Trip Report/Suggestions: Ventana Big Sur and surrounding areas

Hello! Just got back from my birthday weekend in gorgeous Big Sur. Definitely one of the nicest birthdays I’ve had in a while, especially compared to last year, when California’s Stay-At-Home orders began just one week before my birthday and I had to cancel all my trips… (worth it not to get the coronavirus though!)

I didn’t realize until I got home that several other travel hackers overlapped my stay at the Ventana Big Sur, including Lucky from One Mile At A Time! It would have been nice to meet everyone, but I’m sure everyone enjoyed some private relaxing time without talking about miles and points for once, so maybe it’s for the better. 🙂

This post will contain a detailed review of the hotel, pro-tips, and some suggestions for the drive along Highway 1 (aka Pacific Coast Highway) from the Bay Area. Overall, I would say the hotel isn’t worth $1500-2000/night cash, but it’s certainly worth 30k points/night, and the Big Sur location is absolutely jaw-dropping spectacular. I’ve always appreciated living in California, but this trip definitely renewed my appreciation for this incredible coastline beauty. I should drive down more often!!

Ventana Big Sur Prep and Arrival

When booking with points, Ventana Big Sur has a 3-night minimum on weekends (1 or 2 nights is fine for weekdays), and I actually booked this trip way back in June 2020 (I almost never book anything that far in advance!) when the space was wide open for weekends. A lot of my friends who have visited since the pandemic began advised making restaurant and activity reservations in advance because everything was limited due to COVID-19. So 2 weeks ago, I began emailing with the concierge to reserve dining times and activities.

I filled out a Jotform they sent with my preferences, but I’m not sure what they do with that. For example, I wrote that I can’t eat cheese, yet most of the items on the menu contain cheese. I forgot to ask during the first dinner whether the dish I ordered contained cheese, so when it arrived and I saw cheese on it, I felt bad sending it back. I’m not sure what was the point of specifying my allergies in advance when it’s something you usually confirm at time of ordering anyways.

After an incredible drive from San Francisco (make sure to leave yourself plenty of time to make stops to enjoy the views!), it was easy to find Ventana Big Sur from Highway 1 shortly after Pfeiffer State Park. It’s nestled on the mountains with incredible views of the Pacific Ocean. There was a parking lot attendant at the entrance who asked our names and guided us to the self-parking or the valet. I heard him radio in to the front desk that we had arrived.

Ventana has its own Tesla supercharger lot, so unsurprisingly there were a lot of Teslas in the parking lot. I was thinking how fun it must be to drive a Tesla there!

We parked in the gravel self-parking lot (NOT friendly to rollerbags!!) and after asking a random staff member where the front desk was, we carried our luggage to the Social House reception. The receptionist wished me a happy birthday and went over my reserved mealtimes/activities and discussed the map of the property. She also asked if I wanted housekeeping and turndown service.

We took the map and rolled our bags to the room. I think one interesting thing they didn’t do but I’ve gotten accustomed to at extremely expensive resorts is being taken to the room and given a small tour of the room. Maybe they used to do this pre-COVID. Not a big deal, just thought I’d point it out. It actually would’ve been helpful in this case because nobody had told me the minibar snacks, drinks, and PPE (masks, gloves, sanitizer) were free, for example. And also that they wouldn’t be replenished unless you ask them to.

Pacific House Suite

I received a complimentary upgrade as Globalist to the Pacific House Suite since it was available at check-in (and probably because it was my birthday). I didn’t use a suite upgrade award for this. I also received a welcome amenity consisting of a birthday card, a framed picture of dancing Snoopy, and a small bottle of champagne.

There was a private hot tub on the patio, a soaking tub in the room, and a fireplace with matches and bags of firewood (just light the whole bag on fire – took me a few matches each time to do this…a lighter would’ve been more helpful).

The room comes with 2 free stainless steel water bottles (best free hotel water bottles I’ve received yet!) and also a mini-bar with fancy water, San Pellegrino sparkling water, regular and diet Coke, and some snacks like peanut butter cups, trail mix, caramel popcorn, and smoked almonds. These are free, and are only replenished upon request. There are also 3 alcoholic drink mixes that are not free. The room also comes with La Colombe teas (super high quality and AMAZING!!!!) and Nespresso pods; these are refilled daily. Update May 2021: Now Rishi teas.

