Cavallo Point
Surrounded by pine trees on Marin Headlands, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, Cavallo Point is the area's first National Park lodge. Run by Passport Resorts (the company behind environmentally aware oases such as Hotel Hana-Maui, Big Sur's Post Ranch Inn and Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort) in partnership with the National Park Service, the hotel is in Fort Baker, a military post built to protect San Francisco Bay during World War II. The original officers' quarters have been converted into 68 rooms and suites with fireplaces, ceiling fans and porches furnished with rocking chairs. There are 74 additional contemporary rooms built on a hillside. All display works by acclaimed photographers such as Imogen Cunningham and David Maisel. In addition to hiking, biking and kayaking, activities include cooking demonstrations and morning yoga classes; there is also a 11,000sq ft spa. The restaurant, Murray Circle, is led by Joseph Humphrey, from the two-Michelin-starred restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley.

Room to book: Of the hotel's contemporary rooms, the secluded and spacious Golden Gate king suites are dazzling, with panoramas of the Golden Gate bridge and bay.

Cavallo Point: 00 1 415 339 4700; www.cavallopoint.com. Doubles from $250.

Hotel des Arts
This quirky, stylish hotel is in an excellent location on the cable-car route next to Chinatown and downtown. The rooms may be small and frill-free, but they are filled with big-statement modern art from known and emerging artists, including Damon Soule, Tricia Choi, Sam Flores and Shepard Fairey. Got a thing for graffiti? Try Room 408, a retro-style collaboration between the long-time graffiti artists Bask and Tes One. Love the skateboard aesthetic? Check into Room 412, which is filled with Jeremy Fish's trademark skull-and-bunnies imagery. Standard perks include a complimentary continental breakfast and free Wi-Fi access. What little public space there is—narrow hallways, shared bathrooms and a breakfast room—is enlivened with works of art (even the central air shaft is decorated with colourful murals). Guests can scroll through the artists' biogs and view photos of each of the hotel's painted rooms on the website before booking by telephone.

Room to book Room 307, San Francisco artist Anthony Skirvin's inventive take on what it's like to crash in a mysterious stranger's room soon after that stranger has left town (feel free to rummage through the drawers).

Hotel des Arts: 00 1 415 956 3232; www.sfhoteldesarts.com. Doubles from $149.

Hotel Kabuki
This light-filled Zen retreat in funky Japantown recently underwent a $9-million refurbishment by the Joie de Vivre hotel group, which also owns the Kabuki Springs & Spa just down the street (guests receive free passes to the Kabuki Spa). You get a Japanese tea service on arrival, and the comfortable rooms have balconies accessed through sliding shoji-screen doors printed with paintings of geishas and samurai. From the top floors there are views of Twin Peaks and other city landmarks. The bathrooms come with eucalyptus bath salts and wooden buckets for Japanese-style bathing, and some have deep soaking tubs. The look is sleek and modern, with welcome hints of tradition: bright-silk bed-runners, elegant vases, ceramic teapots and cups, gilded bamboo frames. The restaurant, Izakaya Lounge, serves a Japanese breakfast bento and hosts a karaoke night every Thursday.

Room to book: The two Japanese suites in the Garden Wing have futons, tatami floors and in-room Zen sand gardens.

Hotel Kabuki: 00 1 415 922 3200; www.jdvhotels.com/kabuki. Doubles from $159.

Hotel Majestic
Built in 1902 as a home for railroad magnate Milton Schmidt, the Majestic is a meticulously restored Edwardian mansion south of Pacific Heights providing old-world glamour at down-to-earth prices. The actresses Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland both lived here, and visitors seeking a more 'neighbourhood' feel will want to move in as well. Large bay windows flood the 58-room hotel with light; suites are furnished with four-posters, claw-footed tubs and armoires. English antiques, Biedermeier chairs and French Empire chandeliers complete the look. Suites are named after local personalities: Senator Dianne Feinstein, late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, former mayor Willie Brown. The French-Californian restaurant, Café Majestic, opened in 2007 to rave reviews for chef Ian Begg's fresh, seasonal cooking, including dishes such as Kobe beef tartare, crispy polenta cakes with wild mushrooms and butter-basted Alaskan halibut.

Room to book: All junior suites have sitting areas and fireplaces.

Hotel Majestic: 00 1 415 441 1100; www.thehotelmajestic.com. Doubles from $160.

Sir Francis Drake Hotel
Beefeater costume-clad doormen guard the entrance to this Prohibition-era gem in Union Square. The Drake is one of the longest continuously operating hotels in the city (doorman Tom Sweeney has been there 30 years). In 2007, Kimpton Hotels gave the 416-room grande dame a much-needed $20-million facelift, updating rooms in a palette of deep purple, sage and cream, with button-back headboards, granite baths and Wi-Fi access. The large lobby showcases heavy chandeliers dripping with crystal, lots of Italian marble and vaulted, gold-leaf ceilings. A curved marble staircase leads up to the hotel's mezzanine level, which overlooks the cable cars that run up and down Powell Street. Scala's Bistro is a lively, always-crowded restaurant that serves Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Harry Denton's Starlight Room, a bar on the 21st floor, is a San Francisco institution, with velvet banquettes, a classy cocktail menu and sparkling views of the city.

Room to book: Each room in the late-1920s building is different, but the corner rooms are particularly spacious.

Sir Francis Drake Hotel: 00 1 415 392 7755; www.sirfrancisdrake.com. Doubles from $179.