The term “thin place” is an ancient one, referring to places where heaven and earth come close or the veil between life now and the afterlife is especially delicate and permeable . On California’s breathtaking Mendocino Coast, easily some of the most dramatic, mystical coastline in the world, the couple thousand acres of private coast and redwood forest that is home to The Inn at Newport Ranch is just such a thin place. I wrote about Newport Ranch in 2022, which remain my favorite retreat in the county — and one of my favorites anywhere in the world.
Down the coast a bit, the namesake town of Mendocino’s 1800s Victorian storybook village jutting out into the sea on massive rock recalls Prince Edward Island and L.M. Montgomery’s storied heroines, like Anne of Green Gables, on windswept coasts flanked by forests and dramatic rocks. The village of Mendo itself is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the Noyo Harbor a short 15 minute or so drive north from the town of Mendo, is a cozy, working-class fishing harbor, another unique feel and experience in the region. Down in the harbor, I wish I had an early taste of Floyd & Connie’s, opening this summer. I happened upon it this spring as they were under construction. They were kind enough to give me a tour of the restaurant on the water. Its retro vibes are completely “my jam” (with a cocktail focus, too!) It looks like something the area really needs.
Then there’s the slip of a charming town, Elk, further south from Mendo. The cove holding Harbor House Inn is stunning, another surreal respite tucked away on the coast, home to a brilliant two Michelin restaurant.
Driving through sunny Anderson Valley and its winding hills and vineyards, you’ll find one of the best roadhouse diners anywhere.
From Elk to Noyo Harbor, I share it all here, my latest Mendocino County recommends from my returns last year and in spring 2026:
STAY & EAT: MID-RANGE
Cozy Harbor Getaway: Noyo Harbor Inn, Ft. Bragg
With a spa and cozy perch tucked up in the hills above enclosed Noyo Harbor, Noyo Harbor Inn feels like the 1990s-meets-Craftsman bungalow. The multi-building property holds HarborView Bistro & Bar, an outdoor cigar rotunda and garden and the county’s biggest whisk(e)y list of over 100 bottles hand-picked by general manager Scott Schneider.
From photos, the rooms in the main house look a bit more Arts & Crafts and updated, while the Queen Tub room I was in up the hill had a few more dated elements but was blessed with a deep tub, gas fireplace and deck overlooking the harbor and hills.
Schneider, his wife and staff are warm and welcoming and easy walkability down their garden path into the little harbor “village” below makes for a relaxed, fun, convenient stay. Whale Watching and fishing excursions are a few options alongside hikes, the 1885 Skunk Train through the redwoods, or my favorite Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, a gorgeous 47-acres of garden, woods and rugged coastline.
Eat & Drink: HarborView Bistro & Bar is a comfy locals favorite with a deck overlooking the river on the backside of the Harbor and a wood-lined dining room with echoes of Craftsman/Arts & Crafts design, the bar being my favorite and coziest of the rooms. Bar manager Laura Spradlin makes her own extensive Noyo Harbor house bitters and works the bar with the care of a true bar vet, given her four decades bartending and roughly a decade at HarborView.
Their NorCal-centric wine list has received multiple Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards. But it’s Schneider’s whisk(e)y selection that surprises, encompassing plenty of American whiskies (single malt, bourbon, rye), Scotch and world whiskies. They offer their own house bottling of local Mendocino Spirits/Tamar Distillery Low Gap 9 year limited edition rye whiskey, bottled especially for Noyo Harbor Inn by four decades NorCal master distiller Crispin Cain. Finished in new charred American white oak barrels, used Cognac barrels and used Buena Vista Winery Cabernet Sauvignon barrels, it’s robust, warm, exuding rye spice.
I appreciate menu recommends of whisk(e)y or wine pairings with each dish, like rotating seasonal oysters with the option of Gordon MacPhail Ledaig Scotch whisky or my dear friend Kyle Jeffrey’s (with Brad and Miriam Jonas) Minus Tide Chardonnay.
Like MacCallum House (below) and the county in general, the menu can read or feel kind of 1990s/aughts, but ingredients are quality and portions hearty, for those looking for that sort of thing. An avocado quinoa salad read a bit dated with mango, greens, feta and lemon vinaigrette. But it surprises with freshness, served as a round tower on a generous bed of silky avocados.
