Carmel Luxury Hotels

Let's face it: Luxury and Carmel go hand in hand, especially when it comes to hotels, inns, and resorts. There are few places outside of Paris with such a high concentration of 5-star accommodations as Carmel. That's reassuring for some, but how do you pick out the best of the best? This Top 10 attempts to pick out the cream of the crop in Carmel's luxury hotel scene.

The Inn at Spanish Bay, this list's Number 1 Luxury Hotel in Carmel, was ranked #31 on the Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine's 50 of the World's Most Decadent Hotels. The winners are the world's most luxurious, most elegant hotels, and The Inn at Spanish Bay one of three hotels in the California (more than any other state), to make the list. Now that's saying something.

Not to be ignored, Post Ranch Inn (Number 2) also made the BusinessWeek Most Decadent list. Though it is in Big Sur, I chose to include it in the Carmel luxury hotel Top 10 because it is very much worth traveling the extra little bit (it's a 30 minute drive to the Pebble Beach Resorts) to experience the unparalleled luxury of Post Ranch. Built in an organic, eco-friendly manner, Post Ranch Inn is a world of its own in beautiful Big Sur. Check out Carmel and many of its fine offerings by day, and then retire to your luxury suite at Post Ranch at night. Or, as often is the case, stay close to home and enjoy the many luxuriant offerings of Post Ranch.

A slightly less extravagant yet not less luxurious lodging on this list is The Lodge at Pebble Beach (Number 4 here), an intimate mini-resort that epitomizes attentive service and effortless elegance. The staff is extremely professional and hospitable, treating each guest as if they were royalty (which sometimes they are). The understated attention to detail leaves nothing lacking, and has guests raving about The Lodge at Pebble Beach to their nearest and dearest.

Others on this list, like Tradewinds Carmel (Number 6) or the Hyatt Carmel Highlands (Number 10) are exquisite in their own right. No hotel on this list will disappoint the discerning guest. Well, actually, one thing to be disappointed in is that eventually you'll have to check out, but you don't have to think about that for awhile.