I need a hotel in San Francisco?

Question

I am travelling to San Fransisco in late May with my wife, and would like to find a nice hotel to stay at for our first vacation there. I need help from people familar with the city.

My primary interests are:
* shopping and dining out within walking distance.
* room for $200-$300 a night
* comfortable room, good for a romantic getaway
* decent services at the hotel (restaurant, business center for email, or close cybercafe close by)

Any suggestions? Don't just post a link to tripadvisor and such, I need advice based on personal experience.

Answer 1

For your visit Union Square is probably the best place to stay. There are lots of good restaurants, shops, theaters and clubs in the Union Square area. It is centrally located easy to walk to many places, easier to get cabs, with lots of public transportation options. Driving in the city can be confusing for visitors and parking is difficult and expensive. Muni offers multi day passes that are good for buses, trolley, light rail and the cable cars [unique experience but $5 per ride].
http://www.sfmuni.com

Joie de Vivre http://www.jdvhospitality.com has several hotels in the Union Square area within your budget. Each hotel is unique and they have a cool free program where they match you with a local person, called a Golden Gate Greeter, who shares your interests to spend a few hours with you and familiarize yourself with the city. http://www.goldengategreeter.c...

And for some great ideas of things to do check out these websites:
http://www.jdvhospitality.com/thingstodo...
http://www.mistersf.com

Answer 2

The Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf was nice when my family stayed there for a few nights. I believe it has all the services you are looking for, and might actually beat the rates you posted. That's good, because you can save money for other things to do, and SF is an expensive town for a tourist.

Shopping and dining places are widely available at Fisherman's Wharf, walking distance away. There's also nearby mass transit access so you can get to just about anywhere within the city. Even as a native New Yorker, I was fairly impressed with their mass transit, including their old-fashioned trolley cars for a scenic ride. We didn't use the car for three days. We walked a lot, and used the transit.

We found it a comfortable and convenient stay. If not that particular location, there are many nice places to stay within blocks of there.

Answer 3

Im a San Francisco native. There are lots of nice hotels near union square, which is in downtown and near the business district. Theres a lot of shops and malls around these hotels, where a lot of tourists stay. And theres transportation there that can take you to other parts of SF. However, these places are extremely pricey. Prices range from at least $200-$300 + tax a night. You can expect higher prices up to $400 or more a night too because these are luxury hotels, it varies for certain hotels though. I would suggest you do some research to find the lowest prices on google. The farther away from downtown, the cheaper it is.

Answer 4

Hi, I am from SF and here are my top picks. I don't know what style you guys are into but here is one for each category.
- Washington Square Inn: www.wsisf.com
This is in a great walking neighborhood. Central, tons of cafes, restaurants, lots to do walking distance and you can catch the cable car to the piers etc. It is a romantic, victorian B&B so it's not huge and inpersonal.
-Hotel Monaco: www.monaco-sf.com
Cool and trendy, hip, rock-star. Very central as well. So if you want somthing a little wilder, this is it.
-Fairmont Hotel-www.fairmont.com/SanFrancisco: This is classic SF. Also central, fabulous and classic. It is "old" SF Charm. Oh, if you stay there or not, go there and go to the Tonga Room, it is a bar which has it's own rain and thunder inside!!!
Have a great time!!!!

Answer 5

The Handlery in Union Square, 1/2 bloock from Macy's & across street from St. Francis Hotel (expensive). Handlery was remodelled a few yrs. back, not too long ago. There is a parking garage under the hotel.

Around the corner from Handlery, Villa Florence Hotel on Powell St. has not been remodelled but I like it because the workers are really nice, I like the manager, and Kuletto's cafe & restaurant is on the premises. If you don't stay at Villa Florence, check out Kuletto's coffee bar or restaurant when you come to SF. They bake their stuff fresh, on the premises. Coffe bar is a good place for Tully's coffee and a light breakfast or lunch. We buy the food from the coffee bar andI take it inside to one of the tables at a bar in the hotel lobby or near the fireplace (Unless those tables have now been taken by the restaurant for extra seating. We couldn't be sure when we were there a couple weeks ago. Wait person was sitting in that area folding napkins) and we saw a white table cloth on one of the cafe tables.)

Buy a Muni Passport for visitors. That way, no problem getting around town on cable cars, busses, metro rail, vintage street cars on Market St., underground system, etc.

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfares/passvend.htm

Romantic area -- Seal Rock Inn. Near Pt. Lobos & Sutro Park & Ocean Beach: Eat at the Bistro restaurant in the Cliff House to get a meal and they bring you a basket of steaming hot popovers and can sit at a table with a view of the ocean. Cliff House has another dining room at lower level (not as romantic) also. Seal Rock Inn is near the Cliff House -- they have a cafe that is open during the day for lunch and breakfast at least. Or you can go to Louie's Restaurant on Pt. Lobos, not too far away and sit at a table overlooking the Pacific ocean -- or at the counter -- It's all at the end of the #38 Limited run which you can catch on Geary St. near Powell in Union Square area for shopping. Or you can go out on Pt. Lobos near 46th Ave. and catch the #18 Westbound and that will take you to the Stonestown Mall near SF State College. Or catch the #38 Limited Inbound and go to Union Square for shopping. There is a lot of street parking spaces out there in the Richmond District (read the parking signs for street cleaning days) and there is parking in the hotel. Javacat Coffee on 20th Av & Geary Blvd and another coffee house (forget the name) on corner of 17th Av & Geary Blvd. are cybercafes. There are more, but those are the only two I've patronized lately.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-385363-seal_rock_inn-i

Answer 6

Well there are few in Union Square which it seems most people know about. The Monaco is a great Kimpton hotel one of the best in the city. I would also try the hotel Metropolis it is new and has a great feel. I loved it and they have a rate that will include parking. In San Fran that is a great thing to have!

good luck.

Answer 7

You probably want to stay somewhere close to Fisherman's Wharf on Embarcadero. It's really nice and there's dining, nightlife, shopping, etc (even the Alcatraz Tour) right close by. I'm not too familiar with the hotels around the area, but if you enter Embarcadero on your search you should come up with some good stuff.

Good Luck!

Answer 8

The Hilton on O'Farrell street is really nice. They have everything you would want plus the best place to dine in SF, the Cityscape on the 44th floor.

Also, you're walking distance to the cable car pick-up/drop-off and close to the electric car pick-up too.

Answer 9

personality hotels - hotel diva (or any of their other boutique hotels). right in the heart of downtown, union square, lots of shopping and things to do. boutique, small, personal, exquisite! just search for personality hotels - i think they have 5 or 6 that are generally themed! i can't say enough...

Answer 10

The Fairmont is the best. but you gotta look for deals. book early