A standard calamari appetizer is just as it should be, using our superb local squid, perfectly fried, dipped in my long-fave Mendocino Mustard and house jalapeno aioli. Pan-seared petrale sole stuffed with crab nods to 1950s stuffed fish recipes, savory with shiitake mushrooms, onions, leeks and a sushi rice cake, brightened by champagne sauce.
Start or end the night with a dram of whisk(e)y and a cigar outside in their cigar garden as you listen to the harbor seals barking in the harbor below.
// 500 Casa Del Noyo, Fort Bragg; www.noyoharborinn.com
Dreamy Victorian House in Walkable Victorian Village: MacCallum House, Mendocino
Mendocino’s historic, 1800s Victorian storybook village jutting out into the sea on massive rock recalls Prince Edward Island and L.M. Montgomery’s storied heroines, like Anne of Green Gables, on windswept coasts flanked by forests and dramatic rocks. MacCallum House feels straight out of Avonlea, a Green Gables-era inn, built in 1882 by William Kelley as a wedding gift for his daughter Daisy MacCallum, the property offers only 19 rooms in the walkable heart of the village of Mendo. Roll out your door to eat, drink, shop or stroll the coastline and cliffs. Beyond the main house with its inviting front porch, there’s a converted barn and garden cottages, allowing for multiple lodging options surrounding the main lawn.
Mendocino locals Jed and Megan Ayres and Noah Sheppard took over the property in 2002, with Jed and Noah working under still-current chef Alan Kantor since high school.
I stayed in the lofty, more spacious Barn Room #19. #18 is below with its own hot tub on the patio. #19 looks to the ocean on one side, the lawn on the other, with a wood-burning fireplace flanked by two chairs and its own deck space.
Eat: MacCallum House’s farm-to-table history and chef Alan Kantor’s cooking have long drawn diners, even if they’re not staying at the inn. The (very) basic breakfast was understaffed on my visit, though we were blessed by one truly sweet server who let us sit on the veranda with views of the ocean on a gorgeous, sunny day, though there weren’t any other servers so he had to manage the porch and dining room solo. But at dinner, there is a kind team who oversees the multi-dining and bar rooms and enclosed porch tables.
While larger-portioned meat, seafood or veg entrees and choice of dishes recall more upscale dining of the ‘90s and early aughts, chef Kantor still turns out quality, including pitch-perfect crab cakes.
Chive gnocchi feels classic French with local touches like Vella Dry Jack Cheese from Sonoma, Trumpet Royale mushrooms and bits of clams and prosciutto subtly imbue the dish with meaty, umami notes. A black olive pistachio gremolata adds intrigue to saffron mozzarella arancini in marinara. A bourbon pecan soufflé drizzled in dark chocolate is textbook French: airy, fluffy, warm and utterly gratifying.
Drink: There’s mostly all local Mendocino wines on the by the glass list and a nightly changing white and red to keep it fresh. I wish for more varieties beyond the biggies (Pinot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah), so I flocked straight to Chenin Blanc as the most “interesting” option during my visit. Cocktails would benefit from more nuance and finessing (basic offerings included an Elderflower Martini, Manhattan Noir with Cynar), but do thankfully use some local ingredients like Low Gap Whiskies or Philo Apple Farm organic apple juice.
// 45020 Albion Street, Mendocino; www.maccallumhouse.com
STAY & EAT: UPSCALE
The Surreal, Otherworldly Inn at Newport Ranch, Ft. Bragg
Standing stately on the remote, otherworldly Mendocino coast north of the county’s biggest town of Ft. Bragg, Mendocino County’s largest town with a population just under 7000 (!) Here, wind-swept cliffs tumble into wild Pacific surf and the scent of redwoods laces the salt air, The Inn at Newport Ranch is one of my favorite places to stay… in the world. And I’ve stayed at hundreds of the world’s best hotels and resorts.
I dig deeper in my 2022 article after my first visit to this haunting retreat, roughly a 3 hour drive from San Francisco. This is an aforementioned “thin place,” one that invites slowness and rewards attention with solstice-aligned stones in the grass, jaw-dropping cliffs, hillsides packed with redwoods, inviting fireplaces at dusk, truly unique architecture and design, like a reimagined, eclectic version of Craftsman-style, heavy with beautiful woods. Here, the Pacific Ocean is populated with dozens of rocks jutting out of the sea like mythological creatures.