There is a touchscreen tablet that you can use to check menus and order room service (In-Suite Dining) and a rotary phone to call the front desk. You can also text them, which is what I usually did since I found the tablet a bit slow.

I forgot to find out if laundry is included, but I didn’t see any prices on the laundry bag.

The Property

I spent the first day exploring the gorgeous property. There are a lot of various places to chill and relax. The plants and flowers on the property are beautiful – take some time to look at them! The views from all over the property are just mindblowingly gorgeous – the forest, the mountains, and the ocean.

There’s a small trail that goes around the property through the woods, and it really feels like you’re completely away from civilization when you’re in there. The Redwood Circle of Life (perfect circle of redwood trees) is really special. Watch out for poison oak! They try to maintain the trail and cut away the poison oak, but we did see some within touching distance from the trail, so be careful not to brush any on your clothes.

The trail also forks down to the camping and glamping site. We walked down there and explored a bit – most of the glamping tents were unoccupied and unlocked so we peeked in and walked around one (shhh don’t tell anyone 😄). The trail also passes by the organic garden and chicken coop, which provides produce and eggs for the restaurant. You can enter the garden to explore.

There are two large heated pools and one large infinity hot tub. There is also the Japanese Bathhouse, which is co-ed though there are three “stalls” (they’re all connected) in there for some privacy. We used it once and had the entire bathhouse to ourselves, and we rarely saw anyone else ever use them. There’s no view from in there, and they’re not REAL onsens – the water had a faint smell of chlorine so I don’t think they were mineral or sulfurous baths. There’s also a sauna near the Alila spa, but it was closed due to COVID.

The trail to the Sur House (the restaurant where you have breakfast and dinner) is 0.3 miles through the woods. You can opt for a ride in a golf cart, or walk back along the road instead. We did all three methods so that one method never got boring. By the way, their golf carts are super fancy – they have fully closing doors, so it’s like a mini car. Great for keeping out the cold air. I think the Sur House had my favorite views on the property. It’s also open to the public for meals, so you don’t have to stay here to eat there.

Behind the Sur House there’s a fire trail which goes up into the mountains at least 40 miles. It’s great for hiking. Only the fire department and residents who live along the trail are allowed to drive on that road.

Next to the Sur House is the Glass House, which is a converted container into a private dining facility with incredible view of the Pacific Ocean. I didn’t ask how much it costs to book this.

The gym was closed, but they put 2 exercise bikes right outside of it for guests to use. Never saw anyone use them.

The property is extremely dog-friendly with multiple locations with free poop bags. I LOVED seeing people’s dogs around!

Some people have mentioned bees and bugs to me. I actually brought 3 types of insect repellent and never had to use them. Never saw bees and only a few flies. It was generally pretty cold during our stay – the first night it was down to 37 degrees, but got warmer over the next few days. I often had to wear a ski jacket around in the morning and at night, but the last day was an amazing 70-75 degrees.

Ventana Activities

To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the selection of free activities. I guess I expected more from an expensive resort, but Miraval offered a lot more. I felt like there wasn’t much to do here unless you go off-property (you kinda need to have a car so you should definitely explore around the area anyways) so 3 nights was actually a bit long. We aren’t really sit-around-doing-nothing people so my husband did work most of the time while I chatted with friends online, played with the fireplace, edited photos, and did research on the coastline.

Here were the free activities and none of them require reservations (bold are my recommendations):

