San Francisco location/hotel?

Doing SFO for the first time later this year(getting first taste of UCS on the way!). Wondered if any of you good folk had any recommendations hotel wise, as well as where in the city is best to be based. Fisherman's Wharf? Union Square? Any experience of the Argonaut Hotel?

Last time I stopped at the westin st francis on union square not bad and not a bad price, I did have to upgrade the room when I saw it as even Boris Becker would have had difficulty performing in it.Great location and that westin heavenly bed is fantastic.With the upgrade it was about $200 a night last julyish.

I stayed at the Hilton near Union Square last October (bargain price courtesy of Priceline). Nice hotel, although rather impersonal due to its vast size. Lovely outdoor heated swimming pool on the roof. It's on the edge of the Tenderloin district which is reportedly fairly rough, but I didn't find it a problem at all (nb, I'm a single female, allbeit with lots of experience of city living).

My one relevant observation about Fisherman's Wharf was that, if you're reliant on public transport, the buses take a rather long route to get to the 'central' areas, and the cable cars are full of tourists and have long queues.

Enjoy your trip, it's a wonderful city.

Depends what you're looking for. I'm not a huge fan of big business type hotels where you could be in any city in the world. I've stayed at the Commodore http://www.jdvhospitality.com/hotels/hotel/4which has a certain funky style to it, and is very central (couple of blocks from Union Square.

It is starting to look a little tired, but it's great value for money, the titanic cafe does a fantastic breakfast and the Red Room, is well, red. The seats, the lights, the walls, the drinks, takes a while to get used to, but good fun

VSlf

We stayed at the Argonaut in April and can highly recommend the hotel. The rooms are so lovely and we had a room at the side (I was dubious at first because it was next to the cable car station, but there was no noise at all) We could see the GG bridge from our room and luckily the weather was great so the view was amazing.

It was far enough away from the "hustle and bustle" of Fishermans Wharf, and there were some nice bars around it.

Obviously it was handy for the cable car and we travelled on it a few times, to Chinatown and Union Square. The hotel sold tickets (discounted too I think) for the cable car.

The rooms had free high speed internet access, the mini bar was full of all sorts of stuff, with additional touches like visitors map, disposable cameras, which weren't too expensive. We didn't use much but I thought it was a nice touch. Nice fluffy dressing gowns in the closet too

Parking was about £20 per night I think, but it seems it's pretty much standard in that area.

The staff at the hotel were really helpful and very polite.

The bar that was attached to the hotel does lots of different chowders and you can get a sampler with 3 different flavours which was also very nice, we had breakfast in there too and that was good.

Only downfall for me, as with a lot of SFO hotels, there was no outdoor pool.

Hope this helps

Shaz

[Bazz]

Stayed at the Holiday Inn, Fisherman's Wharf last year, it was very comfortable, right near the best FW restaurants and also very near the tram stop.

Thanks all for the advice so far.

Shazam - nice to hear from someone who's experienced the Argonaut, it does look rather fun and your little review makes it all the more tempting. Just read your recent trip report as well. Looks like we'll be doing a similar trip to you when we go in November - LHR-LAX: Hollywood, Grand Canyon and Vegas then LAS-SF0 (no coast road for us!) and back SFO-LHR.

Quick question - Fisherman's Wharf/Argonaut don't feel too out-on-a-limb do they? Is it better staying near FW rather than finding somewhere more central?

[Bazz]

FW is only a short journey (by tram, longer if you hoof it) from Union. We liked it because we wanted to try out several of the FW restaurants and experience the atmosphere, it certainly worked for us!

I've stayed at The Sir Francis Drake on Union Square, The Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero and the Holiday Inn Express at Fishermans Wharf.

Although all the hotels were excellent, I really think the Sir Francis Drake was the best due to the location at Union - it's quite easy to get anywhere in the City from that starting point

Cheers

Michael

quote:Originally posted by mdvipond
Thanks all for the advice so far.

Shazam - nice to hear from someone who's experienced the Argonaut, it does look rather fun and your little review makes it all the more tempting. Just read your recent trip report as well. Looks like we'll be doing a similar trip to you when we go in November - LHR-LAX: Hollywood, Grand Canyon and Vegas then LAS-SF0 (no coast road for us!) and back SFO-LHR.

Quick question - Fisherman's Wharf/Argonaut don't feel too out-on-a-limb do they? Is it better staying near FW rather than finding somewhere more central?

Great! I hope you have a fab time!

We've only been to SFO twice so I'm no expert and we've probably only explored a tiny bit of all there is to see and do.

The first time we stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, which is near the Hard Rock Cafe on Van Ness. I feel that the HI was more out of the way than the Argonaut.

There is lots to do in Fishermans Wharf and we visited Pier 39 which is a short walk away from the hotel, and we took the boat to Alcatraz from one of the piers. Since the cable car is literally next to the hotel it's dead easy to hop on it to Chinatown, Union Square etc so it certainly didn't feel like it was out of the way, but I guess it depends on what you want to do. We are quite easily pleased and as long as there is a decent restaurant and a few good bars close by we are pretty happy (and there are!) Next to the Argonaut is a bar called Jacks and a Mexican bar/restaurant which both have seating outside too.

