Category: Romantic Getaways - Staff Favorites

My hands-down honeymoon pick (and I’ve thought about this a lot over the years, so trust me on this one!) is San Diego’s L’Auberge Del Mar. This place has all the amenities of one of those big-name resorts, but with an intimate, boutique hotel feel that I just love.

If you’re like me, you may not want to lift a finger on your honeymoon, except to order room service. The St Regis, Monarch Beach will help honeymooners accomplish just that. It’s the perfect destination for a honeymoon away from it all.

Right across the Coronado bridge is one of the most luxurious island resorts I’ve ever seen—the historic Hotel Del Coronado. This immense, Victorian-style hotel, capped with its iconic red turrets and white balconies, spans Coronado Central Beach.

When asked where my dream honeymoon would be in California I immediately knew the destination, The Carneros Inn in the Napa/Sonoma Valley Wine Country.

There’s something glamorous about getting all dressed up to dine alongside the massive fireplaces of one of these lodges. It’s a delicious counterpoint after an exhausting and exhilarating day of hiking in a magnificent park.

I fantasize about The Willows Historic Inn, a bed and breakfast steeped in the glamour of a bygone era. I’m attracted to the quiet and intimacy of this boutique hideaway that’s walking distance to town but in its own world atop a view-filled bluff.

The Hotel Kabuki is literally a zen compound in the heart of Japantown, San Francisco. The entire hotel was revamped in 2007, revealing a new serene, harmonious aesthetic that is reminiscent of a Japanese teahouse or a meditation garden.