Flanked by one lone, tall California Cypress tree in front, the inn centers a working cattle ranch, historically home to numerous Native American tribes, especially the Yuki tribe, until it was a town, ship port and logging community from 1865 on.
Since purchasing the property in the 1980s, the now retired owner built picnic tables and seating (from reclaimed driftwood to wood benches) into hidden cliffs and corners along the coast and around the property. I explore these grounds like a girl, exclaiming with glee as I come upon yet another unexpected seating set-up carved into rocks and earth gazing over breathtaking ocean vistas. I journaled or had picnics in a couple of these spots, some tables even sporting cupholders.
The large “main inn” holds only three lodging rooms, a redwood tree-lined house with three units, plus a couple smaller buildings, meaning few people are on property. So you often have the coast to yourself. Of my two stays, the Grove Suite in the Redwood House is unbeatable and sleeps two to four, though snugly. Architecturally, the main house is the piece de resistance with a glass-walled dining room that opens to the hills, forests and ocean on all sides , sporting a straight-out-of-medieval storybooks fireplace. Old growth redwoods, one-ton stones and artfully carved woods make up every thoughtful, artistic corner of the house and custom furniture. It feels as if Craftsman and Arts and Crafts-era architecture met in modern day.
Each room is small, to be sure, but creatively designed, comfy, rich with character. The Captain’s Quarters is a worthy splurge of the three main house rooms with its from-your-bed view over the ocean and ship-worthy design. All three rooms share one hot tub perched above a deck gazing out to stars and sea. The larger two bedroom Grove Suite in the Redwood House has its own private hot tub and a kitchen, helpful with few dining options around.
The roots, terroir and soul of this spectacular stretch of the Mendocino Coast can be felt and is honored, not marred, by the Inn. Here, the air is alive with healing. I dream of returning in all seasons.
Eat & Drink: Though the food is not necessarily memorable, picnicking around the property is a highlight, especially with the vistas and the aforementioned picnic tables carved into the sides of cliffs and tucked in unexpected spots. In the main inn, the inviting, wood-lined dining room is inviting for weeknight dinners and breakfasts, while the larger, hearth-centered dining room sports floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides, welcoming in the outdoor vistas.
During my last visit in 2025, they had just brought on Bay Area native and executive chef Nick Wells, who was working with their consultant chef Adam Lawrence, formerly of Fulgurances Laundromat in NYC and “Gatherer/ Research and Development Chef” at two Michelin Saison in SF. They showcase Mendo’s biodiversity of sea, meadows and old growth redwood forests, while Wells’ time in Alaska informs his deep foraging and hyper-seasonal approach. There were kinks to work out on my visit last year with the menu — and the drink pairings, or lack thereof, needed serious work. If they could step it up all around, this could be an ideal destination partner to the great Harbor House Inn (below) to draw more to the Mendocino Coast.
Though it’s far from Harbor House dining glories, you won’t suffer for food here and this inn is my #1 choice in Mendo County for lodging.
// Inn at Newport Ranch, 31502 N. Highway 1, Fort Bragg, www.theinnatnewportranch.com
Two Michelin Glory with Breathtaking Inn & View: Harbor House Inn, Elk
Blessed to stay and dine at Harbor House Inn a few times since it opened in 2018, I’ve written about it a number of times, my last article being 2025 after a visit over a stormy, cozy night. Though I haven’t been back since to this beautiful inn perched on a cliff overlooking one of the most enchanting coves anywhere, I’d be remiss not to include this brilliant inn and its two Michelin star restaurant from chef Matthew Kammerer in my guide. It’s the one ultimate destination restaurant north of Sonoma County, about a 30 minute drive South of the town of Mendo, a sleepy-but-spectacular stretch of cliffy coast called Elk. My Harbor House review here.
// Harbor House Inn, 5600 CA-1, Elk; www.theharborhouseinn.com
EAT & DRINK
Best Roadside Diner Ever: Jumbo’s Win Win, Philo
Open since August 2024, Jumbo’s Win Win is the ultimate American roadside burger joint/diner from my friend Scott Baird, a long time bar and hospitality industry vet from San Francisco who now lives up in Mendocino’s pastoral Anderson Valley, though he still is behind a number of menus in the City.
