My husband and I have 5 nights to get away from our small children! I'm having trouble finding the "right" place.

Last year we went to the Junipine resort in Sedona and loved the condo type set-up with a fireplace in the room and a private hot tub on the patio.

Does anyone know of a place like that (condo - or hotel with seperate sitting room; fireplace in the room; private hot tub on the patio) within a 6 hour drive of Los Angeles? We're always on the go, so this trip is mainly about having a nice place to just stay in the room and be together.

Want a condo-type place to stay with a fireplace and a private hot tub.
Want it to be less than 6 hour drive from Los Angeles.
Want to spend less than $500 per night.
Don't care if it's in the mountains, desert or beach.
Don't care what type of activities are around.
Don't care if the place has a swimming pool or a restaurant.

I've spent hours searching posts here and have come up with lots of great places to stay, but most of them are hotels, which is not the type of place we're looking for.

Anyone know of that "secret hideaway" or does the place I'm looking for just not exist?

Can't name any specific places to stay, but some areas that are easy to drive to and from LA that I think would be considered romantic would be Santa Barbara, Monterey & Sausalito.

Just out of curiousity, why not a hotel?

Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel Valley.

I am not sure of the price...we were treated by a vendor when we were there.

We loved the Tickle Pink Inn in Carmel... stayed 5 nights in early October and had a wonderful time.

We spent a good amount of time lounging in the room and on the lanai as well as enjoying the area.

It's a great place, located perfectly for exploring the state parks, Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur.

ticklepinkinn.com

http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....1&tid=34452270

Have a great time no matter where you go!!

The Upham Hotel in Santa Barbara has a property down the street... that I can't remember the name of... but their suite sounds like it might be what you're looking for... its not a resort.. just a room but it has a great outdoor patio, jacuzzi tub with a view of the heighborhood, fireplace... it's just a great romm, really comfy.

However, the breaksfasts are so-so. Bu the room is terrific. Quite a bit less than your budget... you could do a lot of shopping! www.uphamhotel.com

These are some great ideas. I'm going to look into the carmel valley ranch, tickled pink inn and upham hotel right now. We're going at the end of October so I don't have much time.
mclaurie - we weren't looking for a hotel, just because we wanted something quiet with a fireplace and a hot tub. we don't mind staying in a hotel, but most hotels aren't the type of place we were looking for.

check out the new Dolphin Bay Hotel in Shell Beach. DolphinBayHotelandResidences.com. A really lovely new hotel/condo. Get a room with a full ocean view, and you can't beat it. It may have the nicest rooms we've ever had, including a couple of four seasons.
The 1 bedrooms are about 1,000 square feet with fireplaces. The only thing it doesn't have is hottub on balcony.
Check it out !

ps ... I was seriously underimpressed w/ the rooms at the Carmel Valley Ranch. A nice property,beautiful ground big rooms that were a bit shabby unless they've been rehabbed since 2000.

We just stayed at Carmel Valley Ranch this past Feb and they must have made some upgrades because our "room" was really nice.

We stayed at the Sundance Villas in Palm Springs. Each unit has their own private spa and pool in the walled in patio.

http://www.sundancevillas.com/

Don't know if I could stay there 5 days though.

Okay, I remembered.. it was the Tiffany Country House Inn.. withing walking distance to State Street and all the stuff in SB... The rate was just over $300.00 per night.

Also,the SeaVenture in Pismo Beach also has rooms with jacuzzis n the patios.. and fireplaces and grest ocean views... the beach is also four steps from the elevator!

let us know where you decide to go!-

Ditto to Sundance Villas. It's my home away from home. Can't count the number of times I've stayed there. Ginny and Jean are terrific and will make your stay fantastic.

Also stayed from Christmas to New Years a couple years ago with the whole family, it was terrific.

The Ojai Valley Inn is really lovely. They have great rooms with fireplaces and probably the best spa i have ever been to. There rooms start at about 400, I think.
The dining is wonderful, too.