Hotels near Chinatown

San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest in North America and one of the largest Chinese communities outside Asia, entered through the green-tiled Dragon Gate on Grant Avenue. Its lantern-strung main streets are crammed with herbalists, tea shops, temples and dim sum parlours, while the quieter back lanes like Ross Alley feel barely changed in decades.

Stockton Street is where locals actually shop for produce and roast meats, far from the souvenir stalls of Grant Avenue, and the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory lets you watch the cookies being folded by hand. It is one of the most atmospheric neighbourhoods in the city and rewards slow wandering.

Pro Tip: Wander Stockton Street and the side alleys for the authentic neighbourhood rather than sticking to touristy Grant Avenue. Come hungry for dim sum, and look out for the tiny Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory on Ross Alley.