Ventana Inn & Spa

100   Recommended

November 14, 2014 by
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View from the grounds

Mrs. Sarfa33 and I decided to spend a weekend driving up the California coastline from LA to Big Sur. As anyone that has looked into staying at Big Sur can tell you, there are basically only two resorts to choose from:Post Ranch Innand theVentana Inn & Spa. Although it looks amazing, we immediately dismissed Post Ranch as an option because we, unfortunately, aren’t part of the 1% that can spend $2000 per night for lodging. By contrast, many/most of the rooms at the Ventana Inn go for under $1000 per night mostly because the Ventana is on the side of the road that is further from the ocean. As you can see in the above photo taken from the Ventana Inn grounds, though, there is no shortage of beautiful ocean views.

Check In

We left LA at about noon on a Friday and – predictably – hit rush “hour” traffic leaving the LA Basin. Without boring you with the details, suffice it to say that we drove along the coast for most of the way, saw tons of gorgeous ocean views, and arrived at the hotel at just before 6:30pm. The parking lot was quite full, so we were forced to park in a secondary lot built on a fairly steep slope, perhaps 20 degrees or so, such that our parked car was tilted over quite a bit. A bellhop helped load our bags into the back of a golf cart and drove us up to the lobby of the main building to check in. Because of the hour, check-in was quite busy and we had to wait a few minutes before someone was able to help us, but the complimentary glass of wine that the bellhop brought to us helped to pass the time. Before I tell you about our room, a little backstory: When I originally was looking into making a reservation, I thought I would try Jetsetter.com, since they seemed to have a good price on a Big Sur Suite. Actually, JetSetter was the only website I could find, including the Ventana’s own site, that showed any availability at all for a Big Sur Suite. Before trying to book one on JetSetter, I decided to call the hotel’s reservation line directly to confirm whether one was actually available. Sure enough, as I suspected, they did not have any Big Sur Suites available for the weekend we were looking at. The JetSetter site was either not updated or was intentionally showing availability that wasn’t there as a way to attract customers. Even though it wasn’t the hotel’s fault, the reservation agent that I was speaking with apologized for the confusion and was kind enough to offer us a Big Sur Spa Suite (an upgraded Big Sur Suite that has its own private Jacuzzi) for the price of a Big Sur Suite – basically a free confirmed room upgrade. I jumped at the chance and booked the room by phone on the spot. At check-in, we found out we would be in room number 43 in the “Canyon House”. (You can see a map of the propertyhere.)The name of the building didn’t bode well for getting an ocean view and, sure enough, we didn’t have one, but as you’ll see, it didn’t matter. In fact, we ended up enjoying our room better than we would have one with an ocean view.

Room

Room #43 in the “Canyon House” Four-poster king bed

Four-poster king bed

Sitting area with fireplace

Sitting area with fireplace

View from the bedroom into the bathroom

View from the bedroom into the bathroom

Shower

Shower

Cool wooden floor tiles

Cool wooden floor tiles

Welcome amenity (you have the choice of wine or bottled water)

Welcome amenity

And finally, the amazing balcony, with hammock and Jacuzzi:

And finally, the amazing balcony with hammock and jacuzzi

View from the hammock

View from the hammock

The pictures don’t really do the room justice. It was comfortable, spacious but still cozy, romantic, and – most of all – extremely private. Because it was at the end of the building, we felt like nobody else was around and the view off the balcony was beautiful, dense forest, with no other buildings in sight. Before arriving, this is not the room I had pictured in my head as the “perfect room,” but this really was perfect for us and I highly recommend this room for anyone staying here. After walking around the grounds for a couple of days, I saw that most of the rooms with ocean views also overlook the more heavily-trafficked areas of the property and, thus, are probably much less private. All in all, as I said, room 43 was fantastic!

The Grounds

The grounds were absolutely gorgeous. Truly breathtaking – a perfect mixture of untouched natural and landscaped beauty. Walking through the grounds was like walking through a National Park -- lots of Coast Redwoods, wild deer, wildflowers, etc., with the benefit of landscaping to help fill in the gaps, as it were. Coast Redwoods, or California Redwoods, are the tallest living things in the world and only grow in a small strip along the coast between Big Sur and southwestern Oregon. The tallest known individual is 379 feet tall and the oldest is estimated to be 2,200 years old. The Ventana grounds are filled with these amazing trees and we felt lucky to be able to spend so much time walking among them. Enough talk, onto the photos:

Coast Redwoods (I went a little crazy. Sorry!)

Everything is sogreen!

Green and lush

There was a really cute deer family that we saw wandering the grounds every morning and evening.

Cute deer

Some more flowers and landscaping from the grounds.

Gorgeous Big Sur sunset

Gorgeous Big Sur sunset

Classic Big Sur - this was actually taken from a spot down the road a bit from the Ventana

Classic Big Sur

Dining

All rooms come with free continental breakfast in the restaurant, but don’t let the word “continental” scare you away. The breakfast was great: scrambled eggs, homemade granola, oatmeal, yogurt, fresh local fruit, pastries (including the most delicious sticky buns ever!), and three different fruit juices. In addition to their regular coffee, espresso drinks were free as well. We also had dinner one night at the hotel restaurant and it was just ok. Next time, we probably won’t bother. Unfortunately, while we were there, they had an ugly white tent set up on the outside patio that overlooks the ocean, so we couldn’t eat out there and our view was blocked as well. They must have had a wedding or something. Too bad. :(

Restaurant Interior (sorry for the bad photo!)

Restaurant interior

Breakfast

Breakfast offerings

Scrambled eggs

My plate

That annoying tent blocking the view:mad:

Blocking the view

Amenities

The hotel had two outdoor pools, two Japanese-style baths (one of each is clothing-optional), an outdoor firepit, and lots of little seating areas tucked away throughout the grounds. It rained one day we were there, so we didn’t get to use the firepit, but it must be absolutely gorgeous under a clear sky at night.

Pool

Pool

Firepit

Firepit

Let’s just rest for a bit…

A seat in the woods

The hotel offered free activities daily, like yoga classes, taichi classes, and a guided nature walk around the property. We took a taichi class one day and liked it so much that we went back and took it again the next day. I highly recommend the guided walk around the property. The guide, Greg, is super-knowledgeable and knows all of the best places to take photos. They also have a daily manager's reception in the lobby, with free wine, cheese, and fruit. The cheese selection was amazingly good for a free event and the wines were decent, local choices as well. All of the hotel staff were very friendly and readily available to help with anything, from directions around the property to a free lift to a nearby restaurant (they have two Range Rovers that they use to drive guests anywhere within 5 miles). We found out later that about half the staff live on-property in staff housing, so it’s not surprising that they all seem so happy – I would be too if I could live in such a beautiful place!

Overall

Overall, I honestly can’t recommend the Ventana Inn highly enough. Mrs. Sarfa33 and I would go back again in a heartbeat. Having never been to Post Ranch, I can’t compare, but – honestly – I’m not in any rush to give them a try. The next time we go to Big Sur, we’ll be staying at Ventana again.

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