Historic Inns

California

Historic Hotels & Inns in California

From San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado to San Francisco’s post-1906 grand hotels, the Gold Rush towns of the Sierra foothills, Napa Valley’s Victorians and the park hotels of Yosemite and Death Valley: every historic hotel and inn in California we could verify.

69 historic places to stay in 38 towns · verified October 2026 · by Historic Inns editors

The short answer

San Diego County has the most, with 14 historic hotels and inns, led by the 1888 Hotel del Coronado (ask for a room in The Victorian, its original building) and Old Town’s Cosmopolitan, in an adobe of about 1827 to 1829. San Francisco has nine, among them the Palace, rebuilt after the 1906 fire and reopened in 1909, and the Fairmont on Nob Hill. In the Gold Country, the National Exchange Hotel in Nevada City opened in 1856; in Yosemite Valley, book The Ahwahnee (1927). In Southern California, start with the Mission Inn in Riverside, a National Historic Landmark that filled a city block by 1931, or the Hollywood Roosevelt, which hosted the first Academy Awards in 1929. For a B&B, Napa and Calistoga have seven historic inns between them, including Churchill Manor (1889) and The Francis House (1886).

Our top picks

Best overall

The Mission Inn

Built 1902 · Riverside

Frank Miller's Mission Revival inn, begun with the 1902 Mission Wing and grown to fill a Riverside city block by 1931; a…

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Best small inn

The Francis House

Built 1886 · Calistoga

James Francis's 1886 stone Second Empire house, later the Calistoga Hospital, empty for 52 years and reopened in 2018 as a seven-room…

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Best lodge

The Ahwahnee

Built 1927 · Yosemite Valley

Gilbert Stanley Underwood's 1927 hotel of stone, wood and glass on the Yosemite Valley floor beneath Half Dome, a National Historic Landmark.

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Grand hotel

Palace Hotel

Built 1909 · San Francisco

William Ralston's 1875 Palace, gutted in 1906 and reopened in 1909 with the glass-domed Garden Court and Maxfield Parrish's Pied Piper mural.

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Where they are

Where to go

San Diego14 historic places to stay · founded 1769Oldest: The Cosmopolitan Hotel (1827–29)See the guide →San Francisco9 historic places to stay · founded 1776Oldest: Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square (1893)See the guide →Napa Valley7 historic places to stay · founded 1847Oldest: Brannan Cottage Inn (1860)See the guide →