• Tai Chi (Thursday – Sunday 8AM) – preferred to eat breakfast during this time
• Yoga (Monday & Wednesday 7AM, and Tuesday 8AM) – didn’t get to do this since it wasn’t offered during our stay
• Meditation (Tuesday 9:30 AM) – wasn’t during our stay
• Fitness Classes (Friday, Saturday, Monday) – the instructor said that most of the time nobody shows up to these classes, and she gets paid to wait around and read a book. 🙂 The classes were probably the most casual and least intensive out of any resort fitness classes I’ve ever taken, but it was nice to chat with the instructor. She also teaches at Hyatt Carmel Valley Ranch during the week.
• Property Hike (Every day at 10AM) – I highly recommend this one-hour tour. We did it twice, since each day had a different guide. They take you on the path towards the restaurant and then the trail around the property I mentioned previously. The first guide focused more on plants and identified all the poison oak for us. He also taught us about the Esselen tribe and other Indian tribes. The second guide focused more on the birds.
• Sunset Hour (4-7PM. Specialty cocktails and Central Coast Wines, a la carte) – this used to have free drinks for guests up until possibly last month, but now even the non-alcoholic drinks have a charge.
• Fireside Chat at Social House (Friday – Sunday 4PM) – I don’t think anybody really went to this.
• S’mores Experience (Every night from 8-10PM) – You could either make your s’mores at the fireplace in front of the Social House, or take the kits to your room and do it on your own fireplace. It was too cold during our trip to do it outside so I took it back every night. I never saw anybody else stay either. Anyways, these s’mores were really good – they use TCHO chocolate (dark or milk, your choice), which made a huge difference! They also provide pre-made s’mores by their pastry chef if you’re impatient, you just stick the skewer in and warm it up on the fire and eat!

The paid experiences all require reservations and have 48-hour cancellation notice:

• Falconry: $200 per person (90 minutes, 3:00pm)
• Star Bathing: $150 per person (8:30-10 pm)
• Private Hikes: Ranging from $125 per person
• Private yoga/meditation: $300 for 60 minutes per couple
• Couples Astrology Reading: $350 for 90 minutes per couple
• Bike Big Sur: $250 per person
• Off Property Group Hike (Daily, 11:30AM $75 per person)
• Social Afternoon Tea: $80 per person (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
• The Cheese Journey: $110 per person (Thursday & Saturday)
• Exploration in Watercolor (3-5 pm, Saturdays only $30pp, $50 couple)
• Exploration in Pastel (3-5 pm, Sundays only $30pp, $50 couple) 

My friends have done the falconry and said it was incredible and well worth it. The painting activities used to be free last year, but those are paid activities now too.

Meals

Breakfast and dinner are served at the Sur House, and they highly recommend making reservations in advance since seating is limited. I chose 7:30 am and 6:30 pm every day to take advantage of the golden hours.

• Breakfast: 7-11 am
• Dinner: 5-9 pm

Lunch is served by either of the pools (11am-5pm) or via in-suite dining. When you order by the pool, it comes in paper compostable trays with plastic lids and plastic utensils, so you can take it anywhere.

Food is a highlight and the presentation at breakfast and dinner is very well done. My favorites were the avocado toast at breakfast, the shrimp tacos, blue chips and guac, mango matcha pudding (excellent matcha quality), and poke bowls at lunch, and the Spanish grilled octopus, pacific bass, dungeness crab spaghetti, and fried chicken mole (it’s super juicy and tender) at dinner. For dessert, I liked the ice cream sundae (I subbed vanilla bean ice cream; the default is a cheese ice cream – you can ask instead for vanilla bean, chocolate, or salted caramel). They would also bring an extra small dessert that was different every night, and one night it was truffles filled with passionfruit or mango. OMG. INCREDIBLE.

In-suite dining is available during any meal period as well, and there’s even a special late-night menu. Click here for all the menus, and each menu will say what times they are available.

The menus don’t change during your stay. Breakfast and lunch service are fairly quick, but dinner operates like fine dining…expect it to take at least 2 hours with over 30 minutes between each course.

You have to sign for every meal even though the bill is $0, and gratuity is already included in the all-inclusive packages. As mentioned previously, alcohol is not included, and some non-alcoholic drinks (mocktails) are also an extra charge. Usually you can order sodas, juices (which are very delicious), lemonade/Arnold Palmer, coffee/lattes, and the delicious La Colombe teas I mentioned earlier (the hojicha, oolong, and jasmine are really high quality and excellent).

Most people sat outside on the terrace for the meals. It was pretty cold at night, so they turn on the patio heaters. The first night we felt it was too cold (37 degrees) to even sit outside so we moved indoors. I didn’t want my food to instantly be cold. 😄 We were pretty bundled up wearing 3-5 layers for every breakfast and dinner.

