Advice Needed on Hotel either in SF downtown or Emeryville

Hi, I will be at Berkeley (Haas Business School) for a fortnight.

Am looking for a hotel either at Emeryville (the bay view is the big draw) or downtown SF area (where convenience is for the family).

Could someone give me advice as to where I could stay? And I understand that there is a reliable bus F that services the Emeryville and downtown SF area and to Haas.

Many thanks!!

Advice Needed on Hotel either in SF downtown or Emeryville

I stayed in Emeryville once while visiting San Francisco. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which I believe is a Hilton property now. It was January and it was raining quite a bit, but we thoroughly enjoyed that visit. The bay views looking back at San Francisco%26#39;s skyline at night was spectacular, especially with the well lit Oakland-Bay Bridge right there!

The drive into the city and back to Emeryville was really easy, convenient %26amp; quick.

The Bay Area%26#39;s transit system is fairly top notch, but you%26#39;ll really need a local%26#39;s input on the routes, schedules, times, etc.

Advice Needed on Hotel either in SF downtown or Emeryville

Hi Giantdrop -

I went to Berkeley (many years ago) for college. If your family plans to do a lot of SF sightseeing while you are working, I would suggest staying in SF.

If you choose a hotel that is near the Embarcadero BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train station you can take BART to Berkeley each day for work. This station is the closest to the Bay, but you can easily stay in a hotel near Union Square, as it is only one additional BART stop. Your family will be in an easy location for lots of sightseeing and will not need a car.

If you stay in Emeryville, there isn%26#39;t much there except the view. Your family will have less to do that is close by (they will probably need to rent a car), but alternatively, you will be much closer to work.

There is very little parking at Berkeley, so taking public transportation like BART isn%26#39;t a bad idea. The walk from the BART station to campus/Haas is a good 1/2 hour or so, but lots of students do it everyday.

If you were alone, I might suggest Emeryville for convenience, but with an active family, I would choose SF hands down.

Have fun.

I%26#39;d suggest you either stay in Berkeley or San Francisco, but not Emeryville. As the previous poster mentioned, you can easily take BART to and from Berkeley. Downtown Berkeley is eminently walkable and interesting, and conveniently close to the BART station, if you stayed at, say the Hotel Durant.

www.hoteldurant.com

The Embarcadero in SF has a few hotels -- from The Hyatt Regency Embarcadero to the Hotel Griffon.

Hi Kibblesmom, AnnMV and Betterthan Bings,

Thanks so much for the nuggets of information. I must admit in my haste that I totally missed out the BART in my hotel consideration.

I will check out the hotels in SF with proximity to the BART.

Thanks again and have a wonderful Christmas and new year!!

Emeryville is well served by AC Transit Route F, which operates between SF and the UC campus. Service runs all day every day every 30 minutes.

Emeryville has Bay Street for shopping, restaurants, etc. but is otherwise a quiet town.

Hotels in Berkeley proper provide you with a good mix of access to campus and SF while also providing your family with easy access to restaurants, etc. Also, SF is a short BART ride away.

Hotels near the Embarcadero BART station or near Union Square in SF also provide you with good access (via BART) to the UC campus and easy access (via foot or transit) to everything SF has to offer.

I would vote for Berkeley or SF first, but Emeryville works and you should consider it if you get a good deal. Also, don%26#39;t forget Oakland is a very good alternative and has good transit access to Berkeley and SF in addition to its own wide variety of restaurants and attractions. (I suggest consulting here, of course, as Oakland is large and does have some less than desirable neighborhoods.)

Keep in mind that the Downtown Berkeley BART station is 1-1.2 miles from Haas. It%26#39;s a 20 min stroll uphill through the campus in nice weather but not fun when raining.

The AC Transit 51 takes you from the BART station to Durant and College Avenue, which is about a 6 min walk from Haas. It comes every 10 min during the day which works fairly well.

Where you want to stay depends on your budget and how large your family is. I wouldn%26#39;t recommend staying in Berkeley because there aren%26#39;t any family-suited hotels.

Emeryville isn%26#39;t a bad choice. There are some nice but very pricey hotels in downtown SF.

Hi Davdaven and Answerer,

Thanks much for the advice.

I have taken a look at Oakland, and yes it%26#39;s a nice place! Am attracted by some of the eateries there! I shared it with my family... and I guess they are all lobbying for downtown SF. So will be looking at Embarcadero BART station or Powell St station areas for the hotel (and at first scan they sure look expensive!).

And oh, the point about AC Transit 51 is so timely... so on a sunny day, an exercise up the hill would be great; and of course if it should pour (or if I%26#39;m running late for class), then the bus ride would be a great welcome!!

The Rockridge neighborhood is a good Oakland spot for dinner sometime. Your family could take BART to the Rockridge station, and you could take the 7 or 51 bus from campus. Very convenient.

As for the Haas business school, I double-checked the campus map because the 1-mile distance mentioned above seemed excessive. I confirmed at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/CD67.html that it is indeed at the top of the hill. I was confusing it with the Haas Pavilion, which is a short walk from the BART station.

Now, the question is: How do you get up there? Well, the 51 bus is a nice idea, but that won%26#39;t do you any good because it doesn%26#39;t stop near that part of campus. No need to fear, though, you have two excellent options in addition to walking:

1. AC Transit Route F. The same bus mentioned earlier, which serves SF and Emeryville, makes stops along Gayley Road. Perfect!

2. Bear Transit. If you don%26#39;t end up at a hotel near SF%26#39;s Transbay Terminal (where the F stops), you can take BART to Berkeley like usual and use the campus transit system. (See pt.berkeley.edu/around/transit/shuttles for details.) During the day, the P and R lines work for you, and at night, you would want to use the D or E lines.

davdaven: Good suggestion about the Bear Transit, I forgot about that.

If you%26#39;re taking the BART, my suggestion would be to come out of the station and look to see how many students are waiting at the 51 bus stop (it should still be in front of the closed Ross on Shattuck at Allston). If there are quite a few students, it%26#39;s likely the 51 bus hasn%26#39;t arrived so you can join them. If you don%26#39;t see anyone, I would suggest walking up Allston for a chance to catch the R at the west end of the soccer stadium (Edwards Field). The fastest route is through campus but bring a map or ask someone the first few times.

The R only comes every 24 min but takes you a pretty direct route to Haas. The P comes every 12-30 min but takes you on a little detour into campus. The Berkeley BART stops for these aren%26#39;t near the other bus stops so I usually didn%26#39;t bother waiting for them.

I would not try taking the F from SF because it%26#39;s almost impossible to gauge when it%26#39;ll arrive due to traffic conditions.

Thanks for the tips Davdaven and Answerer.

I will heed the warning not to start the trip from SF by bus. Will take the BART into Berkeley and then navigate from the station to the bus stops; looks like I%26#39;m gonna need 4 pairs of hands to manage the campus maps, bus routes and BART and bus schedules...

Thanks a bundle!!