The Top 20 Hotels Near Yafa
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The sister property to Carmel's Tradewinds Inn, the Stilwell Hotel brings the same laid-back California chic one block over, but trades its sibling's eclectic vintage feel for something cleaner: neutral tones, minimalist interiors, and decor that manages to feel considered without trying too hard. It's a boutique hotel for people who sleep better without a gallery wall staring at them.
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A 20-room boutique hotel wrapped around a courtyard in the heart of Carmel-by-the-Sea, L'Auberge Carmel occupies a white stucco building that has been collecting interesting neighbors since the 1920s. The Relais & Châteaux membership sets the tone: evening turndown, valet, a chauffeured house car, and the quiet attentiveness of a place that knows exactly how small it is and considers that the point.
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The closest hotel to the beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, La Playa is a grand Mediterranean-style property that has been the go-to for San Francisco's upper crust since forever. A thorough renovation kept the bones and the aesthetic intact while adding modern comforts. Bud's Bar leans into its retro styling, and the swimming pool, which was the first one built in Carmel, still draws a crowd.
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The complimentary cocktail hour is hosted by your personal valet, who already knows your name before you've set down your bags. Casa Palmero is a boutique resort at Pebble Beach built around a Spanish Colonial manor house, all fountains and courtyard and lush Mediterranean landscaping. It holds a Forbes Four Star. With only a handful of rooms, it operates less like a hotel and more like borrowing a wealthy friend's estate, assuming that friend also pre-books your tee times.
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The lobby frames the 18th hole and Stillwater Cove behind it, which tells you immediately what kind of resort this is. Golfers do make pilgrimages here, but the Forbes Four Star property also has a beach and tennis club with a heated pool, horseback trails on the same grounds where National Velvet was filmed, and rooms with big windows or private patios pointed squarely at the Big Sur coastline.
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The hotel was built over the surf, not beside it, which is something you notice immediately when the sound of waves comes through the floor. It sits on historic Cannery Row as a full-service hotel with a spa, and the bay is less a view than a constant presence: otters and seals drift past while the concierge books kayaking or whale watching for guests who'd rather be out there than watching.
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A Scottish-style links course wraps around this Forbes Four Star resort on the northwest edge of Pebble Beach, which means you can watch golfers trudge through coastal wind from the heated pool without lifting a club yourself. Rooms are well-appointed, the grounds roll straight into sand dunes and the Pacific, and the property has enough bars and restaurants that you never need to leave, which some guests appear not to.
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Watercolor paintings of the Monterey Bay hang throughout this Victorian-era bed-and-breakfast on Ocean View Boulevard, which makes sense given the view out the window is more or less the same. Green Gables is the flagship of the Four Sisters Inns collection, a cluster of boutique inns up and down California. Rustic wood floors, linen sofas, and earth tones give recently refreshed rooms a cozy, unfussy feel that fits the fog-draped neighborhood perfectly.
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Spanish Revival bones and bay views make this Pacific Grove hotel a more atmospheric base than the usual Monterey-area chain. Ninety-nine rooms and suites, many with balconies, carry the architecture's old California mood without feeling stuck in it. The Caledonian restaurant handles modern American with Californian wines. Pebble Beach, Carmel, and Cannery Row are all just minutes down the road.
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Vineyards press right up to the guest room windows at this lodge and spa tucked into Carmel Valley, which sets the tone for everything: limestone fireplaces, marble soaking tubs for two, Italian linens, and a spa that works with wine grapes and lavender grown on the property. The pool anchors the center of the resort, and the restaurant draws its own crowd. It holds a Forbes Four Star and two Michelin Keys.
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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.
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The dunes outside the window make it feel like the edge of the map, even though Carmel is just a short drive south. This Monterey Bay resort keeps things low-slung and unfussy from the outside, then turns quietly luxurious once you're in, with gas fireplaces doing honest work on foggy coastal nights. Salt Wood Kitchen handles the seafood-forward meals. Beach yoga, a heated pool, and a spa round things out.
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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.
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A Sixties mid-rise just off the boardwalk that got the full mid-century modern boutique treatment, bold colors and vintage geometry intact. The Dream Inn is a 165-room beachfront hotel that manages to feel like Santa Cruz distilled: sun-bleached, a little retro, and not trying too hard about any of it. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels, which tracks for a place that finally gave this stretch of California coast the beach hotel it deserved.
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The landmark bell tower has been standing since the 1920s, and La Bahia is the hotel that finally caught up to it. Set on Beach Street with actual ocean views from many of its 155 rooms, this Spanish Mediterranean property is Santa Cruz's most luxurious place to sleep, with a spa, a pool, and several bars and restaurants ranging from casual poolside to coastal Californian. The rooms mix the building's original Spanish bones with something clean and contemporary.
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Forty-five Craftsman bungalows spread across 1,700 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills, each with a fireplace and a soaking tub, most looking out over fairways or valley. This is a full-on golf resort with Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s championship course as the centerpiece, though the One Iron Bar and its martini list have a way of making the back nine feel optional. Il Vigneto handles Californian cooking with produce from the surrounding region.