Fodor's Expert Review Calistoga Ranch

The spacious cedar-shingle free-standing guest lodges throughout this wooded Auberge Resorts property have outdoor living areas, and even the restaurant, spa, and reception space have outdoor seating and fireplaces. Although the exclusive 157-acre spread feels casual and ranchlike, the accommodations are luxurious, with large bathrooms and romantic outdoor showers.

room

Even the smallest units, the Deluxe Lodges, come in at a roomy 600 square feet, and all have sundecks and outdoor gas fireplaces. Deluxe Hillside Lodges offer more privacy and have better views. Some of the 1,200-square-foot one-bedroom lodge suites have outdoor hot tubs; the Oak Creek lodges, the most private, have more expansive views than the Bay Forest ones. At 2,400-square feet, the two-bedroom lodges and one estate lodge are ideal for groups. All rooms have coffee makers, bedside Bose radios, and in-room iPads with guest information. Some larger units have full kitchens and washers and dryers.

YOU SHOULD KNOW Although the lodges have plush bedding and the indoor-outdoor configuration remains appealing, the design world has moved beyond the interior look, which may leave guests seeking au courant style feeling shortchanged.

bathroom

The indoor bathrooms, all with slate floors and vanities with dark-granite countertops, have either slate showers, gleaming white soaking tubs, or both. Stocked with Calistoga Ranch bath products some of whose ingredients are grown on-site, they're nice enough, but the private outdoor showers, some with trees poking through the decks, are the real treat.

lobby

Hosts greet guests at a copper-roofed stone-and-wood structure just past a bridge that crosses a seasonal creek. While staffers outside valet park your car and transfer your luggage to a golf cart, ones inside offer wine or water and explain the property's layout and amenities. The ranch's concierge sits nearby, ready to help with reservations for restaurants and activities. One of the exclusive offerings is a 1.3-mile hike to Davis Estates winery for a tasting and wine-and-food pairing. The hike is one-way; staffers chauffeur participants back to the resort in a Mercedes Benz.

YOU SHOULD KNOW There's no self-parking at the ranch, and guests cannot drive their cars past the reception area.

pool

The long rectangular pool overlooks a small vineyard whose grapes go into the Calistoga Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. Every morning staffers roll up towels and place them on lounge chairs surrounding the pool, which is heated year-round. Bar service is offered from mid-April through October.

spa

In a secluded setting near the back of the ranch, the spa serves only guests. Signature massages include the Swedish-style Classic Ranch, the Therapeutic Deep Tissue, and one that incorporates heated stones. The popular Auberge Attunement, which combines the last two, also involves warm herbal poultices. Facials, body polishes, and other treatments are also available. Individual spa suites have large soaking tubs with outdoor showers whose weathered copper fixtures enhance the out-in-nature feel as do the large communal hot tub and a body-temperature mineral pool surrounded by oaks, firs, and other trees whose branches you can almost touch.

gym

As with all the ranch's public spaces, the fitness center, near the pool, has indoor and open-air sections, with the latter part actually larger than the former. Canyon breezes cool guests working out on Precor, Star Trac, and other machines (including a Peleton bike with an attached screen for live-stream spinning classes). If it gets too hot or cool, ceiling fans and overhead heaters keep temperatures stable. Filtered water, towels, protein bars, and fruit are in plentiful supply. Exercise opportunities away from the fitness center include playing boccie ball, riding one of the complimentary bikes, or hiking on-property trails.

The section of the canyon the ranch straddles rises in elevation from 435 feet at reception to 540 feet at Lommel Lake, so walking the paved portions provides a good workout on its own.

dining

The Lakehouse Restaurant and Lounge serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with many of the dishes' ingredients coming from the ranch's culinary garden or Wine Country farms. Popular breakfast items include huevos rancheros and eggs Benedict (ranch hens provide some of the eggs for these) and buttermilk pancakes. Fish tacos are among the lunchtime favorites. The prix-fixe dinner menu changes with the seasons, but there are always pasta, beef, and fish or seafood dishes.

It's possible to be seated for dinner without a reservation, but especially in summer and on weekends the manager recommends making one to avoid a potentially long wait.

drinking

The restaurant and its bar have views of spring-fed Lommel Lake. On hot summer days, guests often cool off with blackberry margaritas; in winter Scotch hot toddies help achieve the reverse. Year-round hits include the Lavender, made with gin, ginger liqueur, lemon, and lavender, and the Sparkling Raspberry, a blend of vodka, raspberries, framboise, and sparkling wine. A Calistoga Ranch Chardonnay and two Cabernet Sauvignons (one made from the grapes grown near the pool) are among the wines served by the glass.