If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD307.82), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Not all heroes wear capes, some just check into a hotel… And, with a (non-toxic) dyed in the (cruelty-free) wool approach to eco-friendliness, 1 Hotel San Francisco offers luxury with a conscience. Whether it’s helping out charity partners, providing free fitness classes to promote wellbeing, an all-natural Bamford Spa (with alfresco tubs overlooking the waterfront), a kitchen that works exclusively with small ethical suppliers, and even reclaimed-wood key fobs and shower timers in rooms, the hotel fully flexes its ethical muscle. And it’s a hero property in more ways than one, with the Embarcadero’s buzz on your doorstep, Bay Bridge views and sociable events – looks like 1 Hotels has saved the stay again.
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability and on request. Earliest check-in, 4pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £287.26 ($359), including tax at 16.695 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional resort fee of $48.91 per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast. A daily $39 (plus tax) fee applies to cover use of the hotel’s Audi e-tron (subject to availability), e-bike hire and fruit from the Lobby Farmstand.
Also
The hotel has an elevator and accessible public spaces; and many rooms and suites are specially adapted, featuring roll-in showers with seating, lowered sinks and raised toilets, grab rails and easy-access bath tubs.
At the hotel
Spa and gym, lounge and workspace, boutique, rooftop chef’s garden and apiary, farmstand, e-bikes to borrow. In rooms: 55-inch LCD TV with casting capabilities, Nespresso coffee machine, yoga mat, cotton bathrobes and slippers, and Bamford bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Rooms are the visual equivalent of a soothing sip of chamomile tea or spritz of lavender sleep spray: all-natural materials, a quiet colour palette, the odd unobtrusive plant… Excuse us, we need to rest our eyes. Of course, materials are eco-friendly too. To really make the most of the hotel’s fabulous location, book a suite with a terrace and views out over the Bay – quite the sight for soothed eyes once you crawl out from the cosy woollen blanket on the bed.
Spa
The Bamford name is synonymous with organic pampering, so it was the – ahem – natural choice for 1 Hotel’s spa. And after experiencing its shiatsu-meridian-and-Swedish-massage melding rituals, detoxifying facials and hot-stone and deep-tissue kneading, you’ll feel as pure and fresh as the ingredients in its heavenly lotions and potions. There are also diamond and 24-karat-gold facials by Knesko, but the most exciting experience you can have here is very rare and valuable: soaking in a stone tub on the spa’s elevated terrace looking out over the waterfront. And to keep body and mind in balance, there are also free weekly fitness classes – sessions with Love Story Yoga (Wednesdays from 6pm to 7pm) or LuxFit HIIT bootcamps on Saturdays (9am to 10am) – personal trainers on call (book 48 hours in advance), and the Field House gym, open 24 hours with a good range of weight-training and cardio equipment, plus trusty Peloton bikes.
Packing tips
1 Hotel partners up with local brands – such as the Museum of Peace & Quiet – to fill its boutique with unique and beautiful things, so leave some space in your luggage. Or, lighten your load with the hotel’s ‘one less thing’ initiative – if there’s any clothing you’re happy to part with, leave it on the bed with the wooden ‘one less thing’ sign on it and it’ll be donated to charity partner St Anthony’s. And, before you arrive, don’t forget to download the 1 Hotels mobile app to streamline your stay from check-in to check-out.
Also
1 Hotel uses all the senses to make guests feel soothed and serene, and smell is not neglected – you’ll soon start associating its signature woodsy scent with warm fuzzy feelings.
Connecting-room options and legion entertainment options close by make this a good city stay for families with older children, even if they’re not the hotel’s target audience.
Sustainability efforts
1 Hotel San Francisco makes Captain Planet look like he’s slacking off a bit with its Earth-kind initiatives. Even the key fobs are made of reclaimed wood; single-use plastics are verboten, of course; your room has a five-minute timer you can use for the shower; lighting is LED and motion-activated; there’s smart climate-control; the cleaning system uses just salt, water and an electrical charge; carbon offsetting offsets the operational impact; faucets have a filtration system to save water; waste management is in line with the US Green Building Council’s zero-waste certification; pretty much everything you see in your room was recycled, upcycled, reclaimed or made in eco-friendly fashion; and the restaurant works with ethically run and small-batch farms, growers and fisheries no further than 100 miles away, when the team can’t get what they need from their rooftop garden and apiary. A partnership with FoodPrint helps with food waste: coffee grounds, citrus peels and other castaways are used to infuse cocktail liqueurs, and drinks are batch-made to save on ice. Redwood lumber from the old Bay Bridge was used to craft the elevator landing, corridor artwork is made from Ohioan driftwood, the flooring in the lobby uses barn wood salvaged by the Hudson Company, the restaurant’s chairs are reclaimed and the green ceilings are made from preserved plants. The hotel’s One Less Thing initiative helps clothing drives for partner St Anthony’s (which provides medical care, clothing, food, workforce training and more to people in need), and the hotel takes part in ocean and park clean-ups with the City Surf Project and Friends of the Urban Forest. There are e-bikes for hire and an e-car guests can borrow, and the Bamford spa uses all-natural materials. So, Captain, step up, you can do better.
