As 2025 winds down, we’re reflecting on the year—the places we visited, what we saw, the meals we shared, the memories we made, and of course, where we stayed.
Take a look below at the California hotels we loved best this year—just in time to add making a reservation to your 2026 New Year’s resolutions.
Okaeri, Calistoga
The stunning Okaeri isn’t a ryokan—it’s not trying to be—but out front they’ve transformed the yard into a Japanese-style garden with a waterfall, and sliding, paper-covered shoji doors open and close to reshape the main floor and suites. The former indoor pool has been covered with bamboo and turned into a breakfast salon under which koi fish swim, surfacing at a cutout in the center of the room.
Indeed, details small and large tingle the Japanophile’s senses, from the burnt cedar (yakisugi) in the hall to the hinoki and cedar soaking tubs in the guest rooms, from the traditional woodblock prints and fans hung throughout the mansion to the (optional) tatami-style sleeping mats in some rooms. Keep reading. -Shoshi Parks
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1415 Foothill Blvd. (Calistoga), okaericalistoga.com
