Post Ranch Inn

Big Sur does not permit much building, and what little exists has to earn its place. Post Ranch Inn manages this better than anywhere else on the coast. Its rooms are timber and glass structures set into a ridge twelve hundred feet above the Pacific, several of them raised on stilts to avoid disturbing the root systems below.

Drive past on Highway 1 and you would not know it was there. That restraint is the whole design argument, and thirty years on it still reads as modern.

The Rooms

There are several types and the choice genuinely matters. The Ocean Houses are cut into the hillside with grass roofs and full-width windows onto the water. The Tree Houses are raised among the redwoods and feel more sheltered, with less of the drama and more of the calm.

All of them have a fireplace, a private deck and no television. There is no clock either. This is deliberate and takes about half a day to stop noticing and then becomes the best thing about the stay.

The Pools

There are two, and the famous one is the heated infinity pool on the cliff edge, which is open around the clock. Swimming there at night, in cold air over a dark ocean, is the memory most people take away.

The second pool sits by the spa and is quieter, which on a busy weekend is worth knowing. The spa itself does treatments in a hut on the cliff with the doors open, weather permitting.

Practicalities Worth Knowing

It is adults only, which is unusual at this level and is the reason the property is as quiet as it is. Rates are all-inclusive of breakfast, and Sierra Mar, the restaurant, is built out over the drop with what is probably the best dining-room view in California.

Highway 1 closes. Landslides shut sections of the road for months at a time, occasionally years, and it is worth checking access before you commit to non-refundable flights.

The Verdict

Expensive, remote, and completely justified. Come for two or three nights with somebody you like, leave the laptop, and take an Ocean House if the budget stretches. Book direct, as it does not appear on the usual booking sites.