Where to Stay in SF WITH a Car
 

As part of a cross country driving trip this summer we will be in SF for a few days. I'm looking for suggestions of where to stay with a car that won't incur huge parking rates. We are ok taking the BART from somewhere with easy acces to downtown. Thanks!

Cow Hollow or Columbus mother inns (sister properties) are the go-to places if one has a car. Nice properties and free covered parking.

+1 http://www.columbusmotorinn.com/

>>Columbus mother inns<<

Motor - not mother.

BART is primarily used to get people from the East Bay & SF northern peninsula into San Francisco downtown. It is really not that great for getting tourists to/from the usual tourist spots. DO NOT stay outside of SF (Burlingame, SFO, etc) and use BART to get you into SF, unless you have a REALLY good reason to stay outside of SF.

Stu Dudley

You can park your car on the street parallel to the Great Highway (along the beach). If parking near Judah or Taraval you would be right on a streetcar line. Those two areas also have motels if you do not mind taking the ride into town every day.

We stayed at the Castle Inn in the Russian Hill neighborhood. There were 4 of us and the suite was VERY affordable. The hotel is older as are the furnishings, but everything worked and was nice and clean. They have free indoor parking under the hotel so we just parked and used the convenient public transportation to get around. There are some bus stops that are not many steps away and best of all, the Powell Cable car was only two blocks away - the cable cars are not cheap but you can save a lot buying longer term passes than single ride, and besides, they are part of the SF experience. If you like to walk and are OK with hills, you can walk to many of the tourist sites in an hour or less.

Hate autocorrect :)


I don't think you want to stay at any of the motels near the Great Highway.

<i>I don't think you want to stay at any of the motels near the Great Highway.</i>

Why not? Friends stayed in one between Judah and Lincoln and had no complaints.

I wouldn't stay at the Great Highway either (recognizing that other people don't mind being so far from the center of town).

Thanks, everyone! Where/what is the great highway being discussed. Is that where basingstoke stayed, Castle Inn? I'm assuming that the motels mentioned earlier in this thread, Cow Hollow or Columbus Inn, are located where sf307 is referring to as "being so far from the center of town?" Is transportation easily availabe to get us to the center of town, say the Ferry Bldg or SFMOMA (or is that still closed?) We would need to take the bus to get to the de Young Museum anyway, correct?
Happy New Year!

Happy new year yestravel,

I have no idea where a highway is going to be so if you are interested in the Castle Inn why not just give them a call. Like I said it is older and not fancy, but well kept up and for SF, a bargain. With a cable car pass we were able to get anywhere we wanted in short order and as mentioned walking was also an option. There are small neighborhood restaurants and such around as well but we did not try any. They do not serve much of a breakfast. Just coffee or beverage and when we were there, some supermarket type pastries.

The Great Highway is a road running along the beach on the Pacific and not near the center of town. I believe that is the area some people were saying was not convenient. This is not where Castle Inn is located, nor Cow Hollow or Columbus Inn, all of which are more central.

I just googled them all, you can see them on a map and clear up any confusion.

In the summer - the Great Highway (outer Sunset & Outer Richmond) will likely be covered in fog. There isn't much to do in this region except the Zoo, beach, west end of GG Park (De Young/Academy of Science is central/east end), Land's End/Cliff house, and a few other "odd" things (Doggie Diner statue). Very few restaurants in the area - unless you go 5-10 blocks east where there are many Asian restaurants. Then it is a long ride to MOMA & the Ferry Bldg. I agree with Janisj & sf7307 - it is not an area I would place any tourist friends of mine.

Stu Dudley

basingstoke - yes, we certainly will consider Castle Inn. I've looked at its website and it looks fine. Just need to decide where we'd rather be located. Whenever we are in SF the cable cars are packed with lines waiting to board. Was that not an issue for you? Did you use the Clipper Pass?

Nikki, thanks - putting them on a map is a good idea. I have a general idea where they are, but pinpointing them is good.

Stu, good description - I now know where you all were talking about. We don't want to stay out that far for sure.

Appreciate all your comments.

I've stayed at both Cow Hollow Suites and Columbus Motor Inn mainly for the free parking. I think you want a review on both so here you go.

I liked the set up for Cow Hollow Suites as I needed two rooms and I got basically an apartment. It had a full kitchen, living and dinning room with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The set up was very nice. The hop on and off bus picks up within yards of the front office. They do not provide breakfast but there was a place maybe two doors down which I liked. To get to Fisherman's Wharf, we had to take a bus. It wasn't costly and took maybe 5-10 mins. One block over were lots of resturants, shops, etc.

I liked the location of Columbus Motor Inn. I got two rooms with one bathroom as again, I needed two rooms. So smaller space and I believe it was less costly. The trolly was only a few blocks away. Fisherman's wharf was maybe a 10 min walk away. Resturants you had a few mins walk to get to and no breakfast included.

I like both for different reasons. Hope this helps.

sassy

Yestravel didn't mention anything about access to Fisherman's Wharf - only downtown (MOMA & Ferry Bldg). How was access to downtown?

Stu Dudley

Thanks for your review, sassy. It's helpful. As Stu says I'm more interested in downtown locations as opposed to Fisherman's Wharf. Any comments about getting there.

A Google map search will show you its 20 mins from Columbus Motor Inn to downtown. It involves taking the Mason Powell trolley and walking a little. Cow Hollow would be further as its closer to the Golden Gate Bridge direction. Out of the two options, I found Columbus Motor Inn easier to get further out to places. i only commented as someone suggested them but they might not work for your intentions.

sassy -- thanks! I do appreciate your comments. Nothing beats personal experiences at a place esp the logistics with public transportation is particularly helpful. We've never stayed in these locations so hearing what others have to say is helpful.

Is the trolley the cable cars? I remember taking the lite rail, but I assume that's not the trolley. If the trolley is the cable cars, was there a line to wait to board?

Sorry yes I mean cable car stop is about 2 blocks away and there was a huge line. I went in June. So you would have to factor in the waiting time to the commute. I also recall being by the Ferry Building but can't recall how I got there and I wasn't in a hurry. Someone else might know a better match for what you need but the Columbus Motor Inn could be something worth working with if you can't find something else.