El Encanto

El Encanto sits on Alvarado Place in Santa Barbara, at 800 Alvarado Place, positioned on a hillside above the city with views across the Pacific and down toward the harbor and the Channel Islands. The property was sold by LVMH in July 2025 and is now independent, member of Leading Hotels of the World, and operated under its own brand without corporate hotel affiliation. The shift in ownership marked the end of its tenure as a Belmond property and the beginning of an independent chapter. The property functions as a hillside retreat rather than a downtown city hotel, with the location enough removed from Santa Barbara's main thoroughfares to create a sense of escape while remaining minutes from restaurants, shopping, and the waterfront. The architecture features Spanish Colonial Revival style with terracotta rooftops, adapted to the hillside topography with winding pathways and multiple levels of terraces and garden spaces.

The accommodations divide into three primary categories: rooms, suites and bungalows, and signature suites. The property offers varying levels of space and amenity investment, allowing guests to choose between smaller rooms and larger bungalow-style accommodations with more outdoor space. The architecture emphasizes individual bungalows rather than building corridors; guests move to their rooms through garden paths rather than interior hallways, reinforcing the sense of a dispersed estate. Rooms feature furnishings consistent with the Spanish Colonial aesthetic: heavy woods, arched windows, terraces or patios with views, and modern bathroom amenities. The signature suites function as the premier accommodations, with enhanced furnishings, larger outdoor spaces, and premium positions on the property. Throughout the property, the design language emphasizes the hillside location and the views, with windows and outdoor spaces oriented toward the vista rather than inward to a central courtyard. Many rooms include fireplaces, a feature that serves function and aesthetic during Santa Barbara's cooler months.

The dining program includes a restaurant with an elegant dining room and an ocean-facing terrace, allowing diners to choose between interior atmosphere and exterior views. The culinary approach emphasizes seasonality and coastal inspiration, drawing from local producers and reflecting the Pacific coastal tradition. The menu adapts to seasonal availability, meaning that spring, summer, and fall dining experiences will differ as the calendar and the market shift. The terrace dining position allows dinner guests to capture the remaining light during spring and summer months, with views downhill toward the harbor. The restaurant operates for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, making it available to both guests and outside diners, though the positioning as part of the resort experience means that many guests elect to dine without traveling beyond the property gates.

El Encanto offers a range of amenities that distinguish it from purely room-focused properties. Equine experiences are available, reflecting Santa Barbara's ranching heritage and the property's own space to offer riding. The availability of horses as an onsite activity is uncommon among resorts in the region and draws guests interested in equestrian traditions. The property also arranges sailing experiences through partnerships with Santa Barbara sailing outfitters, allowing guests to pursue water activities without traveling to a separate location. Tennis partnerships through the Santa Barbara Tennis Club provide access to courts and instruction, though the facility itself is offsite. Spa services are available onsite, offering treatments for guests who prioritize wellness and relaxation during their visit. This combination of equestrian, aquatic, and wellness amenities creates the possibility of multiple activity-focused visits to the same property: riding-focused, water-focused, or relaxation-focused stays can each be structured around different primary amenities.

The gardens function as the defining landscape asset of El Encanto. The property is positioned on a hillside, with mature plantings and pathways designed to create privacy and visual interest as guests move through the property. Citrus trees, flowering plants, and mature shade trees create an environment that feels established and cultivated rather than new. The gardens include terraces at varying elevations, allowing guests to occupy outdoor space with different visual experiences, some looking toward the harbor and the coast, others focused on garden space and greenery. The garden design, combined with the bungalow-distributed room layout, creates the sense of staying at a private estate with extensive grounds rather than a centralized hotel property. Many guests report that time in the gardens becomes a primary part of their stay, distinct from dining or activity-based recreation.

Rates at El Encanto start around $600 per night for standard rooms and land between $900 and $1,600 for suites and bungalows during high season. The property offers seasonal pricing variation, with peak rates during the summer months and lower rates during winter. A nightly resort fee is charged separately, typical for California resort properties. These prices reflect positioning in the upper-middle tier of California resort pricing, below San Ysidro Ranch and Rosewood Miramar Beach but in the same quality and amenity range. Dining is not all-inclusive; the restaurant operates on à la carte pricing. The all-inclusive model is absent here, meaning that guests choose which meals to take at the property and which to source in Santa Barbara's dining market, where options range from casual to Michelin-starred.

El Encanto compares to other hillside estates in the Montecito and Santa Barbara region, particularly San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito and the older generation of California resort hotels predating the modernist minimalism of contemporary properties. Unlike San Ysidro Ranch, El Encanto is not organized around an all-inclusive dining program; guests are free to dine within or outside the property. Unlike newer properties like Rosewood Miramar Beach, El Encanto emphasizes established gardens and the aesthetic of a historic property rather than contemporary design. The property's history as a fixture of Santa Barbara hospitality distinguishes it from newer entries to the market. It sits between the all-inclusive ranch model (San Ysidro) and the modern beachfront model (Rosewood Miramar) as a third approach to California resort experience: the historic hillside estate with established landscape, selective amenities rather than comprehensive programming, and the freedom to integrate Santa Barbara's own dining and recreation ecosystem into a stay.

El Encanto suits guests who want to stay in the Montecito and Santa Barbara region but value historical properties over new construction, who prefer the hillside position with views over beachfront location, and who want to combine resort amenities with the flexibility to explore Santa Barbara as a destination rather than remaining within resort boundaries. The property appeals to guests interested in equestrian activities, a distinction among California resorts. The garden and landscape design appeals particularly to guests who want to spend time in outdoor space without programming or scheduling. The established character of the property creates a different aesthetic experience than contemporary properties, a distinction that appeals to guests interested in the history and tradition of California resort hospitality.