When you enter 1 Hotel San Francisco’s brick building, the city’s noise fades quickly. The lobby, adorned with verdant plants, rich wood and organic stone, immediately envelops you in a sense of tranquility.
While it may not conjure up typical images of San Francisco, the 200-room property mirrors the city’s forward-thinking and sustainably minded spirit while injecting an understated, cool design and vibe.
Here are five reasons to check into the San Francisco hotel:
The Eco-Friendly Ethos
1 Hotel San Francisco opened in 2022 as one of the city’s most sustainable hotels. Like its sister properties in Miami, Nashville and Toronto, it goes beyond just ditching plastic straws and bottles to show off its ecological bona fides. It adopts thoughtful and thorough eco-friendly practices that touch on almost every part of your experience.
In our room, green wine bottles were refashioned as cups and a carafe — filtered-water-filling stations reside on each floor’s hallway. There isn’t any paper in the rooms (a small chalkboard for notes is next to the phone and the “do not disturb” sign is replaced by a rock that reads “not now”) except for the welcome note we received — which was embedded with flower seeds and meant to be planted back home. Hangers are made of recycled paper. The Nespresso machine comes with recyclable pods. At least 30% of the minibar items are sourced locally (like 9th & Larkin chocolate bars). Showers have timers. A program encourages overpackers to leave any unwanted clothing to be donated to a local charity.
Elsewhere in the hotel, the lobby offers complimentary imperfect but still delicious fruit from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market that would otherwise be thrown away. The gym’s rubber floor is made of 80% recycled materials. The hotel maintains a small herb and vegetable garden and an apiary. An electric Audi e-tron is the house car, and e-bikes are available to guests.
The Design
The lifestyle hotel goes all in on a biophilic and sustainable design. Its timber was salvaged from the Old San Francisco Bay Bridge, barns and other buildings. Native greenery fills everything from the lounge areas to the rooms. Natural and recycled materials are used wherever possible.
In the neutral-hued lobby, the thick wood check-in desk fronts a stunning moss wall that provides a focal point. Above, sculptural white light fixtures by artists Tomoe Matsuoka and Doug Johnston consist of coiled cotton and nylon cords. Hand-woven area rugs made of plant fibers and recyclable wool dot the space.
In Terrene restaurant, ferns and other greenery hang from the ceiling, framing the light fixtures with their dangling leaves and branches. These preserved plants, which use less water and don’t get dusty like artificial ones, are the dining room’s centerpiece.
The guest rooms have an eco-chic aesthetic. A palette of creams, grays and whites; abundant wood in the flooring and the bed’s accent wall; and plants scattered about conjure a soothing, organic feel. You’ll want to cozy up in the hooded cotton sweatshirt-like robe and hunker down for the evening. Book a suite with a terrace for daybeds and sofas amid even more greenery and views of the city and the Ferry Building clock tower.
The Spa
Fitting with the rest of the hotel’s dedication to sustainability, Bamford Wellness Spa uses organic and natural beauty products from its namesake brand, which originated in the English countryside.
While the top-floor spa is petite — there are only three treatment rooms and no facilities — you can find bliss here. The unique offerings are the salt soaks. It’s a romantic setup: two oval stone tubs sit on the intimate eighth-floor rooftop terrace, shrouded by bamboo fencing and plants. Soak in water treated with salt from the Pacific while you take in the surrounding skyline. It’s a great option for couples.
A popular service is the Bamford Signature Treatment. It aims to help rebalance and relax you using shiatsu, meridian and Swedish massage techniques and includes a pressure point massage of the face, head, neck and shoulders. Our terrific therapist Tina skillfully zeroed in on our problem areas without prompting, leaving us feeling loose and at peace. She even gave suggestions on how to stretch our tense muscles at home.
The Location
The SF hotel has an excellent position on the Embarcadero. The iconic Ferry Building sits kitty-corner, providing tempting food and drink options, whether you want a cup of famed Humphry Slocombe Secret Breakfast ice cream (bourbon and cornflake flavor) or steaming Blue Bottle Coffee. We enjoyed perusing the farmers market offerings, picking up some food and then strolling the waterfront and taking in a fantastic view of the Bay Bridge.
If you want something a bit more elevated than the cult favorite burgers from the Ferry Building’s Gott’s Roadside, which originally hails from St. Helena, try Boulevard across the street. Set inside a historic building with a peacock motif and art deco touches, the institution specializes in California fine dining.
Part of the SoMa (or South of Market) neighborhood, the hotel is also close to Yerba Buena Gardens, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Chinatown (all a five-minute drive) and Oracle Park (a six-minute drive).
The Food and Drinks
In the state that originated the farm-to-table movement, Terrene naturally embraces that ethos by featuring Northern California’s fresh organic produce and ingredients from its garden and hives.
The all-day restaurant features “Supper that Sustains Us,” a rotating menu in collaboration with a local farm. When we visited, stone fruit from Brentwood, California’s Frog Hollow Farm starred in dishes like pluot panzanella with tomatoes, arugula, cucumbers, pickled shallots and sourdough croutons, and grilled lamb lollipops with emerald plum mint relish.
Elsewhere on the menu, you can get everything from a marinated steak skewer with chimichurri to seared scallops. The most popular orders are the comfort-food flatbreads. Try the delicious Green flatbread, which comes topped with fig preserves, Asian pear, goat cheese, arugula, Parmesan and a generous drizzle of truffle oil.
Don’t miss the drinks menu, which presents an “Amor por Agave” section that pays homage to the influence of Mexican culture on the Bay Area with agave cocktails. The “50 Mile Highlight” portion of the menu spotlights libations with spirits and ingredients within a 50-mile radius of Terrene. “Neighborhoods and Landmarks” takes inspiration from the city’s diverse areas. But perhaps the section that’s most in line with 1 Hotel is the zero-waste cocktails that use up ingredients that normally get thrown away, like citrus peels. We enjoyed sipping the sweet-tart Tiny Sea Monster with Botanist gin, Italicus bergamot liqueur, kombu, roasted lemon cordial, clarified citrus and black lemon bitters.
When the weather’s nice, take your meal or drinks out on the expansive lovely patio. You can dine under strings of Edison bulbs while overlooking the Ferry Building and bridge.
