Where to stay in downtown San Fran?

There are lots of great hotels near Union Square. Not cheap is a classic The Sir Francis Drake Hotel, which has wonderful ambiance in its lobby.

There are some great boutique hotels with more budget-conscious pricing such as The Chancellor.

If you want shopping, restaurants, and sights, then Union Square is a good – if touristy – place to stay. Check out The Clift Hotel. It’s a lot of fun, and the Redwood Room downstairs is a great bar.

If you want somewhere near Union Square that’s less expensive but still cool and decently nice, you might consider The Hotel Triton, which is a smaller boutique hotel.

Also, there are some nice hotels in the Financial District, such as Le Meridien SF, but the Financial District gets pretty quiet at night and on the weekends.

I always stay around Union Square in SF, the Drake and Chancellor on Powell are both nice there’s another one there too, Florence-something which I haven’t stayed at but walk past all the time. The one I stay at most frequently is the Handlery (415–781-7800) on Geary St. which has always been good to me; there’s also a decent irish pub across from it if you take the back exit onto o’farrell which is always good after a long flight.

Check hotels.com and find a hotel you like that is close to Union Square, but don’t book it on hotels.com. Google the hotel, get the phone number, and call them directly.

You can’t get information to contact a hotel directly on a site that sells reservations for it, but those sites have great information about current rates, locations, amenities, etc. Use it as a resource.

There is one web site I know that has comments and ratings from patrons. That is tripadvisor.com, a good resource, too.

Just don’t stay in Fisherman’s Wharf – it’s far from public transportation so unless you have a rental car it’s not a convenient way to get to other parts of the city. If you stay in Union Square, however, you’re close to everything.

If you’re looking for a more authentic experience, you can stay with some San Franciscans on AirBnB.