Hotels and Motels in the immediate Stanford area [Information as of 2000]
As a general rule, hotel rates in this area are cheaper on weekends. It's not a major tourist area, and the hotels cater mostly to business travelers. For transportation info see here.
Mayfield
is the old, and nearly forgotten, name for the California Street business district, the nearest shopping district to Stanford, and (by extension) to all of south Palo Alto, the slightly lower end of this extremely upper-end suburb. All addresses here are Palo Alto.
Stanford Terrace Inn
531 Stanford Ave. (at El Camino Real), 650-857-0333
Rates: $165/single, $190/double
This is the closest hotel to Stanford, the one where the university usually puts up
interviewees and other non-celebrity visitors. It's pleasant enough, but in my opinion
seriously overpriced. It has no restaurant, but there's a Starbuck's next door.
For weekdays, the Marguerite A line
stops nearby. For weekends, it's barely over a mile walk to the Law School if you cut
through the grad student housing tract.
Hotel California
2431 Ash St. (at California Street) 650-322-7666
Rates: $88/double
A bed and breakfast in the middle of downtown Mayfield. Doesn't need the breakfast part,
which is only a continental breakfast anyway, as it's half a block from Izzy's, the best
bagel shop in the West. (And also near Noah's, the most over-rated bagels anywhere.)
The web site mentions a free shuttle to Stanford. This is the Marguerite, which stops
right on the corner, but does not run on weekends.
Coronet Motel
2455 El Camino Real (between California and Sherman), 650-326-1081
Rates: $70/single, $80/double
Cheap and fairly nearby.
A whole string of motels are spread down El Camino Real south of Mayfield, through Palo Alto into Mountain View and Sunnyvale, unpretentious and not too shabby. (None of this is too bad a neighborhood.) Among the nearest and nicest are:
Palo Alto Travelodge
3255 El Camino Real, 650-493-6340, reservations 888-515-6375
Rates: $85 on weekends
Creekside Inn
3400 El Camino Real (not at Page Mill Road, as the web site says, but a few blocks south at Matadero Ave.), 650-493-2411, reservations 800-492-7335
Rates: $150 up on weekdays
There are many others along El Camino, several of them specializing in housing Asian businesspeople visiting Silicon Valley firms. I haven't checked them all out, but here's a list in geographical order as far as the city line. The first three are as close as the ones listed above, but most of the rest are some three miles from Stanford. The Santa Clara County transit 22 bus runs all the way along El Camino. Some of these places have rooms as inexpensive as $55:
Downtown Palo Alto
The Marguerite B line leaves from the far side of the train station (the side away from downtown, I mean) on weekdays.
Sheraton Palo Alto
625 El Camino Real (near University Ave.), 650-328-2800
Rates: $159 up on weekends, much higher on weekdays
Large and pleasant. This is a possible place to go for Sunday brunch.
Westin Palo Alto
675 El Camino Real (next door to the Sheraton), 650-321-4422
Rates: $190 up on weekends, much higher on weekdays
Opening May 1, 2000. Grist out of the same mill as the Sheraton.
Garden Court Hotel
520 Cowper St. (at University Ave.), 650-322-9000
Rates: $260 up
Palo Alto's small luxury hotel. It's where our niece had her wedding, to give you an idea.
Cardinal Hotel
235 Hamilton Ave. (at Ramona St.), 650-323-5101
Rates: $70-$80 without en suite bath, $115 up with
Inner-city type hotel occupying the upper floors above a really nice Italian restaurant.
Looks pretty well kept up.
Cowper Inn
705 Cowper St. (at Forest St.), 650-327-4475
Bed and breakfast in an attractive rambling wooden building on the far edge of downtown.
Palo Alto Hotel, 425 High St. (near University), 650-321-3993
Craig Hotel, 164 Hamilton Ave. (near High), 650-853-1133
Both in central downtown, these places look a bit seedy, as if their heyday was the 1950s.
Menlo Park
immediately adjoins Palo Alto to the north. It's about 3 miles from the Law School: a quick drive. A Marguerite shuttle called the Menlo Line runs along El Camino 3 times during commute hours on weekday mornings; otherwise you're on your own.
Stanford Park Hotel
100 El Camino Real (near Cambridge Street), 650-322-1234, reservations 800-368-2468
Rates: $295 up for double
The local vacation destination hotel. Has restaurants and all the trimmings.
Best Western Riviera
15 El Camino Real (right across the road from the Stanford Park, 650-321-8772
Rates: $139 on weekends, higher on weekdays
There are also some small, less-attractive places just up the road. Info on request.
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