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Safe downtown area. Mostly
offices and banks, though close to Embarcadero
and China Town. There are many business
hotels here: all the usual chains: Omni, Hyatt
etc.
The
tourist centre of town and very good for shops. Gets
rougher west of Taylor or south east of Howard.
There are plenty of tourist hotels here, including
most of the major chains. Westin Saint Francis, on
the Union Square is one of the most famous. Prescott
Hotel is one of the nicest.
Good
for the farmers market, chess with homeless people,
opera house
& museums. It can feel a little exposed & unsafe
at night and SE of market begins to get quite seedy.
Van
Ness (Hwy 101) is the main thoroughfare for traffic
traveling through San Francisco to and from the Golden
Gate Bridge – six lanes of busy traffic. Geary
is also a busy six laner. It can be seedy – especially
around Geary and east of Van Ness.
But, there are a lot of large bargain hotels along
Van Ness.
A safe if touristy area. Good
for ferries to Alcatraz and cable cars into downtown,
but very little of the “real” San
Francisco. Rather, it is mostly populated
with tourist stores & restaurants.
That having been said, there are reasonably priced
hotels here and it is a good base from which to explore
and there is easy & safe walking to many other
areas.
The
local motel strip, as well as reasonably priced hotels
and B&Bs.
Most of the places are on Hwy 101 (as it turns off
Van Ness onto Lombard). But the area is safe
and once you are a block away from Lombard, it's
quite nice. It is away from the centre of town,
but is good for Marina & Union Street. The
areas is also convenient for heading North out of
town to wine country.
However, most tourist sites will be a short bus ride
away.
If you are staying on Lombard or Van Ness, asking
for a room at the back of the building can make all
the difference for a good night’s sleep. |
