<p>The Candlewood Suites is right across from the main campus entrance to Santa Clara. You will be able to walk right across the street to get to the campus. The Bart does NOT go into Santa Clara, but I believe the Cal Train does. The transportation center is right next to that Candlewood Suites on El Camino Real. My daughter and a group actually took the trains to the airport in San Fran last March. It took some planning…but you will have a car so you don’t need to worry about that. </p>
<p>The El Camino Real side of the campus is a driving area…but if you walk out the other sides, there are restaurants within walking distance. If you’re looking for a respite from college visiting…amble over to Valley Fair Mall. It’s huge and there is a Cheesecake Factory attached to it.</p>
<p>There’s a Holiday Inn Express (Santa Clara) that’s close to campus. There are lots of hotels within a few miles - Marriott Courtyard (San Jose Airport) I’ve stayed at, A Fairfield Inn and Suites by the airport that I’ve stayed at a few times and is nice and fairly new (and across the parking lot from a Chipotle), and many others.</p>
<p>One problem with that area is you can’t assume any hotel will have room. It’s amazing how they can mostly be full except on weekends, when some of them go to half price.</p>
<p>I lived in Austin for 15 years, still own a home there, and return to visit a few times a year. My favorite hotels downtown near EVERYTHING are the Stephen F Austin Intercontinental and the Driskill. Both are beautiful and historic. They are probably more pricey than some of the others that have been recommended, but not necessarily out of range. I would definitely check both of them out. Let us know if you want restaurant recommendations for Austin.</p>
<p>I would also agree with a previous poster who strongly suggested tryng to arrive in Austin before or after rush hour. The traffic is really bad coming in to Austin from Houston at that time. The tour of the Capitol is a great idea. So is just walking around on 6th street and the “lupe” (Guadalupe) near the campus. You might want to try to listen to some live music in the evening, a real Austin experience.</p>
<p>I live 10 minutes from Rice and have a son attending there and another one who goes to Wash U in St Louis. If you have any questions about Houston or Rice or Wash U, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>^^ I’ve stayed at the Hawthorn suites as well and they’re okay and I’d stay there again. I think the Fairfield Inn is a little nicer though and it’s much newer.</p>
<p>Clarkalum, that is interesting that you recommend the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin. We had a bad experience there this past Thanksgiving as we took our son on a Rice visit and stopped through Austin on the way home. The room was tiny and parking was ridiculous: $25.00 + tax for overnight valet parking. I realize that not all hotels offer a self-park garage, but that was exorbitant by Austin standards. </p>
<p>DH stays in Austin hotels for two nights a week, every week. His favorites are Doubletree and Omni. Also (as I stated in an earlier post), the Sheraton downtown is convenient to the campus. We’ve stayed there for football games.</p>
<p>I’ve never had a bad stay at the Stephen F. Austin hotel, and I’ve stayed there at least a dozen times in the last 5 years. I do have “status” with the Intercontinental chain, so I always get upgraded. I’ve never had a “bad” room–usually a corner room with a view of the Capitol. But I love everything about the hotel–the bar with the outdoor terrace overlooking Congress Ave, the hotel restaurant (Fork), the location–close to EVERYTHING. I have always found the staff and service to be fine. I would not stay at either the Doubletree or the Omni (I would stay at the Sheraton but only because I have status with Starwood and would definitely get an upgrade) but each to his or her own taste I guess.</p>
<p>Loyalty programs can give some very nice bonuses. An upgraded room or late checkout can make all the difference in one’s comfort level. I think I advised this before, pixeljig, but I will emphasize again that joining a loyalty program at one of the major chains will get you a number of benefits for no cost at all. For instance, staying as few as 5 nights at separate Marriotts (which includes Renaissance, Fairfields and Courtyards) will get you a free night in some smaller markets. That’s $100 or so in your pocket. If you don’t use the freebie now, you can use the points when you visit your son later. They don’t expire.</p>
<p>You should also go over to tripadvisor.com and look up hotels that are on a transit line or walking distance from the schools. That way, if someone in your party wants to sleep in and skip the early tour, they can join you later.</p>
<p>Well, an upgrade always helps. DH just joined their loyalty program, so it might make a difference. But honestly, $25 parking with no other option? And our room was postage-stamp sized and musty. Plus, I get tired of the Texas history thing… </p>
<p>I guess it just shows that everyone’s tastes (and priorities) are different.</p>
