20 Perfect Summer Getaways
San Francisco: SAVE
Where to Go: Davenport, California.
Distance from San Francisco: 60 miles south on Highway 1, which winds along golden cliffs, soft-sand beaches, artichoke farms, and fruit stands.
Where to Stay: One hundred yards from a small sandy cove, and surrounded by a thriving artists’ community and 7,000 acres of state parks and beaches, the Davenport Roadhouse’s 12 simple guest rooms have views of the Pacific Ocean and nearby cliffs. The pleasant rooms with clean, modern lines were redone in the last two years using eco-friendly materials such as low-toxic paints and recycled-blue-jean insulation, an initiative for which the hotel received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Room to Book: The Captain Davenport Suite has four sets of French doors on two walls, creating a 180-degree ocean view, and the China Ladder room faces south for fine sunset viewing.
Price: Doubles from $130.
What to Do: You’ll find finished stained glass, jewelry, pastel drawings of the coast, and other works by local artists in the Roadhouse gallery’s rotating exhibition. Stroll at low tide along the cove’s tide pools, or beachcomb for tumbled glass washed down from glassblowers cooling their wares in the stream. At sunset, settle into one of the rocking chairs on the wraparound deck.
Insider Tip: Drive seven miles north to Waddell Creek Beach, part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, to watch newfangled surfers with paragliding kites fly over the shore break—some reach as high as 50 feet into the air.
