Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [332]
room is available only to families with children 5 years old and younger.) The hostel has a pair of common areas, each warmed by stoves during chilly nights, as well as a fully equipped kitchen, barbecue, and patio. If you don't mind sharing your sleeping quarters with strangers, this is a deal that can't be beat. Reservations (and earplugs) are strongly recommended. The maximum stay is 5 nights.
NEAR THE PARK
The four towns in and around the Point Reyes National Seashore boundary— Olema, Point Reyes Station, Inverness Park, and Inverness—are so close together that it really doesn't matter where you stay because you'll always be within a stone's throw of the park. Although the accommodations in Point Reyes are excellent, they're also expensive, with most rooms averaging $125 per night. Be sure to make reservations far in advance during the summer and holidays, and dress warmly: Point Reyes gets darn chilly at night.
Note: If you're having trouble finding a vacancy in Point Reyes, call the West Marin Network (☎ 415/663-9543) for information on available lodgings.
Blackthorne Inn
266 Vallejo Ave., off Sir Francis Drake Blvd., south of Inverness (P.O. Box 712), Inverness, CA 94937. ☎ 415/663-8621. www.blackthorne inn.com. 5 units. $225–$350 double. Rates include buffet breakfast. MC, V.
This elaborate redwood home, capped by an octagonal "treetop" room and featuring a spiral staircase, turrets, and multiple decks, looks more like a super-deluxe tree house than a B&B. The most delightful, and most expensive, unit is the Eagle's Nest, an eight-sided room enclosed by glass and topped with a private sun deck with a "sky bridge" leading to the private bathroom. The largest unit is the Forest View Room, a two-room suite with a deck, furnished with wicker and decorated with floral fabrics and original artwork. It can be combined with the much smaller Hideaway Room to accommodate a traveling foursome. The main sitting room in the house features a large stone fireplace, skylight, and stained-glass windows and is surrounded by a huge deck. Guests have use of the hot tub on the top deck until 10pm, when it becomes the domain of the Eagle's Nest guests.
Manka's Inverness Lodge & Restaurant
Argyle St., off Sir Francis Drake Blvd., 2 blocks north of downtown (P.O. Box 1110), Inverness, CA 94937. ☎ 800/58-LODGE or 415/669-1034. www.mankas.com. 14 units. $240–$665 double. AE, MC, V.
Nestled in the forest with a certain aura of mystery, this immediately lovable, elegantly funky lodge is one of the top places to stay and dine on the entire West Coast. Every room resembles the sort of rugged old mountain cabin you read about in Jack London novels, and the restaurant perfectly balances rural charm and refined sophistication. The standard rooms in the main lodge are
anything but standard, with tree-limb bedsteads, billowy down comforters, and bucolic furnishings. Two luxuriously appointed cabins (with hot tubs and outdoor showers) sit adjacent to the inn, and a quartet of smaller, less expensive rooms are in the redwood annex.
The lodge's reputation rests on its restaurant, which dominates the bottom floor (see "Where to Dine," below).
Motel Inverness
12718 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. (P.O. Box 958), Inverness, CA 94937. ☎ 888/669-6909 or 415/669-1081. www.motelinverness.com. 8 units. $110–$160 double; $250–$400 suite; $500 cottage. MC, V.
Inside, this motel has the feel of a country inn, with a great lobby that overlooks Tomales Bay and features a snazzy pool table. There are comfortable small rooms, supersized family suites with kitchenettes, and—a few miles away— the unique Dacha, a bayfront cottage built in Russian Orthodox style. The motel rooms are a good deal, with rates on the low end of the spectrum for the Point Reyes area.
Olema Druids Hall
9870 Hwy. 1 (P.O. Box 96), Olema, CA 94950. ☎ 866/554-4255 or 415/663-8727. Fax