Low Budget vacation for 1 to San Fran - Recommendations?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Traveling to San Francisco area from the Northeast for 4 nights in mid-February. 1 adult. </p>

<p>Been there before…have been to Marin, Napa, Sonoma, and most of the tourist sites in San Fran (Alcatraz, Sausalito, most of the more well known museums, Cliff House, Musee Mechanique, Cable car museum etc.). </p>

<p>Thinking of either </p>

<p>1) staying right in San Fran and taking some of the free walking tours and going to the art museums I couldn’t get my family to spend much time in when I traveled with them. Good points to this choice are I wouldn’t need a car, which would save $$$…and I have always enjoyed just walking around SF.</p>

<p>or </p>

<p>2) Exploring Santa Cruz, Monterey and places in that area — where I haven’t been before. (Car required, but I might be able to get a good rate. Need to end up near Palo Alto after the 4 days, and it doesn’t seem that Santa Cruz is that far.)</p>

<p>Only requirement is to stay in the same place for all 4 nights. Don’t want to unpack and pack multiple times.</p>

<p>Mostly enjoy walking (not hiking), interesting architecture and gardens, arts, crafts, interesting stores/shops, watching interesting people and seeing unusual places.</p>

<p>I’ve seen others get good suggestions from CC posters for trips to NY and Boston…so…suggest away! Suggestions of out-of-the mainstream things to see/do, inexpensive places to stay (under $100/night…Craig’s list for San Fran has mostly listing for Tahoe!!!) and inexpensive places to eat (ethnic, fish and vegetarian) would also be very welcome!</p>

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<p>Carmel, which is by Monterey, is a very nice place. I used to scuba dive in that area. It has a very scenic coastline, lots of artsy type shops, interesting little neighborhoods with nice cottages to walk around, etc. Hotels might be kind of expensive in the area though so shop around. Monterey will probably be less expensive than Carmel but they’re next to each other so you could see both. You might see some famous people there. Do the 17 mile drive. Check out the seals and sea otters in the bays near shore. Go kayaking. Check out the Monterey Bay aquarium if you go.</p>

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<p>If you want to stay somewhere on a really tight budget, there is a hostel right at Fisherman’s Wharf.[San</a> Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel - San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf Hostel - Features](<a href=“http://www.sfhostels.com/fishermans-wharf/]San”>http://www.sfhostels.com/fishermans-wharf/) for like $25 per night… and Hostelling INternational has two more in the city. S stayed at the Fisherman’s Wharf one and liked it… but he was a 22 year old! Price is right even if the beds aren’t exactly plush.</p>

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<p>Trying for the economy route…but looking for a step or two above a hostel (although…I did go to the site, and saw that they have private rooms…but nothing available when I’m going to be there!)</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies, so far!</p>

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<p>Based on the Merit scholarship and financial aid threads, I know that not everyone at CC is part of the high-budget crowd!</p>

<p>Any other suggestions from some of the west coast members?</p>

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<p>If you end up doing walking tours, try one in chinatown. There’s a highly recommended one by a women. I’ll post if I find it. I took it and it eneded with a really interesting Chinese restaurant. Hotel wise you can RELATIVELY good deals if you sign up for emails for specials with one of those chains.</p>

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<p>The San Francisco Zen Center has nice single rooms with dorm style, single sex bathrooms. Nice, cheap vegetarian food, too, and very interesting and welcoming residents, many of whom are the age of parents here.</p>

<p>You also are welcome to join in the meditation, which begins around 4 a.m. in the basement.</p>

<p>It’s in a nice, safe neighborhood, near a bus stop. I stayed there 2 years ago and paid, I think, $65 a night for room and, I think breakfast.</p>

<p>You needn’t be Buddhist to stay there nor will anyone try to convert you. :)</p>

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<p>SF…</p>

<p>great area…</p>

<p>motels on lombard st or near lombard st </p>

<p><a href=“http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/casfmenu/tp/hotels_lombard_vanness.htm[/url]”>http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/casfmenu/tp/hotels_lombard_vanness.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you work your way to the Sunset district, I would go to Sunrise Deli if you like falafals, hummus, tabouli. Very reasonable. I go there. My mideast friends go there. </p>

<p>From there you can take the N Judah back downtown. You can also take the N Judah the opposite way and end up at Ocean Beach. </p>

<p>Irving St has many cheap ethnic restaurants and it is close to Golden Gate Park.</p>

<p>I used to live near there and I did a lot of walking.</p>

<p>About 2 1/2 miles from Sunrise…</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/about/subpage.asp?subpagekey=46[/url]”>http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/about/subpage.asp?subpagekey=46&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Lombard is not close to Irving St.</p>

<p>Near Chinatown…</p>

<p><a href=“http://travela.priceline.com/hotel/POI-Chinatown_San_Francisco_San_Francisco_California_United_States-83687306.html[/url]”>http://travela.priceline.com/hotel/POI-Chinatown_San_Francisco_San_Francisco_California_United_States-83687306.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Check this hotel chain. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/[/url]”>500 Server Error;