From Terrene’s terrace you can look out over the waterfront and Ferry Building. It’s at its best on a Thursday or Friday night when a DJ mans the decks and the Bay Bridge is lit up.
Dress Code
Eco-chic or at least something second-hand.
Hotel restaurant
All the farms (well, the most ethically run) of northern California come to the table at Terrene, where chef Scott Karanda has ensured ingredients haven’t travelled more than 100 miles (fewer where possible), keeping your food’s environmental footprint small. Some might even come from the pride-and-joy kitchen garden and apiary on the hotel’s roof. There’s meat (chicken kofte with a saffron-tagine sauce and preserved lemon), fish (branzino with apricot and pumpkin seed pilaf) and sliders (filled with lamb mango jam and shallot pickle), but veggies are very well considered: Brussel sprouts come drizzled in salted honey with a shock of Fresno chilli; cauliflower with vadouvan-spiced yoghurt, cashews, golden raisins and chermoula; and mushrooms in a balsamic-fig glaze with shishito purée. And here, even the humble breakfast sandwich is a moral-compass magnet, filled with cage-free eggs, cheese from flag-bearers-for-sustainable-agriculture Cowgirl Creamery and salami from the conservationists at Rancho Llano Seco.
Hotel bar
Locality is again the key word in Terrene’s bar, where not only are cocktail fixings sourced from as close by as possible, but they’re named after Frisco neighborhoods and landmarks too. Say the Embarcadero OF, with Bacardi and vermouth, salted espresso, vanilla, Aztec chocolate bitters, orange and chilli; or Golden Gate Empire with whiskey, sherry, banana syrup and tobacco bitters. There are also seasonal and notable-date specials, and they’ve teamed up with Trash Collective to give garbage greatness as a pineapple-husk cordial in a tequila-sloshed Bellarosa, or the avocado-pit syrup in a rum-splashed Lula’s Heart. Otherwise, sample the grape-and-grain spoils of Cali’s vineyards and breweries.
Last orders
At Terrene, from Monday to Friday, breakfast is from 7am to 11am, lunch from 11am to 2pm, and dinner (all week) is from 4pm to 10pm. Weekend brunch is from 7am to 2pm.
Room service
Breakfast in-room from 6am to 11am and have dinner from 5pm to 10pm.
1 Hotel San Francisco sits on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge-facing waterfront, along the Embarcadero, close to the Ferry Building’s brilliant farmers’ market. It’s within easy walking distance of North Beach, Chinatown and SoMa.
Planes
San Francisco International Airport is a 30-minute drive from the hotel, or you could touchdown at Oakland, a longer drive at 45 minutes, but the approach over the Bay Bridge is quite something. Transfers can be arranged ($90 to $150, depending on your starting point), or an Uber will set you back about $50. Or you could go greener on the 713 bus from SFO to the SF Transit Center, or the BART from OAK.
Trains
The closest BART/Metro stop is Embarcadero, about a five-minute walk away; it’s linked to all lines and has good connections across the city.
Automobiles
Unless San Fran is a road-trip stop, you won’t need a car – firstly, the public transport is reliable, and Uber was born here; secondly, the hotel has an eco-friendly electric Audi guests can use (on a first-come, first-served basis), and a chauffeured car for short trips into the city. If you do bring wheels, a valet service is offered at $69 a night, plus tax, with in-and-out privileges.
Other
The Oakland and Alameda ferry docks practically outside the hotel and takes 30 minutes to reach the Downtown terminal.
