This winter scene includes an open-air iceskating rink in Union Square, a park in the heart of San Francisco’s downtown shopping district.         Photo by Gene Korte

It’s walkable and loveable (people do leave their hearts here) and according to many travelers, this city boasts some of the best food and wines anywhere.

If you’re yearning for a big-city vacation and have a weekend to spare, why not come to San Francisco, the city on the bay.

Dine, wine, shop and get around on cable cars and buses when it’s too far to walk.

Wear flowers in your hair, especially in the charming Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of Victorian homes, and enjoy the many bargains from hotel discounts to meal deals at fine restaurants all over the city. You can always put your feet up when you get back home.

With only three nights and two days in the city, we chose bustling Union Square as our home base.

Chinatown is only six blocks away, flower stands are on every corner, and the Powell Street cable cars are right here.

It’s a park in the heart of the downtown shopping district and a neighborhood where new and renovated hotels bloom like daisies. In the winter, the ice-skating rink was open, too, and it was full of skaters well into the night.

Here are three hotels each a stone’s throw from the Square — Kensington Park Hotel, Villa Florence and the Westin St. Francis.  They vary in accouterments and price, but they all offer great beds and service.

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