Great place to stay in San Francisco

Traveling with kids isn't always easy. Budget concerns pull you in one direction, while aesthetics, lifestyle and wanting to live a relaxing vacation pull you in another. The question is, which pull will win the tug of war.

My husband and I have never shied away from staying in hostels. Sometimes we have discovered gems, like just outside of Philadelphia and the Sanborn Park Hostel where we stayed a few years ago and, which unfortunately, is now closed.

Sanborn Park Hostel was only 45 minutes outside of San Francisco, and last time we used it as a base and did lots of day trips from there. It's an amazing family friendly lodge, with private rooms, in the middle of the forest of Sanborn park, in Saratoga. At the amazingly incredible price of $13 per person, there was no point even thinking of going anywhere else now that we were traveling with little E. Only, after booking our entire trip (where the amazing beachfront cabin was not so budget friendly), I called the place to find out they had closed in January... So it was time to find something else.

And this is where the budget concern wins the tug of war.

I booked a room at what was supposed to be the best Hostel of the San Francisco area (and one of the best in the US), only to find out, once we're there and I'm not sleeping, that it ain't so great. Using my insomnia productively, I find this amazing gem.

With clean bright ultra-modern rooms, a shabu-shabu restaurant-lounge in the hotel and a super central location, this is Best Western's "joie de vivre" boutique branch. Bright, whimsical J-pop inspired rooms are perfect for families with kids, or the young at heart. Suites come equipped with PlayStation 3, Wii, bean bag chairs, and a 6-foot LCD projection screen. Overall, not the kind of room you expect, in the middle of San Francisco for around $100/night (the same price we were paying for our hostel).

The next day, we move out of the land of shared bathrooms and communal breakfast areas and make our way to Japantown to the greatest boutique budget hotel ever. I can't say that I'm totally turned off from hostels, like I said, there are some gems out there, but next time I'm in SF, I know where I'll be staying, and this time, form the get go.

Might I add, I slept very well that night.