Five cool California boltholes

Five cool California boltholes

Big Sur’s little legend

There is nowhere in the world like this famous coastline, and no hotel on it – or anywhere else – quite like the Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn. The original ramshackle barn, clad in wisteria and Cécile Brünner roses, was built in the 1930s, predating the construction of Highway 1 itself. Opened as an inn in 1937 by a Norwegian immigrant and his Georgian wife, and co-managed for decades by an English widow, Deetjen’s still seems to radiate the gentility of all three cultures from its rough coastal-redwood walls (or maybe it’s the National Register of Historic Places credentials). Municipal tensions, fires and mudslides, and finally the pandemic almost put an end to it in 2020; but fans around the world rallied for it to be saved, and in May 2021, with a new ownership structure, it re-opened.

The rooms are spread throughout a smattering of cabins set back in the woods; some are ensuite; others share bathrooms (and so make good buyouts for families or friends – in particular the Hayloft Hostel, which sleeps nine in five bedrooms with two baths). Floors creak; the mornings can be chilly if your wood-burning stove has gone out; there is no