Every historic inn in California

InnTownBuiltRoomsTypePriceHaunted
The Cosmopolitan HotelSan Diego1827–2910Inn–YesRates
The Groveland HotelGroveland1850–51–Inn–YesRates
The National Exchange HotelNevada City185638Inn–Rates
Murphys Historic HotelMurphys1856–Inn–Rates
Brannan Cottage InnCalistoga1860–Inn–Rates
Holbrooke HotelGrass Valley186228Inn–YesRates
The Upham HotelSanta Barbara187250Inn–Rates
Simpson House InnSanta Barbara1874–B&B–Rates
MacCallum HouseMendocino1882–Inn–Rates
Napa River InnNapa1884–Boutique hotel–YesRates
Casa MadronaSausalito1885–Boutique hotel–Rates
Horton Grand HotelSan Diego1886–87–Boutique hotel–Rates
The Francis HouseCalistoga18867B&B–Rates
Gosby House InnPacific Grove1887–B&B–Rates
Hotel del CoronadoCoronado1888–Resort–YesRates
Churchill ManorNapa1889–B&B–Rates
Hennessey EstateNapa188910B&B–Rates
Centrella HotelPacific Grove188921Inn–Rates
Cedar Gables InnNapa1891–B&B–Rates
Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli SquareSan Francisco1893–Boutique hotel–Rates
Julian Gold Rush HotelJulian1897–Inn–Rates
The Lodge at the PresidioSan Francisco1895–9742Inn–Rates
Cavallo PointSausalito1901–Lodge–Rates
The Mission InnRiverside1902–Grand hotel–Rates
Inn at the PresidioSan Francisco190322Inn–Rates
The Westin St. FrancisSan Francisco1904–13–Grand hotel–YesRates
Hayes MansionSan Jose1903–05–Grand hotel–Rates
Fairmont San FranciscoSan Francisco1907606Grand hotel–YesRates
Palace HotelSan Francisco1909–Grand hotel–YesRates
The US GrantSan Diego1910–Grand hotel–Rates
Hotel Shattuck PlazaBerkeley1910–Boutique hotel–Rates
Gaslamp Plaza SuitesSan Diego1913–Boutique hotel–Rates
El EncantoSanta Barbara1913–30–Resort–Rates
Claremont Resort & ClubBerkeley1915–Resort–YesRates
Hotel ArcataArcata1915–Boutique hotel–Rates
Mount View HotelCalistoga1919–Boutique hotel–Rates
Fairmont MiramarSanta Monica1921–Resort–Rates
Ojai Valley InnOjai1923303Resort–Rates
The Biltmore Los AngelesLos Angeles1923–Grand hotel–Rates
The Guild HotelSan Diego1924162Boutique hotel–Rates
The Culver HotelCulver City1924–Boutique hotel–Rates
La Valencia HotelLa Jolla (San Diego)1926–Grand hotel–Rates
The Sofia HotelSan Diego1926–Boutique hotel–Rates
Grande Colonial La JollaLa Jolla (San Diego)1925–26–Boutique hotel–YesRates
InterContinental Mark HopkinsSan Francisco1926–Grand hotel–Rates
Omni San Francisco HotelSan Francisco1926–Grand hotel–Rates
Harbor Court HotelSan Francisco1926131Boutique hotel–Rates
Benbow Historic InnGarberville1926–Inn–Rates
Hotel Casa del MarSanta Monica1926–Grand hotel–Rates
Fairmont BreakersLong Beach1926–Grand hotel–Rates
Fairmont Sonoma Mission InnSonoma (Boyes Hot Springs)1927–Resort–YesRates
The AhwahneeYosemite Valley1927–Grand hotel–Rates
The Inn at Death ValleyDeath Valley (Furnace Creek)1927–Resort–Rates
The Hollywood RooseveltLos Angeles (Hollywood)1927–Grand hotel–Rates
Chateau MarmontLos Angeles (Sunset Strip)1929–Boutique hotel–Rates
The Georgian HotelSanta Monica1931–Boutique hotel–Rates
La Serena VillasPalm Springs1933–Boutique hotel–Rates
Deetjen’s Big Sur InnBig Sur1936–41–Inn–Rates
The Queen MaryLong Beach1936–Grand hotel–YesRates
La Casa del ZorroBorrego Springs1937–Resort–Rates
The EdenSanta Monica1940–Boutique hotel–Rates
The Lafayette Hotel and ClubSan Diego1946–Boutique hotel–Rates
Alisal RanchSolvang1946–Resort–Rates
Del Marcos HotelPalm Springs1947–Boutique hotel–Rates
Surf & SandLaguna Beach1948–Resort–Rates
Orbit InPalm Springs1955–Boutique hotel–Rates
Rancho Bernardo InnRancho Bernardo (San Diego)1963286Resort–Rates
Omni La Costa ResortCarlsbad1965–Resort–Rates
Fairmont Century PlazaLos Angeles (Century City)1966–Grand hotel–Rates

Price is a typical nightly rate: $ under $200, $$ $200–349, $$$ $350–549, $$$$ $550+. Rates vary by season; check the inn for exact prices.

Elsewhere in California

The Groveland HotelAlmonroth / CC BY-SA 3.0

Built 1850–51 · Gold Rush adobe/Monterey with Classical Revival · Groveland · Inn

The Groveland Hotel

Why stay A Gold Rush hotel on the road to Yosemite, next to the Iron Door Saloon, which the hotel calls the oldest operating bar in California.