Baird and his welcoming team nail everything, from the quintessential roadside diner a gourmand would be thrilled with to the perfect classic, outlaw and alternative country playlist Baird created. A lawn with statues of animals and horses offers a natural playground for the kids, while picnic tables welcome groups and families outside, with plenty of tables indoors flanked by welcome accents like a collection of vintage matchbooks and a giant California flag.
I cannot drive along Highway 128 without stopping in at this, THE best roadhouse anywhere, serving killer burgers, soft serve (olive oil the way!), fried chicken sandwich, hand-cut fries, veggie melts, floats, hand pies and classic country tunes.
The chopped salad — laden with romaine, cucumber, radicchio, applewood ham, sunflower seeds, golden raisins, croutons, red onion and cheese from nearby Pennyroyal Farm in sherry vinaigrette — is a proper California salad with all the ensuing flavor, contrasts and layers that are standard here but hard to find most places. Okie onion smashburgers (appealing to my OKC birth roots), a reuben with house-smoked pastrami, pickle dogs, especially that dream of a McDonald’s fish filet fried cod with dilly tartar sauce sandwich. Whatever they do, they nail. Including their house wine made with neighboring wineries in the Valley and Josh Jancewicz and Baird’s crushable Donna’s Pickle Beer.
Their website expresses the warm soul of this worth-going-out-of-your-way-for gem: ”Jumbo is our son’s nickname. He’s five and a half and eats hamburgers like he means it. His brother named him and said we should call the ‘Win Win’… This is our family’s place and by extension it’s your family’s place. We all win because we believe that everyone should. We are as organic as we can possibly be. We are as affordable as we can possibly be. We are here to create community, a place for everyone to come and enjoy family and friends.”
// 8651 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466; https://jumboswinwin.com
Princess Seafood in Noyo Harbor, Ft. Bragg
Princess Seafood is a badass business: all-female staff and fisherwomen go fishing every morning in their boat, the F/V Princess. They also run a longtime Fort Bragg market selling sashimi-grade, sustainably wild caught, west coast seafood (everything from local crab, oysters, halibut and salmon, to prepared dishes like crab dip). Fish biologist Wendy Holloway and commercial fishing boat operator Heather Sears started commercial fishing together in 2004 in California, then up to Alaska in 2007. Back in Mendo County in 2018, they opened Princess Seafood fish market and deli, employing female fishers to catch local crab, salmon, cod and tuna.
Tucked down in Noyo Harbor, their restaurant benefits from a perfect perch on the docks under the gaze of the bridge flanking the entrance to the Harbor, with the sea beyond. Live music, beers, seafood and wine flow as you watch the boats and harbor seals come in.
On my recent return, I was bummed there aren’t a couple of savvier wine pours like they used to have (like Carboniste wines/pet nat), but they still please with the likes of beers on draft, fish tacos, crab rolls, poke bowls and crab cakes. It’s not “the best,” but the full experience, with local seafood goodness, on the water gazing out to the sea, is idyllic.
// 32410 N. Harbor Drive, Fort Bragg; www.princessseafoodmarket.com
New Natural Wine, Bakery & Live Music Venue: Caspar Bread & Wine, Caspar
Caspar Bread and Wine had literally just opened the week I was there this Spring. Service was lackluster. The spare couple breads and pastries and no espresso drinks (just drip coffee) didn’t help. But with some expansion, honing and friendlier staff, this could be an unexpected treasure. Literally a couple buildings, including an old white church, make up the corner that is the “town” of Caspar.
“Sourdough bakery by morning, natural wine and traditional beer bar by evening,” the bakery and wine shop is housed in the historic Caspar Inn, with a large, grassy lawn on the side lined with picnic tables. Best of all, they have a stage indoors and host local musicians and DJs, so I can imagine the rowdy fun at night on this quiet slip of a road not far inland from the coast.
Their natural, native yeast fermentation-only wine bottle selection is a highlight with a lot of savvy bottles for sale. Hopefully over time, they will have more by-the-glass options and food (or BYO food) to linger in and take advantage of their selection. Their naturally leavened bread uses stone milled flour from the Mendocino Grain Project. There are a couple local beers on draft and some NA (non-alcoholic) offerings.
// 14957 Caspar Road, Caspar; www.casparbreadandwine.com
Read the rest on Substack: Mendocino’s Gifts to the World