Why You Should Add This Hidden California Beach Hotel To Your Travel List

Pulling into the driveway at White Water, a buzzed-about boutique hotel on spectacular Cambria beachfront, you feel like you’ve reached peak California.

Three and a half hours from both Los Angeles and San Francisco, the 25-room property on California’s Central Coast run by PRG Hospitality Group (best known for Holiday House and Sparrows Lodge in Palm Springs) has everything you’re craving in a Golden State getaway: sunset views through the palms and Monterrey pines; foamy waves crashing onto ancient bluffs; soaking tubs to make the most of clear skies and easy breezes, and breakfast pastries and mimosas delivered in a picnic basket to your front door.

Borrowing from surf culture and Scandinavian influences, designer Nina Freudenberger transformed what had once been two separate beachfront inns into a singular small hotel, elegant in charcoal hues on the outside and with a whitewashed modern sea cottage vibe within. Set on mile-long Moonstone Beach in one of California’s most pristine coves, White Water has something of a 1970s throwback spirit—vintage National Geographics are yours for the reading; there are shelves of vintage board games; a horse trough is reborn as an outdoor tub—but we’re definitely in Goop-era, CA. Linus bikes are available for exploring nearby forest trails. The rooms are outfitted with Aesop bath products, snacks from Erewhon, adorable Smeg fridges.

All that Millennial chic comes as a great relief, frankly. This splendid corner of California has gone way too long without a truly stylish outpost to rest overnight. As lovely as Cambria is, the isolated town settled by Welsh miners in the 1890s, always felt slightly outdated, slightly fogged in, maybe even a little bit haunted. I love Cambria’s bohemian spirit and the faux-Victorian quaintness but I couldn’t help feel like I was staying at Great-Aunt Cordelia’s house whenever I’d book one of the B&Bs in town.

At White Water, we are clearly in the present and the guest rooms are inviting enough to make you want to cozy up for a week.

The Premier Ocean View Suite opens up onto 400 square feet of living area with views to the ocean from the large soaking tub, and a pillow-y sofa area in front of a gas fireplace. The furnishings are custom-built by Haus Interior, and the artwork and vintage objects put you in the mind of a Taschen book on cottage phantasias.

In the Ocean View King room, at 275 square feet, the water views stretch across the horizon, and there’s a private outdoor patio with soaking tub, gas fireplace, and a built-in bench.

The Deluxe Kings have a tiled gas fireplace in the 250-square foot bedroom, partial views to the sea, and, like all the rooms, amenities such as Fili D’Oro bed linens, and complimentary local Honeyco Coffee and fresh pastries in the morn.

Cambria isn’t a metropolis. The population at last count was around 6,000, but it’s anything but small-town boring. In our only evening on Main Street, we met a Lebanese family at Cambria Cafe house-making hummus and grilled kebbeh worth traveling for. An aura healer offered to give us a reading. We met a group of buff gents from San Diego on the way to Gay Pride celebrations in San Fran. And a local Trumper tried to convince us we’d all been poisoned by vaccines. True diversity, in other words.

Back at White Water, the scene was way more chill. Good-looking young couples were toasting to the sunset with signature cocktails from the hotel bar. The Pacific was working its magic with hues of silver and pink that rivaled anything at Sensorio, the 15-acre light show, in nearby Paso Robles. Me? I was just happy Cambria finally has a place like White Water, where I can soak in the splendor of the location and not feel like Uncle Jebediah was going to walk in at any moment.