Gina

Can anyone tell me opinions on either of these places?

xxx

The River Inn isn't fancy, but I love the casual atmosphere. The restaurant is good, but also casual (wide variety and killer lemonade). There's often love music playing on the lawn behind the restaurant during the summer months.

toldham

i get the names confused, but as I recall the big sur inn is the lodge that used to be run by the dietjen family and is very unsual adn interesting--the big sur lodge is cabins in the pfieffer state park--ok, with fireplace--in the forest--and the river inn is next to the river

Pat

We stayed at the Big Sur River Inn in summer of 2000. The room we stayed in was nothing fancy (We stayed in the rooms across Rte 1 from the restaurant and main Inn). The pool was nice but the air temperature in July was pretty cool even in late afternoon. We ate in the restaurant and the food was good although not cheap. I think it ran around $85 for a family of four. (I don't believe there was a kids menu) Since we were only stopping one night on our way down the coast it was fine. But it is on the main drag. If I had been staying longer I would have probably opted for Big Sur Lodge. For us the price made the difference $169 for Big Sur Lodge vs around $110 I think for the River Inn.

Tom

I've eaten at the River Inn on a number of occasions and never found it to be very expensive. I suppose it would depend on if you ordered drinks, appetizers and desserts. The menu is varied with many sandwiches, omelets, etc.

Personally I prefer the feel at the River Inn.

Caitlin

Hi Gina. I stayed at the Big Sur Lodge last June and posted a trip report here. If you type "Big Sur trip report" into the search box at the top of the page, it will turn up.. That's the title of the post, and it's about #5 on the list that comes up. I list some helpful URLs in the report as well.

Gina

Caitlin - thanks, I saw your trip report and it was great. I'm sure wishing somebody had see these two places recently. The River Inn sounds like it has the better restaurant but I'm concerned about its location right on the highway and suspicious because they don't show any decent photos on their website - also they are not in the AAA Tourbook.

The Big Sur Lodge shows nice rooms (nicer looking than the River Inn's) on their website but says they aren't all remodeled yet so you might not get one of these. Also, they seem to be a little more expensive. Is their location better? (right inside Pfeiffer Big-Sur State Park)