San Fran ~ how long and where to stay?

[Guest]

Been to San Francisco twice for 7 nights and 6 nights and still haven't seen everything. If you factor in day trips away from the Bay Area (Muir Woods, Sausalito, Vallejo) it is quite easy to fill a week+, but if you stick to the city itself I think a minimum of 5 days and nights are required especially if you are flying into San Francisco first and therefore losing your first day to travel and tiredness.

I have no preference over the Wharf or Union Square. Both have nice hotels available and plenty to see and do in both areas and with the excellent transportation system the other is never far away.

As for Vegas, yes I agree with your plans for 7-9 nights there. Clearly you love the place (as I do) and can quite happily spend that amount of time there especially with trips out to the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire SP and Red Rock Canyon. Vegas isn't everybodys cup of tea admittedly but there is so much to see and do away from the Strip itself.

Sounds like a great trip especially with Yosemite NP included.

[Guest]

We are staying for 3 nights in October at the Holiday Inn Express before we fly out to Hawaii.
Love Rio

[bluesky30]

RIO

Will be really interested the hear what you think ~ would you mind taking some pictures of the hotel, rooms etc?

Hope you have a great time

[Guest]

Originally Posted by bluesky30

RIO

Will be really interested the hear what you think ~ would you mind taking some pictures of the hotel, rooms etc?

Hope you have a great time

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Will try to remember to take photos. Have only heard good reports about this hotel
Love Rio

[Harry]

We have 2 nights to finish off our Cal trip this coming October. Would have ideally liked three nights but something had to give!

We are also staying at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf... got a great price of £49 per night from Hotwire... one thing to look out for if anybody is driving is the car park fees... by the sounds of it all hotels charge hefty fees (Holiday Inn is $40 a night IIRC?) . Did anyone else have the encounter the fees when there?

[N52939]

Originally Posted by Harry

We have 2 nights to finish off our Cal trip this coming October. Would have ideally liked three nights but something had to give!

We are also staying at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf... got a great price of £49 per night from Hotwire... one thing to look out for if anybody is driving is the car park fees... by the sounds of it all hotels charge hefty fees (Holiday Inn is $40 a night IIRC?) . Did anyone else have the encounter the fees when there?

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Only picked up our car when we were leaving San Fran. However I did hear others being told that if your car hire is with Dollar they had a special arrangement with the car park at their O'Farrell St pick up of $15 per night. This is really only of use to those staying in the Union Square area though. Other hire companies are located in the same place so may have the same deal.

[margyloveswdw]

We had five days in San Fran which for us was about right (we don't do rushing about!). Stayed at the Argonaut Hotel on Fishermans Wharf - fantastic!

[pammiep]

I take with the city pass etc that there is no need for a car when you are in the city. $40 to park a car is excessive but we'll need one for day trips then driving to Yosemite, Sequoia and Death Valley.

[Tiggernut]

We're doing SF at the end of our trip. We're arriving on 8th Nov and giving up the car rather than pay the fees but we're staying the night of the 7th just over the GGB in Mill Valley or San Rafael (not booked yet!) so we can do the bridge, Crissy Fields and the Marin Headlands before we book into our hotel on Fisherman's Wharf. We also arranged that we can drop the car off actually in Fisherman's Wharf so we don't have far to travel. Then we'll use public transport for the next 4 days.

Then on our last day before heading home (13th) we've booked a car for one day and will do the other bits of car travelling (driving down Lombard St and Tresure Island for views over the bay) before going to the 49ers NFL game in the evening. We've booked a hotel next to the airport for the Thursday night as we fly at lunchtime on the Friday. The plan is to dump all our stuff at the airport hotel then head to the NFL game.

[N52939]

Originally Posted by Tiggernut

Then on our last day before heading home (13th) we've booked a car for one day and will do the other bits of car travelling (driving down Lombard St and Tresure Island for views over the bay) before going to the 49ers NFL game in the evening. We've booked a hotel next to the airport for the Thursday night as we fly at lunchtime on the Friday. The plan is to dump all our stuff at the airport hotel then head to the NFL game.

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If you can do Lombard Street early morning during the week. At the weekend you can end up in a line for over two hours

We did it early on a Monday morning in July and there were no lines at all.