The Westin San Diego Downtown

Eight Green Crystals Standing on Broadway

Sandor Shapery wanted a building that looked like emerald crystals pushing up out of bedrock, and in 1990 C.W. Kim gave him eight hexagonal towers in green tinted glass and polished pink granite. The angular roofs are cut at thirty three degrees, the latitude of San Diego, so they take the sun square on; the window sills are slanted to throw light back into the rooms. Three of the towers, sixteen to twenty seven storeys, hold the hotel, and they are joined to the office towers behind by a glass atrium a hundred feet high. It opened as the Pan Pacific and has spent most of its life as a Westin. Downtown San Diego has taller buildings and duller ones. This is the one visitors describe from memory.

Why It Works

A four hundred room downtown hotel is usually a commodity, and that is exactly what this one refuses to be. The address buys a landmark rather than a box, the bay side rooms look straight down the waterfront, and the rooftop pool and whirlpool give the building something most of its neighbours cannot offer at all. A recent refurbishment has brought the public rooms and bedrooms up to date. We kept it because a first time visitor can walk out of the lobby and be at the Embarcadero, in Little Italy or deep in the Gaslamp Quarter without ever getting into a car.

Why This Location

Broadway is the axis of downtown, and this stretch of it sits between the financial towers and the water. Head west and the road runs down to the Embarcadero, the cruise terminal and the bay walk that carries on past the Midway. North is Little Italy and its market mornings. South and east are the Gaslamp Quarter and the convention centre, which makes the hotel practical for anyone in town for a show as well as for a weekend. The trolley runs along Broadway. The airport is about three miles away, close enough that a late arrival is no longer a problem, far enough that the room stays quiet.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Bright, corporate in the good sense, bay facing

• Rooms: a little over four hundred, spread across three towers, with bay view rooms and suites at the top of the range

• Best For: first visits to San Diego, conference and convention stays, couples who want the waterfront without a resort

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the rooftop pool and whirlpool, which put you above Broadway with the bay in view

• Dining: Coast for coastal Californian cooking with an outdoor patio, The Bar for spirits and craft beer, Aroma Cafe for coffee and something quick

• Amenities: rooftop pool and whirlpool, round the clock fitness studio, glass atrium and public spaces, dogs accepted

• Attractions: the Embarcadero and bay walk a short walk west, Little Italy to the north, the Gaslamp Quarter and convention centre to the south east, the airport about three miles out

Ask for the Bay Side

The room category that matters here is aspect, not size. Bay view rooms face the water and take the sunrise over the harbour, which on this stretch of coast means light coming up behind the bridge and across to Coronado. Rooms on the city side look into downtown, perfectly comfortable and considerably less memorable. Beds and bathrooms are the Westin standard, which is to say generous and predictable, and there are suites for anyone who wants a separate sitting area. The towers are hexagonal, so the room shapes are not quite square, and the slanted sills that looked like an architectural conceit from the street turn out to push daylight further into the room than a flat one would.

Coast, the Patio and the Roof

Coast is the restaurant, coastal Californian, with a patio that works for most of the year in this city. The Bar covers spirits, craft beer and a decent list of alcohol free options, and Aroma Cafe deals with coffee and the first thing in the morning. None of it is trying to be a destination, and that is the correct decision for a hotel where guests are usually eating out. The roof is where the building earns its keep: the pool and whirlpool, the fitness studio open at any hour, and a view that reminds you why you came south.