Hotels in San Francisco - Guide to Finding the Best Place to Stay

By Betsy Malloy, About.com Guide

You could easily include Nob Hill with Union Square when thinking about where to stay in San Francisco, but this hilltop spot has distinctive features that make it worth describing separately. You won't find a lot of tourist attractions, other then the wonderful Grace Cathedral and "Top of the Mark" bar at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel, but the neighborhoods' origins may give a clue to its appeal: This is where all the California railroad barons built their mansions, on a hilltop with nearly 360-degree views of city and Bay.

What You May Not Know That Some Hotels Take Advantage Of

If you see the phrase "lower" Nob Hill, don't be fooled. On a map it looks like they're close, but in fact, the so-called lower part is not on the hill and may even be on the edge of the seedy Tenderloin neighborhood.

Pluses and Minuses

+++ Views, views, views. In all directions.

++ The California Cable Car line runs through the middle of Nob Hill. It can take you to Chinatown or to connect with other lines that go to Union Square or the waterfront.

+++ This posh neighborhood is where you'll find some of the most elegant, old-style San Francisco hotels.

- - - - All those great views come with matching prices - and all the hotels charge for parking, too.

- - On foot, the climb up from the waterfront or from Union Square is a steep one.

- - - There's little of tourist interest on Nob Hill, although tourist areas aren't all that far away.

- - - If you're depending on public transportation to get you to Nob Hill from the airport, there's no direct connection.

Mapping Nob Hill

Nob Hill is small, just about 6 square blocks and with only a handful of hotels. It's bounded by the gray box in the map above.

Others use different definitions, something to be keenly aware of when researching hotels online:

• TripAdvisor oddly lists Nob Hill in their areas, but puts some Nob Hill hotels into Downtown instead.
• Priceline includes Nob Hill with Union Square West, but this may of little concern, since they seldom offer Nob Hill hotels.
• Expedia includes Nob Hill with Union Square/Convention Center.
• Kayak doesn't categorize hotels by area, but you can use their map-based search to find the right area.

Finding the Perfect Nob Hill Hotel for You

We use TripAdvisor as an important tool to plan most of our trips and we're happy sharing our secrets: Use the same process we do to choose your hotel. Or just go straight to TripAdvisor and click on Downtown to start your own research, then zoom in the map to center on California and Taylor Streets to narrow your choices.

Some hotel chains guarantee that you'll find the lowest published online rates at their websites. With them, you can save time in your search by going directly to their websites. In Nob Hill, they include:

• Intercontinental: Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Staybridge Suites
• Marriott: Marriott, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Renaissance, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites