3 Best Hotels in Elk, The North Coast

Perched on a bluff above pounding surf and a driftwood-strewn beach, this property has stunning views from most of its accommodations, which include seven rooms, five suites, and four cottages. The most romantic options are in the cottage buildings, where each room is unique but all have peaked ceilings and hardwood floors. A newer Arts-and-Crafts-style building houses the suites, which have a more modern feel (including whirlpool tubs). A lavish champagne breakfast is complimentary; on most nights one of the owners prepares optional French-inspired dinners also available to nonguests as space permits. Spa treatments unfold in a private building with an ocean view. Book early if you want a massage. With its quiet setting and high cliffs, the inn is not ideal for young children; inquire by phone before reserving a room.

Prepare to be bowled over by every aspect of this showcase property with a rugged Pacific-cliff setting, destination restaurant, sterling hospitality, and luxurious accommodations in a 1916 redwood Craftsman-style house and a few newer cottages. The ocean-view restaurant (reservations essential) serves elaborate, seafood-oriented, prix-fixe meals; seating for nonguests is limited.

A communal hot tub that seems to float above the crashing waves a few hundred feet below typifies the reorientation of this luxury resort, completed in 2023 after a half decade–plus of renovations, to its gasp-worthy setting. Amid several landscaped acres in downtown Elk, where two separate lodgings operated for years, the inn, named for the huge rock just offshore, contains 22 accommodations—standalone cottages and guest rooms in several structures. The complex's most architecturally stunning structure is the Castle Building, a contemporary duplex whose multilevel cedar-paneled units have ocean-view decks and tub showers. Even the less flashy options have their charms, though, and many rooms share those fantastic ocean views. A top Napa Valley chef moved to the coast to kickstart the Greenwood Restaurant, whose fine-dining menu emphasizes local produce and seafood.