Palo Alto · Hotel shortlist
Hotels with an airport shuttle in the historic centre, Palo Alto
Hana Okada The Low Countries
These are my five favourites in Palo Alto, out of the 10 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.8 down to 4.2.
Hotel Strata is the one I would book myself.
Highest rated of the five
Hotel Strata
★★★★★4.8 from 1,035 reviews
Hotel Strata comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.8 from 1,035 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 3 star property, found under city centre and around $409 a night on the dates we checked.
10 hotels in Palo Alto qualified for this list and five made it. Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto is the one I would book if the first is full.
Why it works for this trip
- Spatreatment rooms on site, no booking a taxi for it
- Air conditioningthe one that decides a summer trip
- Kitchenettebreakfast on your own schedule
- Gymopen to guests, not a partner pass down the road
- Parkinga real consideration if you are driving in
All five, ranked
-
1
Hotel Strata
★★★★★4.8 from 1,035 reviews
- Spa
- Gym
- Parking
- Kitchen
- Air conditioning
- Airport shuttle
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2Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto
★★★★★4.5 from 1,742 reviews
- Pool
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
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3The Stanford Park Hotel
★★★★★4.6 from 944 reviews
- Pool
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
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4Stanford Guest House
★★★★★4.6 from 295 reviews
- Gym
- Parking
- Kid friendly
- Air conditioning
- Accessible
- Airport shuttle
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5The Palo Alto Inn
★★★★★4.2 from 435 reviews
- Spa
- Bar
- Parking
- Pet friendly
- Kid friendly
- Air conditioning
How this list was put together
10 Palo Alto hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating, then on class, and took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Hana Okada The Low Countries
Plans trips around bridges and old infrastructure. Thirty-one named bridges in 14 countries, each photographed, with sketches kept in numbered notebooks.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.