<p>My family has been able to find amazingly low rates by being a bit flexible and staying the weekends in their hotels that attract the business crowd and vice-versa for the weekdays. The collection of hotels is quite eclectic … to say the least! Check and double check the hotels by clicking on all pictures and calling the front desk. A few of them can be … well … representative of “alternative” San Francisco. </p>

<p>The Wild Palms in Sunnyvale has had some incredible weekend rates (less than 50.00 per night) and represents a great value.</p>

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<p>That Suunyvale place is a great price, but it is too far to SF from there. Why not stay in the city?</p>

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<p>DS, no time to be chauvinistic …</p>

<p>The OP wrote: </p>

<p>or </p>

<p>2) Exploring Santa Cruz, Monterey and places in that area — where I haven’t been before. (Car required, but I might be able to get a good rate. Need to end up near Palo Alto after the 4 days, and it doesn’t seem that Santa Cruz is that far.)</p>

<p>PS Most of the Joie de Vivre hotels are in SF. :)</p>

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<p>OP, when are you going, out of curiosity? I’m going to be in SF April 4-6. :slight_smile: We stay at a hotel in Union Square (I’m going for a choir event) called The Handlery, but I’m not sure how much it costs.</p>

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<p>Xiggi, No. Sunnyvale is not close to Santa Cruz. I am not giving you a bad time. I am not being chauvinistic. The lists of motels I gave are not exactly 4 stars. :slight_smile: I missed that near Palo Alto line. Sorry. Sunnyvale is closer to Palo Alto than SF. Sunnyvale is closer to Monterey than SF, but I would not stay in Suunyvale if I was going to go to Monterey. No way.</p>

<p>The OP should find two places to stay if he wants SF and Monterey.</p>

<p>Xiggi, I did not click on your link. OP looks like you should do that.</p>

<p>Edit: Xiggi, I checked out your link for SF and some of these look promising. They are a little more expensive than what I was looking at. :)</p>

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<p>If you want to be close to Monterey but want to be in a less expensive area for a hotel, you might try Salinas. It’s pretty close but it’s more of an ag center so prices s/b less than Monterey/Carmel. You could just drive the 15 minutes or so back and forth to save some bucks on the hotel. I’d rather stay in Monterey/Carmel though. </p>

<p>I’ve stayed in Santa Cruz before and wasn’t wild about the town. IMO Monterey/Carmel is a much nicer area than Santa Cruz (too many burnt out druggies/bums there).</p>

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<p>If you want to stay downtown SF, Have you thought about trying Priceline for 4 or 5 star hotel in downtown SF? Sometimes you can get a pretty good deal that way.</p>

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<p>“Mostly enjoy walking (not hiking), interesting architecture and gardens, arts, crafts, interesting stores/shops, watching interesting people and seeing unusual places.”</p>

<p>My kids and I spent one inexpensive day in SF doing the following:</p>

<p>Took a bus over to North Beach, checked out City Lights bookstore (a unique spot), caught a bus to the top of Telegraph Hill where we went up to the top of Coit Tower (nice views on a good day and interesting WPA murals), and finally we walked DOWN the approximate 390 Filbert steps to the plaza where Levi Strauss Co resides. The steps go through these wonderful private gardens. I never did figure out how the people living along the steps got their groceries home! I’m not sure how much would be in bloom when you are there but it can be a fun diversion for the day.</p>

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<p>2boysima,
if you choose to stay in SF and are going to be there on a Saturday, I would recommend the following as a walking tour of Chinatown. It is very different than the “usual” tour. You will see things you would never ordinarily see. <a href=“http://www.chinatownalleywaytours.org/[/url]”>http://www.chinatownalleywaytours.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>JDV Hotels look like some good options. I’ll also check out the Zen house.</p>

<p>I really liked the idea of the Alley Way tour…but I won’t arrive in time on Sat to take it. I’ll keep checking that site, though, to see if any tours get added…</p>

<p>I’m leaning towards SF versus Santa Cruz/Carmel. Just seems like there will be more to do in SF.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the info. so far. Any additional suggestions will be most appreciated.</p>

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<p>2boysima, I am going in March with DD to do some college touring in the area. After a lot of looking am staying at the Donatello because the rate includes parking. It’s not as cheap as the Zen place though…If you are driving in don’t forget that many of the hotels charge $40-$45 per day for parking (ouch)…so figure that into your priceline or other calculations.
Wish we were going to be there on a Sat. for that chinatown tour.
There is lots of good information on SF on the forum for SF at tripadvisor.com.</p>

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<p>another option would be to stay in the east bay and bart into SF. It depends what you want to be doing in the evenings. bart isn’t cheap, but that might give you more options for hotels.
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for museums, definitely check out the new DeYoung. In downtown, there are lots of small museums in the general area of SFMOMA including the cartoon museum and MOAD (museum of the african diaspora)
.
there is half-price tix for theatre. I believe they are located in union square.
.</p>