The Best Places to Stay and Do in Big Sur
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The best places to stay and do in Big Sur, according to the experts: Vogue, the Michelin Guide, and the Forbes Travel Guide have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Esalen Institute comes out on top.
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Hanging off a cliff above the Pacific, Esalen has been an incubator for seekers, skeptics, and the occasional celebrity since forever. It's a holistic retreat and workshop center, not a spa, though the cliffside hot baths alone justify the drive up Highway 1. You come for a weekend or week-long program, yoga to Gestalt therapy to breathwork, and leave either transformed or at least well-soaked.
The awards
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Forty-one rooms and private houses cantilevered over Big Sur's cliffs, each built from reclaimed wood, steel, and stone to look like it grew there. Post Ranch Inn is a luxury clifftop resort where the activity list runs from guided hikes to stargazing, and the things absent are as deliberate as the things present: no TVs, no alarm clocks. The infinity pool stares straight at the Pacific. It holds a Michelin three-key designation and a Forbes Four Star.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 3 Keys
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
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Fifty-nine suites and villas clad in weathered cedar sit on 160 acres above the crashing Pacific, with redwoods behind and rugged cliffs in front. This is a luxury resort in the genuinely inconvenient, genuinely spectacular stretch of Highway One, and the mild disorder of the scenery is rather the point. Safari-style tents handle overnight camping for guests who find the suites insufficiently outdoorsy. It holds a Forbes Four Star and two Michelin Keys.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Keys
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star