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Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco

• World's Best Winner
• T+L 500 Winner

COST: $$$$

<p>Like metropolitan Ritz-Carltons across the land, the San Francisco incarnation is distinguished by its location; this one occupies an imposing palace halfway up Nob Hill. (Translation: good views, but not as far from dining and shopping as, say, the <a href="/hotels/huntington-hotel-and-nob-hill-spa-san-francisco">Huntington</a> or the Fairmont.) Outside and in, it resembles the West Wing, only without the drama. The décor in the public spaces and the 336 rooms is ultratraditional, all Oriental rugs, reproduction Second Empire furnishings, and valences over endless layers of curtains. Think of it as a Greenwich-away-from-Greenwich for road-weary CEO's.</p> <p><strong>Tip:</strong> The eighth- and ninth-floor club-level rooms give you (for an additional $200 per night) access to a lounge with a wood-burning fireplace—nice on a chilly night.</p> <p><strong>Room to Book:</strong> Many of the rooms ending in -59 to -73 (odd numbers only) face Telegraph Hill; the higher up, the better the view.</p>

Last updated January 2008