Best neighborhood to stay in SF?

May 17, 2004 9:14 AM

If visiting San Fransisco, what is the best area to stay? Haight-Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, Union Square, Pacific Heights, Fillmore Street , etc.

San Francisco.

posted by four panels to travel & transportation (16 comments total)

It depends on what you want to see and how much you want to pay. Lots and lots of hotels in the Union Square area (use Hotwire to get good rates) and it is centrally located with lots of public transportation options.

Other areas work (and may be cheaper) but getting around will be a bit more difficult.
posted by John at 9:32 AM on May 17, 2004

It totally depends on what you like and what kind of accommodations you're looking for. There aren't many places to stay in the neighborhoods you list. Union Square and the Financial District have most of the hotels. There are also bigger hotels in Fisherman's Wharf which is a part of the city I would advise you to just skip entirely. A neighborhood called the Marina which isn't far from the Presidio and Golden Gate bridge has some motels on a street called Lombard.
There's a bunch more info I could give you based on what you like and what you want to do when you're here - feel free to write to me at my login name at gmail for more SF info.
posted by Wolfie at 9:36 AM on May 17, 2004

It depends what you want to be surrounded by and how much you want to spend.

The Haight is an active, very "happening" place, frequented mostly by young people (by which I mean people in their 20s). Lots of bars, clubs, coffeehouses, people down on their luck. The end of Haight street is at Golden Gate park, and at that intersection (Haight and Stanyan) there's a pretty big contingent of homeless people and drug dealing. I'd have stayed in the Haight had I visited SF in my 20s.

The Fillmore has two parts - lower Fillmore (roughly below Geary) is in the Western Addition, a mostly African American poor neighborhood. Some jazz clubs. Upper Fillmore is a very "het" (heterosexual) scene - lots of pickup action, more expensive bars and restaurants.

At the very top of Fillmore is to Pacific Heights, which is the "old money" section of the city. Beautiful houses, very quiet and staid.

Union Square is downtown shopping - theatres, restaurants (both classy and less so), and so on. There are a bunch of smaller hotels in that area.

Fisherman's wharf is touristy, kind of carnival like - lots of t-shirts, street vendors, etc.

Partly it also depends on how much you want to spend. But, *don't* stay in the Tenderloin (unless you want to be surrounded by a fairly intense drug/prostitution scene). This is the area a few blocks west of Union Square. Hotels in this area typically hide their location by saying they are "just blocks" from Union Square. As a general rule, I'd say stay away from places on Taylor Mason, Jones, Leavenworth, Hyde, Larkin, and lower Polk street.

Let me know if you want - maybe I can give you some specific critiques if you'd like. Use my login name at sbcglobal.net.
posted by jasper411 at 9:40 AM on May 17, 2004 [1 favorite has favorites]

There are some places in the Haight, the Metro hotel being one. I've never stayed there, but I live a couple blocks away and have always wondered. There are also some bed and breakfast places around, most notably the Red Victorian (hippies!). My parents always stay at the Alamo Square Inn, which they love. They have also stayed at the Stanyan Park Hotel (warning, bad javascript), which was nice but more expensive, but probably because they got the suite apartment.
posted by Hackworth at 9:46 AM on May 17, 2004

Union Square is downtown shopping - theatres, restaurants (both classy and less so), and so on. There are a bunch of smaller hotels in that area.

Of those, I've stayed in the Diva a couple of times and quite enjoyed it.
posted by kindall at 10:00 AM on May 17, 2004

I've stayed at the Metro- the rooms are clean but very, very small. And it operates more like a B&B than hotel. I second the Alamo Square Inn (I've put up family there too), although I don't recommend the Haight/Alamo Square as the place to stay, generally. Also, most of the good B&Bs in the area (there are few hotels) will be booked by now; they fill up fast.

I used to agree with Wolfie on Fisherman's Wharf, but not anymore. It is touristy, but relatively clean and safe (unlike the Tenderloin/downtown). If you want to do touristy things, the Wharf is probably the best place to start, as there Cable Cars & ferry tours (e.g. Alcatraz), as well as the F-line Muni all within walking distance. There is also parking at the Wharf, unlike the Haight or Fillmore/Pac Heights or most of the rest of the city. And it's close to North Beach & Chinatown.

