One of California's Last Hidden Gems of Wine Country Now Has a Gorgeous Hotel — With More Than 100 Redwood Trees and Direct River Access

Welcome to Dawn Ranch, tucked between Sonoma County's best wineries and the wild Northern California coast.

I could smell cedar even before I saw the cedarwood cabins as proof, which formed a horseshoe around an idyllic lawn littered with cornhole and a giant Connect 4 set. That’s how you’re greeted at Dawn Ranch, an 81-key resort in Guerneville, California, shaded by more than 100 towering redwoods: the sweet, spicy, amber-rich scent of cedarwood.

My room presented like an egg-shell white cottage from the outside, but really, it felt more like a tree house, cozied up against a pair of redwoods. I passed through the separate living room to flop onto the bed and take it in. To my right, white-paned windows framed my own personal forest with bright green branches flopping lazily in the breeze. To my left, a seafoam green–tiled backsplash encircled the double-sided fireplace.

Dawn Ranch

• Dawn Ranch's location puts guests about 20 minutes from the stunning Northern California coast and 20 minutes from wine tasting in Healdsburg.

• The spa has an outdoor glass-enclosed infrared sauna and alfresco cedarwood soaking tubs.

• The 81 cottages and cabins at Dawn Ranch are nestled among towering redwoods, making your room feel like a tree house.

• The resort has a dock on the Russian River, offers daily yoga or meditation practice, and has complimentary bicycles for guests to borrow.

For years, California hotels — from the SoCal desert towns up to coastal enclaves in Northern California — have been chasing this idea of “California cozy.” Truly, I never actually knew what “California cozy” meant until I arrived at Dawn Ranch. But it perfectly describes not only the design at Dawn Ranch, but also the feeling of sitting around the crackling fire pit on my first night, with a glass of pinot noir and a journal, as members of the hotel staff jammed together on the guitar.

Dawn Ranch isn’t a new hotel, per se — it reopened this past spring with refurbished cabins, a new spa, and a new restaurant. In its past life — and it's had a few — this was "Guerneville’s first gay resort, Fife’s," reported T+L contributor Matt Kirouac. "Its popularity ignited a wave of gay businesses" in the relatively unknown Sonoma County town, which Kirouac called the "Fire Island of wine country.” Teach Mayer, the general manager of Dawn Ranch, who also opened Marram Montauk, a 2022 Travel + Leisure It List winner by the same hospitality company, told me it was “where wine country meets the coast, and the redwoods meet the river.” 

Guerneville is the rare Sonoma town that’s equidistant to the award-winning wineries in Healdsburg and the Northern California coast; it’s 14 miles to Flowers Vineyards & Winery and 14 miles to Goat Rock Beach in Sonoma Coast State Park. It’s also smack-dab in the middle of the state’s iconic redwood trees and just a 15-minute bike ride to Colonel Armstrong, a 1,400-year-old tree travelers come from all over the world to see (don’t worry, Dawn Ranch supplies bikes). The hotel is also directly on the Russian River, with a dock from which guests can kayak, tube, or just dive into the (not entirely warm) water.

The Rooms

It’s choose-your-own-adventure accommodations at Dawn Ranch. There are cottages and chalets that come with a full bedroom and a separate living room — mine was a Meadow Chalet, near the main lawn, and by the Russian River and the Adirondack chair–flanked fire pit are a slew of Creekside Cottages. "We put in larger windows and more windows, to afford larger views of the gorgeous landscaping and the redwoods that really closely abutt these buildings," says Brian Smith, one of the designers of Dawn Ranch, who has also worked on lodges in upstate New York, like Inness. "In the center of these buildings, we erected a two-foot thick wall, where we sandwiched in a double-sided fireplace, so the fireplace speaks to the living room and then you can see through and have a fireplace on the bedroom side."

Farther into the 22-acre property, along Fife’s Creek, you’ll find six seasonal glamping tents, which close at the end of October. The glamping tents share a communal restroom and shower area, which, like the cottages, stock Le Labo products. Couples might like the smaller, one-room cabins lining the main lawn, and for families, there are two-bedroom chalets with a full kitchen. Though, the best spot is the two-bedroom Olive’s Cottage, a.k.a. the honeymoon suite, which most couples who buy out Dawn Ranch for weddings claim for themselves.

