Where to stay in San Francisco?

[PunkyBoo]

We're planning a brief trip to San Francisco this summer. We plan to stay about 4-5 nights, flying into Oakland and take the BART into the city. We plan to use public transportation you get everywhere, except one day we plan to take the ferry to Sausalito, rent a car there and drive up to Muir Woods for the day. Other activities we have planned are Alcatraz, Academy of sciences, maybe the fortune cookie factory, golden gate bridge...

It's been about 9 years since we've been there. I don't know what neighborhoods we should try to stay in, that is convenient for public transportation, walking to restaurants, etc. Also, we've never used airbnb or the like, so any tips or recommendations for places to stay? We're open to hotels or airbnb-type rentals. We have 2 boys so I prefer to stay somewhere that at a minimum has a separate bedroom for DH and me with kids sleeping on couch bed in a living room area. But I'm fairly certain DH will nix the whole trip if the room cost is over $300/ night, so I'd like to keep it $250 or less pretty night if possible.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

[StantonHyde]

You are going to have to stay out of the city center then. We went in March and you couldn't get much for less than $300. We stayed on Fishermans Wharf in one bedroom Mariott for 2 nights. Have you tried looking at airbnb/vrbo and putting in just your dates and price parameters? Because that will narrow you down quick. And then you could ideas from bay area moms as to which places would be best. Maybe there are some great places I didn't find in my search, but I think you will have to be further afield for that price.

[geochick]

We will be in SF next week (flying into SFO and taking BART to the city). I looked at literally every hotel in the city. My dh requires that the kids not be underfoot at all times, so we always book a suite. This time we are in a suite at the Hilton Parc 55 hotel. It's close to trolleys, a BART line, a lot of restaurants, ...). It includes breakfast (hard to find with a reasonably priced suite), and we are paying roughly $500/nt. A non-suite would be cheaper.

Book the Alcatraz tour as soon as you have your dates set.

Other hotels to look at (with suites, because that's what we do and that's what I wrote down): Marker, Hotel Rex, Hyatt Regency, and Hotel Abri.

[rlu]

Also, we've never used airbnb or the like, so any tips or recommendations for places to stay? We're open to hotels or airbnb-type rentals. We have 2 boys so I prefer to stay somewhere that at a minimum has a separate bedroom for DH and me with kids sleeping on couch bed in a living room area. But I'm fairly certain DH will nix the whole trip if the room cost is over $300/ night, so I'd like to keep it $250 or less pretty night if possible.

We used vrbo to book our stay in Hawaii and I found you need to click through to the free quote to see all the housekeeping fees, deposits, taxes, etc., to get a better idea of the true "nightly" charge. It kind of shocked me at first.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We did a similar trip last summer! We flew into Oakland and did the connector to BART, which dropped us on the same block as Parc 55. We used AAA to get a decent room rate (for the city!!) and had 2 double beds for our family of 5. We pushed chairs together for the 7yo to make a tiny bed, lol.

We were exhausted, so we went to sleep every night when the DC went to sleep.

Our room had no breakfast included, but we had oatmeal, fruit a few mornings, and had BK(directly across the street) or Subway(around the corner) breakfast a few times.

To get to Muir Woods- UBER!!! We got up early and spent maybe 30(?) to get to Sausalito, then rode the Muir Woods shuttle ($7-9??) and it was PERFECT! Getting there earlier was great, not having to drive was great, and doing the junior ranger thing was great. Is there still a 4th grader perk for National Parks? (We had one and the whole fam got in free.) we shuttled back to the big pier on the ferry. The fishermans wharf streetcars went that direction, and they took us to fishermans wharf and back to our hotel. In n out burger (get there at opening) and SF maritime museum were fabulous. Ghiradelli was fun too.

We ordered clipper cards for the kids on the website, and bought the adult ones at the station near the airport. It made transport so easy. Read up and be prepared. We had a blast

Oh, we flew out super early and did a cheap red lion hotel near the Oakland airport on the way home. The food in the restaurant was good, and the price was super cheap (off-set the SF price) but it was not our favorite. Felt a little scary.

Oh we met a cousin and his family, and played at the playground near Academy of Sciences. It was pricey, and at the end of the day, so we skipped it. Doing the trains that direction worked well.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Public transportation via Muni, buses and BART are everywhere. I recently went from Oakland into SF via BART and transferred over to Muni to get to Golden Gate Park. It was so easy and fast. There are so many Muni routes around that you really can branch out to lodging off the beaten track. There are so many great neighborhoods all over the place. Just use Google Maps to see transit options and buy multiday fare cards.
Did you buy Alcatraz yet? It sells out way ahead sometimes.
ETA- lots of good places to consider in the East Bay. If you don't need easy access back to your lodging each day during the day, staying along a BART line would be fine.

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[AnnieW625]

If you can't find a good deal on a hotel stay in SF I would look at staying in San Rafael or Marin and then ubering or ferrying into SF for the day. You could also stay in Berkeley near a Bart station and then exit in Union Square and take the cable car to Pier 39 where you can catch the Alcatraz ferry. If you do this though on the way back go to the Taylor St. cable car pick up location as it is much less congested than the stop near Pier 39 and it is only a couple of blocks north. I have never stayed in a hotel in SF so I am no help there.


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[WatchingThemGrow]

Wanted to ad--check the number of blocks from the trains. Some people were hauling luggage uphill, but parc 55 was right there.

The Argonaut looked really cool...I've always wanted to stay there, but it can be $$$.




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[missliss55]

We live an hr north of SF and go in and stay frequently for the weekend. We recently stayed at the Hotel Zephyr in fishermans wharf and it was a fun modern hotel. I've also stayed at the Marriott marquis, Marriott union square, Le meridien, park central, the grand Hyatt, intercontinental & the intercontinental mark Hopkins. They were all great. For a suite it might be less expensive to stay across the bay bridge in emeryville. It is close to the bay bridge and easy to get in the city. With fees and taxes hotel rooms can get expensive.

If you haven't purchased your Alcatraz tickets yet I would do so very soon. They sell out far in advance.

Have fun!!

[pharmjenn]

Is there still a 4th grader perk for National Parks? (We had one and the whole fam got in free.) we shuttled back to the big pier on the ferry.

They are still doing the 4th grader perk, but it starts in September. So for OP it would be for next summer (2018) DS9 is going into fourth, so I was looking into it as we have a road trip this summer, but no luck for us.