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If you are vacationing in the San Francisco Bay Area, it would be a huge mistake to neglect Marin county. The area across the Golden Gate Bridge is a Northern California wonderland of redwood forests, majestic coastlines and relaxed rural sophistication.
I recently discovered the perfect spot from which to soak in everything Marin has to offer: Marin Suites Hotel in Corte Madera.
I stayed at Marin Suites while attending a conference at the wonderful Book Passage bookstore, just steps away. I chose the hotel for its location, but I ended up loving the pool and hot tub, the elegant lounge area and my spacious, comfortable suite.
This post is my unbiased review of my experience stayng at Marin Suites Hotel — what my room was like, the feel of the overall property, and whether you should stay there when you are in Marin.
Is Marin Suites Hotel worth staying at? Here’s my honest take!
Marin Suites Hotel: My Honest Review
Marin Suites Hotel in a Nutshell
* I stayed in a 1-bedroom suite, with a king bed, living room and kitchen
* Average cost is around $150/night
* Nice pool and hot tub
* Best feature: location near a Corte Madera shopping plaza
When visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, you don’t want to miss Marin attractions like Muir Woods, Sausalito, Stinson Beach and Point Reyes. Often folks stay in the The City and take a day tour to the North Bay, which is fine. But if you have time, I recommend staying a couple nights in Marin County! That way you can enjoy all these more relaxed, scenic area has to offer at your leisure.
Marin of course is a whole county, with lots of cities and towns to stay in. But I particularly like Corte Madera. It’s close to the Golden Gate and San Francisco. The Larkspur ferry is nearby which offers easy transportation to and from San Francisco.
Booking a room at Marin Suites
You can easily book at Marin Suites via Booking.com or directly on their website. Booking.com will show you various room sizes with different cancellation policies. Personally, I am usually willing to pay a little more for free cancellation, so I recommend choosing their option of canceling up to two days before check-in.
Getting to the hotel
Most people probably drive to Marin Suites. They have a parking lot adjacent to the hotel. Parking is included, for one car per room.
But you could also take the ferry to Marin! If traveling from San Francisco, take the Larkspur Ferry from the San Francisco Ferry Building.
The ferry terminal in Marin is just under 2 miles from the hotel. When I stayed, I carried just a small bag, so I decided to walk from the ferry. But you could also take a short Lyft or Uber ride there.
Arriving and checking in
Check-in is at a small office right in the entrance from the street. The road outside is busy and there is no pull-in circle like some hotels have. Instead, you can drive straight to the parking lot, choose any spot, and then go into the office.
Hotel layout
With such a tiny lobby area, I was surprised when I entered the pool area/courtyard and saw that the hotel goes waaaay back. There are 3 floors in buildings on each side of the pool area, then you pass into a second courtyard with another set of 3-floor buildings.
The downside of this layout is that the back buildings are a bit of a hike from the front sidewalk. If you want to visit the shopping center right next door, you have to walk way up to the front first, then enter the shopping center parking lot and double back. There isn’t a sidewalk connecting the two properties back from the street, and the hotel parking lot is lower than the shopping center. (I did sneak down the ledge to get to from the shopping center to the hotel parking lot a couple times, but it didn’t feel super safe.)
The hotel has what looked like very small elevators. I just used the stairs.
The number of the hotel is not very intuitive. The front desk clerk will show you your room location on a paper map. Pay attention or you’ll end up wandering around lost!
The rooms
As the name indicates, Marin Suites is an all-suite hotel. However, not all the suites are the same size. They have:
- Studio suites. At about $160 per night, the studio suites have a queen or king bed (or two queens), a desk and a kitchen area all in one large room. The studio suites don’t have a stove, just a refrigerator, sink and microwave.
- 1-bedroom suites. About $180 per night. These have a bedroom with a closing door and a living room with a pull-out couch. The bedroom can have a king bed or two queens. The kitchen has a stove.
- 2-bedroom suites. Ranging from $220-$290, these spacious suites have two separate bedrooms with either one or two beds in them.
My experience in my room
I stayed in a one-bedroom suite. It was way more space than I needed for just myself. If I stay here again for the same conference next year, I will either book earlier to try to get a studio suite, or — better yet — team up with friends to share a suite.
My room came with two heavy hotel bath robes, which I loved! It’s especially nice to have a robe to get to the hot tub and back in!
The room overall was very clean and cutely decorated. It would be a great hotel to work out of, if needed, since you could sit on the couch or at the desk or at the kitchen table.
