The Northern California Coast

Eight nights on the California coast, from the Mendocino headlands to the cliffs of Big Sur, with two in San Francisco between. A 20-seat dining room with a two-MICHELIN-star rating that cooks from its own land and tidepools, a morning with a master falconer and his birds of prey above the Pacific, and the planets through a telescope by the Jade Pool.

Length: Eight nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: Nature, coast, food, slow travel
Route: The Mendocino coast to San Francisco to Big Sur

The Mendocino coastThree nights
San FranciscoTwo nights
Big SurThree nights

A white lighthouse with a red roof on a grassy headland at dusk.

Days 1 to 4 · three nights

The Mendocino coast

Driven north from San Francisco on Highway 1. Days for walks on the headlands and in the coastal redwood groves, and out to the lighthouse at Point Cabrillo, where on a few days each year the lightkeepers open the lantern room and its working Fresnel lens; dates are confirmed at booking. Each evening the tasting menu in the inn's dining room, where Matthew Kammerer cooks with steam and fire from what the land and tidepools produce, holding a two-MICHELIN-star rating and a MICHELIN Green Star.

Where you stay

Harbor House Inn

Harbor House Inn stands on Highway 1 at Elk on the Mendocino coast, with six rooms in the main house and five standalone cottages. Its dining room seats 20 and looks over the ocean, and the menus rely mainly on what the inn's own land and the tidepools produce.

The towers of the Golden Gate Bridge rising out of low fog.

Days 4 to 6 · two nights

San Francisco

Back down the coast to the city, with a morning among the redwoods of Muir Woods on the way. On request, a crossing to Alcatraz for the parts of the island that are usually closed: hidden tunnels, the former officers' quarters and rarely seen spaces in the cellhouse. Before the doors open to the public, a private tour of the collections at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art can be arranged. At sunset, a private seaplane can take off from Sausalito for a flight along the coast and over the Golden Gate Bridge. An evening at Orafo, Italian-inspired cooking from Californian ingredients, and a room high above the city looking out over the bay.

Where you stay

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero occupies the top 11 floors of a 48-storey building on Sansome Street, close to Jackson Square. Rooms look over the city and the bay, some towards the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge and Alcatraz, and Orafo cooks Italian-inspired dishes from Californian ingredients.

Days 6 to 9 · three nights

Big Sur

South through Carmel to Big Sur, for walks in the state parks above the Pacific and evenings on the clifftop. Two hours with the master falconer Antonio Balestreri and his six birds of prey, a walk through the kitchen garden with the gardener who grows for Sierra Mar, the inn's art consultant on a walk among the installations, and at night the planets through the telescope at the Jade Pool.

Where you stay

Post Ranch Inn

Post Ranch Inn stands on the cliffs of Big Sur, on land the Post family worked for generations as a homestead and then a farm. Rooms range from tree houses with a skylight over the bed to ocean-facing houses with living roofs of grass and wildflowers.

Arranged on request

Harbor House Inn's dining room

A dining room of 20 seats above the Pacific at Elk, where Matthew Kammerer cooks mainly from the inn's own land and tidepools, with a two-MICHELIN-star rating and a MICHELIN Green Star.

Falconry above Big Sur

Two hours at Post Ranch Inn with the master falconer Antonio Balestreri and his six birds of prey.

The garden behind Sierra Mar

A walk with the property's gardener through the heirlooms, vegetables, flowers and herbs grown for the restaurant, tasting as you go.

Planets from the Jade Pool

On clear evenings, the planets and the night sky through the inn's telescope with its resident astronomy enthusiast.

Alcatraz beyond the public route

Access to restricted areas of the island, including hidden tunnels, the former officers' quarters and rarely seen spaces in the cellhouse, on request.

SFMOMA before opening

A private tour of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's collections before the museum opens to the public. Arranged on request.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

Two nights in Carmel or on the Monterey Peninsula.
A detour inland to the Sonoma and Napa valleys.
A morning watching whales on Monterey Bay.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.