I'm about to sign up for a teacher training/yoga workshop in San Francisco (with the woman who wrote the book on restorative yoga, my specialty!). It will run 5 days and will be held in the Mission area in late July. I plan on driving up from L.A. and wouldn't mind renting a room in a house or even staying in a nice hostel if I can have my own room. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Kathy I am going to SF for a weekend seminar I found a hotel for 100/nt is that too expensive? RR

Hey birthday boy!

Yes, $100 is too expensive for me (I need to stay for 6 nights so that adds up). I am really trying to keep the expenses down as I'm taking time off of doing events this Summer to teach and study. I'm going to do some research and see what I come up with. Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

Try Priceline or Hotwire. You might be able to target a reasonably nice hotel like the Opal for less than $60 if previous price trends hold. See www.betterbidding.com for advice.

Take a look at hostelworld.com but most likely a room with a private bathroom in a hostel will be equivalent in price to a budget hotel.

I stayed at Hotel Whitcomb recently, on a free night, but I think they sometimes have specials. I know this isn't the ideal location, but it's very easy to take the BART between there and Mission, as the station is directly in front of the hotel.

Kathy, why don't you check vrbo - the vacation rental by owner site? I recently went to S.F. in March and we used them and were extremely happy with our selection. Of course it was two bedrooms (there were 4 of us) and would not be what you would need.

But I recall seeing endless selections of rentals of ALL sizes. Might be worth looking into. Good luck!

There are a few of hostels in the SF area,

http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-HI---San-Francisco...wntown-060009.en.htm

http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-HI---San-Francisco...Center-060036.en.htm

http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-HI---San-Francisco...-Wharf-060001.en.htm


You might also want to try www.couchsurfing.com, stay for free and get to meet some of the local people.

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Colleen,

I actually found a cute hotel for $40 a night for a single in North beach that has decent reviews (cheaper to book on Hostelworld)! I'm just waiting to solidify things and then I'll book.

Spinnaker, I'll give those links a look as well. I'm always open to new places.

Terry, I was thinking of checking on apartment rentals. Thanks for the link. I'll give them a quick check and see what I come up with. I'd far prefer to cook my own meals and have my own bathroom.

I would find out what charge/arrangement any hotel or accommodation has for parking and the charges. A lot of the big hotels charge $40/day for parking, and $20 is not uncommon for smaller places. Do not expect to find any free street parking. It's almost all restricted to residents with a resident sticker.

Unless you can find reasonable parking, I would ditch the car. In a lot of ways it's just a liability in San Francisco. You are far enough in advance to get a cheap fare on Southwest to SFO or Oakland (just as easy to get to downtown San Francisco on BART as SFO).

Janies Nest in Bernal Heights (just south of the Mission District) is in your price range and has free parking according to the listing on vrbo 18266):

http://www.janiesnest.com/

Janie's is not in my price range. It's about $100 a night! It looks really charming though.

I've decided to skip the car unless I stay at a place with free parking as I've done in the past when in S.F. There's a motel in the Marina I like that has free parking. I'll check the current rates just to see what's what as they often have specials, but I'll likely just fly up. I know S.F fairly well as I've spent some time there. Having a car can be a royal pain in the butt as parking is a biddy.

My nephew has stayed at and likes the Hostel at Fort Mason in the Marina district. It has free parking and some private rooms, don't know about rates:

Fort Mason

quote:

Originally posted by caodog:
My nephew has stayed at and likes the Hostel at Fort Mason in the Marina district. It has free parking and some private rooms, don't know about rates:

Fort Mason

Hostels in the US are usually around $20 a night.

So the hotel at $40 sounds like a real deal. If there are 2 then break even.

But be aware that many small hotels do not have A/C. It really isn't needed because SF is always so cool. But leaving windows open can be a security issue.


I was in SF many years ago in August. My company put up in a reasonably priced hotel (I had a $75 limit on the hotel room). I found my room did not have A/C and had a fire escape right outside my window. I was happy that I would be safe in the event of a fire, but I was not all that happy in the thought that someone could easily crawl into my room at night.

That evening I went looking for another hotel. I found a Holiday Inn on Powell Street. Instead of walking in, to arrange the room, I called from my hotel. I was delighted to find the room was not only the same price as mine but parking was included. The next morning I checked out of my room and walked to the Holiday Inn. They did not have a room for me! To make a long story short I had made reservations in Oakland! They canceled my reservations for me and finally was able to find me a room at $125 a night. Having too much pride to check back into my old hotel I decided to eat the difference. Later I told my company what had happened and they picked up the difference.

Fort mason and the others in that group run about $90 per night for a single. No deals there...

I'll either splurge and rent an apartment as I need to be there for almost a week doing this yoga training (12.30-5.30 every day so I'll have nights free) and it would be nice to have an entire place to myself to relax, or I'll stay at the hotel I found for $40 as it sounds just fine. I figure I can rough it a wee bit for 6 days and the location in North beach bordering Chinatown is fine with me.

quote:

Originally posted by teachick:
Fort mason and the others in that group run about $90 per night for a single. No deals there...

$90 for a hostel? I assume that is a private room? You can usually get a bed for $20 but you will have to share a common room. I have only stayed in these places in Italy, never in the U.S. Aside from very little privacy, everyone was nice and respected your space.

Not bad for a night but I am not sure if I would want to stay in one 4-5 days straight.

I'll probably be staying in a few of the CA hostels this year as I hope to bicycle the PCH from SF to Santa Barbara.

Spinnaker, I don't do shared rooms! I've never stayed in a hostel but I'd do so as long as I had my own room at a minimum. The hotel for $40 a night has shared baths, but lots of them. The room also has a sink, cable TV, microwave, fridge, etc. Doable, I say...

If it is clean and safe. I agree, it is a far better deal than the hostel.

The most I have stayed at a hostel in a row was 3 nights. It actually wasn't too bad but I was ready for a private room. Also I was a Boy Scout many years ago and have some experience in sharing quarters with others.

I'm not sure what the culture is like at hostels in the U.S. but in Italy you will see all ages. It is pretty amazing. You will even see married couples. They need to split up at night because not all hostels have matrimonial quarters.

I'm booked in at the Saint Paul Hotel for six nights in July. They had the very best rate I could find for a private single and the location is good. For $40 a night I'm getting a private room with TV, fridge, microwave and a sink so I can't really complain about the shared baths. I figure I can rough it for 6 days!

I booked it through Hostelworld as I got a better price through them. I've found them to be quite handy as I booked a great little hotel in Venice, Italy through them and saved a bundle.

I'll make sure to post a review after my stay. My fingers are crossed that I've uncovered a real find in S.F. We shall see...