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A Philadelphia nestie needs your help...
Hi ladies,
To make a very long story short: my husband and I are going to a wedding in Napa in September - and we are bringing our 3 kids with us. That wasn't the original plan, but I'll spare you the details. We are going to fly into San Fran and stay there for a few nights and then drive to Napa for the wedding and stay there for two nights. Here are my idiotic questions (and yes, I know can refer to Google but I'd rather go with your suggestions/advice)....
Is there a kid friendly hotel close to the San Fran airport that's on the beach? We would love for our kids to be able to go to the beach everyday while we're there.
We would also like to stay at a hotel that has a pool - possible?
Or...would you recommend we stay at a house/condo??
I really don't know where to start with all of this, because I truly do not know the San Fran area. At all 
I am open to any & all suggestions. Thanks so very much for any guidance you can provide me 
Have a great weekend!
Signed,
A clueless Philadelphian
Re: A Philadelphia nestie needs your help...
Unfortunately, San Francisco is not a beach town. Yes some people surf in the area, but really it's Southern California that is all about the sunny beaches. NorCal's are too cold and no one really "goes to the beach" there. Sorry
I wouldn't recommend staying by the airport. Like most airport areas, it's not particularly nice and SFO is south of SF proper. Stay in Union Square or the Embarcadero area. I can't help with pools, unfortunately. If you want to get a good deal, go with Priceline name your own price and try for something in Union Square East or the Embarcadero. Fisherman's Wharf is too crazy touristy for my taste, but it's another possibility.
Feel free to ask any questions you want about your trip. The ladies on this board are all really nice and full of good info.
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HI !
Like PPs have said, our beaches aren't really for "Hanging out" they are much more rustic and have COLD COLD water, and vicious undertow. They are much more the stroll along the beach type of beach than the play volleball and lounge in your bathing suit type of beach. Also, the other things you may want to do in SF (pier 39, alcatraz etc) are on the bay, not the ocean, so the actual ocean part of the city is kinda far away from the other touristy stuff. That being said there is baker beach, and or Ocean beach, which are the two beaches I would suggest thinking of visiting. September is ususally great weather !
You guys are awesome! THANK YOU! I had no idea about the SF beaches....oy. Perhaps I should have done some research prior to posting
I have looked at the route from SF to Napa about twenty times in the past ten minutes and I am trying to see if there's a city/town where we can stay for a few nights that is on/near a beach - or a bay beach. We are not picky. We just want the kids to be near the water & play on the sand. I understand that the water is cold; that won't matter to them!
Oy again. Sorry to be so clueless about all of this. And great suggestion to post on the local Bump board! I'll do that now.
Thanks again, ladies!!
I agree with pp.
just my 2 cents. I am somewhat familiar with SF:
Are you renting a car? If so, it might best to drive over the GG Bridge and stay over in Marin County area. You might get a good deal on hotels.
GL!
How old are your three little ones?
Just an opinion, but I think you should shelve the beach idea and just do all the fun, family touristy things in SF. The exploratorium, Union Square, Alcatraz, Pier 39, etc.
If you are dead set on the beach....you'd want to head down to Santa Cruz/Aptos/Capitola area do get a non-freezing cold/kid friendly beach and tha is over an hour from San Francisco and will take you close to two to get up to the Napa area.
Abvernon has a great point about the car rental thing though...you are going to pay anywhere from $30-50/day for parking in the city...hotel lots will be on the higher end of that scale. You could research Tiburon, Sausalito, Mill Valley, etc if you want to stay up there and can easily head into the city for the day.
Have fun on your trip!!!
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as a former philadelphian (main line) ... i spent my first 5 years here explaining to the folks there that nor cal beaches are a FAR cry from so cal beaches that they saw on tv (probably also explains why my nor cal self went to school in so cal
). i'd personally nix the beach idea altogether. while september is a wonderful time to visit SF, the beaches like pp said are cold and foggy - nothing like the jersey shore. unfortunately b/t SF and Napa, there really isn't alot of what you want b/t the 2 - hotel w/ a pool yes but it'll be too cold, hotel by a beach - no way.
there are some very kid friendly things b/t SF and Napa that are worth checking out - CA Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, the Exploratorium (think the Franklin Institute on steroids) and the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito across the GG Bridge from SF.
Ditto what everyone else has said (especially abvernon's point about parking in SF - some hotels charge $50 a night! But you can find cheaper garages nearby.) I've gotten some really good deals on hotels using Priceline (it lets you pick your area, say Union Square, and your star rating).
Also, give yourself plenty of time to get from SF to Napa. I was surprised at the traffic in the middle of the day last time we took that route.