The Westgate Hotel ★★★★

Versailles, Rebuilt on Second Avenue

In 1970 the Westgate was built as a deliberate recreation of the Palace of Versailles, and decades on it is still doing it, without irony. The public rooms are hung with Flemish and French tapestries, lit by Moscatelli chandeliers and floored with Persian carpets, and the antiques are genuine rather than reproduction. From the pavement the building gives nothing away: a plain downtown tower on Second Avenue, two blocks up from the Gaslamp. The reveal happens entirely indoors, which is a very particular kind of pleasure and the reason regulars keep coming back to a hotel that looks, from outside, like an office.

Why It Works

We chose it for a register nothing else downtown offers. This is old-world luxury in a city that mostly sells contemporary coastal, and the commitment runs deep: a Four Diamond rating, real antiques in the public rooms, a proper afternoon tea. The second reason is the roof. The pool up there is heated and open all year, and it belongs to AquaVie, a spa and wellness club running to forty thousand square feet, a scale usually reserved for resorts. The third is position: the opera, the symphony and the Gaslamp are a walk rather than a drive.

Why This Location

Second Avenue sits at the quiet edge of the business district, two blocks above the Gaslamp Quarter and its restaurants. That distance matters after dark, because the Gaslamp is loud and staying beside it rather than inside it is the better arrangement. The Museum of Contemporary Art, the Civic Theatre, the opera and the symphony are all within a few blocks, which makes this the obvious base for an evening with tickets in it. The trolley runs close by, the airport is about ten minutes away, and the Embarcadero is a walk downhill. What is not here is the ocean: the beaches mean a drive.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Old-world, European, formal in the best sense

• Rooms: 222 rooms and suites, generously sized and furnished in the same register as the public rooms

• Best For: Opera and symphony evenings, old-world tastes, a spa weekend in town

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The tapestries and antiques downstairs, genuine rather than decorative, in a building that shows none of it from the street

• Dining: Bonne Vie Brasserie and Bar for coastal cooking, afternoon tea, poolside dining and room service

• Amenities: Heated rooftop pool open all year, AquaVie Spa, AquaVie Fitness and Wellness Club, saunas and steam rooms, valet parking, concierge, babysitting, children’s meals

• Attractions: Gaslamp Quarter, two blocks; Museum of Contemporary Art, Civic Theatre, opera and symphony, a few blocks; the Embarcadero waterfront, a walk downhill; airport, roughly ten minutes

The Antiques Are Real

Hotels that borrow a European look usually stop at the wallpaper. Here the inventory is the whole point: French antiques, Flemish and French tapestries, chandeliers by Moscatelli, Persian carpets underfoot. Rooms run large by downtown standards and are furnished in the same key, so the effect carries upstairs rather than stopping at the lift. Anyone who wants the full performance should take tea in the afternoon and then walk the public rooms slowly. Check-in is from four in the afternoon, check-out at eleven.

Bonne Vie, and Tea in the Afternoon

Bonne Vie Brasserie and Bar is the main room, coastal in its cooking and brasserie in its manner, which suits a hotel taking its cues from France. Afternoon tea is the other set piece and the one worth planning around, served with the ceremony the building implies. Poolside dining covers the roof, and room service handles the nights when the theatre finishes late and nobody wants to go out again.

What to Know Before You Book

AquaVie is a reason to arrive early: at forty thousand square feet it works as a club rather than a hotel gym, and treatments are worth booking before arrival. Valet parking is the sensible choice in this part of downtown. Families are accommodated, with babysitting and children’s meals available on request. And the pool is heated through the year, so even a winter stay gets a rooftop.