Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United States / Carmel Valley / Bernardus Lodge & Spa
Bernardus Lodge & Spa
Carmel Valley, California, United States · Independent · Grand Luxury
Ben Pon, a Dutch Olympic skeet shooter and professional racing driver who fell in love with Carmel Valley while visiting Pebble Beach and Laguna Seca, bought this stretch of an old 1950s motor lodge in 1999 and built Bernardus Lodge as the natural companion to his nearby winery. Twenty-five years later, in 2024, it became one of only three properties in Monterey County to earn MICHELIN Two Keys in the guide's inaugural California edition.
- 73 rooms
- Opened 1999
About Bernardus Lodge & Spa
- The land was once part of Rancho Los Laureles, an 1839 Mexican land grant whose namesake family's adobe still stands nearby, one of Monterey County's oldest surviving structures.
- The cellar holds 25,000 bottles, built up under longtime chef Cal Stamenov's 22-year tenure at the resort's restaurant.
History
The twenty-eight acres that became Bernardus Lodge and Spa carry a lineage that predates California statehood. The land was once part of Rancho Los Laureles, a 6,625-acre Mexican land grant made to José Manuel Boronda in 1839, whose family's adobe still stands on nearby Boronda Road — one of the oldest surviving structures in Monterey County. Through the twentieth century, the parcel between Carmel Valley Road and Los Laureles Grade held a modest fifty-seven-unit lodge built in the 1950s, the Carmel Valley Inn, which served as an unassuming destination for travelers exploring the valley before the wine industry transformed the region's identity. The modern story begins with Bernardus Pon — known universally as Ben — a native of the Netherlands who came to Carmel Valley in the early 1980s to golf at Pebble Beach and race at Laguna Seca and simply never left. An Olympic skeet shooter and professional racing driver by training, Pon found the valley's terroir irresistible and planted grapes, eventually founding Bernardus Winery in 1990 at a site five minutes away.
After nearly a decade of award-winning winemaking, Pon acquired the old Carmel Valley Inn parcel in 1999 and set about building the lodge he envisioned as the winery's natural complement. Bernardus Lodge and Spa opened the same year, offering wine-country accommodation at a scale and level of refinement the valley had not previously seen: rooms with limestone fireplaces, two-person soaking tubs, and marble bathrooms opening onto garden or mountain views; a fine-dining restaurant, Marinus, led for twenty-two years by Chef Cal Stamenov; and a 25,000-bottle cellar stocked with serious California and European labels. The Santa Lucia Mountains rising behind the property and the vineyards spreading before it created a setting of genuine pastoral beauty, the kind that rewards extended stays in ways that a single night cannot capture. Ben Pon passed away in 2019, having transferred the resort's management to Ensemble Investments LLC in 2013. In 2024, twenty-five years after its founding, Bernardus Lodge received Two Keys in MICHELIN's inaugural California hotel guide — one of only three properties in all of Monterey County to earn the recognition.
The setting
11 miles from Carmel-by-the-Sea. 14 miles from Monterey.
Restaurants and bars
- Lucia Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant · Fine dining
Experiences
- Wine events at Carmel Valley winery — Seasonal release celebrations, intimate winemaker experiences and food and wine pairings at the Carmel Valley winery.
- Wine tasting — Wine tasting at the winery, before or after an event, amid scenic vineyard setting.
- California wine tours — Wine tours of California wine country.
- Wine retreat — Relaxing wine retreat.
Amenities
- Spa
- Pool
- Sauna
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Tennis
- Fine dining
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star (2026)
- MICHELIN Two Keys (2026)
Open Bernardus Lodge & Spa in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.