Mountain Motels in California

Ingleside Estate

Palm Springs, CA

A 1922 Spanish Colonial Revival landmark hidden behind lush hedges on two and a half private acres, steps from downtown yet a world away. Dinner at Melvyn's piano bar, unchanged since Old Hollywood gathered here, is the ritual you build the whole stay around.

ARRIVE Palm Springs

Palm Springs, CA

Corten steel, raw concrete, and butterfly roofs around an adults-only compound with a coffee roaster on site. Every patio room has a private outdoor space with a gas fireplace.

Andruss Motel

Walker, CA

Knotty pine rooms and a fish cleaning station ten minutes from the river in a 1958 Eastern Sierra property that has never tried to be something it isn't. A pool at 5,400 feet elevation is a rarer thing than it sounds.

Azure Sky Hotel

Palm Springs, CA

A 1959 desert retreat where built-in beds float above stone tile and a twelve-person hot tub anchors a pool terrace built for lingering. The mountains rise right behind the water, and the whole place is tuned to a slow, quiet register.

Casa Cody

Palm Springs, CA

The oldest operating stay in town, born in the 1920s and still centered on a 1910 adobe, with casitas layered in Zellige tile, dark wood, and deep desert color. Two pools, a hidden whirlpool spa, and a wine cellar with an opera-singer past reward guests who settle in.

Cuyama Buckhorn

New Cuyama, CA

A 1952 high-desert property restored in Mid-Century Western style with a farm-to-table restaurant, a barrel sauna, and Michelin Selected recognition in 2025. The design is specific to this particular stretch of California.

Desolation Hotel

South Lake Tahoe, CA

Every room opens to a private balcony soaking tub, with heated stone floors and skylights that frame the alpine sky. The design pulls Japanese calm and Scandinavian restraint into a residential-feeling retreat minutes from Heavenly and the water.

Firelite Lodge

Tahoe Vista, CA

Built in 1960 for the Winter Olympics, it puts a gas fireplace in every room and a sandy beach about a hundred feet from the door. Wake to Lake Tahoe from a balcony on the quiet North Shore, coffee in hand, the water just across the road.

Fleur Noire Hotel

Palm Springs, CA

Every casita here is wrapped in a floor-to-ceiling floral mural, so choosing a room means choosing a painting to live inside for a few nights. A pink-doored champagne bar hides off the pool, and grown-up calm settles over the whole grown-up-only property.

Glen Oaks Big Sur

Big Sur, CA

Locally owned since 2005 by someone who grew up next door, with peroba wood, heated stone floors, quality blankets, and gas fireplaces throughout a 1957 adobe. Redwood grove cabins and Big Sur River access on the same property.

Inn at Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta, CA

A locally run roadside stay in the walkable center of Mount Shasta town, reworked around an outdoor firepit and lawn games with the 14,000-foot volcano looming over every view. The staff are the kind who hand you a route sketched on paper and pick up your package across town, turning a night's stay into a proper basecamp.

Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel

Jacumba Hot Springs, CA

A Prohibition-era hot springs hotel restored in adobe and exposed vigas, whose three spring-fed mineral pools brought a bypassed border town back to life. Between the high-desert restaurant, the live music, and a painted vintage trailer at check-in, it feels less like a hotel than a place that was rediscovered.

Les Cactus

Palm Springs, CA

Named for a cheeky French pop song and dressed in the same playful spirit, this 1930s desert getaway keeps its bright pool humming with music and its rooms notably crisp. It trades polish for genuine cheer, the kind of easygoing stay you book once and keep coming back to.

Los Arboles Hotel

Palm Springs, CA

Step through the gate and Palm Springs mid-century gives way to a tiled Spanish colonial hacienda, restored from ruins into a hushed courtyard oasis of pool, hot tub, and hammock-strung patios. Wood-burning fireplaces and mature trees make it the romantic, quiet counterpoint to the desert's louder scenes.

Mahala

Palm Springs, CA

A pocket-sized courtyard retreat at the top of Palm Canyon Drive, wrapped around a heated pool with the San Jacinto Mountains rising just past the loungers. Bold custom interiors and a fridge full of complimentary treats make it feel like a stylish friend handed you the keys to their desert hideaway.

