California and Big Sur Resorts
Big Sur, Carmel, Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Montecito and the ranch country inland. California's best resorts are small, expensive and weather-dependent, and Highway 1 shuts more often than the brochures admit, so we say what the drive actually involves. Big Sur is about the cliff and the fog line that burns off at eleven. Wine country is about the estate, the pool and how far you are from a tasting room you can walk to. We look at room count, because thirty-nine rooms behaves nothing like three hundred, at whether the restaurant is a destination on its own, and at what a place does on the two days a year it rains hard.
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A 105-room luxury resort in Calistoga with private vineyard access, the Michelin-starred Auro restaurant, and direct connection to Elusa Winery on the 4.7-acre organic vineyard at its heart.
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A Michelin-starred beachfront estate in Montecito with oceanfront suites, multiple dining venues, and an all-around spa designed as a retreat in the American Riviera.
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A 22-acre wellness retreat in Calistoga with 89 spa cottages, a celebrated geothermal bathhouse, and the Michelin-starred Solbar restaurant set among vineyards and mineral-rich pools.
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An expansive 712-acre estate resort in southern Napa with 135 cottage rooms, the open-kitchen Bear restaurant, and the Halehouse spa anchoring a sprawling wellness village.
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An architecturally daring Big Sur clifftop resort with distinctive room types carved into redwoods and coastal cliffs, Sierra Mar fine dining, and complete isolation from Highway 1's chaos.
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A 20-room Relais & Châteaux property on the main plaza of Carmel-by-the-Sea, built in 1929, with two-Michelin-star fine dining and individually styled rooms of exceptional quiet and detail.
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Thirty-eight vine-covered cottages in the Montecito foothills with a world-renowned wine cellar, Michelin-starred restaurant, and gardens designed as individual retreats.
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An Auberge Resorts property on 33 acres of Rutherford olive groves with 50 rooms, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and commanding views over Napa Valley from a hillside setting.
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A 258-acre resort north of Healdsburg with 130 bungalows and suites, the terroir-to-table Hazel Hill restaurant, and an 11,500-square-foot spa elevated above the resort's own estate vineyard.
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A 49-casita resort in Rancho Santa Fe built around top-tier tennis and gardens, with a serious spa, farm-to-table dining, and a Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five Diamond and Relais & Châteaux pedigree few Southern California resorts can match.
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A Michelin-starred wine country retreat in Forestville with 25 rooms and a celebrated farm-to-table restaurant where dinner is a chef-guided tasting menu.
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A championship golf resort in Carmel Valley with an 18-hole Robert Muir Graves course, spa, fine dining, and a reputation for the best-maintained playing conditions in Central California.
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A 102-acre oceanfront resort on the Palos Verdes Peninsula with eight restaurants, five room types, and a layout demanding that you choose between the ocean and returning to your room without a long walk.
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A 54-room Alila resort on 160 acres with included Mediterranean dining, beekeeping and falconry activities, and cliffside views on the Big Sur stretch of Highway 1.
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A 250-acre Napa Valley estate resort operating since 1961, with five accommodation styles, pools, tennis courts, and dining rooted in the valley's agricultural heritage.
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A 100-year-old resort in Ojai, California, where farm-to-table dining, golf, and community integration define the experience. Small rooms, serious commitment to local sourcing and sustainability.
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A hillside estate resort in Santa Barbara with bungalows and suites overlooking the harbor, terraces in mature gardens, and equine experiences among the amenities.
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An 80-year-old guest ranch on 10,500 acres in Santa Ynez Valley wine country, serving families and couples seeking horseback riding, golf, and Western hospitality without television in the rooms.
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A wine country lodge in Carmel Valley with spacious suites and villas, Lucia Restaurant, natural spa treatments, and proximity to rolling vineyards and tasting room country.
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An all-suite ranch resort in Carmel Valley with an 18-hole Pete Dye golf course, Spa Aiyana organic treatments, and Valley Kitchen farm-to-table dining on rolling grounds.