Food and Drink

Like many of Sonoma’s best fine-dining restaurants, dishes and pours come with a story at Dawn Ranch’s restaurant. My first night, I ordered a Wild Hog pinot noir, not just because Sonoma coast pinot noir is where it’s at, but because I was told that, each week, owners Daniel and Marion Schoenfeld drive down the hill in their Prius to deliver the cases of wine from Fort Ross. The restaurant — with food served both inside The Lodge and on The Patio — is helmed by Argentinian chefs Fernando Trocca and Juliana Thorpe. Trocca founded Sucre, named a World’s 50 Best restaurant, and Thorpe is an alum of Napa’s Michelin three-starred Meadowood. Some dishes have an enticing South American undertone, like the yellowfin tiradito and shrimp moqueca, and there’s plenty of well-executed new American fare, too. A crucial piece of advice: do not skip breakfast. Trocca and Thorpe’s sprawling buffet of baked goods is unmatched — the Paraguayan chiapas, a gluten-free cheesy bread, are reason enough to book a room at Dawn Ranch.

Experiences and Amenities

The dock at Dawn Ranch, right on the Russian River, is open seasonally — and the resort provides kayaks and river tubes. ("My favorite spot is just hanging out on the new dock and being able to jump into the Russian River, or jump on the kayaks," says Atit Jariwala, the hotel's CEO, when we caught up after my visit.) Also complimentary: use of Retrospec Cruiser Bicycles, which guests can take to the redwoods or around town, Swarovski Optiks binoculars for wildlife spotting, Fender Guitars to strum by the fire, and HigherDose infrared sauna mats. I checked out a HigherDose mat from the front desk, and each night after dinner, I’d plug it in and lay on the heated mat in front of the fire. Voilà, California cozy.

Each morning, Mayer or spa manager Heidi Bartholomew lead yoga or a meditation, which is complimentary. There are also a host of on-site activities for an additional fee — like foraging sessions with Dawn Ranch chefs, flower-pressing workshops, and private dining under string lights in the resort's stunning Kitchen Garden. I tried a scent-making class hosted in the spa’s courtyard by Napa Valley parfumeur FLWR, where I blended a lovely lavender room spray with guidance from FLWR's owner, Jess Mennella.

The Spa at Dawn Ranch

I wouldn’t call this a spa — I’d call it a true house of wellness. First, it's an actual house — with a gorgeous wood-paneled living room and a massive green velvet sofa facing a farm table and a fireplace. After a sumptuous deep-tissue massage, I spent my morning working through The Spa at Dawn Ranch’s tea selection. There’s a tea chest — like a bar cart, except topped with four glass jars filled with loose-leaf tea bags and stocked with speckled beige mugs. I went down the line, trying chamomile, white peony and red clover, spearmint, and, finally, ginger, each time retiring back to the deep sofa framed by a huge window overlooking the courtyard.

As if this weren’t already breathtaking, I then moved on to the outdoor, glass-enclosed infrared sauna, followed by an alfresco bath in a cedarwood tub, which Bartholomew drew for me, throwing in a sachet of freshly foraged flowers. Soaking in the aromatic water beneath a canopy of trees was, I believe, the most carefree moment I’ve had all year.

Accessibility and Sustainability

Though the pathways at Dawn Ranch are made of rocks and gravel, many are wheelchair-accessible thanks to mesh traction embedded beneath the rocks. Four rooms are ADA-compliant. In terms of sustainability, the hotel avoids single-use plastic water bottles and grows a portion of the restaurant's produce on-site at the Kitchen Garden — where they use plenty of compost and exactly zero pesticides. Dawn Ranch also uses their own well water to irrigate the entire resort.

Location

With quick access to the coast, Sonoma’s best wineries, the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Preserve, and the Russian River, it’s easy to forget that the actual town of Guerneville deserves your attention. Most locals’ favorite restaurant in Guerneville is a taco truck. Its permanent home is the Safeway parking lot, where there’s live music on Saturdays, so long as the band feels like showing up. There are art galleries, quirky shops, an old bank building now inhabited by Nimble & Finn’s ice cream shop, and a wine shop with a sense of humor called Wine Vault.

Sonoma’s foodie reputation is very much alive and well in Guerneville, too, with chef Crista Luedtke’s Boon Eat + Drink — where I had a phenomenal chili-coated braised pork shoulder over whipped polenta and ricotta salata and some memorable flash-fried Brussels sprouts. (Luedtke also owns El Barrio mezcal and tequila bar, if you tire of Sonoma wine.) So, before heading to the coast for crab sandwiches at Spud Point Crab Co. or inland for a tasting at Abbot’s Passage, amble aimlessly down Guerneville's Main Street, peek into Books & Letters indie bookshop, and revel in the small-town charm.

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