California
Bed and Breakfast Inns

The brand new 20th edition of the guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns is now out. Published by CABBI (The California Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns), the guide lists over 250 Bed and Breakfast Inns and other exclusive getaway places throughout California.

The organization includes boutique hotels, wine country cottages, inns with ocean views, farm stays, historic Victorian mansions, and many more select places within its 148 pages. Naturally many of these are along the Pacific Coast Highway, and others on the essential PCH detour inland to the wine country of Napa Valley and Sonoma.

How the Book's Organized

The guide is organized regionally, starting with Northern California (sub-divided into the Redwood Coast, Mount Shasta, Clear Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Napa Valley), through Gold Country/High Sierra, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Coast/Valley, and ending in Southern California (Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange County, the Southern California Mountains, San Diego, and Palm Springs.)

Each region comes with an overview map, with the inns listed alongside, alphabetically. The inns aren’t shown on the map, but only the towns which have inns in them are shown, making it very easy to plot a route using these inns or to see if there are any located near to where you plan to visit.

Bed and Breakfast Inn Reviews

The amount of space devoted to the review of each property varies enormously. Some get two pages, some one page (see right), some half a page, with the majority being a one-paragraph potted summary. All include at least one photo, full contact details, and the range of room prices.

Several places that we have stayed at are included in the guide, such as Napa Valley’s Wine Country Inn, Napa’s 1801 First, Mendocino’s Stanford Inn, the Casa Laguna in Laguna Beach, the Pelican Inn and Suites in Cambria, and both the Cypress Inn and the Vagabond’s House Inn in Carmel, so we can say from personal experience that the write-ups here are honest and accurate.

It also shows us that the members of the Association are a pretty select bunch of California bed and breakfast inns. The only drawback is that the shorter reviews don’t really do the places justice, but at least they let you know that they’re there, and you can take a longer look at the property’s website to get a better feel for it.

California Bed and Breakfast Inns

Our verdict is that if you like to stay in places that are different, historic, charming, atmospheric, or in some other way better than average, the booklet is a good investment. The places aren’t cheap, but neither are they the most expensive 5-star luxury hotel resorts. Quality costs, after all, and these bed and breakfast inns are definitely quality.

This guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns, now called the CABBI Travel Guide, is published by the California Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns and can be ordered on their website. There's also a digital edition.

And if you like the sound of running a b&b there's a page listing places for sale!

You might like these

  • Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips: Lonely Planet Guidebook Review

    Review of the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips book from Lonely Planet, which includes a California Driving Guide, by the Pacific Coast Highway Travel website.

  • Gardens Of the Pacific Coast Highway

    Plant lovers can visit hundreds of gardens along or near the Pacific Coast Highway,ranging from lush gardens in the Pacific North-West to southern California.

  • Pacific Coast Highway in California

    The Pacific Coast Highway in California book shows in historic photos the building of the Pacific Coast Highway from its earliest beginnings in 1911.

  • Vintage Hollywood

    Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.

  • Perfect Day in San Francisco

    The Perfect Day in San Francisco is what's promised by the new guidebook from Lonely Planet in their Make My Day series, but does it deliver?

  • The Best Coast Book Review

    The Best Coast is a west coast travel guide, sub-titled A Road Trip Atlas it doesn't use photos but instead has hundreds of beautiful illustrations.

  • Books About the Pacific Coast Highway

    Books About the Pacific Coast Highway in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.

  • Your Insider's Guide to San Francisco

    Pacific Coast Highway Travel's book review of Insider's Guide to San Francisco guidebook by Jill Loeffler, publisher of the San Francisco Tourism Tips website.

  • West Coast RV Parks

    One of the best guides to West Coast RV Parks, covering campgrounds in California, Oregon, and Washington, is West Coast RV Camping from Moon Guides.

  • Washington State Travel Guide

    The Washington State travel guide from Frommer's covers hotels in Seattle, driving the Pacific Coast Highway, Olympic National Park, where to eat and more.

Recent Articles

RSS

  1. Four Seasons in Beverly Hills and San Francisco Launch Ultimate Road Trip with Maserati

    Oct 06, 21 03:29 AM

    The Pacific Coast Highway is California’s longest state route at 656 miles (1,055 kilometres) and runs along the Pacific Ocean, making it arguably one of the prettiest drives in the United States. Fou…

    Read More

  2. United Eliminates Fees for Passengers Traveling With Bicycles

    Oct 06, 21 03:29 AM

    United Airlines just made a lot of friends among cycling enthusiasts. The Chicago-based carrier has eliminated its fees for passengers traveling with their bicycles, joining fellow airlines American a…

    Read More

  3. Best Tours rebounds from rockiest road in 43-year history

    Sep 30, 21 03:15 AM

    Best Tours & Travel’s recent reopening saw sellout tours and a continuing recovery in its private charter operations, thanks to nonstop outreach throughout 2020’s shutdown months that continues today.

    Read More