OT: Anybody in the San Francisco area???

"Hello" to the California board!!   My husband, son and I live in the Dallas, TX area and we are planning a vacation out to L.A. and up to San Francisco next Spring.  I don't know anybody who lives in San Francisco to ask these questions to, so I thought "Wow!  I can visit the CA board and get some help!"

Could somebody PLEASE give me a little insight as to which areas and suburbs of San Francisco are good/safe or bad/crime ridden..... Where to stay and not to stay....I'm looking into hotels but I have no idea which areas are good or bad.  I know Dallas definitely has some GREAT (and newer) areas and some really bad and dangerous areas.  Some of the hotels I have found are in Pleasanton... is this a good area or not?  We don't mind the drive to see the sights, we actually like staying out away from the city itself.  We would prefer an area that is newer with shopping malls, restaurants, etc.

Any ideas and information is greatly appreciated!!  Thanks for your time!

Have a great weekend,

Johanna,

It really depends on what you want to see.  Pleasanton is nice but it is a ways from San Francisco, and if you want to spend most of your time there, Pleasanton probably wouldn't be a good place.  Let me know what sites you are thinking about and I will be happy to help.  I was born in San Francisco and have lived in the Bay Area all my life.  I live in the East Bay close to Walnut Creek.  I used to also live in Marin county, Napa county (wine country).  So let me know budget too as that will also let me know.

Barb

The hotels in downtown SF tend to be very expensive. The cheaper hotels are dives or in bad neighborhoods (or both). But you can stay just outside the city for less. If you do that, you should have a car though.

Pleasanton is south of Oakland, almost down to San Jose, only on the other side of the foothills. I think it would be a lot of work to get from there to most of the sights. It's a mostly a bedroom community for people who work in San Jose or along the I-680 corridor (which does not go into SF). The downtown is pretty, full of historical buildings though.

I think if you don't want to stay right in SF, you would be better off staying somewhere off 101, I-280 or I-880. All those freeways go right into SF.

There are two cheap hotels I've stayed at in SF that I'd recommend. (And a bunch I wouldn't recommend to an enemy!) They are the Coventry Motor Inn on Lombard and the Cathedral Hill on Van Ness.

Coventry Motor Inn is in the Marina district. It was noisy on a Sat. night because Lombard is noisy at the time (lots of partiers). But it's well run and clean and cheap. Cathedral Hill is near Union Square and Japantown. It's old and our room outlets turned off when the lights did (which meant the clock turned off too), but the rooms are enormous and it was well worth the price.

THANKS for the much needed and appreciated info!!  You are helping to make our planning much easier!

We will have a car and we don't mind staying out away from it all.

It's great to have some insight on the area....with me sitting here looking at the map, I don't know one area from the other.

Thanks again!

Hi Joanna,
Since you have a car, you might want to consider staying at the Embassy Suites San Francisco Airport.  It's located in Burlingame, which is a short 25 - 30 minute drive into the city.  It's safe, lovely, and very cost effective.  Plus, they have a free breakfast every morning!

Thank you!   I will certainly check into it!  I appreciate your help!