The ghost story The hotel says a guest named Lyle died in his sleep there in 1927, a box of dynamite under his bed, and that guests and ghost hunters have since reported doors opening on their own and lights and faucets turning on and off. It is told as house lore.

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Holbrooke HotelFrank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0

Built 1862 · Mother Lode fieldstone and brick · Grass Valley · Inn

Holbrooke Hotel

Why stay Built in 1862 around the 1852 Golden Gate Saloon, which OHP calls the Mother Lode's oldest continuously operating saloon; breakfast included.

The ghost story The hotel's own story says it is 'haunted by rough cowboys and Victorian Madames'. It is told as house lore.

Good to know Breakfast: included · Parking: on-site free · Elevator · Pets welcome

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Claremont Resort & ClubUnknown / uncredited photographer(s) / Public domain

Built 1915 · Tudor Revival (white wood-frame 'castle') · Berkeley · Resort

Claremont Resort & Club

Why stay The 'White Castle on the Hill', a 1915 resort hotel in the Berkeley hills, on Historic Hotels of America's most-haunted lists from 2021 to 2024.

The ghost story HHA reports stories of phantom elevators that stop at floors no one requested, cold spots and voices, with the most activity attributed to one fourth-floor room. HHA named it to its Most Haunted lists from 2021 to 2024.

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1923Ojai Valley Inn

Built 1923 · Spanish Colonial Revival · Ojai · Resort

Ojai Valley Inn

Why stay Edward Drummond Libbey's 1923 country club, with a Wallace Neff clubhouse and a 1934 inn; most of its 303 rooms are later additions.

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Fairmont Sonoma Mission InnZan / Public domain

Built 1927 · Mission Revival · Sonoma (Boyes Hot Springs) · Resort

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn

Why stay A 1927 replica California mission on the Boyes hot springs, on HHA's most-haunted list every year from 2021 to 2026. Ask for the original inn.

The ghost story Tenured employees report a woman in period dress named Victoria, said to have celebrated her wedding and anniversaries here, walking the halls on foggy nights; a room in the original inn building is said to be haunted by an elderly man, and the Round Room is called one of the most haunted. HHA has listed the inn as Most Haunted every year from 2021 to 2026.

Check ratesFull story
1933La Serena Villas

Built 1933 · Spanish Eclectic bungalows · Palm Springs · Boutique hotel

La Serena Villas

Why stay Eleven Spanish Eclectic bungalows of 1933, saved from demolition by a 2009 council vote and reopened in 2016; guests must be 21 or older.

Good to know Breakfast: included · Parking: on-site free · Adults only

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The Queen MaryThcipriani / CC BY-SA 4.0

Built 1936 · Art Deco interiors · Long Beach · Grand hotel

The Queen Mary

Why stay A ship, not a building: Cunard's 1936 Art Deco liner, the 'Grey Ghost' troopship of World War II, moored for good in Long Beach as a hotel.

The ghost story HHA calls the ship one of the world's most legendary haunted destinations, with stories centered on Watertight Door 13, Stateroom B340, a Lady in White in the grand public rooms and an alleged 'vortex' at the former first-class pool; the front desk has received reports about B340 such as flickering lights and running faucets. All of this is reported lore.

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The EdenMCHart / CC BY 2.0

Built 1940 · Streamline Moderne / Art Deco · Santa Monica · Boutique hotel

The Eden

Why stay William E. Foster's white Streamline Moderne Shangri-La of 1940 on Ocean Avenue, named for Lost Horizon's utopia; The Eden since 2025.

Check ratesFull story
1946Alisal Ranch

Built 1946 · Western ranch · Solvang · Resort

Alisal Ranch

Why stay A dude ranch since 1946 in converted cattlemen's quarters on Charles Perkins's ranch; rates include breakfast and dinner, and rooms have no TVs.

Good to know Breakfast: included

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1948Surf & Sand

Built 1948 · Eclectic (per HHA) · Laguna Beach · Resort

Surf & Sand

Why stay Opened in 1948 on the South Laguna oceanfront; HHA says reporters covering President Nixon's San Clemente visits used it as their base.