The bedroom: The bedroom is large. I found the bed to be very comfortable — not to hard, not too soft. The room was not as dark as I would have liked in the mornings, but fortunately I brought an eyeshade. The bedroom has a TV facing the bed, which I didn’t use.
The bedroom had an air conditioner (I assume it was also a heater although I stayed in summer so I didn’t need that). The windows actually open, which I always appreciate in a hotel. So I ended up turning off the AC and opening the windows.
The bathroom: Good shower, good lighting, working plumbing. What more do we want? It even had some storage space.
The living room: A bright, roomy area where you could easily host a work meeting or hang out with friends. It has another television, and a desk.
The kitchen: Enough dishes to prepare a full meal. No dishwasher, and a sign says the staff won’t wash your dishes, so you have to hand wash. They provide the supplies for that. Full range with oven, full-size fridge, microwave, sink, countertops. I had picked up a few snacks and beverages at Trader Joe’s on my walk from the ferry, so I appreciated the fridge. I didn’t use the stove.
The kitchen also has a coffee maker and a basket with coffee, etc., but I totally ignored this because my conference next door served coffee in the morning. There’s also a good cafe with espresso drinks right next door called Endless Quest Coffee Roasters. And Book Passage also has a cafe.
Finally, the hotel provides guests with aluminum, resusable water bottles. There’s a bottle filling station downstairs. I like that eco-friendly touch!
The common areas
I loved the pool and hot tub. Clean, big enough and at the right temperature. When hanging out in the hot tub in the evening with conference friends, we met a bunch of young video game professionals, which was fun.
They also have this chic-looking area with a fireplace and a tent ceiling, and couches. I never saw anyone hanging out here, but it looked so tempting and comfortable! There are vending machines and the water dispenser nearby as well.
Finally, there is a grill near the pool area, and a drink dispenser where they had a tasty, cold fruity tea.
Drawbacks of Marin Suites
In general, I liked this hotel a lot and would stay again. These are the only drawbacks I found:
- I heard road noise at night. Marin Suites is on Tamal Vista Boulevard, a pretty busy road. Even worse, Highway 101 runs along the back of the property. I may have been able to block this out entirely if I’d closed the windows and run the AC instead. But I’d still recommend packing ear plugs, just in case.
- This may seem silly, but I felt like the rooms were too big. For a single person not needing to cook, it would actually be nice if they had a few standard hotel rooms at a lower price point.
- The room numbering system is a little crazy. I don’t know why they can’t just have the ground floor rooms begin with 1, the 2nd floor 2 and the 3rd floor 3, like most hotels do.
- I wish they would build a set of stairs to connect the back end of the hotel to the shopping center next door.
- No free breakfast or restaurant. You can go next door to The Marketplace to find something to eat.
The neighborhood around Marin Suites
As I already mentioned, Marin Suites is located on a busy road. It’s not a charming downtown area. That said, it does have a sidewalk in front, so you can leave the property on foot.
The most convenient businesses near Marin Suites are all in The Marketplace shopping center, literally steps away. They include some very convenient businesses for hotel guests:
- Book Passage. A wonderful book store that also carries travel essentials like bags. You can get a bit to eat, a coffee or a glass of wine here as well. And they have a lot of interesting evening events, like author talks.
- Total Wine & More. Need a bottle (or three) for your room? You can grab it at discount prices right there.
. The only thing this shopping center lacks is, sadly, a full-service restaurant. Fortunately, there’s a larger shopping center just a 10-minute walk down the road, Town Center Corte Madera. That place has a dozen restaurants, including Il Fornaio, Starbird and a new local place called Pig in a Pickle.
Town Center also has shops, including Sephora and REI. And a Safeway grocery store!
On the other side of 101, there’s an even bigger mall, The Village at Corte Madera. The Village more restaurants, including The Cheesecake Factory, Boudin and Boca Pizzeria. It also has an Apple store, a lot of clothing stores and a luggage store.
Beyond the immediate neighborhood, Marin’s attractions are legion. It’s a 15-minute drive from Marin Suites to Mount Tamalpais State Park, a 30-minute drive to Muir Woods and about 45 minutes to Stinson beach. There are hiking trails everywhere.
My bottom line on Marin Suites
I would recommend staying at Marin Suites if you are visiting Marin for work or pleasure. Even though it’s on a busy road, it’s in a walkable area, and you can get to all of Marin’s most beautiful attractions relatively quickly from Corte Madera.
I especially recomnend this place if you are staying with family or friends. If you’re traveling alone, you might want to check out the Best Western down the road for smaller and slightly more affordable rooms (with free breakfast).