Fodor's Expert Review UpValley Inn & Hot Springs

A 2017 remodel transformed the nondescript former Comfort Inn Calistoga into a spiffy member of parent brand Choice Hotels' Ascend Hotel Collection. Although the UpValley still feels and operates like a motel, for the most part the inn achieves its budget-boutique aspirations. Bonus amenities include the pool and hot tub fed by geothermal waters drawn from an on-site well.

The same owners operate the historic and more upscale Brannan Cottage Inn a few blocks south.

room

Rooms with laminated wood floors, crown molding, and rustic touches like rough-hewn headboards are furnished with Ikea-like furniture and very comfortable beds. Uncluttered and contemporary with cheery wallpaper above white wainscoting on one wall, the rooms have refrigerators, free Wi-Fi, flat-panel TVs with satellite channels and free HBO, and Keurig coffee makers with Starbucks coffee. Most rooms have a patio or balcony.

YOU SHOULD KNOW The hotel sits right on Lincoln Avenue, so noise can be an issue, though less so if you ask for a room away from the street.

bathroom

Brightly lit with tile floors and walk-in showers with rainwater heads, the bathrooms are clean and have new fixtures. Colorful 1-inch-square wall tiles add panache that's undercut by the thin-ply toilet paper and slender soap bars, a bleed-through, perhaps, from the motel days. Overall, though, the bathrooms rate as a plus.

lobby

Chairs and a sofa positioned around a fireplace lend the lobby the feel of a living room, though this isn't a place to linger. Coffee and tea are available nearby.

pool

An irregular polygon, the small pool here is noteworthy as well for its water source, a private well that's fed by a geothermal hot spring under the property. The same well feeds the adjacent hot tub.

spa

Front-desk staffers provide guidance about area spas, but there isn't one on-site.

dining

There's no on-site dining.

drinking

There is no bar here.