San Francisco

[Lovewhereilive]

Have booked 2 hotels, 1 in fishermans wharf, the wharf inn, but it's only got a 7.5 booking.com review score or 1 on 4th street not far from union square called hotel Zelos, the hotel looks lovely and it's reviews are 8.5. I need to cancel one of them. Prices are similar.

If you've been to SF, which one would you choose?

Zelos is really central - but also really busy. It's right in the heart of all the shops, and across from the Bart and also the cable car starting point. However - there are loads of buskers / beggars / crowds there too. It may be really noisy too in your room with traffic noise.

So Gin, would you go with fishermans wharf then?

Lovewhereilive,

Given what you are planning to do I would stay in the FW area.

OP I think meant 9.30pm, not am. Cheesecake Factory in SF opens at 11.00am daily. Its located on the 8th floor of the Macys building in Union Square.

Share a cheesecake, they are massive!. Lunch portions also tend to be a bit smaller (but are still big) than at dinner.

Thanks Attila, I am thinking that too. Think I was half asleep re 9.30 in morning

How old are your kids? FW is probably better as a base. Union square is shopping and crowds. FW is nice, although pier 39 is hideously touristy and tat-filled. Head west towards Marina district and it is much nicer.

If you are doing Alcatraz and bikes and anything else eg Exploratorium which is also down that way, then FW will be the best option - otherwise you'd just need to travel there every day anyway.

Just jump a cable car into Union square for any shopping - there is not much to see there though, it's just department stores and shops.

I had heard that FW was overly touristy, but I didn't actually find it nearly as bad as I was expecting. And the sea lions are fab.

Depending on time of year there may be quite a queue for those cable cars- staying centrally makes it a lot easier to get to places.my thought was decent breakfast and evening meal (nb American hours) in the.centre and then get going to sightsee. Would never shop on holiday anyway.

We stayed in FW. We loved it. We were two families so 4 adults and 3 kids. Our hotel was above Gap but I can't recall what it was called. We had no trouble in that area or any other in SF. Loved it. LA in the other hand was a nightmare and I hated it. Also be aware it gets very cool at night in SF. Take jumpers! We had to buy some when we were there.

Kids are 13, 12 and 8. Am going to go with FW, might just try for a better hotel but am sure the wharf is fine.

Why did you hate LA bluesky? We are staying in Burbank for 2 nights. Got a concert in Pasadena the second night.

It felt like a concrete jungle to me. The Hollywood walk of fame area was horribly tacky. We had only booked hotels for the start and end of our holiday as we were doing a road trip and we struggled to find anywhere nice in LA. I just didn’t like it. Loved SF, loved the drive down by the coast and all the towns on the way, loved San Diego, the Grand Canyon was awesome and Las Vegas was exactly as i imagined. It was only LA that didn’t do it for me. Oh and Phoenix that is just an urban sprawl in the desert - HOT!!!

Am going to LA with low expectations so hopefully we won't be disappointed. Looking forward to the concert, main reason we are staying there. Was going to do universal until we realised it would be $1000 dollars for 5 of us - crazy money! Will prob do Warner bros studio tour instead.

We are going to Universal.we have only 2 nights in LA then going to finish holiday in San diego , stopping off for nights in Santa Barbara and monteray between SF and LA.

I hated Fishermans Wharf and was generally very disappointed in SF altogether.

Sorry, OP that's not much help to you!

No need to be sorry! what did you not like about it? Must be a marmite place.

I had two days in LA - one doing the Hollywood / highland area and one at the Guggenheim. After that, the natural wonders were calling. Wasn't really anything else in LA that I wanted to see.

Have been to sf 3 times - its a great gateway because you don't need or want a car but I also found loads to see. Very scenic too.

Lovewhereilive The highlight of our trip to SF was the visit to Alcatraz. Loved by the adults and kids alike. Book ahead though if you plan to go, it gets busy!

I would love to go back to the west coast. It was great. I want to go north from SF to do Yellowstone and the wineries.

This year we are doing the east coast - Washington, Philadelphia, NY, Boston and the Cape. We love US road trips but going by train this time.

I have already booked Alcatraz! Can't wait. We are only in LA 2 days. Not sure whether to stay Burbank or Pasadena, got hotels booked in both, just need to cancel one.

Alcatraz is unmissable and unforgettable.

To be fair, we only had 3 days there, and we came via Australia, so the time difference was huge, and we were awake/asleep at all the wrong times.

But Fishermans Wharf was unbelievably tacky and tatty. It was cold, foggy and windy, and it was a lot more run down and 'gritty' than I'd been led to expect.

However, I'm sure there's more to it than we saw. It's just that what we saw didn't tempt me to go back again, sadly.

Agree that the area around FW was not somewhere I would have wanted to hang around or go back to at night. It was tatty and dirty. Union Square was clean and vibrant. And it is where the heart is!

We went to San Fran earlier this year with a baby. The Zelos hotel is in the nicest bit, the central shopping area - shops that I couldn't afford to buy anything in! Its far enough away from Tenderloin to be ok, but will be noisy. I didnt go quite as far as fishermans Wharf, but whilst the whole pier area is nice enough, its less busy at night so I didnt feel any safer, IYSWIM. The public transport links are better from the centre too. The main issue in San Fran is a massive homeless problem, with a high proportion of those people having mental illness. At least one or two people sleeping rough every block you go, even in the nice areas. That said, we didn't have any problems, mostly people just said 'what a cute baby' but might be worth discussing with your children what to do if approached etc.
You absolutely have to go to the exploratorium - it's a hands on museum with every single exhibit being a practical experiment to play with. We could have spent the whole day there or more.
Agree the Cheesecake Factory has amazing cheesecake. Am drooling at the thought of it.
For views of the bridge there is a lovely coastal walk in the north west starting at Cliff House. A few stairs but well maintained.

LA is a dive. Felt much less safe wandering round there than San Fran.

Apologies for the generalisation! My very short experience of LA was not good, is what I mean. I stayed in a hotel opposite the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. 'Breakfast' included was a loaf of bread and pot of jam on a table. There was a lady who decided 3am was the best time to get up and walk around making loads of noise. There were bedbugs. There were a lot of prostitutes. There were a lot of seedy shops and dodgy tattoo parlours (nowt wrong with a decent tattoo parlour!). I did not feel safe walking around the area, nor on the bus to the beach.
Drew Barrymore gave a speech outside the theatre one day - the crowd was very rowdy, shouting and catcalling - no idea what she was saying as so many people were shouting at her, poor lady. All very unpleasant. Finally, the smog is just horrible!
I suppose it didnt help that I'd just come from NZ where everyone was polite and helpful, the hostels were clean and beautiful, the scenery was amazing and the food lovely.

However, I take your point, I was only there a short time, If I get the chance to return, I'll have a look at your list and try some different areas.

I'd be tempted with FW as well, just for convenience and free parking. The kids will enjoy FW, it is a bit tacky but no worse than some UK seaside places.

We stayed at the Marina Del Ray hotel in LA - very nice, not too far from Venice and Santa Monica. We just did a drive through Hollywood, enough to see the sights. The Getty Centre is well worth a visit.

There are a lot of homeless people all over California, if you're going to be a bum then somewhere warm and sunny is going to be best. We just gave them a wide berth.