The City is small enough that as long as you're not staying out by the airport or something, you're not very far from anything.
posted by obloquy at 10:15 AM on May 17, 2004

I agree with not steering clear of Fisherman's Wharf. For sure it's got cheesy stuff like the wax museum, gift shops and street "performers" but it's also got killer views worth the other crap. The key is to visit other places in SF and not let the wharf be your sole impression of the city.
posted by John at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2004

Before I moved to SF and was still in college (and after I graduated), I didn't have much money and whenever I visited SF, I always stayed in the east bay. There are lots of cheap places around Berkeley that are walking distance from a BART station. You can cruise over to SF for a few bucks and visit the entire town while saving some cash by sleeping in the east bay.
posted by mathowie at 11:29 AM on May 17, 2004

4 star hotels in the Union Square/Embarcadero area can be had through Priceline.com for $50-75/night right now.

Provided you don't care so long as it's a 4-star it's an affordable "luxury" vacation within striking distance of... well, everything.
posted by linux at 2:04 PM on May 17, 2004

The Hotel Triton is well-located, on the East side of Union Square (the Tenderloin which you want to avoid is to the West) and right next to the Chinatown gate.
posted by vacapinta at 2:30 PM on May 17, 2004

You can cruise over to SF for a few bucks and visit the entire town while saving some cash by sleeping in the east bay.

Just don't plan on staying out late -- the last trains run around midnight.
posted by jjg at 3:16 PM on May 17, 2004

Here are my capsule reviews of a couple of the hotels mentioned so far.

I checked out the Metro Hotel when I lived near it, over on Hayes. It's not terribly interesting: your basic old, shabby Victorian hotel. The location is great, though. You can get anywhere in town easily from there, and there's a lot to do within walking distance. If you wind up there, don't hesitate to get a sandwich at King Foot across the street. Best sub in town.

I've stayed at the Diva and liked it very much. The rooms were really nice, oh so moderne, but the hotel breakfast was the most anemic I've ever seen. The in-hotel WiFi was supposedly working but I had no luck with it. Careful where they put you, though: rooms in the front (those may just be the suites, which I recommend) get a lot of street noise, and the elevator is a clanky beast. The concierge is a character, and really helpful.

I liked the Triton's style, but the regular rooms are utterly miniscule beyond redemption, and frankly, are falling apart. During my brief stay, everything with a handle on it -- the door, the AC/heater, the drawers, the toilet -- broke in some way. If you're staying alone, you might not mind the size problems but depending on your nature the fact that it's very much a "couples' hotel" could be annoying. Chinatown's right across the street, and shopping out the wazoo if that's your thing.

I've also stayed at the Courtyard Mariott up on Second Street. It's a little bit out of the way, and not close to any interesting activities, but as a cheap base of operations you could do a lot worse. Rooms in the front look straight into the "luxury" condos across the street, which was a little bit like watching a game of The Sims. Wave "hi" to the chick in the thong if you see her.

The Four Seasons is in a primo downtown location, but ain't cheap. I've never been in the rooms but I hear they are pleasant.

East Bay hotels aren't so much cheaper that it's worth staying across the bridge and dealing with the commute if your destination is SF. What you save in bucks you lose in BART-related hassle.

As for location, well, like everyone says: it depends on what you want to do. I tend to like staying downtown because I've lived out in the neighborhoods already. But the neighborhoods have a lot to offer.
posted by majick at 4:05 PM on May 17, 2004

And in re: 4-star -- I've stayed in a couple of the so-called four star hotels in town, and they aren't any better roomwise than the others. "Stars" tend to be more about the services offered in-building than the quality or size of the room, or the convenience of the location. Don't get hung up too much on stars.
posted by majick at 4:06 PM on May 17, 2004

I recently stayed at the Commodore (cuz the Triton was full)...art deco style, nothing too amazing & closer to the Tenderloin for that full Saturday night pimp/hooker/whatthehellareyou?! experience. around $99+14% for the night. The breakfasts in the attached diner are good but not inclusive.
posted by i_cola at 5:02 PM on May 17, 2004

I've stayed twice at the Twin Peaks Hotel, clean, smallish rooms, a couple of blocks from the Castro (which is IMO one of the most fun areas of SF, even if you're straight), surrounded by good bars, restaurants, etc.
posted by signal at 9:57 AM on May 18, 2004

We stayed in a youth hostel right on the bay, over by the presidio. I think we were 30-ish at the time, and there was a range of ages represented. $30/night.
posted by mecran01 at 11:51 AM on May 18, 2004