With nostalgic, upscale decor and a perch that's block from U.C. Berkeley, it's no surprise the Hotel Durant is a top-ranked pick among our gusts. The mid-rise, boutique charmer Hotel Durant provides Wi-Fi throughout. All 144 rooms have flat-panel cable TVs, iPod docking stations, ceiling fans, mini-refrigerators and little touches like a free newspaper every morning. The lobby — where the walls are lined with photographs of Berkeley's most colorful characters — is a fine spot for meeting with friends or curling up with a book from the hotel's stack. The in-house restaurant serves fresh, pub-inspired California cuisine, and the bar offers brews and multiple sports telecasts on large-screen TVs. Road warriors are happy to know there's a business center on-site, while leisure guests are happy to stroll or a jog through campus, one block away. Valet parking is available, and pets are welcome with restrictions. The Hotel Durant couldn't be any closer to the U.C. Berkeley campus: it's one block away. Telegraph Avenue, also a block from the hotel, is lined with shops and restaurants. The Downtown Berkeley BART rapid-transit station is less than a mile away. California Memorial Stadium is a half-mile, and Tilden Park Botanical Garden is four miles. Downtown San Francisco is a 30-minute drive, and Oakland International Airport is 15 miles. our guests love the "proximity to campus" and "great hotel bar/restaurant" at the "comfortable, quaint and nostalgic" Hotel Durant.