San Francisco - Hotels/Tours/Transportation

[canadiansnowbird]

Hi All:

 

I see most of threads are on LA or Seattle, with Vancouver coming up in third place. Not too much on SF.

This will be our first time in SF. We are booked SF to Sydney in September 2010, so I have a lot of time to plan. We plan to come early, perhaps 2 to 3 nights beforehand. (Is that enough time?) Maybe someone could suggest some tours and/or hotels. I will try to book on Hotwire or Priceline. Is there a transportation company from the airport? Or a cab better? What cost?

What hotel areas would be better to stay in for sightseeing? Does SF have a city tour? Do you buy daily tickets for the cable car system?

 

Sorry there are so many questions

 

Snowbird

[Coreopsis]

Wow - don't know where to begin. do some research first and give us some idea of what you want to do. San Francisco is a very small city - with some distinct neighborhoods. Many, many hotels - and all are accessible for sight seeing - what is it you want to see? Beach? Bridges? Fisherman's Wharf? Union Square? Downtown? it just depends on what your interests are. There are many transportation options - again - depends on where you are going. Check 511.org for public transit options.

 

We have many city tours - by water and land. Check out sfgate.com, frommers and for restaurants opentable.com

 

I generally recommend one of our boutique hotels - check out Kimpton and Joie de Vivre.

 

Happy researching!

[Keith1010]

If you would like you can take an overview tour of the city. You can probably purchase tickets at the hotel or you could just get over to Fisherman's Wharf and purchase tickets for a tour right there.

 

Go to a travel web site and start to read about the city and from there you'll make a nice list of what you want to see. There is so much to see and do there.

 

Go to tripadviser.com to start to read about hotels. This way you can narrow down your list. Don't feel that you have to stay at Fishermans Wharf. There are many places to stay.

 

I would try to spend three nights there. It will just give you more time to see many of the sites.

 

Keith

[canadiansnowbird]

Thanks so much, I'll with start with all those suggestions and get back much later after I've read about it more. At least it will give me a starting point.

 

Snowbird

[skandls]

Luggage handling can be a problem. If you are on a budget public transit is great. Personally when long distances or unknown terrain (steps, hills etc) I will plan on taking shuttles or taxis.

 

We like staying around Union Square (only if we are car-less). Parking fees in the city are very expensive. We will usually stay in one of the 'Lombard Inns'. They are located in a more neighbor type area - and its close to where we used to live. We would still be there if we could afford the high cost of living.

 

Please be careful - take public transit - cheap and reliable - but there are picpockets on the more crowded routes. Especially the ones that go through China Town.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

 

Please be very careful when using Priceline to book a place to stay in San Francisco. There are some areas of San Francisco (like all big cities) that are not for visitors...unusual persons out at all hours, police sirens, and so on.

 

Consider the Cow Hollow Motor Inn and Suites in San Francisco, located at 2190 Lombard Street between Steiner and Fillmore. This Inn has excellent public transportation very close by and you can walk to wonderful neighborhood restaurants, shopping (the famous Marina District Safeway supermarket is about 4 blocks away), tennis courts, an unusual golf driving range where you hit balls into a net, and even a public library. More importantly it is safe and and within walking distance of some of San Francisco's most interesting neighborhoods such as the Marina District and Union Street. The Inn is also about 15 - 20 minutes from Chinatown and downtown San Francisco and a 20 minute ride or less from the cruise terminal.

 

And if you decide to rent a car, the Inn has free parking for its guests...a rarity in this city. I am not associated with this Inn in any way but it really has an outstanding location, and which is very important in San Francisco.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

if you decide not to rent a car, then use Super Shuttle from the San Francisco Airport to your hotel. The reason is that you can reserve and pay in advance. An there will be no need for negotiations with a taxi after a long plane flight. Further, Super Shuttle's rates are reasonable and probably much less than a taxi.

[Sailingpeace]

I unfortunately don't know the easy way to redirect you to another thread , but a while ago there was a thead on the Sf hotels. You can find it through the search engine or try this web adress ( what copied when I tried to get the reference)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=985080&highlight=san+francisco+hotels

[April-in-NC]

I was in San Francisco twice last summer for work. You can buy a MUNI (I think that is what it is called) pass that will allow you to ride unlimited on the public transit (not the BART but it does include the trolleys) for however many days you buy the pass.

 

I stayed at the Hilton near Union Square and it was a great location, close to shopping, food and public transit.

