ATLAS Workshop/Visitor Information

Accommodations and Local Shuttle Services

Stanford Guest House
Stanford Guest House

This comfortable and convenient housing structure is located on SLAC's campus and is just a quick walk away from the workshop. Guests will have access to in-room high-speed internet, a fitness center, a 24-hour reception desk, laundry facilities, free parking, complimentary tea and coffee, and a 24-hour gift shop. However, due to the shared used for all Stanford guests, it tends to get full very quickly to make successful reservations requiring some luck in recent years.

The Stanford Guest House offers single as well as shared rooms at reasonable rates. All rooms have their own bathroom. Rooms are non-smoking only. For the online-reservation form you should select SLAC as your affiliation category and appropriate sub categories for visits or conferences. We normally do a limited block reservation for more formal meetings on SLAC site for which you need to click "Check here for special rates" to reveal the boxes for entering the block reservation group code. If the workshop block has expired, it may be still worth a try of the online reservation without group code. In case the web form says no room available, it's still worth calling the Guest House (+1)-650-926-2800 to see if they have sporadic cancellations and other block reservation expirations that freed up a room. You can put youself on the waiting list if this is still the most preferrable option for you.

The SLAC cafeteria (SLACafé) is located on the 2nd floor of the new Science User Support Building (SUSB #53). It is open for breakfast and lunch on week days. There is a Star-Bucks located adjacent to the Guest House open during week days. On weekends, the Guest House serve complimentary bagels, muffins, juice, and coffee in our first floor lounge. Also, many dining facilities are available on campus; for information, visit Stanford Dining. A complimentary campus-wide shuttle service is available, see below. If you are really stuck without car or shuttle at some point, you might consider what's available at the small Sharon Height Shopping Center (a 24 hour Safeway supermarket at least) within walking distance from SLAC, or even getting Waiters on Wheels to deliver dinner to you...

Off-Campus Hotels

A list of off-campus hotels can be found here. In the price range column of the hotel table, more $ signs means more expensive. Some low cost hotels may not show in general hotel searches (e.g. Bookings or Expedia) so that it is worth checking them directly from the pointers on the above list. If you don't like to ponder over all the options, some suggestions to consider:

  • Cardinal Hotel: Located at downtown Palo Alto close to CalTrain station and Marguerite shuttle hub. Easy walking to many restaurants and bars. May be one of the best options in case you don't have a car. For those with a rental car, this is among the very few places you have to check the parking instructions on their web page due to its downtown location. There can be large rate differences from rooms with shared hall way bath to suites so that attention is needed on selected room type.
  • Hotel California: Located close to California Avenue CalTrain station and several Margurite shuttle lines. There are also quite a few restaurants within walking distance. This is another place which can work without a rental car. The rate has also been remaining very competitive but may not show in online searches e.g. Bookings or Expedia search, so worth a direct call (or hotel's direct online booking) to check. This feature helped many SLAC visitors in finding room avaiability here while other places were full during busy local event periods. However, the room quality may have been going down hill and you should check e.g. TripAdvisor reviews to be sure it meets your expectation.
  • The Red Cottage Inn &Suites: is located in Menlo Park which has been favored by many regular SLAC visitors. It is more convenient with a rental car for this choice.
  • If your budget is flexible enough, some places with imporved accommodations:
    • Westin Palo Alto is right next to Palo Alto Caltrain station and a Marguerite shuttle hub, and sometimes there are deep discounts for afforable rates.
    • Stanford Terrance Inn is also on the route of some Marguerite lines.
  • If budget is the dominant concern, there are motel options where rates can be down to <$80/night level at times. This can include some large motel chains but their rates can vary depending on time of year. There are more low cost choices if search radius is enlarged to 6-7 miles (10km), especially towards Redwood City, e.g. the Pacific Euro Hotel in downtown Redwood City which some previous meeting participants recommended, but one needs to be sure of the transportation consequences. These motels look unimpressive from the outside and may be without much of a lobby, but on the practical end of the interior of your own room are as good as many starred hotels in big European cities. Some low cost options may not show in general searches (e.g. Expedia) so that it is worth following the off-campus hotels list to check some of them directly.

If you don't want to get a rental car while staying off campus, if may be worth checking with people you know if they are staying at the same hotel and with a rental car you can share, which will save sometime compared to the Marguerite shuttles which will have stops on the way and most likely takes one shuttle change to get to SLAC.

See these hotels on a map:


View TDAQ Week at SLAC 2010 Hotels in a larger map

Marguerite Shuttle

The Marguerite is Stanford University's complimentary public shuttle system which traverses the campus Monday through Friday all year (except University holidays). The SLAC line operates between SLAC (with a stop at the entrance to the Guest House) and the Stanford campus, and is available from 7:48 a.m. to 8:28 p.m., approximately every 20 minutes. The nominal travel time from Stanford Oval to SLAC is ~18min, while from CalTrain Station or California Avenue to the Oval is ~10min. The total travel time need to allow additional exchange time at the Oval.

Note: The Marguerite Shuttle does not provide service to the recommended hotels directly but hotels close to Marguerite stops can use the shuttle more conveniently. e.g. for those staying at the Cardinal Hotel downtown Palo Alto, it is quite close to the Marguerite bus stop at the Palo Alto CalTrain Station where you can take Line P or N (note: return is reverse loop Line O) to the Oval and change to SLAC Line there. While for those staying at Hotel California on California Avenue, you can take Line V from El Camino@Califronia Avenue to Main Quad (=Oval). However, you should consult the Marguerite map and schedules to ensure enough time is given for the trip including the bus change.The Marguerite route and stops within SLAC can be found here (building 49 is Guest House).

The complimentary Stanford Guest House shuttle is also available evenings and weekends when the Marguerite is not.

Privacy Statement - Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional Valid CSS!