Big Sur's big leap

An exclusive test drive of Post Ranch's new clifftop digs.

Lisa Trottier, Photography by David Martinez

Like most people who spend a couple of nights atop the ocean cliffs at Post Ranch Inn (800-527-2200, postranchinn.com), I’ve always figured that was it: I’d experienced the greatest luxury money can buy. The oceanview tub for two, the path from my room through the redwoods to a bench placed above the Pacific seemingly just for me, a spectacular restaurant that mocks the truism “The better the view, the worse the food,” the cliff’s-edge basking pool looking out to the end of the earth—I was sure it couldn’t be topped.

But apparently it could, because now there’s more. More room, more privacy—more of everything. This month, crews are putting the finishing touches on 10 new rooms that out–Post Ranch Post Ranch itself. (But if you still haven’t experienced the original rooms, special rates are available until May 15.)

The spaces are as curvy as a 1940s bombshell, with an arched roof framing a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that opens onto a deck high above the shimmering, crêpe-paper surface of the ocean. Out there, it’s just you, the lull of the waves, the occasional passing condor, and a sunset that uses every crayon in the box. If open space is your idea of the ultimate luxury, this is it.

Agoraphobics may prefer the two new Peak Houses, mirror images of the oceanview rooms that instead face the inland crags of the Santa Lucias. The outdoor granite soaking tubs—rough-hewn outside, smooth as glass inside—are the perfect place to take in the thick soup of stars above the ragged black line of the mountain range, and listen to the chorus of frogs rising from below. Later, with the fire flickering and the lights out, the show outside continues from your pillow, right through to the first rays of dawn falling on the granite peaks.

Post Ranch Inn: Hwy. 1, Big Sur, 800-527-2200, postranchinn.com, special rates from $550/room and $895/house through May 15. New Peak Houses are $1,485, new Pacific Suites are $1,785–1,985, and new Cliff Houses are $2,185.