Budget Hotels & Hostels
Apartments
Guesthouses and B&Bs
Hotel Boheme
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...
Argonaut Hotel, A Kimpton Hotel
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...
Cartwright Hotel Union Square
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...
Petite Auberge
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...
Hotel Kabuki A Joie De Vivre Boutique Hotel
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)...
Hotel Palomar San Francisco, A Kimpton Hotel
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...
Hotel Majestic
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...
White Swan Inn
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...
W Hotel San Francisco
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...
Harbor Court Hotel, A Kimpton Hotel
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)...
Warwick San Francisco Hotel
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...
Hotel Vitale A Joie De Vivre Hotel
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...
Steinhart Hotel And Apartments
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...
Mandarin Oriental San Francisco
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...
Laurel Inn, A Joie De Vivre Boutique Hotel
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...
Clift
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...
Best Western Plus Tuscan Inn At Fisherman's Wharf
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...
Orchard Garden Hotel
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.
Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco
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...
The Ritz Carlton, San Francisco
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...
Best Western Hotel California
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...
Best Western Plus Americania
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...