A friend told me we've just got to ride the elevator to the Top of the Mark bar in the Mark Hopkins Hotel to capture a great view.

Any rants or raves about this place?

Suggestions about similiar locations/ experiences or great happy hours would be appreciated.

Well, your friend must have told you the story, it is the place the women went w/their guys the last night before they shipped out. There are pictures capturing that at the Top of the Mark, particularly one corner of the place. I stayed at the hotel and enjoyed having a drink there, w/the pictures you can feel the history. I believe it is considered a landmark in the city. Other than the history, it is not esp. imressive, it's a bar w/a view, but there may in fact be better views (it is not right on the water).

There's also the Carnelian room at the top of the Bank of America Building on California Street in the financial district. Both offer nice views,but depending on your time, something more fun would be to take the ferry to sausalito and go to a restaurant/bar called the Horizon. Inside, the bar tables face the SF skyline and if it's warm enough to sit outside, there's a deck. Food is good too. The ferry to Tiburon will take you to a few restaurants that face the water and city skyline too.

The view from the Carnelian Room is spectacular if (and it's a BIG if) the weather is clear. Great for cocktails, but I wouldn't waste one of my dinners in SF there -- too many other wonderful places to eat.

Thank you all for the info and the history lesson. Now I know why its famous. We'll have a drink and look to eat elsewhere.

If you are just going for a drink make sure you get there early enough so that if you don't want to you don't pay the $10 cover. Even if you get there before the music starts they still charge you $10 per person to stay. They do warn you of that though, to their credit.

Suzie, why the $10 cover? Great happy hour? Live entertainment or just pure tourist gouge? Anybody know what time the cover charge kicks in?

I think it's the live music. I believe it starts at 8:00 or 9:00. The funny thing was that we were there at 6:00 and they warned us about the cover at that time and that even though we would have been there DRINKING $10 DRINKS for 2 or 3 hours they would still charge us the $10 cover. Isn't that just too much? I believe they charge everyone regardless of whether you are a tourist or not.

Their web site says they begin charging at 9:00 on Fri & Sat night. We were there early on a Sat night. Guess if you arrive during the week you'll be ok at any time.

One of my favorite places to take guests and visitors is the Equinox, the revolving bar on top of the Hyatt Embarcadero. Great view that changes. One rotation takes about as long as one drink.

Also, you mentioned you haven't decided where to stay. I recommend the Hyatt Embarcadero. Some have reported getting great rates on Priceline. I like the location for location (close to every sort of transportation, near the ferry building, chinatown, North Beach).