Clift Hotel.

By Sophie Burton

Located in Union Square, this inner-city hotel couldn’t be a more luxurious base to explore the city from.

Clift Hotel
495 Geary Street
(1) 415 7754700
www.clifthotel.com

This place has extraordinarily good genes. As the love child of Philippe Starck and legend hotelier Ian Schrager, it’s all sleek headed whimsy and mystery, complete with charming valets-cum-models, oversized sleigh beds and plenty of stunning furniture from famed international designers. Design folk will likely swoon upon entering the Redwood Room, Clift’s luxurious hotel bar, but hopefully not before slurping up the house martini, pegged with blue cheese stuffed olives. And while a visit to Fog city generally involves plenty of wandering about outside the hotel walls, make sure you spend enough time snuggling into those 400 thread count sheets. I certainly did.