[kgarroutte]

The King Tut exhibit is at the de Young Museum in SF right now. supposed to be a great exhibit. We will be visiting in Sept.

[trvljill]

I live about a half hour south of San Francisco so heres just some advice I have. So depending on what hotel you choose you can take BART from the airport(part of the public transport of San Francisco(subway,monorail type transport thing) if you are staying in a hotel near one of the stations this is an option, but if you aren't near one of the stations or have a lot of luggage(from the sounds of it, it will be a long cruise) you may want to just do a shuttle, definitly do shuttle over taxi. Like many have said there are a million things to do. There are the normal tourist things like fishermans wharf/pier 39 area. I do recommend this for a day especially Alcatraz, some may say its over rated but I always take family there when they visit and they love it. Muir woods north of SF is really nice and there are a lot of day tours you can do up there if you are not renting a car. If you are just planning on staying in the city I would not rent a car but if you want to do a lot of things outside of the city then rent a car. Public transport is alright in SF, you can get where you want to go for the most part(can take a fair bit of time considering how small the city actually is) but our transportation in the Bay Area as a whole isn't good so if you want to leave the city perhaps rent a car for a day. I always like the golden gate bridge and some areas you can hike near there. Also one area that I always like going to with my family is the sutro bath houses on the ocean side of the city. They are ruins of old public swimming pools in the city, fun to walk through, theres a restaurant The Cliff House that has a lot of history(burned down a few times thorughout history). Is a bit expensive to eat at, theres a litte tiny restaurant nearby nice views, cheaper prices. It used to be better because below the cliff house it had the Musee Mecanique, it was all of these antique penny arcade games and mechanical musical machines. But it now has actually moved to Fishermans Wharf area, much easier to access for tourists. But theres also some trails you can hike in the area. Sorry I've been rambling, hope you have a great time :-)

[trvljill]

One more to thing to add :-) I just thought of it. One time I took some of my cousins on the Foot Walking Tours, they are comedy walking tours about the history of San Francisco. It was quite enjoyable actually and was actually funny. We have only done one tour and it was a few years ago but I have wanted to do them again. They have tours on various aspects of the city's history. Our tour focused on the Big Earthquake and they have ones that focus on the summer of love/hippies, women of the west, and ones that focus on different areas of the city. If you want some in-depth history(thats intersting on the city) you may want to look into this. Like I said it was a few years ago I did this but was good when we did it.

[Elcruzer]

We are staying at the Sheraton, Fisherman's Wharf. Does anyone know the cost of a taxi or shuttle from airport?

[Coreopsis]

A nifty guide for you: http://sftravelguide.com/around/taxis.php

 

and

 

http://www.worldtaximeter.com/san-francisco

 

Enjoy your stay!

[deepnite10]

there are many good hotels in the Fishermans Wharf area..we stayed at the Hilton..and it was very convient for us..

 

if you know the city..or feel confident..then rent a car..otherwise take one of many tours that you can book thru the hotel..

 

for dinner..if you like seafood..you may be challenged by the many

seafood restraunts on the wharf..

[April-in-NC]

We are staying at the Sheraton, Fisherman's Wharf. Does anyone know the cost of a taxi or shuttle from airport?

 

A private taxi is about $60 if I remember correctly. There are probably Super Shuttle type shared rides that will be cheaper (unless you have a lot of people with you).

 

If you don't have a lot of luggage the BART is the cheapest way to go.

[poppan]

A lot of people stay in Fisherman's Wharf -- in that area I like the Argonaut. I don't really like any of the restaurants around there, IMO they charge a lot for what they offer. There are much better restaurants almost anywhere else in SF.

 

If you are more of a city person and like to shop, you may want to stay near Union Square instead. The Westin St Francis is right on the square and is quite nice.

 

Transportation...

MUNI is the bus system, they also operate the waterfront historic trolleys and the cable car. You can buy a MUNI "passport" which gets you unlimited rides on all those things, or you just pay by the ride (on buses you can get a "transfer" as you get off -- it's good for another ride within a few hours time). Locals mostly take cabs except on the daily commute to work (which they might take the bus for).

 

BART is the train/underground system for the whole surrounding area (all the suburbs), it does not go very far into SF and is completely useless once you get into the city. It's not really what one thinks of as a "subway", despite the stations looking that way. It's more a way to get the folks in the suburbs to work in downtown SF without clogging up the freeway more than it already is.

