Help... cost effective San Francisco with kids

[popdriver]

Hiya, I am looking for any advice on visiting San Fransico with 2 adults and 3 kids 15-14-9... me & the wife went 20 odd years ago and remember hotels as expensive then...

I think this time around we don’t need much time there as it’s only big ticket stuff, so think of one night do Alcatraz and fisherman’s wharf and the cable car...

Ideas welcome

We have looked at air bnb but they all seem to miles away type thing

[lindasarahlou]

Depending on day of the week you are planning to stay ... if a weekend, we found that a hotel on the Oakland side of the bay was much cheaper and we then used the BART to get to Embarcadero (very brave for us as we dont "do" public transport, but was very easy). We stayed at the Holiday Inn at Castro Valley, the car park for the BART was free at weekends but if mid week I believe it is rammed very early in the morning but we found it empty on a Saturday.

[Echo18]

We had a lovely Airbnb in Alameda this summer. It was a short drive to the ferry terminal and 15 mins across the Bay to SF. It worked out well for us, but we did also consider Metro hotel in SF which was reasonably priced and had great reviews

[cornishfrogboy]

We were there last Easter. Like you, we found Hotels to be generally expensive, particularly towards Fishermens wharf.. Then we had an idea!

Like you, it was just for a few nights (3). We listed what we wanted to see..

Alcatraz, Dylans Famous Tour, Cable Car ride, Fishermens Whark, Lombard St zigzags, Union Sq, Embarcadero.

We also were worried about driving and particularly parking in San Francisco. We therefore figured that we would pick up our vehicle on our last morning as we left over the Bay Bridge to other things.

As we would not have transport until our last morning, we also wanted easy transit from SFO Int to our Hotel.

One place leapt out at us. The Marriott Marquis, just off Union Sq and half a block from the direct BART system from SFO Int. From this Hotel, it was then just a block and a half walk to our hire car pick up point (Budget/Avis) and then a further block and a half to the Bay Bridge ramp as we left. I was even able to recce our exit on the morning I picked up the car as it was so walkably close. For us, it was a no brainer, particularly as the Powell Street Cable Car turnaround was a block and a half away, giving easy access to and from the Fishermens wharf area as well as being on our 'must do' list.

The Hotel was large, immaculate, had great views of the Bay Bridge from our room and very good value. It may suit you very well, particularly when you view your objectives on a street map.

You can find hopefully good info (All in one hit and no pictures of food) on our trip report 'California N to South at Easter'.

[tocpe321]

We stayed at the Cow Hollow Motor Inn in the Marina district, which adjoins Fisherman's Wharf area. There are a couple of sister Motor Inns too.

Probably about 30 minutes walk to FW and good bus links.

It was nice and comfortable, although definitely not high end. Another big seller for us was that car parking was free.

[smithlane]

We've not been yet but for this summer we have booked a 2 room suite at the Columbus Motor Inn which might suit your party size. It was by far the cheapest hotel for having 2 separate rooms plus has free parking which is a bonus! It is also within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf

[landandword17]

Columbus Motor Inn and Cow Hollow get good reviews from Dibbers. We’ve stayed in the former. SF hotels are outrageously expensive for what you get and you have to be careful of anything cheap, it’s either got shared bathrooms or long term tenants I.e it’s part homeless shelter. For one night I’d stay in the city though, the two motels have free parking. There’s a whole row of motels along the same street actually. Avoid the areas called SoMa and Tenderloin.

On Friday and Saturday nights you can get a good price in hotels in the financial district. It’s never worked for our dates but I’ve seen Club Quarters there under £120 on the weekend.

[I love walmart]

Originally Posted by landandword17

Columbus Motor Inn and Cow Hollow get good reviews from Dibbers. We’ve stayed in the former. SF hotels are outrageously expensive for what you get and you have to be careful of anything cheap, it’s either got shared bathrooms or long term tenants I.e it’s part homeless shelter. For one night I’d stay in the city though, the two motels have free parking. There’s a whole row of motels along the same street actually. Avoid the areas called SoMa and Tenderloin.

On Friday and Saturday nights you can get a good price in hotels in the financial district. It’s never worked for our dates but I’ve seen Club Quarters there under £120 on the weekend.

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Another hotel that’s in this area is Hotel Sol by Joi de vivre. We stayed here last year. It was very reasonable (by San Francisco standards!) and had free pastries, juice etc every morning. I wouldn’t worry about being a little further out. The money that we spent on Uber’s was much much less than the higher cost of being more central

[the_lemms]

we stayed at the Coventry Motor Inn, same group as the Cow Hollow and Columbus. Would stay there again without hesitation, free parking rooms although a little dated were always clean and perfectly adequate.
We like to walk most places so we just walked 10mins up Laguna street and you are on the bay and can stroll along to fishermans wharf. We did get an Uber to Alcatraz early one morning which was about $7.

[sky13]

Are your dates set in stone yet? Asking as I found last year that SF hotels vary massively in price (I was looking at going in September but ultimately went Thanksgiving week) depending on whether there are any major conventions ongoing or whether there are any holidays making it a ghost town... Might be worth having a play with dates if your dates are flexible.

Another alternative I considered like a previous poster was staying somewhere that wasn't in the city centre proper but accessible with BART, like on the Oakland side.