I'd happily send you some pictures of the room and view if you are interested, just PM me and I can mail them to you.

Edited because I forgot to say, every evening the hotel has an hour of free wine tasting

Shaz

quote:Originally posted by shazam
The first time we stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, which is near the Hard Rock Cafe on Van Ness.

Just FYI, the Hard Rock has now moved down to Pier 39

Cheers

Michael

quote:Originally posted by mcuth

quote:Originally posted by shazam
The first time we stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, which is near the Hard Rock Cafe on Van Ness.

Just FYI, the Hard Rock has now moved down to Pier 39

Cheers

Michael

DOH! Went into it as well, never considered it had moved just thought it was additional !

Shaz

[RichardMannion]

I've stayed at the Westin St. Francis too - lovely hotel. The Heavenly bed that Westin uses, is just that!

Also stayed at the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf - not quite as good as the Westin but did upgraded to a nice suite as a SPG Platinum.

A visit to the Cheesecake factory on top of Macy's is a must! Check out the Restaurant thread that was started off some time ago as there are some great restaurants in SFO.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks,
Richard

quote:Originally posted by RichardMannion
I've stayed at the Westin St. Francis too - lovely hotel. The Heavenly bed that Westin uses, is just that!

Ahhhh the heavenly beds.... you just can't beat them, stayed at the Westin at LAX and there is nothing better than a night's sleep in one of those after a long flight......[^]

Shaz

Stayd at the Ritz Carlton at california/stockton on nob hill about a 2 miniute walk to Union square and next to chinatown. the hotel and service is out of this world if you stay in the club rooms you have 5 food servings a day and a free bar:Dand your own private concierge service, you can also use the house car to take you up to 10 blocks.

if you like steak one to try is Mortons steak house on post/Mason just off Union Square

quote:Originally posted by shazam
DOH! Went into it as well, never considered it had moved just thought it was additional !

Yeah, I thought so too - LOL - wondered just where the taxi driver was taking us last time I went there

BTW, here's a link to the official site, quite a nice pic of the place

http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes/Cafes.aspx?Lc=SANF

Cheers

Michael

quote:Originally posted by mcuth

quote:Originally posted by shazam
DOH! Went into it as well, never considered it had moved just thought it was additional !

Yeah, I thought so too - LOL - wondered just where the taxi driver was taking us last time I went there

LOL was it one of those occasions where you're thinking 'this guy is trying to rip me off, he thinks I've never been here before and he's going to take me via San Jose!!' :D:D

Thanks for the link

Have you ever tried the Eagle Cafe, across the other side of the pier, for breakfast? Hubby swears by the chilli (yes chilli) omelette and a beer! Well it is teatime at home!

Shaz

quote:Originally posted by shazam
LOL was it one of those occasions where you're thinking 'this guy is trying to rip me off, he thinks I've never been here before and he's going to take me via San Jose!!' :D:D

Yeah, something like that was going through my mind - I'd been to the HRC when it was up on Van Ness/California, so I was like "WTF?" - LOL

quote:Have you ever tried the Eagle Cafe, across the other side of the pier, for breakfast? Hubby swears by the chilli (yes chilli) omelette and a beer! Well it is teatime at home!

Ouch - chili for brekkie? OMG - that's bad, even for me! LOL. I adjust quite quickly, so I'm straight into a normal breakfast routine Not tried the Eagle Cafe, but just further down FW (opposite the Cannery) is another favourite of mine - Cioppinos [8D]

Cheers

Michael

For something different around Union Square, the Hotel Triton is where the celebs stay and is very SF... Or stay at the Inn Above Tide in Sausalito and wake up to a view of the City across the bay. Two of my favourites anyway.

BC

quote:Originally posted by mcuth

quote:Have you ever tried the Eagle Cafe, across the other side of the pier, for breakfast? Hubby swears by the chilli (yes chilli) omelette and a beer! Well it is teatime at home!

Ouch - chili for brekkie? OMG - that's bad, even for me! LOL. I adjust quite quickly, so I'm straight into a normal breakfast routine Not tried the Eagle Cafe, but just further down FW (opposite the Cannery) is another favourite of mine - Cioppinos [8D]

Cheers

Michael

It is chilli in an omelette and on the breakfast menu! We adjust to the time difference quickly, and this was during the last couple of days anyway, the "teatime" thing is his justification for drinking beer at breakfast! (Like you need an excuse on holiday )

Shaz

Shaz

I don't need an excuse to have beer with breakfast at any time :D

Still, chili for breakfast, even in an omelette? I really think that's too much, even for someone with a cast-iron constitution like me

Cheers

Michael

Phew, so much info, think we may have to extend our 3 day trip to 3 weeks to experience everything: Wine tasting at the Argonaut, Heavenly Beds at the Westin, uber-kitch at the Triton and a Hard Rock Cafe with a locale just a little more intersting than the one we frequent in Leeds. Stuck for choice now. Might just 'stick a pin' in Expedia (so to speak) and see what comes up!