California
Bed and Breakfast Inns

The guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns lists over 250 boutique hotels, wine country cottages and more.

California Bed-and-Breakfast Inn in Cambria

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

Front cover of the California Bed-and-Breakfast Inns guide

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

California Bed-and-Breakfast Inns sample page

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!

Other books pages

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.
Frommer's Guide to Seattle
The Frommer's Guide to Seattle has good information about the city and side excursions to the Olympic National Park and elsewhere, plus free city and area map.
Road Food Guide
West Coast Road Eats is a road food guide covering the Pacific Coast from California through Oregon to Washington, giving the best road trip food stops.
Culture Trails
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Vintage Hollywood alongside 51 other perfect weekends.
Pacific Coast Highway Guides. Book and ebook hotel guides to PCH
Pacific Coast Highway guides include our own printed book and ebook guides to the best hotels along the PCH, available in paperback, PDF and Kindle formats.
Brewpubs and Good Beer on the West Coast USA
Brewpubs and good beer are at the heart of the Good Beer Guide to the West Coast USA which lists the best bars and breweries from Seattle to San Diego.
Epic Drives of the World
Epic Drives of the World from Lonely Planet describes 50 of the world's most exciting road trips, including, of course, the Pacific Coast Highway.
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, published by Voyageur Press, is a guide in words and pictures to historic lighthouses along the Pacific Coast Highway.
California Backroads
Some of the best California Backroads are included in Backroads of the California Coast, with 24 highly recommended driving tours off the Pacific Coast Highway.
Los Angeles Travel Guide
The Los Angeles travel guide book from Lonely Planet also covers San Diego and Southern California, including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland.