San Francisco is the birthplace of the boutique hotel. You'll find standard-issue chains with good-value rates, four-stars with upmarket comforts and a few palatial five-stars with top-flight luxuries, but it's the little places that stand out – elegant Victorians on neighborhood side streets, artsy downtowners with intimate bars and cozy small inns that smell of freshly baked cookies.
North Beach & Chinatown
Our favorite boutique hotel is a love letter to the Beat era, with moody orange, black and sage-green color schemes that nod to the 1950s. Inverted Chinese umbrellas hang from the ceiling, and photos from the Beat years decorate the walls.
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
The top hotel at Fisherman's Wharf was built as a cannery in 1908, and has century-old wooden beams and exposed brick walls. Rooms sport an over-the-top nautical theme, with porthole-shaped mirrors and plush, deep-blue carpets.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Built in 1915 and overhauled in 2008, the understatedly fancy Larkspur has a monochromatic, earth-tone color scheme and clean lines. Baths are tiny, but have fab rainfall showerheads.
Nob Hill, Russian Hill & Fillmore
Petite Auberge feels like a French country inn, with floral-print fabrics, a sunny yellow color scheme and fireplaces in many rooms.
Nob Hill, Russian Hill & Fillmore
The Kabuki nods to Japan, with shoji (rice paper screens) on the windows and orange-silk dust ruffles beneath platform beds. The boxy 1960s architecture is plain, but rooms are spacious (if in need of some upgrading).
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The sexy Palomar is decked out with crocodile-print carpets, stripy persimmon-red chairs, chocolate-brown wood and cheetah-print robes in the closet. Hugh Hefner would definitely approve.
Nob Hill, Russian Hill & Fillmore
The 1902 Hotel Majestic holds a torch for traditional elegance – even if its edges are fraying. Rooms are done with Chinese porcelain lamps beside triple-sheeted beds, and while they need some upgrades, we like the old-school vibe.
Nob Hill, Russian Hill & Fillmore
In the tradition of English country inns, the romantic White Swan is styled with cabbage-rose wallpaper, red-plaid flannel bedspreads and polished Colonial-style furniture. Each oversized room has a gas fireplace – a cozy touch on a foggy night.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Sexy doormen stand sentinel, looking like bouncers at a disco, and club-kids-turned-conventioneers crowd the lobby, which blares with thump-thump music. Though forced in its cool, the look is sexy – wear black and blend right in.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Rooms are small at this repurposed, vintage-1928 YMCA hotel, but designers compensated with pull-out drawers under platform beds, and handsome textures and colors. Book a bay-view room (trust us).
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
If you prefer high heels to hiking boots but can’t afford the Ritz, the Warwick Regis presents a (way) less-expensive alternative.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The ugly exterior disguises a fashion-forward hotel, with echoes of mid-century-modern design enhanced by up-to-the-minute luxuries. Beds are dressed with silky-soft, 450-thread-count sheets. Excellent on-site spa with two rooftop hot tubs.
Nob Hill, Russian Hill & Fillmore
If you're staying in SF for a week or longer, the Steinhart is a great address. It's a glorious early-20th-century building with high ceilings and swank art-deco furnishings.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
On the top 11 floors of SF's third-tallest building, the Mandarin has sweeping, unobstructed views from every room. There's nothing risky about the Asian-accented classical decor, but beds are sumptuous – and, oh, those vistas.
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
You get more bang for your buck at the Laurel Inn than at most downtown hotels. Rooms are bigger than average and have a colorful, up-to-date look; many have full kitchens.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Form-over-function maestro Ian Schrager has invaded SF with an 'in-the-know' creation designed to look like a foggy sunset - gray carpet, lavender walls and tangerine highlights.
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Staying at touristy Fisherman's Wharf doesn't necessarily mean you have to settle for a plain-Jane chain, like Hilton.
North Beach & Chinatown
SF's first all-green-practices hotel has soothingly quiet rooms with luxe touches, like Egyptian-cotton sheets, plus an organic rooftop garden.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Opened in 2001, the Four Seasons is huge, confident and very corporate, and one of San Francisco's best posh hotels. Rooms are impeccably designed, many with plate-glass views of the city and bay.
North Beach & Chinatown
Expensive hotels usually look it, but the Ritz-Carlton is off the charts. With its palatial, white-columned demeanor, it more closely resembles a city hall or a Greco-Roman monument.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Alas, no pink champagne on ice, but it does provide frosted tequila shots upon check-in and wine and cheese nightly.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Rooms at this restyled motor lodge face a central courtyard and look sharp, with a retro-'70s aesthetic incorporating black-and-teal-checked carpeting, white-vinyl headboards, pop art and playful extras. Kids love the outdoor heated pool.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The pinnacle of luxury, the St Regis is one of SF's three five-star hotels (the others are Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton), and it's our favorite for its art collection, which nods to the neighboring Museum of Modern Art.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Traditionalists love the conservative chintz decor and personalized service of this lovely boutique hotel, best for older travelers who appreciate quiet. Extras include twice-daily maid service, and breakfast served fireside.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
This is one of SF's most storied hotels – Gerald Ford was shot right outside. Tower rooms have stellar views, but feel architecturally generic. We prefer the original building's old-fashioned charm, with its high ceilings and crown moldings.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The city's most famous doormen, clad like clownish Beefeaters, stand sentinel at this vintage-1920s classic. Rooms have less flair and their intentionally mismatched colors feel forced, but were slated for renovation in 2011.
Nob Hill, Russian Hill & Fillmore
The Queen Anne occupies a lovely 1890 Victorian mansion, formerly a girls' boarding school. Though the decor borders on frilly, we love the stately house.
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Strains of French gramophone music fill the intimate lobby and the adjoining dimly lit lounge, intended to conjure New York's Algonquin in the 1920s.