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1955Orbit In

Built 1955 · Midcentury modern · Palm Springs · Boutique hotel

Orbit In

Why stay Herbert Burns's 1955 Village Manor, keeping many original interiors such as pink tile baths; an adult-oriented hotel, two guests per room.

Good to know No pets

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Ways in

Themes in California

Gold Rush hotels

Four Gold Rush hotels still take guests, three of them built of brick or stone. In Nevada City, the National Exchange opened in August 1856 in three brick buildings after seven fires swept the town, and it housed the post office until 1942. In Grass Valley, the Holbrooke went up in 1862 around the 1852 Golden Gate Saloon, which California’s Office of Historic Preservation calls the oldest continuously operating saloon in the Mother Lode. Murphys Historic Hotel opened in 1856 as the Sperry & Perry, its stone walls and iron shutters protecting it in the 1859 fire, and the Groveland Hotel, dated 1850–51 by the National Register, stands on Highway 120 on the way to Yosemite.

San Francisco after 1906

The 1906 earthquake and fire shaped the city’s grand hotels. The Palace, opened in 1875 as San Francisco’s first luxury hotel, was rebuilt and reopened in 1909 with its glass-domed Garden Court. On Nob Hill, the fire gutted the nearly finished Fairmont, and Julia Morgan restored it for its 1907 opening; delegates to the 1945 conference that drafted the United Nations Charter met there. The Mark Hopkins opened in 1926 on the site of the railroad magnate’s mansion, destroyed in 1906, with the Top of the Mark lounge on its roof. In the Presidio, an Army post until the 1990s, Pershing Hall (1903) and one of the 1890s Montgomery Street Barracks are now the Inn and the Lodge at the Presidio.

Napa and Sonoma’s Victorian inns

Banker Edward Churchill built Churchill Manor on Napa’s Brown Street in 1889 and, two years later, Cedar Gables directly behind it as a wedding gift for his son. Dr. Edwin Hennessey’s Stick-Eastlake house on Main Street also dates from 1889, and the Napa River Inn fills Captain Albert Hatt’s 1884 riverfront warehouse. In Calistoga, which Sam Brannan founded in 1861, Brannan Cottage Inn is one of the 14 guest cottages of his hot-springs resort, and The Francis House, an 1886 stone mansion that later served as the town hospital, reopened as a B&B in 2018. In the Sonoma Valley, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn has stood on the Boyes hot springs since 1927.

National park hotels

Two park hotels built in 1927 still take guests. In Yosemite Valley, Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed The Ahwahnee in steel, stone, concrete, wood and glass beneath Half Dome and Yosemite Falls, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1987. In Death Valley, the Pacific Coast Borax Company built the Furnace Creek Inn, now The Inn at Death Valley, to give its Death Valley Railroad a tourist trade; it is open from mid-October to mid-May. Yosemite’s Wawona Hotel, also a National Historic Landmark, has been closed since December 2, 2024 for a National Park Service condition assessment, with no reopening date.

Road trip

San Diego to Santa Barbara, inn to inn

San Diego

Give San Diego two nights: the Hotel del Coronado on the beach (ask for The Victorian) or the US Grant downtown. Pick an inn from our San Diego guide.

Long Beach

Sleep aboard the Queen Mary, Cunard’s 1936 liner, now permanently moored as a hotel, or at the Fairmont Breakers, the 1926 Breakers on Ocean Boulevard.

Los Angeles

Stay at the Biltmore (1923) on Pershing Square, host to eight Academy Awards, or the Hollywood Roosevelt (1927), where the first one was held. By the beach in Santa Monica, Hotel Casa del Mar fills a 1926 beach club.

Santa Barbara

Finish at the Simpson House Inn, an 1874 house on an acre of English gardens with breakfast and parking included, or at the Upham, which the city dates to 1872.

