I need a bath.

February 18, 2010 4:19 PM

I need a bath. What hotels in or around San Francisco have the biggest, comfiest, awesomest bathtubs?

My apartment has a bathtub kinda like this but I'm dying to relax in something a little more like this or this. My boyfriend owes a me a mini local(ish) weekend getaway and my only requirements are clean sheets and THE BATHTUB OF MY DREAMS. So what's my best bet in San Francisco? Or, heck, within a day's drive of SF?

posted by logic vs love to travel & transportation around San Francisco, CA (12 answers total)

Definitely check out a spa room at The Lodge at Tiburon.
posted by bendy at 5:02 PM on February 18, 2010

I had a pretty nice deep bathtub at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto (pic). But if I were being taken on a nice weekend getaway in the SF area, I don't think I would shlep to Palo Alto.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 5:47 PM on February 18, 2010

Hotel Vitale on the Embarcadero has suites with pretty spectacular tubs. You can see the rooms here: http://www.hotelvitale.com/rooms_guest.aspx
posted by not.so.hip at 6:10 PM on February 18, 2010

Obviously what you asking for relates to a boyfriend/girlfriend special time thing. However, when among girlfriends, I cannot recommend japanese communal bathhouses enough! I am never so relaxed, as when I've spent the day chatting with a close girlfriend or two and going into the different tubs and saunas. Plus bathouses are cheap, like $20ish for the day. I have only done this in Santa Fe at Ten Thousand Waves and in New York City at Inspa, but doing a quick search of San Francisco, I found Kabuki Springs. From the website it looks awesome, but there may be other great places as well. I would highly recommend the experience if you are a bath connoisseur. Also Ten Thousand Waves had spa hotel rooms that you could rent overnight that had their own personal hot tub and sauna. The ultimate getaway would be to find something like that for you and your boy.
posted by amileighs at 6:55 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ah, the Hotel Vitale is quite nice, and the location is awesome, though I seem to recall when I stayed there that I had a bathroom which only had a shower - a very nice, spacious, modern & luxurious shower, but nonetheless, just a shower. Evidently from that link they do have rooms with baths, though.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:59 PM on February 18, 2010

Not sure if "around San Francisco" entails driving to Big Sur, and, I've never stayed here but I've always DESPERATELY wanted to: Post Ranch Inn.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 10:09 PM on February 18, 2010

Hate to recommend another Palo Alto place, but I always meant to go to Watercourse Way while I lived there and never made the time. You'd have to find a place nearby to stay, since it's a Japanese style (but non-communal?) bathhouse, but those baths sound ridiculously nice. If your boyfriend's feeling splurgey you could do a couples massage too :)
posted by crinklebat at 11:41 PM on February 18, 2010

Oh my god, Kabuki Springs is AMAZING. You should go there.
posted by exceptinsects at 12:00 AM on February 19, 2010

Kabuki Springs is of course in the Hotel Kabuki, which says Bathrooms feature marble and tile, and offer bath and shower. Some rooms and suites feature traditional Japanese-style soaking tubs.

Also Complimentary pass to Kabuki Springs and Spa communal baths ($20 value) when you book your reservation on-line at Joie de Vivre Hotels.
posted by gingerbeer at 9:58 AM on February 19, 2010

I just stayed at The Citizen Hotel in Sacremento and it was awesome. Whenever I have to go back to The Sac, I will stay there. My room had a really deep tub.

The big hotel in the middle of Japantown has Japanese style bathrooms, with the separate bathing stool area and the giant soaking tub. It may be closer and cheaper for you. It used to be my favorite hotel in the city, but got run down at one point, so I stopped staying there. It's under new management recently and supposedly has improved, but I can't confirm that.

From gingerbeer's link, it appears that the Citizen and the Hotel Kabuki are by the same company, so probably the Kabuki has been rehabbed quite nicely.
posted by reddot at 12:31 PM on February 19, 2010

The St Regis in SF has deep soaking tubs - in some rooms, it's in the middle of the room (the bathroom wall slides), enabling you to look out over the city.

Sadly, they don't have a picture that does it justice, you can can read yelp reviews.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-st-regis-san-francisco-san-francisco
posted by anitanita at 12:05 AM on February 20, 2010

Yes, the Kabuki Hotel rooms have Japanese bathtubs -- the rectangular kind that hold one person (but not the smaller, tapered type you'll find in Japanese Business hotels).

As for crinklebat's suggestion, the tubs I've experienced at Watercourse Way were round Jacuzzis, not Japanese.
posted by Rash at 12:17 PM on February 20, 2010