About our guests

Our guests are the reason we created Cliff House. Here are some of the most common profiles of the wonderful people that visit us:

Weekenders. Three million creative and industrious people live and work in the San Francisco Bay area. They come to Cliff House to enjoy the mountains, wineries and the beaches in Santa Cruz. Although less than half an hour away from Silicon Valley, Cliff House feels entirely disconnected from the dense, stressfull, tech megalopolis below. It is a rejuvenating feeling to just be here. (Of course, we do have blazing fast internet - so it is really only as isolated as you want it to be).

Wine aficionados and mountain biking athletes. This area has absolutely fabulous wineries. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes grow exceptionally well here; the altitude, changing temperatures, rainfall patterns and soil contribute to the making of many of California’s best wines. We try to enable wine lovers to have the opportunity to visit local wineries in an unhurried and relaxing way. As there are no other lodging facilities in these mountains, people have had to drive up the mountain, visit wineries, and then hurry back down again to get to their homes and hotels. We are offering wine lovers the ability to enjoy the wineries and mountain biking trails, with an experience that rivals more developed places like Napa and Paso Robles, but without the traffic, crowds or expense. The wines are amazing, and experiencing them is intimate and personal.

Tourists. California is a gorgeous place and Cliff House is right in the middle of it all. It’s an easy drive to San Francisco and and Napa, and then all the way down the coast to Big Sur. Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway is 9 miles away.

Nature lovers. We’re on an amazing mountain range. The area is dense with wilderness parks, beaches, and hiking trails. It’s an outdoor lover’s dream. Long ago (from the late 1800s until the 1930s) there was a narrow gauge railroad passing through the mountains from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz. Over 20 tunnels were constructed for the railroad which were later destroyed by the Army for safety reasons. Adventurous hikers and mountain bikers enjoy this trail which passes many ghost towns that were abandoned after the railroad was decommissioned.

Silicon Valley business visitors. Silicon Valley is not the easiest place to get around or to stay. The valley is all about creativity, industrious and inovative people, and building new businesses and industries. It’s not really about escape or beauty. Escape is what we provide.

Romantic getaways. This place is all about romance. It just is.