A new boutique hotel on California’s Mendocino Coast offers travelers at least two qualities they’d be hard pressed to find at another stay: pickleball courts and a private pathway to a secluded beach.
Mendocino Cove Resort, located on the sea-side of Highway 1 south of Fort Bragg, opened to bookings this month. It inhabits the site of an old coastal inn and features a mix of modest guest rooms and higher-end suites with ocean views – 50 total.
Central to the allure of the place is quiet access to Pine Beach, a scenic crescent of sand tucked among the rugged bluffs just a short walk down a wooded pathway.
“Though Mendocino is known for the beach and ocean, there are very few beach hotels that have access to a beach or the ocean,” said Chris Hougie, co-owner of Mendocino Cove with Teresa Raffo. “In two minutes, you’re in a really beautiful, secluded cove.”
The new Mendocino Cove motor lodge on the Mendocino Coast near Fort Bragg opened this fall and boasts pickleball courts and a private walkway to a secluded beach. (Courtesy Mendocino Cove)
This month’s opening caps something of a pandemic project for Hougie and Raffo, who brought upscale glamping to the region with their Mendocino Grove business in 2016. The pair purchased the 11-acre cove property, which formerly kept a decrepit motor lodge, in the fall of 2020 and spent years refreshing every aspect of it.
Raffo said a guiding question in reimagining the place was, “How do we create opportunities for people to come together?”
They installed landscaped gardens and outdoor gathering areas, eight pickleball courts, bocce and badminton, a sauna and hot tub, restaurant and lounge, and modern rooms and suites with amenities like propane fireplaces and marble countertops.
“It’s a breath of fresh air in the Mendocino pool of hotels and hospitality properties,” Raffo said.
The new Mendocino Cove motor lodge on the Mendocino Coast near Fort Bragg opened this fall and boasts pickleball courts and a private walkway to a secluded beach. (Courtesy Mendocino Cove)
Pickleball is front-and-center on the business’s website and is the perfect communal activity, Raffo said. Theirs are some of the only pickleball courts in the region and Raffo and Hougie opted to make them available to day-users as well as overnight guests – a decision meant to help foster a friendly atmosphere among visitors and locals and support a continuous flow of ready competitors.
Raffo and Hougie are certain the activity will be a major draw.
“People will drive hours for pickleball courts they can play on all day without being disturbed,” Raffo said.
When asked whether guests will hear the signature plink-plinking of pickleball, Raffo said, “You can’t hear pickleball from any of the rooms.”
The grand opening is slated for spring 2026 but many of the hotel’s rooms are available to book as of late November. The average per night cost of most rooms is $360.
This article originally published at Revamped hotel on California coast offers secluded beach access, new pickleball courts.