Villa Florence (in past 8 months), it's been $275.- plus. Although that was for popular dates in the late summer/ early fall.

definitely make time for the cable car ride from the beginning at Market/Powell on down to Fisherman's Wharf (thru Chinatown). it is spectacular!

I have stayed in Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, Cow Hollow, the Embarcadero and North Beach. You didn't say what you meant by family members, but if tou mean kids, then Fisherman's Wharf might be a better area for you. We stayed last year at the Argonaut and enjoyed it very much. I can't say that I was as impressed with Union Square as a lot of people here seem to be. It's a great location if you are a shopper, but some areas right around Union Square feel a bit seedy to me. But of the places that we have stayed, the best to me, convenience wise. was the Hyatt at the Embarcadero. You could walk right out the door and have any type of public transportation right there. Buses, subways and even a cablecar turnaround (no lines like the one on Market or the one at the Wharf) are just right outside the door. The hotel itself is one of the older Hyatts (it was in lots of movies in it's day) but the rooms are very nice, and there's all kinds of good restaueants in the area.

We stayed at the Hotel Rex, from recommendations on this board. You cannot beat it's location and we were very happy. The room was a little noisy from next door, but I think it was because we had a corner room. The staff could not be faulted and everything was very clean. The bathroom a little dated, but perfectly adequate. We recevied a three nights for two deal which certainly helped. I booked rooms initially on the web and then kept checking for deals as the time progressed, we then changed the booking to the three for two without any problems. I think it would be in your budget requirements.

I'm going to San Fran 9/9 to 9/11 (stop b/f Hawaii)and would like some help in quickly seeing the most important points of interest. I'm staying in the bay area, trying to get a night tour of alcatraz (can't book until Aug)and a nice place for dinner on theh 10th. Any suggestions will be appreciated!

The night tour of Alcatraz is cool. We went and got to tour the prison hospital by lantern. San Francisco is just packed with stuff to see. Look here:
http://piytravel.com/pages/where/na/...isco_brief.piy
I highly recommend booking a hotel room via Priceline in order to save some money.
Good luck!

tagging

<i>but some areas right around Union Square feel a bit seedy to me.</i>

You can go in 3 directions from Union Square and it won't be at all seedy. The 4th direction is toward a neighborhood that could be considered not the best. It's also decidedly not a &quot;tourist&quot; neighborhood anyway, so no reason to go in that direction (which is west of Union Square, for the record).

How much are the 1 day and 3 day MUNI passes?

The passes are:

$11 - one day
$18 - three days
$24 - seven days

ET -- You are brilliant, you drive us around and now you sell MUNI passes?!

S'hainese: Nope, not brilliant at all. I was just up there this weekend and had to drop someone from out of town off at the Powell Street cable car stop.

Also had to give them sufficient change money to buy the passes and we had a discussion of how many days they wanted, etc.

I agree with the Alcatraz recommendation. I also heard the San Francisco Ghost Hunt tour is great fun, and is also a night tour, to pack your schedule. Great hotel deals at this site: www.crshotels.com