Old-World Classics

The Chateau du Sureau and Erna’s Elderberry House restaurant nestle near the town of Oakhurst, a 30-minute drive from the south entrance of Yosemite National Park. It’s God’s country, all hay-colored Sierra foothills and thickets of stately pines in a place where nature trumps nurture.Which makes finding a classic European inn that discreetly displays the Relais & Chateaux logo all the more surprising.

No roughing it here. With a slate tower and Spanish Colonial red tile roof, the Chateau du Sureau sits like a fairy-tale princess on its Sierra hillside. A walled swimming pool separates the chateau from Erna’s Elderberry House restaurant, and a Mediterranean garden spreads around it. The path below takes guests past two ponds, a gazebo, boccie court and wooden swing. The inn’s 10 guest chambers are named for herbs and spices. Sweet Geranium, where I stayed, has a tile-lined fireplace, an antique desk and armoire, a settee in a window embrasure, a dreamy king-sized canopy bed and a bathroom with an oval tub.

The decor is definitely old-fashioned country French, but without the creaks and inconveniences common in Old World hotels. And the service, including a butler on call 24 hours a day, is flawless.

Visits from privacy-loving stars (Barbra Streisand, among them) prompted the addition of a secluded two-suite villa, sumptuously decorated with antiques. Next came the spa, where I had a 90-minute Hikers Repose massage using elderberry-eucalyptus oil that took the pain out of the four-hour drive from L.A.

Inevitably, the main event is dinner at Erna’s Elderberry House. When Austrian-born owner Erna Kubin-Clanin arrived in the area in 1978, she brought her Viennese convent-school culinary training with her and quickly earned recognition from Craig Claiborne and other food critics. Later, she turned the kitchen over to James Overbaugh, formerly of the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans.

His French American fusion cooking features the inventive use of local produce, with sophisticated European flourishes--think kale soup with corn-truffle souffle. On my visit in July, I drank a Calera Pinot Noir from the Central Coast with the six-course tasting menu, highlighted by baby-soft pork tenderloin and a raspberry Linzer torte.

Kubin-Clanin, a stylish 65-year-old brunet with an accent like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, routinely makes the rounds at dinner or talks to guests on the breakfast terrace, accompanied by Sophie, a Coton de Tulear white puff-ball of a dog.

At the inn, Kubin-Clanin’s vigilant hand, European politesse and fanciful nature are apparent everywhere. All that’s missing is the castle, but Yosemite’s El Capitan is just up the road.

--Susan Spano

--

Chateau du Sureau, 48688 Victoria Lane, Oakhurst, Calif.; (559) 683-6860, www.chateausureau.com. Doubles $375 to $575, including breakfast and 24-hour butler service. Erna’s Elderberry House, (559) 683-6800, www.elderberryhouse.com, has six-course tasting menus for $95, paired with three glasses of wine for an additional $38.

Desert Oasis

Just when you think you can’t take it--one more piece of biomorphic furniture or aluminum louvers or any of the ubiquitous hallmarks of Midcentury Modern celebrated in Palm Springs (no offense, Mr. Neutra), along comes the Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn.

The Italianate mansion once was the desert hideaway of Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst’s amour. Later owners subjected it to a ghastly 1970s redecoration, but it was rescued in 1994 by Tracy Conrad and Paul Marut, L.A. physicians (and husband and wife) who spotted it one night and thought the 1924 mansion would make a nice boutique inn.

“The bones were good,” Conrad says, “but the house really needed some love.”

Mahogany paneling had been painted over, and plastic pink flamingos were installed in the pool of the rock waterfall, which was painted blue. Red carpet covered the wood floors, and a Budweiser sign hung from the dining room ceiling. One set of French doors was obscured by a giant TV. Renovation took two years.

The Willows is now a period gem whose eight rooms feature gleaming woods, original painted ceilings and wrought-iron detailing and are furnished with hand-chosen antiques and Oriental carpets. In the spacious desert-view veranda off the elegant drawing room, guests enjoy complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres.

Breakfast (included in the room rate) is presented with proper linens, silver and china in the open-air dining room, where guests look out on the cascading waterfall. It’s delicious--homemade scones or muffins, eggs, pancakes and sausages, fresh fruit.

My room, Acanthus (the former maid’s quarters), was charming, with a small sitting area and a wonderful pillow-top queen bed. Water and snacks were complimentary. Bath amenities were in silky little pouches tied with ribbon.

I also liked the spacious Library Room and the Loft Room, once the chauffeur’s quarters. The quirkiest is the Rock Room, where the shower accommodates a protruding boulder. One caveat: There are a lot of steps up from the gated street-level parking.

The hotel, adjacent to the Palm Springs Art Museum, is two blocks--but a world apart--from the dining and shopping hub of Palm Canyon Drive.

--Beverly Beyette

--

The Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn, 412 W. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs; (800) 966-9597, www.thewillowspalmsprings.com. Rooms $250 to $575.

The ‘Euro-style’ Option

Real travelers know--or have learned through sad experience--the code words of the road. So when you hear “Euro-style hotel,” you can’t help but expect “Lonely Planet”-toting backpackers or budget-minded families, all willing to forgo private bathrooms for the promise of lower room rates.

But here I am in the breakfast room of San Diego’s Hotel Occidental, and I am surrounded by three boomer couples chatting about tee times and dinner reservations, plus a Gen-X husband and wife with matching iPods and designer sandals that probably cost more than their entire stay. There isn’t one hiking boot or brooding child in sight.

San Diego’s hotels may be going hip and high-end, but this property on the downtown fringe is clearly catering to a different type of traveler: one who can afford to buy a more expensive room but chooses not to. When mid-scale hotels in town are charging $200 or more a night for less-than-spectacular accommodations, why not pay half that and use the difference for a round of golf or dinner out?

Don’t answer that, at least not until I acknowledge that the rooms do spur flashbacks to freshman-year dorm living: the bed with all the suppleness of a trampoline, the mini-blinds that lose a daily battle with the morning sun. And space? Though 11-foot ceilings help alleviate claustrophobia, I can open my room door without leaving bed.

But for $89, one would be hard-pressed to find a better value in peak season--not when the practical touches include a mini-refrigerator, a microwave, place settings for two and a basket with tea bags, bottled water and popcorn. I’m not using the TV, safe, desk or free wireless Internet connection, but who knows? Maybe they’ll come in handy. My room also has a private water closet, which brings us to the all-important bathroom discussion.

About one-third of the hotel’s rooms have a full bathroom. Other rooms, like mine, have a private toilet, but guests must share individual showers off the main hallway. The rest of the rooms have no bathroom; guests share not only the communal showers, but also individual water closets off the hallway.

The housekeeping staff seems to clean them frequently, which might make sharing the communal facilities less daunting to prospective guests. The entire property, in fact, is fresh and bright, its public spaces closely approximating the ambience of a modest boutique hotel. Another plus: relative quiet. With 53 of the 54 rooms designed to accommodate a maximum of two, most guests are solo travelers or couples who don’t mind a double bed instead of a queen. (Only five rooms have the latter.)

The Hotel Occidental may not be the place for a romantic weekend, but those who come with reasonable expectations seem plenty satisfied. The group camped out by the complimentary breakfast bar certainly had much to talk about. Topic No. 1: What a fine choice in lodgings they’d made.

--Craig Nakano

Hotel Occidental, 410 Elm St., San Diego; (800) 205-9897, www.hoteloccidental-sanddiego.com. Rooms $69 to $139.