Miracle Manor Boutique Hotel & Spa

Desert Hot Springs, CA

A tiny 1950s desert retreat built over its own naturally heated mineral springs, with two geothermal pools, an in-house spa, and no televisions anywhere. Days here move at soaking pace, and the mountain views go completely quiet once the sun drops.

Mojave Resort

Palm Desert, CA

A 1957 Palm Desert motor court reborn adults-only in sunburnt orange, with a cocktail-shaker-shaped pool at its heart and fire tables that glow at dusk. Every door opens onto the courtyard, and a breakfast box waits outside it each morning, all a short walk from El Paseo.

Orbit In

Palm Springs, CA

A 1957 courtyard compound furnished with genuine Eames, Saarinen, and Noguchi pieces, arranged around a quiet heated pool at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains. Each afternoon the house Orbitini gets poured by the water, and design pilgrims trade notes on loungers as the light goes gold.

Sands Hotel and Spa

Indian Wells, CA

A 1950s Indian Wells motor lodge reborn as a Martyn Lawrence Bullard design fantasy, where every room carries its own color story of zebra stripes, Moroccan tile, and custom fountains. Days drift between the cabana pool and The Pink Cabana, and the whole place feels like a set you get to live in.

Sierra Mountain Inn

Grass Valley, CA

A cluster of single-level 1930s cottages remodeled one room at a time, each styled with a soft, homey warmth just three blocks up from historic downtown Grass Valley. The front desk treats you like company, and a standalone cottage gives couples a quiet corner of Gold Country all their own.

Tamarack Lodge

Tahoe City, CA

Rustic timber rooms and standalone cabins sit on wooded acres beside a creek, quietly updated but still full of Old Tahoe soul. The same family has run it since 1927, and the hospitality shows in ways guests remember for years.

The Coachman Hotel

South Lake Tahoe, CA

Hand-crafted furniture, quality linens, and wet-area entryways designed for ski and hiking gear, with a heated pool and Coachman Cafe on site. Daily s'mores and bikes for when the road calls.

The Hideaway

Palm Springs, CA

A hedged 1947 courtyard tucked into the Tennis Club neighborhood, where an unusually large lawn and generous pool give you room to actually spread out. Evenings gather at the fire pit under the San Jacinto Mountains, and the pool rarely feels crowded, so disappearing for a few days is the whole point.

The Jeffrey Hotel

South Lake Tahoe, CA

A former Tahoe motor lodge reborn with 1970s-camp spirit, where individually styled rooms wrap around fireplaces and warm wood. It trades resort scale for personality and a walkable spot steps from the gondola and the lake.

The Weekend Palm Springs

Palm Springs, CA

A meticulously renovated 1960s hideaway on a quiet Old Las Palmas cul-de-sac, where spacious suites with full kitchens open onto a palm-shaded pool framed by the mountains. The owner hosts personally and the courtyard stays calm, so a long weekend here tends to stretch until you are in no hurry to leave.

Triangle Motel

Red Bluff, CA

A 1940s motor court in Red Bluff taken down to the studs in 2023, its original cinderblock walls and handmade wooden doors set against crisp white-and-black rooms. A palm-shaded pool and courtyard BBQ turn a valley pull-off on the road to Lassen into a stop worth planning around.

Trixie Motel

Palm Springs, CA

A proudly queer, everyone-welcome Palm Springs original from drag star Trixie Mattel. The former Coral Sands, reborn as an all-pink daydream: seven themed rooms around a courtyard pool, cocktails at the Barbara Bar, and record players instead of screens.

Holiday House Palm Springs

Palm Springs, CA

A 1951 Herbert Burns design reborn under decorator Mark Sikes, wrapped around a citrus-shaded pool courtyard with shuffleboard, misted loungers, and an afternoon ice cream cart. Downtown is a single block away, but the orange trees and mountain backdrop make leaving feel optional.

Stardust Lodge

South Lake Tahoe, CA

The original technicolor neon sign still glows out front, but the rooms behind it are clean, cheerful, and better than the vintage exterior lets on. Two pools, daily activities, and a popcorn-stocked front desk give it a social, family-camp warmth right across from the gondola.