Lodging

View of Union Square, San Francisco and the Westin St. Francis.

“Meet me at the St. Francis.”

I was speaking to my friend Angela while heading downtown with my four-year-old daughter Parker, to get our Christmas on.

An hour later Parker and I were sitting at Caruso’s in the iconic Westin St. Francis Hotel with Ang and her daughter Layne. The girls licked frosting off cupcakes, the adults sipped cocktails. We were waiting till the sun was sufficiently down and the Square ablaze with twinkling holiday lights.

There is something magical about Christmas in the city and I wanted to share it with my daughter, who is old enough to get into it this year. We had already done an excursion to the Hyatt Regency to gawk at the magnificent atrium strung with 300,000 pale blue lights and the charmingly intricate Snow Village below.

But for sheer impact of the holiday season, nothing in San Francisco compares to Union Square. And there is no place better to base oneself than the stately St. Francis, the grande dame of San Francisco hotels.

For starters, it’s directly across from the gynormous Christmas tree and skating rink, and on the Powell cable car line. And Union Square is a retail mecca anchored by biggies like Saks, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Tiffany, Williams Sonoma and more recently, Barney’s. The holiday window dressing is divine. And my favorite Santa (an old hippie from Oroville, Ca.) holds court at Macy’s every year.

The hotel offers specials packages this time of year including a Macy’s shopping package and an ice skating package. An elegant holiday tea is held on Fridays and weekends through December — or why not avoid all family drama this year and reserve now for the sumptuous Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners, ($79 adults; $37 children 12 and under).

One more reason to drop by the St. Francis this month is to view the 12-foot rotating holiday sugar castle created by the hotel’s executive pastry chef. The castle resembles a French chateau, weighs more than 1,200 pounds, has 30 rooms and is completely edible. Sweet.

Photos courtesy of the Westin St. Francis.