Set amid rolling vineyards and manicured gardens in California’s Carmel Valley, Bernardus Lodge & Spa is an intimate, luxury hideaway spread across 28 serene acres. Just 10 miles from quaint Carmel-by-the-Sea in Monterey County, the boutique resort pairs elegant and cozy rooms, many with fireplaces and soaking tubs, with a destination-worthy spa and celebrated farm-forward dining. It’s quiet, refined, and deeply restorative.
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🌟 Bernardus Lodge & Spa, 415 W. Carmel Valley Road 🌟
🛏️ Number of rooms & suites: 73
💰 Price: Rates range from around $400 to more than $1200 per night, with higher prices for luxury rooms, suites, and weekends. There’s an additional $70 nightly resort fee that includes premium perks such as in-room wine, snacks, Wi-Fi, and access to amenities such as the spa.
📚 Why book: Though Carmel could be a day trip from San Francisco, this hotel is reason enough to make it an overnight. Tucked into the Santa Lucia Mountains, about 10 miles (15-20-minute drive) from Carmel-by-the-Sea, the quiet luxury of Bernardus Lodge & Spa is effortless and romantic. Many of the rooms feature beautiful bathrooms with copper soaking tubs and two-person showers, plus outdoor fire pits for sipping wine and admiring views of the surrounding mountains and grapevines.
Set on 28-acres of winding paths, olive and lemon trees, and flowering bushes, Bernardus Lodge & Spa feels like a true escape, while the complimentary welcome glass of wine upon arrival lets you know you’ll be well taken care of 24/7.
The hotel also has a fitness room, an adult-only pool, and a serene 5,300-square-foot full-service spa with steam rooms, saunas, and its own outdoor pool. I appreciated that I didn’t need to book a massage or facial to enjoy the amenities.
If you fancy a ride in a fancy car, be sure to check out the Mercedes-Benz. It’s offered to guests on a first-come, first-served basis for a four-hour period. I completely forgot about it, otherwise I would have tried it out. Vroom!
🛁 Rooms & Suites: I know it’s easy to say, “we won’t spend that much time in our room,” but at Bernardus, you will want to. The 73 guestrooms, suites, and villas are arranged around croquet and bocce courts, the pool, or gardens. Our one-bedroom suite was spacious, with a wine-country-chic style featuring warm wood, leather chairs, beamed ceilings, and abundant natural light. We had a fireplace in the living area and the bedroom.
I especially loved the outdoor patio with a fire pit for evening glasses of wine in our bathrobes, and the heated floors in the bathroom. In fact, the bathroom was my favorite room. I’m obsessed with the mint green tiles, cozy robes and slippers, and natural light. It felt like our own mini-spa.
A nice touch was the lavender sachet on the pillows, the Nespresso coffee maker, and the mini-bar stuffed with ‘wine country’ selections of cheese, beers, wines, crackers, and more.
🥘 Dining: Farm-to-table cuisine fed by talented chefs and a two-acre organic kitchen garden are just one reason to love Lucia Restaurant & Bar. Although it’s part of the hotel, it’s also popular with locals, so a reservation is a good idea.
If you want to dress up, go for it, but there is a casual California vibe here that I love. You’ll be just fine if you want to show up in jeans or a little black dress. Either way, diners can expect to feel at home while choosing dishes that feature local California ingredients, including fish, meat, and seafood.
I liked the comfort-food add-ons like Brussels sprouts, crab cake appetizers, and chunky chocolate chip cookies, which we took back to our room to eat by the fire. The bar’s menu is a little simpler, with burgers, pizzas (large enough to share), and salads.
Lucia serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The bar is a great place for a pre-meal cocktail or glass of wine, which you can have outside in one of the many outdoor patios scattered around the property.
🗺️ Neighborhood: Quiet and bucolic, but in close proximity to Carmel-by-the-Sea, the world-famous Pebble Beach golf course, the iconic 17-mile drive, and Carmel Valley/Santa Lucia Wineries, many of them along Carmel Valley Road and in Carmel Valley Village.
👀 Nearby attractions: Santa Lucia wineries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Point Lobos Nature Preserve (for coastal hiking), and the Carmel Mission, to name just a few.
💫 Highlights: Romantic rooms in a quiet setting; attractions and wine tasting close by.
❤️🔥 My heartthrobs: The snacks in the mini-bar for impromptu happy hours in our bathrobes; the spa amenities available to guests; the gorgeous bathrooms.
💔 My heartbreaks: The $70/ day resort fee. They always feel like nickel & diming.
Book a stay at Bernardus Lodge & Spa
