The Garden Court is the most beautiful hotel dining room in California. The rest of the hotel has to live up to it — and mostly does.
The Palace Hotel opened in 1875 as the largest hotel in the world, was destroyed in 1906, and was rebuilt and reopened in 1909 to a design that retained the original's ambition. The Garden Court — a 75-foot glass-ceilinged atrium ringed by marble columns and decorated with 70,000 panes of leaded glass — remains the most architecturally extraordinary interior of any hotel in California. Breakfast in the Garden Court on a Sunday morning, with the light filtering through the glass ceiling and the Silver Service laid out on white linen, is one of the finest hotel experiences in the American West.
The 556 rooms have been renovated to a standard appropriate to the building's National Historic Landmark status. The rooms are large by San Francisco standards and finished in warm, period-appropriate colours. The Pied Piper Bar — named for Maxfield Parrish's 1909 painting The Pied Piper of Hamelin, which hangs behind the bar — is the hotel's neighbourhood gathering point and one of the most atmospheric hotel bars in the city.
The Palace is a Marriott Autograph Collection property, which means Bonvoy points apply but also that the operational consistency is higher than many independent historic hotels. The Riptide Fitness Centre and the Kensington Park Spa complete the amenity offer. The hotel's location on New Montgomery Street places it at the Financial District's southern edge — walking distance from the Embarcadero and BART.
The Financial District address and the Garden Court's power-breakfast reputation make the Palace the natural choice for San Francisco business entertainment at the historic end of the spectrum. Meeting rooms for 10 to 1,000 are available within the hotel. The proximity to the Embarcadero BART station makes client collection practical from the airport. See all business hotels →
Sunday brunch in the Garden Court is a San Francisco anniversary ritual — the room is so beautiful that the occasion feels correct from the moment you sit down. The Pied Piper Bar with its Maxfield Parrish painting is where the evening drink happens. The Palace's combination of architectural grandeur and lower rates than the Nob Hill five-stars makes it the best-value anniversary hotel in the city. See all anniversary hotels →
From $300/night. Check availability.
More exceptional options in the same city.