Worth getting out of bed for
Yes 1 Hotel San Francisco is commendably sustainable, but environmental friendliness extends beyond its doors – you’re on the Embarcadero by the waterfront, in one of San Fran’s loveliest spots. Very close by is the Ferry Building, now a huge farmers’ market with indie boutiques too; stock up on rare-grain breads, artisanal honey, mushroom logs and pots of small-batch American caviar, then hit Heath for heritage tableware, Maison Verbena for soy candles and Benedetta for botanicals from biodynamic farms. Cruises out into the bay and boats to Alcatraz can be caught from the Embarcadero’s piers. Or borrow an e-bike from the hotel to spin south to Rincon Park to take in views of the Bay Bridge and Oracle Park to see the San Francisco Giants play, or north to Pier 39 to try to spot the city’s famous sea lions. The concierge can plot out an ethical shopping route for you: 45R for seasonal and all-natural Japanese clothing, Dandelion Chocolate for craft bars, Afterlife Collective for vintage gear, women-run boutique Cuyana for chic staples and monogrammed bags, and Kamperett for romantic dresses and more. Take tea, buy silk kimonos and get a little life lesson at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in Chinatown; follow the Beat poets’ footsteps to City Lights bookstore in North Beach (famed for being run by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was tried for obscenity after publishing Ginberg’s Howl); and swing by Union Square to wander the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (you can’t miss the building’s dazzle-patterned tower). The Institute of Contemporary Art embraces challenging work and holds events to engage the community, the De Young Museum showcases African and Oceanic art as well as textiles and costumery, and the Legion of Honor has ancient and European works. And, parklife is a serious pursuit here, with many green lungs, but the most famous and must-see are the 1,500-acre Presidio, a former military stronghold with spectacular views of a certain iconic bridge, a scenic promenade, the Letterman Digital Arts Center (home to LucasFilm, Star Wars fans) and the Walt Disney Family Museum; and Golden Gate Park, where you’ll find the San Francisco Botanical Garden with its 9,000 plant species. To get a good uninterrupted look at the Golden Gate Bridge, take an urban hike along the Land’s End Trail. And, back at the hotel, a changing programme of activities is geared towards wellness: there might be morning work-outs with trainers from San Fran fitness studio LuxFit, botanical watercolour painting with local arts hub Case for Making, sessions with Love Story Yoga or sound baths on the terrace.
Local restaurants
In health-conscious Frisco fine dining is a wholesome affair – and local, sustainable, seasonal, organic, tick, tick, tick… Greens has it right there in the name, which partially deviates from its farm, Green Gulch. Dishes are nutritious and delicious with the likes of onigiri griddle cakes in a garlic-miso glaze, pear and goat’s cheese tartines with a dollop of spiced-persimmon chutney, and brown-sugar cardamom cake with fresh pineapple. And this all comes with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands. Italian Baia shows that plant-based can be decadent too, swathing gnocchi in Bordelaise-black-truffle sauce; topping pizzas with zucchini, chayote and aged balsamic; and adding layers of lemon ricotta to lasagne. And, Shizen is in a beautiful wooden building, a fitting setting for its equally aesthetically pleasing vegan sushi. The specialty rolls change seasonally but each is a flavour bomb (for example, the ‘colonel’s pipe’ with smoked beets, creamy tofu, cashews, asparagus, avocado, sweet mustard and orange zest).
Local cafés
Vegan is proven to be V good at Mexican eatery Gracias Madre, where the flavors are smokey and fresh (tempeh ‘chorizo’, avocado and cashew chipotle aioli wrapped in a chimichanga; plantain French toast with fresh fruit). Be sure to try the bebidas – the margaritas and mezcals are many. Nourish Café has yet more plant-based eats that live up to its name, with quinoa this and hemp that, and revitalising smoothies. And after all those vitamins, sneak in a few steamy shrimp dumplings and comforting char siu buns from Good Mong Kok Bakery on Stockton Street.
Local bars
So, after sun salutations to the Bay Bridge, boxing cardio in the gym and putting nutrients back into your body with healthy meals, you’re feeling refreshed and revitalised – we’re about to ruin that. Let’s start at 83 Proof, a slender whisky bar where shelves groan with the amber stuff, and staff are intent on getting you drunk, then continue at the Treasury, a bar as gilded as its name; then it’s tiki time at campy yet fun Pagan Idol; a little R ’n’ R (rock and roll) at music-themed Harlan Records; night-owling it at greenery-bedecked Nightingale; rolling into low-lit Rickhouse… Need we go on? I’m not sure we’re able to at this point…
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this planet-saving stay on the Embarcadero and left behind some clothing to be donated to charity, a full account of their halo-earning break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside 1 Hotel San Francisco…
You don’t need to take great strides forward to become an eco-warrior – in fact you just need to lie down, on the cloud-soft eco-friendly mattress, dressed in sustainable bedlinen, at 1 Hotel San Francisco. Or, you could wallow instead, in one of its on-high Bamford Spa bath tubs, which overlook San Francisco's Bay Bridge and waterfront; get wasted (or, waste-d even) on cocktails created with Trash Collective that use discarded bits (coffee grounds, citrus rinds, avocado pits) to make unique syrups and liqueur infusions; or gorge on produce from Cali’s finest small-batch producers and ethically run farms (and the hotel roof garden and apiary) – see, being environmentally friendly is a breeze… And, if you want to put more oomph into it, follow the concierge’s sustainable shopping itinerary, or pitch in for ocean and park clean-ups organised by hotel partners – or leave something from your suitcase behind for someone who needs it more. Of course, there’s no shame in following the RuPaul philosophy of ‘if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else’ – and 1 Hotel gets it, so get in the headspace with a diamond-infused facial, energise with one of the free yoga or HIIT classes, and connect through one of the hotel’s many events (botanical painting, sound baths…) – and then go show the planet some love.
