5 Things We Loved About Our Stay at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis

📍San Francisco Marriott Marquis
📆 October 2025

If you’re planning a trip to San Francisco — whether it’s your first visit or your twentieth — the San Francisco Marriott Marquis checks every box for comfort, convenience, and the kind of little luxuries that make a getaway feel seamless. We stayed here for our long weekend in the city before heading to Wine Country, and it’s one of those hotels that becomes part of the experience, not just a place to sleep.

Here are the five things we genuinely loved about staying at the Marriott Marquis — the details that made our trip easier, more fun, and surprisingly stress-free.

1. The Location: Walking Everywhere from the Marriott Marquis

The location made exploring the city effortless.

In our video, we talk a little bit about this – but we were surprised to find San Francisco so clean and safe and walkable! We trekked all around the city during the day and at night to and from the hotel, and never felt like any place was sketchy or unsafe.

The hotel sits right in the center of downtown San Francisco, across from Yerba Buena Gardens and just steps from Market Street.
We walked to:

• Union Square
• Chinatown
• The Ferry Building
• Our dinner reservations

If you love exploring cities on foot, this location is perfect. We had the best time! Check out everything we loved in San Franscisco including Irish Coffees at Buena Vista, dim Sum at Yank Sing, dinner at the iconic Boulevard, and our driverless adventure in the Waymu!

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2. The Rooms: Surprisingly Comfortable (and Quiet!)

After a full day of trekking around San Francisco, our room at the Marriott Marquis felt like a retreat.

• Super comfortable bed
• Crisp linens
• Plenty of space for luggage + camera gear
• Great water pressure (important!)
• Quiet — which isn’t always guaranteed downtown

It was exactly the kind of room you want when you’re pairing busy days with cozy evenings in.

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3. The Rooftop Bar: The View Lounge at the Top Is a Must-Do

The rooftop bar is one of the best parts of this hotel.
Panoramic views over the city, signature cocktails, and the glow of the skyline — it feels like a little escape above the bustle.

We loved going up before dinner for a glass of sparkling wine and a moment to take in the view.

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4. The M Club Lounge: Stocked with snacks, fancy coffee, and drinks

If you have lounge access, it’s 100% worth using.

• Breakfast
• Snacks to take in your bag
• A fancy coffee machine
• Sparkling and still water to fill your water bottle
• A quiet place to recharge
• Great Wi-Fi
• Drinks + light bites

It made the hotel feel even more like a home base — especially when we were getting ready to get our rental car and head to Sonoma Valley.

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5. Renting a Car for Wine Country Was Incredibly Convenient

This was the biggest surprise — we picked up our rental car right at the hotel for our day trip to wine country. This is randomly one of the reasons we selected the hotel.

Zero stress.
No Ubering across town to a rental center.
Just walk downstairs, grab the keys, and go.

If you’re planning to visit Sonoma or Napa, this is the easiest possible starting point.

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The San Francisco Marriott Marquis ended up being the perfect anchor for a trip built around food, wine, and exploring San Francisco on foot. Comfortable, central, modern, and easy — exactly what you want from a city hotel.

If you’re planning a trip, you can check rates + availability here:

Watch: San Francisco Field Notes

Read Next: more food + wine travel posts:

• Another Marriott Favorite: Our favorite Charleston, SC Boutique Hotel
• Our recommendations for Things to do in San Francisco for a weekend
• Our Wine Tasting Guide to Sonoma & Napa
• YouTube Video / Why we love visiting Sonoma over and over again