5 Iconic Hotels San Francisco

Why it made the list: The grand Beaux-Arts landmark that has crowned Nob Hill since 1907, a lobby of marble and gold, and downstairs, the Tonga Room: a tiki bar built around an indoor lagoon (a former swimming pool), where a band plays from a floating boat and a thunderstorm rolls through the room every half hour. A San Francisco institution since 1945 and unlike anywhere else on earth.

Why it made the list: Across the street from the Fairmont, the Mark Hopkins is crowned by the Top of the Mark, a glass-walled sky lounge on the 19th floor with a full panorama of the city and the bay. It's been the romantic altitude drink in San Francisco since 1939, and the view is worth the price of a cocktail alone.

Why it made the list: One of the West's grandest hotels since 1875, rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake, and home to the Garden Court, a breathtaking atrium dining room under a vast leaded stained-glass dome. Come for afternoon tea beneath the glass, or a drink at the historic Pied Piper bar with its famous Maxfield Parrish mural.

Why it made the list: Near Union Square, the Clift holds the Redwood Room, an Art Deco bar opened in 1933 and paneled, floor to ceiling, in dark redwood said to come from a single tree. It's one of the most atmospheric historic bars in the city, glamorous and dim and unchanged in spirit for ninety years.

Why it made the list: The grand old hotel formerly known as the Sir Francis Drake, restored and renamed, right by Union Square, worth stepping into for the lobby, and worth going up for Starlite, its 21st-floor rooftop lounge with a genuine 360-degree view of the city. History downstairs, panorama up top.