Hi. I'm trying to organise a trip to San Francisco at the end of Sept/beginning of Oct for 2 wks. Never been to the States before. Was thinking of booking a flight & just hiring a car & staying in motels around the area. No experience of motels - any thoughts? Its a surprise for the better half's 40th so any suggestions of must see places would be great too.

Hotels and Motels are everywhere, you won't have a problem. The ones in city's will always be expensive though, Fisherman's Wharf is a great spot to stay but very expensive and go up and down in price depending on the day of the week. Take a drive up to Napa Valley, Sonoma is lovely and go for a drive down the Pacific highway, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel,(17 mile drive at Pebble Beach)San Simeon, and Santa Barbara is a great place too. Keep going down the Pacific highway and you could even venture into LA and stay in Santa Monica! If you do you can get on a trip to universal studio's, great fun! If you want to go to Alcatraz you might have to book a couple of days in advance. You'll get plenty done in two weeks. Have a great time!

Pip:

I used to live in SF. You should see a ton in two weeks. There are plenty of hotels/motels in the area and most in the city are kinda pricey.

Here are some reports on a few hotels/motels in the area that we did on HotelChatter (a web publication)

http://www.hotelchatter.com/city/San%20Francisco

Check out http://www.jdvhospitality.com/index.php as well. They have some of the coolest hotel/motels in SF.

Have Fun.