 

My personal recommendations:

- Alcatraz tour, buy tix ahead of time (can do it online) so you get the day/departure you want, it is a fun self-guided tour, a nice ferry ride and look back at the city skyline

- Ferry building/walk on the waterfront (Embarcadero) -- nice walk, scenic, nice restaurants, lots of interesting "foodie" things inside the ferry building, and there is a big farmer's market on Tu/Th/Sat from 10am - 2pm

- ferry ride to Sausalito (artist colony in North Bay), a good day trip

- Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights -- great restaurants and shopping, fantastic view of the Bay at corner of Broadway & Fillmore

- cable car: IMO it's easiest to get on at one of the terminal points, just stand in line and eventually you will get on (whereas if you try to get on at a stop, there may not be room and it's always a weird procedure to run out into the middle of the street to get on the car -- better to just get on at the terminus point and ride it all the way to the other end). It's a more exhilirating ride if you stand and hang on to the bar, especially on the up/down hill parts.

 

 

you can walk to wonderful neighborhood restaurants, shopping (the famous Marina District Safeway supermarket is about 4 blocks away), tennis courts, an unusual golf driving range where you hit balls into a net, and even a public library.

:D What is it famous for... I just know it as the "pick up Safeway" ;)

[Elcruzer]

One more to thing to add :-) I just thought of it. One time I took some of my cousins on the Foot Walking Tours, they are comedy walking tours about the history of San Francisco. It was quite enjoyable actually and was actually funny. We have only done one tour and it was a few years ago but I have wanted to do them again. They have tours on various aspects of the city's history. Our tour focused on the Big Earthquake and they have ones that focus on the summer of love/hippies, women of the west, and ones that focus on different areas of the city. If you want some in-depth history(thats intersting on the city) you may want to look into this. Like I said it was a few years ago I did this but was good when we did it.

These sound interesting. Do you have a link to the Foot Walking Tours or website where I can find more info and possibly make reservations?

[Aussie One]

I wiill be ariving in San Francisco in September 2010 on Oriana p&o from Southampton UK, staying 3 days then fly to Honalulu 3 days, then home to Oz. i would like to thank all you guys who posted in reply to Snowbird.

A lot of great information in this post. the shuttle looks ok from a/port ?

union st for hotels ?. Sir Frances Drake hotel ? weather this time of year ?

thanks again Grumphy

[Coreopsis]

Ohhhhhh, September and October generally offer our finest weather! The key to San Fran? Layers. Shuttle is fine from airport. Union Square or Fisherman's Wharf are the most popular hotel locations for cruisers. Check out travelocity dot com for ratings of hotels. I definately recommend a unique experience like the Sir Francis Drake or boutique hotel.

 

I have too many favorites to list - but LOVE Marin Headlands (perfect for a picnic) and love taking the Ferry to Angel Island, renting bicycles, then the ferry to Tiburon to have lunch at Guymas, then the ferry back to San fran.

[Keith1010]

I wiill be ariving in San Francisco in September 2010 on Oriana p&o from Southampton UK, staying 3 days then fly to Honalulu 3 days, then home to Oz. i would like to thank all you guys who posted in reply to Snowbird.

A lot of great information in this post. the shuttle looks ok from a/port ?

union st for hotels ?. Sir Frances Drake hotel ? weather this time of year ?

thanks again Grumphy

 

If you want the convenience I would just take a taxi from the airport into the city.

 

Another nice hotel to check out is the Ritz Carlton. We stay there each time we visit this outstanding city.

 

As mentioned, the key to San Francisco is to layer your clothing.

 

One moment it can be sunny, and another moment can feel a little chilly.

 

It is a wonderful city.

 

Keith

[Coreopsis]

Now you are talking! I LOVE our Ritz Carlton - which, I've heard is having a special. CA residents I think get a rate of $199 including parking. And if you think that is too expensive, when you slip into those high thread count sheets and have impeccable service, you will be in heaven. The Dining Room and hotel are the only 5-star ratings in San Francisco - very impressive. Afternoon tea is wonderful.

 

OK, now I need to go stay there!

 

I also agree with taxi - especially if you have 2 people or more. The cost difference is insignificant and you don't have multiple stops.

 

check out sfgate.com for what is happening

 

and opentable.com to make any restaurant reservations (free online service and you can see the menus, etc.)

 

Enjoy your trip!

[Aussie One]

I note P&O give a free shuttle bus to most citys from the port.

if i have to get a taxi as i have luggage what would be the average price ?

thank you again Grumphy