Beyond the inns

Signature tours in California

Tours from GetYourGuide

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Context

History and architecture

California’s historic hotels follow its booms. Soldiers and Franciscan missionaries from New Spain occupied San Diego’s Presidio Hill in 1769, and Juan Bandini built his Old Town adobe, now the Cosmopolitan Hotel, about 1827 to 1829. Gold brought the next wave: California was admitted as a state under the Compromise of 1850, and Gold Rush hotels still stand in Groveland (1850–51), Nevada City and Murphys (both 1856). Financier William Ralston’s Palace opened in San Francisco in 1875, and on Coronado, Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story opened the Hotel del Coronado in 1888. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco rebuilt the Fairmont (1907) and the Palace (1909). The 1920s brought the Biltmore in Los Angeles (1923) and, in 1927, the Hollywood Roosevelt, The Ahwahnee and the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley. After World War II came Palm Springs’ desert modernism, from William F. Cody’s Del Marcos (1947) to Herbert Burns’s Village Manor (1955).

Questions travelers ask

What is the oldest hotel in California?

Of the inns we list, the earliest start as a hotel belongs to two Gold Rush hotels of 1856: the National Exchange in Nevada City, opened that August, which California’s Office of Historic Preservation calls one of the oldest continuously operating hotels west of the Rockies, and Murphys Historic Hotel, opened that summer as the Sperry & Perry. The Groveland Hotel’s building is older, dated 1850–51 by the National Register (the hotel says 1849). The oldest building is the Cosmopolitan’s adobe in San Diego’s Old Town, built about 1827 to 1829, but it has been a hotel only since 1869.

What is the most haunted hotel in California?

There is no official ranking. Historic Hotels of America has named the Hotel del Coronado, where guests and staff tell of Kate Morgan, a guest who died there in 1892, and the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn to its most-haunted list every year from 2021 to 2026. HHA calls the Queen Mary in Long Beach one of the world’s most legendary haunted destinations, with stories centered on Stateroom B340 and Watertight Door 13. The Claremont in Berkeley made HHA’s lists from 2021 to 2024 and the Fairmont San Francisco in 2025, and in the Gold Country the Groveland Hotel and the Holbrooke tell their own ghost stories. These are stories guests and staff tell, not documented fact.

What are the historic hotels in San Francisco?

We list nine. On Nob Hill, the Fairmont (1907) and the InterContinental Mark Hopkins (1926); downtown, the Palace (rebuilt in 1909), the Westin St. Francis on Union Square (1904; ask for the Landmark Building, not the 1972 tower) and the Omni, in a 1926 bank building; on the Embarcadero, the Harbor Court, a 1926 YMCA for servicemen; at Ghirardelli Square, Fairmont Heritage Place; and in the Presidio, the Inn at the Presidio (1903) and the Lodge at the Presidio, in 1890s Army barracks.

Are there historic hotels in Palm Springs?

Yes, three we list, each a City of Palm Springs Class 1 Historic Site according to the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation or the hotel itself: the Del Marcos, William F. Cody’s 1947 desert-modern hotel, which welcomes pets; La Serena Villas, 11 Spanish Eclectic bungalows of 1933 for guests 21 and over; and the Orbit In, Herbert Burns’s 1955 Village Manor, with many original interiors.

Where are the best historic bed and breakfasts in California?

Napa and Calistoga have the most. In Napa, Churchill Manor (1889) and Cedar Gables (1891) stand back to back, both built by banker Edward Churchill, and Hennessey Estate (1889) has ten rooms with breakfast and free parking; in Calistoga, The Francis House has seven rooms in an 1886 stone mansion. On the Monterey Peninsula, Pacific Grove has the Gosby House Inn (1887) and the Centrella (1889), and Santa Barbara has the Simpson House Inn (1874), with breakfast and parking included.

How we chose these inns

Every place on this page is at least 50 years old, holds a credential we can check (National Register listing, a listed historic district, landmark status, or Historic Hotels of America membership), and takes bookings today. We verify each one against primary sources before it goes on the list, and last checked this list in October 2026. Read our criteria.

Sources (158)

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