Mark Hopkins Hotel: Top of the Mark & 100 Martinis (2026)

InterContinental Mark Hopkins in Nob Hill, you’re looking down on the entire city of San Francisco.

And when you take that creaky elevator ride to floor 19, order a martini from the 100 martini menu and look out the window, your nose rises slightly and your pinky flares out and you feel something. It’s grandeur.

So how is the Mark Hopkins hotel and the Top of the Mark bar?

Okay real quick – the history, because is genuinely wild. 

This was the site of railroad baron Mark Hopkins’ mansion. They all lived here on the top of this hill so they didn’t have to run into the poor people. 

But the 1906 earthquake – which erupted in fire that burned most of San Francisco down if you haven’t heard – leveled said mansion along with nearly every other mansion on Nob Hill. Only the Fairmont survived, for some reason. 

The rebuild took place in 1926 – the hotel you see now: rugged, fire-resistent stone on the outside because we learned our lesson – and old-world grandeur on the inside. God I love that word. 

The rooms are beautiful, but they’re perfectly preserved. You can feel the old. And you can hear it. We opened the window (because, duh, this is the view:)

And the draft coming from outside through to the elevator shaft was loud. But like, in a good way. Like, they chose to preserve the historical integrity of this place over just making another hotel that could be anywhere.

So if you have elevator PTSD you might be hesitant to get in these ones. They look like they actually survived the fire and the renovation was built around the elevator shaft. But don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe, and there’s a treasure wiitng for you at the top. 

Hit that 19 button and you’re on your way to Top of the Mark, the hotel’s legendary sky lounge. 

We’re talking 360 degrees of San Francisco. So you can imagine that sunset is the time to be here. 

I’ve seen a lot of views in this city. This is the one I’d tell you to end a day on.

But the view isn’t even the main character here.

During World War II, servicemen came up here for one last drink before shipping out to the Pacific. 

After they had their share and took off, their wives and girlfriends would stand at the northwest corner and watch the boats sail out under the Golden Gate. They called it Weepers’ Corner.

The squadron had a tradition where they would leave some of whatever bottle they were drinking behind the bar, saving it for the ones who made it home to finish. Some of those bottles were never finished. They’re still here, sealed in a glass case with the handwritten notes, the squadron patches, the medals. 

Eerie and beautiful.

On a lighter note, WWII is over and it’s time to celebrate! 

ALSO: The Mark Hopkins hotel turned 100 years old this year and we’re celebrating that too! In a really cute way. 

Top of the Mark is running a “100 Martini Passport,” where they have a menu of 100 martini-style cocktails (I asked our server if they were all actual martinis and he laughed at me and said “How could that be possible?”)

They have everything – from a proper dirty martini to a lemon drop, which is what I got and it was so good that it’s what I stayed with all night. I know, I’m supposed to be trying as many as I can but I got caught up in the lemon!

You get an actual passport – like an actual martini passport, you can’t go to Italy with it or anything. Every drink you try gets a stamp, and you work your way through the list. Don’t try to do the whole thing in one night, though, this place has been around for 100 years; it will be around long enough for you to try all the martinis. 

Split the meze platter, watch the sun drop over the city, and climb into bed in your perfectly preserved railroad mansion room.

So that is the 100 martini passport – at the Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins – hotel number one in the series, and a high bar to start on.

You come for a room at the top of the city and you leave with a history lesson, a wartime story sealed in a glass case, and your first stamp on a passport that you don’t need to leave San Francisco to fill.

If you only do one thing here, ride up to Top of the Mark at sunset, and when it gets dark, download the Stargazer app and check out the constellations.

If you do two, stay the night, open the window, and set that coffee for the morning.

Next up in the series: TBD. If there’s a San Francisco hotel you think belongs on this list – a grande dame, a weird little gem, a place with a real story – you know where to find me, and the Mark Hopkins will be tough to beat.

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