York Hotel

San Francisco: York Hotel 6/10.
Welcoming people, friendly and helpful. We had a very spacious room with en suite, a bit old fashioned in decor but it was clean and bright. The main thing which let it down was that the walls are paper thin!
Breakfast was ok, not much choice but nice enough.
San Fran itself is a fantastic city! Loads to see and do! I'd definitely recommend visiting China Town, especially early in the morning to see the markets and hustle and bustle.
We had a fantastic lunch at House of Nan King, the food was so fresh, and you won't eat a 'British' Chinese take out again! Also, go to Fishermans wharf and try some seafood. We hired bikes at pier 39 for $35 each for the day including a ferry ride home, (you can bike back too if you want) and went over the Golden Gate Bridge which was great!
We took a boat to Alcatraz prison and did the audio tour which was very interesting, worth a visit! Golden Gate Park also has a lot to offer, there's a Japanese tea garden there as well as museums and picnic spots.
We ate out at a great Italian called lupa trattoria in Castro and a lovely fish bar called pacific catch at the Marina where you can watch them cook your food. The cable cars around the city are really convenient and you can buy a day pass for $12 which is good if you want to travel all around the city, or its $5 a ride.
There is a cable car museum too which is interesting as you can see the machines that are pulling the cables under the streets. The streetcar buses are also really reliable and are $1.50 each. The city has great shops too including Macy's, Bloomingdales and Nordstrum as well as usual ones like gap and H & M.
I would recommend anyone to go to San Francisco as there is something for everyone, I’d definitely go back! There is a great guide book too which is where we found out loads of good info called San Francisco, city guide, by lonely planet.
Sonoma Valley: Best western was a great hotel, large room, and en suite. There is an outside pool and hot tub! An absolutely beautiful area, lovely town with lots of wineries to taste at well within walking distance.
Our hotel also gave us some vouchers entitling us to free or, two for one tasting at various vineyards. We visited a fantastic vineyard called Benziger's which take you on a tour around so you can see all the areas of wine making, great fun and absolutely stunning especially in the warm sun!
We ate fantastic food at 2 restaurants called 'El Dorado Cafe' and I think 'Mariner's Fish bar' both served gorgeous food! Such a beautiful place!
Seattle: We stayed with a friend in the Kirkland area which is so beautiful! Green areas and a lake which is a lovely place to sit and watch the boats. The city itself has a fantastic underground tour which is amazing, showing the old streets of Seattle before they built them higher, a fantastic story with great tour guides giving a funny angle to the tale, well recommend doing this!
Pike Market is great, on every day all day it has great fish stalls as well as usual hustle and bustle and local stalls. We went up the Space Needle, which is a bit pricey but you get a great view of the city, and the EMP museum is very interesting all about music with exhibitions on Jimmy Hendrix, Disney, Rap and hip hop, videos on Bob Dylan, Disco, and lots more.
There is an audio tour too, would recommend giving a day to look round the museum cause there's loads to see and read and hear! In Kirkland there is a lovely wine shop where you can taste too with lovely people and its right by the lake, called The Grape Choice.
Also we ate regularly at a restaurant called Oriel Cafe which offers gorgeous food, breakfast, lunch and dinner! or if you just fancy a coffee. The buses are very reliable from Kirkland and in Seattle and the drivers are really helpful and will tell you which one you need and where to get off.
All in all a fantastic trip!