Service overall at Ventana (mostly encountered during meals) is good. Everyone is friendly, many have worked there for decades, and seem to truly enjoy their time there, which is important for me to see.

Note: They offer a picnic lunch for $100 ($50 per person) at two locations – Redwood Cathedral (on the trail to the restaurant) or Sur Vista (near the restaurant). This used to be included in the package in 2020 at no extra charge. However, it’s not a huge loss because it’s literally exactly the same food as the regular lunch, and they give you two bottles of Evian water (my least favorite water honestly – tastes like metal) instead of the juices you have access to at the pool/in-suite. So you’re paying $100 for them to pack it up into an insulated picnic basket and delivered to a location you’ve already seen multiple times…honestly, I don’t see why you can’t just order food and bring it wherever you want.

Pro Tips

• Reserve meal times and paid activities prior to the stay
• Lunch is not included on the arrival or departure day, so keep that in mind for arrival. On departure day, order extra at breakfast and get to-go containers for them.
• Check-in is at 4 pm and check-out is at 11 am, which is slightly later/earlier than many other hotels, so be aware of that. I didn’t try to go early or stay late since there were so many sights to see in the area anyways.
• Even though the resort is all-inclusive, and there are non-alcoholic drinks on the menu, they are not included and start at $15. This was a bit confusing because previously they had told me that ONLY alcoholic drinks had an upcharge.
• Happy hour no longer has free drinks, in case you’ve been there previously and expected that.
• The mini-bar snacks and drinks in your room are free (except for the alcohol), but they are not refilled except upon request. Only coffee and tea are refilled.
• I used the concierge texting feature a lot to order room service, get more firewood for my fireplace, ask where the s’mores were, ask them to take off the picnic charge from my bill, etc. They were very fast at responding.
• If you don’t have the picnic included in your rate, don’t bother booking it. Just DIY.
• Excursion outpost: reserve coolers, blankets, chairs, games, hiking poles, day packs, flashlights, tripods, and more for your off-property adventures (return within 24 hours).
• T-Mobile has no service for much of the coastline, including the Ventana property, though many of the other carriers work. If you use Google Maps, download the area map while you are on wi-fi!

