Post Ranch Inn

Highway 1 climbs out of the Big Sur river valley, and a gate on the ocean side leads up a ridge to a cluster of low houses with grass on their roofs. Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, stands on land the Post family has held since the 1860s, on a cliff edge some 1,200 feet above the Pacific.

History

William Brainard Post settled this stretch of the coast in the 1860s, and the ranch stayed in the family for more than a century. His great-grandson Billy Post, together with developer Myles Williams, planned a small inn on the ridge that would disturb as little of the land as possible. Big Sur's coastal planning rules are among the strictest in California, and the project took years to approve. The inn opened in 1992 with thirty rooms. A further expansion in 2008 added the Pacific Suites and the Ocean House, bringing the total to thirty-nine, and no new building has been permitted since.

Architecture and design

The architect was Mickey Muennig, a Big Sur resident who had studied under Bruce Goff and spent decades building organic houses in the hills. His brief was to make the inn disappear. The Ocean Houses are dug into the slope with sod roofs so that from the ridge path they read as grass. The Tree Houses stand on stilts nine feet above the ground because the redwood roots beneath them could not be cut. The Butterfly Rooms, closest to the ridge, are small wedge-shaped units. The Coast Houses and Mountain Houses are curved, timber-clad pods. Materials are redwood, steel, slate and glass, and every room has a wood-burning fireplace and a window wall facing either the ocean or the Santa Lucia mountains.

Rooms and suites

There are thirty-nine rooms and houses, no two quite alike, with the Ocean Houses and the Pacific Suites at the top of the range and the Butterfly and Tree Houses as the entry points. None has a television. All have a fireplace, a private deck and a spa tub, and most have a direct view of the sea. The inn is for adults only: guests must be 18 or older. Rates include breakfast at Sierra Mar.

Dining

Sierra Mar opened with the inn in 1992. It is a glass-walled room cantilevered over the cliff, and the four-course tasting menu changes daily with what the inn's garden and the Central Coast provide. The wine cellar is one of the largest in California, and Sierra Mar has held Wine Spectator's Grand Award for many years. Lunch is served to outside guests by reservation; dinner is largely reserved for residents.

Wellness

Two pools hang on the cliff edge: the Infinity Jade Pool, heated and lined with jade-coloured tile, and the Meditation Pool, a warm basalt-edged basin used for soaking rather than swimming. The spa offers massages and treatments in cabins among the trees or in the room, along with yoga, guided nature walks, stargazing with the inn's telescope and a small gym.

Weddings and events

Post Ranch Inn hosts small weddings and elopements, usually on the cliff-edge lawns or on a private deck, and takes private dinners in Sierra Mar's wine room. Group bookings are limited by the size of the inn, and there are no conference facilities. Large weddings are not possible here; couples wanting a party of any size book the inn's rooms for their guests.

Location

The inn sits on Highway 1 about 30 miles south of Carmel, opposite the Ventana resort. Monterey Regional Airport is roughly 90 minutes by car, San Jose about two and a half hours and San Francisco closer to three. Big Sur has no town centre: the nearest shops and the Henry Miller Memorial Library are a few minutes' drive along the highway. Among luxury hotels in Big Sur, this is the one built on the cliff itself rather than back in the valley.