New Cuyama: Cuyama Buckhorn
Cuyama Buckhorn is the kind of boutique hotel where felt cowboy hats pass as bedroom wall decor and porcelain washbasins sit atop rustic wooden consoles with authentic horseshoes as drawer pulls. It’s also the kind of place where the sauna is housed inside a big wooden barrel. The lovingly redesigned Santa Barbara–area high desert hotel with a midcentury Western-meets-farmhouse aesthetic was originally a 1952 roadside motel designed by George Vernon Russell (L.A.’s Natural History Museum). Wait for the idyllic sunset firepit moment by playing bocce ball or pool or taking an alfresco cooking class. From $329/night.
The Farmhouse inn in Forestville.
Forestville: Farmhouse Inn
There’s no better welcome than a glass of Sonoma wine and instantly addictive fudge-like s’mores brownies. The delicacies greet guests at this gem of a 25-room luxury hotel by siblings Joe and Catherine Bartolomeis. Twenty years ago, the pair built the buttery yellow property around a restored classical 1873 farmhouse, with a pool that vaguely resembles a wine bottle. Many of the bright guest rooms have four-poster beds, plus fireplaces, huge tubs, and saunas or steam showers in which to melt with lavender bath salts and artisanal soaps. Each night, gourmet s’mores fixings tempt at flaming firepits. At the unpretentious Michelin-starred restaurant, chef Steve Litke devises dinners that dance on the tongue, using produce picked from the owners’ farm and hotel gardens. From $775/night.
The Cambria White Water lodge
Cambria: White Water—A Lodge on Moonstone Beach
Haus Interior founder and author Nina Freudenberger dreamed up this 25-room hotel on Cambria’s Moonstone Beach to have a Danish seaside feel. Monterey pines dot its deep midnight-hued cladding, but the bright lobby—with its sculptural sofa, woven baskets, jute rugs, and picture windows—reveals a dedication to a chic, easygoing beach life. Baltic birch slats formed headboards, duck canvas became curtains, and indigo-dyed vintage textiles were hand-stitched into cushions for window seats. The bathrooms are their own kind of covetable, with terrazzo countertops, two-tone tiled showers, and even a horse trough turned outdoor tub painted two shades of evergreen. From $429/night.