Drive Recommendations from SF

• Half Moon Bay
  • Mavericks Beach (Mac OS X 10.9 was named after this iconic beach, which is the second best surfing spot in the world after Banzai Pipeline in North Shore Oahu – famous surfer Mark Foo died from his first wave here)
  • Half Moon Bay Bakery
  • Wild Mustard Field (a field full of the yellow flowers)
• Pigeon Point Lighthouse
• Año Nuevo State Park – famous for elephant seals guided walk, need reservation, currently closed
• Shark Fin Cove (huge rock that looks like a shark fin) – can’t see this from the roadside so need to park and walk like 2 minutes. Pretty cool. You can even walk down to the beach.
• Hole in the Wall Beach
• The Secret Cave of Seven Mile Beach
• Santa Cruz
  • Natural Bridges State Beach (arched stone)
  • Santa Cruz Surfing Museum/Lighthouse and Lighthouse Field Beach Park – can see Seal Rock here (lots of seals on a rock) and a bunch of surfers
  • Santa Cruz Wharf and Boardwalk.
  • Santa Cruz also famous for the Mystery Spot where your car appears to roll uphill with gravity, but this is a bit more inland.
• Barn Fresh Produce – ridiculously cheap produce from the farm at roadside stand. Like 5 avocados for $1, 7 kiwis for $1, etc. Some of the other produce is more normal priced. Oh, this area is particularly known for artichokes.
• Elkhorn Slough – go kayaking with sea otters and seals here!!! Amazing experience, pretty much guaranteed to see sea otters since over 40 of them live here.
• Pezzini Farms – a little more upscale market (prices are more upscale too) with an artichoke food truck and outdoor picnic area.
• Giant Artichoke Restaurant (Castroville)
• Salinas, home of legit Mexican food:
  • My favorite taco truck is El Volcan (open after 3 pm). They have a truck in Monterey that’s not as good as Salinas but still really good. They make their corn tortillas fresh on the spot prior to filling it with your taco fillings so it’s particularly delicious. Also known for their quesadillas. Save some stomach space because across the street from the El Volcan truck in Salinas is La Michoacana Plus is a chain that has amazing real-fruit popsicles and ice cream. Like over 100 flavors. Kids will love this place.
  • El Charrito in Salinas has amazeballs burritos for around $3-4 and they use freshly homemade flour tortillas which are delicious even on their own. You can buy extra flour tortillas with your order. I highly recommend using the app to order online so when you get there you can just pick up quickly. Otherwise you’d have to wait in line.
  • If you have time and still hungry in Salinas, another great taco place is my husband’s favorite, La Marketa. It’s actually a market with a taco grill in front, so not really a truck. Pay inside the market and pick up your fresh tacos outside. Generous meat portions, and the meat is freshly grilled in front of you.
  • And if you want the best tamales…look for a lady with an open trunk in the parking lot of Walmart at night (she leaves around 8 pm but I caught her at 9 pm on a Friday night)…I bought 6. They were hot when I bought them, but I took them home and froze them and reheated in instant pot for 5 minutes a week later.
  • Santa Fe Market – awesome, huge, grocery store with great burrito counter
• Monterey:
  • Old Fisherman’s Wharf – it’s small, but has lots of clam chowder opportunities with samples. I like Scales Seafood & Steak. There’s a great tea shop Water + Leaves at the end of the wharf too.
  • Revival Ice Cream – amazing ice cream. Known for Bee’s Knees but I love the passionfruit here. Definitely worth a visit, and reasonably priced too.
  • Cannery Row
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium – reopened. You can probably finish the Aquarium in about 1.5 hours more or less. Love the sea otters here.
  • Poor Man’s 17-Mile Drive (kinda like the real 17-mile drive, but this one is free!) which starts at Ocean Blvd & 3rd Street and hugs the coastline around the peninsula and actually connects to the official 17-Mile Drive:
  • The official 17-Mile Drive (toll road $10 – refunded if you buy food/drinks at one of the establishments inside)
  • Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary if you’re within season (Oct-Feb?)
  • Soberanes Point and Canyon trails
  • Jack’s Peak County Park
  • Counterpoint Coffee
  • Captain + Stoker Coffee
  • Alta Bakery & Cafe
  • Mi Tierra (grocery store with tacos)
  • Crepes of Brittany
• Point Lobos Natural Reserve – Sea lions, sea otters, birds, beaches, and lots of easy trails. $10 entrance fee but if you park outside and walk in, it’s free. Highly recommended. You can go diving here too.
• Garrapata State Park – Park with 2 miles of beachfront & coastal hiking, including a 50-foot climb to a Pacific Ocean view.
  • Calla Lily Valley – full of beautiful calla lilies
• Notleys Landing Viewpoint
• Rocky Creek Bridge Viewpoint
• Castle Rock Viewpoint (great view of the famous Bixby Bridge)
• Point Sur Lighthouse – reserve tours on their website
• Pfieffer Beach – purple sand beach and hikes
• …and then you’re at Ventana Big Sur! There are a ton more opportunities for coastal walks along the way, but you’d need to spend days working your way down.

Nearby Ventana

• Coast Gallery – converted water tank into an arts gallery, gift shop, and cafe.
• Hawthorne Gallery – another art/sculpture gallery in cool modern-looking building. Indoor & outdoor art.
• Nepenthe and Phoenix Shop – two restaurants and a quirky gift shop.
• Post Ranch Inn – another swanky (more swanky, IMO) resort across the hill from Ventana Big Sur with a famous restaurant
• Henry Miller Library – actually a bookstore and live music venue, pretty eclectic.
• McWay Falls – one of my favorite views of all time…it’s a waterfall falling onto a beach. Apple has used it in their marketing.
• Esalen Institute – famous for hot mineral baths perched on the ocean cliff. If you don’t have a massage booked, you can only access the mineral baths from 1-3 AM and need reservations in advance (currently closed due to COVID though).
• Jade Cove – you can actually find jade rocks here
• Tons of hiking in the state parks