Amy Cray

This hotel spotlight goes to Costanoa Resort, which lies along Highway 1, just North of Santa Cruz. Beautifully landscaped and simply but elegantly outfitted, this sprawling retreat aims to encourage visitors to take in the gorgeous locale (situated next to four state parks and 30,00 acres of undisturbed coastal land) and take a damn walk (something we rarely plan into our travel itineraries, no?)

The approach to Costanoa, a eucalyptus-lined meandering drive just a few hundred feet from the shore, indicates a peaceful and unique experience ahead. Costanoa’s lodge-style restaurant and modern wood cabins, visible from the main road, add to that effect. By the time your room key is in hand, you’re smelling the sweet foggy air and pulling out your hiking boots. You can check your business-casual at the door: the restaurant happily serves fine meals and cold beer to patagonia-clad guests just back from a day at the beach or an afternoon exploring nearby Ohlone Ridge.

Accommodations are happily varied. Those seeking creature comforts stay in the lodge. Rooms are appointed with unbleached cotton and eco-friendly touches are evident throughout. Design is best described as modern organic, with smart resource-saving details such as closets covered with cotton curtains rather than wooden doors, waxed paper-lamp shades and deck chairs made from recycled milk jugs.

Alternately, there are the formerly mentioned wood cabins, which overlook a soft meadow filled with trails, wildflowers and local fauna.

For the more adventurous, several styles of decorated and well-appointed tent cabins dot the Northern end of the resort, each with a campfire pit, grill, and easy pull-up unloading (one car per site). The high maintenance camper will feel at home here with heated mattress pads, reading lamps, and daily maid service. A “comfort station” is situated closely to each cabin, containing showers, a sauna, and a large outdoor fireplace, perfect for uncorking a bottle of wine and taking in the sunset.

It’s not a roughing-it experience Costanoa aims to offer, just in case you’re rolling your eyes. Sure, it’s not camping, and there is certainly much to be said for (and learned from) a weekend in the quiet of the woods where we can’t use our BlackBerrys or read the paper. One will not need to consider whittling sticks into daggers to hunt for dinner here, or roast said dinner on an open fire while chanting “hakuna matata”, dancing in war paint made from wild berries.

Costanoa just wants you to relax, and come back down to earth a little, with the least bit of effort. And for a weekend outdoors within short driving distance from the Bay Area, where I throw jeans and a few tees in my bag and head off down the glorious coast, I’ll take it.