<p>Try the Madison Street Inn (I think thats the name). It’s a Bed and Breakfast close to the campus. Look on the school website…it’s one of the lodging places listed. We’re staying there graduation weekend in June.</p>
<p>Trying to figure out the hotels and meanwhile have a question about transport from SF airport.</p>
<p>We are 4 of us, each with a hand luggage only. Should we do Bart/Cal train or just cab it? Cab is about 110-120 one way. </p>
<p>I am hesitant to rent a car because we land at night and then next day have a 3.30 pm flight to St Louis. I just hate the car rental process - the going to the lot/waiting/shuttle etc…then again same process to return the car!! :(</p>
<p>How much will the train cost p.p or should we go by bus to the San Jose airport and take the college shuttle from there??</p>
<p>Pixel-
I would take a taxi or airport shuttle for the transport to SFO, as you are on a tight clock to get back to the airport in time for the afternoon flight.</p>
<p>Likewise, I’d do a taxi upon arrival, just so you can get to the hotel and get to sleep asap after the overseas flight.</p>
<p>For comparison:
Google maps says about 40 minutes driving time. Caltrains schedule shows Millbrae to SCU to be an hour, plus the short hop on the BART from the airport to Millbrae.</p>
<p>If it’s about money, Bart/Caltrains would be much cheaper, but I have trouble thinking at the other end of that long flight, so would go with the ‘get in car, close eyes’ option.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the train but I’d rent a car - it’s usually the most convenient and flexible way to get around. There’s a bit of a wait (usually only a few minutes) for the shuttle and if you took a taxi you could have a hassle on the return leg in waiting for the taxi. If you join something like the Avis Preferred program the hassle factor goes down because you just arrive, get on the shuttle to the rental facility, then find your name on the board and go straight to your car and leave - you don’t need to deal with the rental clerks or those lines. I highly recommend this.</p>
<p>I used to frequently fly out of San Jose and then back into SFO so I’d rent a car at SFO and drive straight to San Jose airport (to get my parked car) and turn it in. I used to get some funny looks when they saw I only had it for 40 minutes or so. It was way quicker and more convenient than taking a taxi, shuttle, or limo (i.e. what they had before shuttles).</p>
<p>The rental car would also give you an option to look around the area more widely if you get a chance. I recommend getting an idea of the general area rather than just the campus if you can.</p>
<p>We are going to GA Tech at the end of the month. I researched hotels for three days. Finally decided on Georgia Tech Hotel & Convention Center. Good prices, great reviews, no complaints about lack of cleanliness, right on campus, next to MARTA (subway) and Tech shuttle. Enjoy your trip. Let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>Thanks folks for all the great replies. H was finally able to get Candlewood suites through some website and has also done Avis membership and car rental for SFO. I think we are all set for our first college stop!!!</p>
<p>Now off to the 2nd one - WashU…looking at the Knight there, they have good rates @80/- per room per night. Rooms are available.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for LA…we are there 3 nights. Younger son wants to see LMU and we might do a couple more drives for him, maybe Pepperdine, Pomona.</p>
<p>We stayed at the Embassy suites LAX. Quick shuttle to the hotel, rented a car at enterprise and drove about 10 min to LMU, it was a slick operation for this country bumpkin check my LMU visit report for more if you like.</p>
<p>ETA it may have been a Doubletree. It’s a Hilton Family hotel.</p>
<p>I was in LA last fall with a friend for a museum crawl. She found us a room at the Biltmore for a decent price. You just can’t beat the location for convenience. You jump in your car (we parked across the street at the Pershing Square Garage for about $15/night, as opposed to the Biltmore valet parking at $40/night) and you’re on the 110 Fwy in about 2 minutes. There are several hotels in the general vicinity, including a Marriott, so if the Biltmore looks too pricey, check around. Because it’s the financial district there are plenty of good restaurants within reasonable walking distance (buy a Zagat). The Biltmore is right on the edge of the jewelery district, fun for finding gifts at wholesale prices. We came out one morning to one of those only-in-LA scenes - trucks were spraying hundreds of gallons of water on the street (grrrrrrr…) and a guy with a big trash bag full of leaves was sprinkling them in the gutters in preparation for filming some TV show - Lie To Me maybe? Lots of self-important flunkies running around with walkie-talkie-like devices, and tons of expensive camera equipment everywhere. We picked our way through it all on our way to the Starbucks.</p>
check my LMU visit report for more if you like.</p>