Whether relaxing on a clifftop overlook at The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, kayaking with sea otters off Monterey, shucking your own fresh oysters on the shores of Tomales Bay or wandering the giant redwoods of Humboldt County, Northern California offers the quintessential coastal experience. It’s luxe, it’s rugged, it’s crashing surf and serene vistas. But most of all, it’s open, uncluttered and empowering.
“It’s not the beach, it is rugged and awe-inspiring,” says Mark Crabb, chief sales officer for Sonoma County Tourism. “The coast here gives you a feeling of seclusion. The ocean air helps you clear your mind. It gets you engaged and gets the creative juices flowing. And it keeps your attendees captive. If you have real work to accomplish, there is no place more focused and productive than the coast.”
Forget about broad, sandy beaches. This coast is better suited to wetsuits and windbreakers than Speedos and gauzy beachwear.
This is the home of Maverick’s, the world’s toughest surfing championship, held off Princeton-by-the Sea, and coastal redwoods, the tallest trees on Earth in Humboldt County. Highway 1 swoops and soars along the cliffs from Big Sur, over the Golden Gate Bridge to Mendocino and beyond. Smashing surf, wind-swept headlands, protected coves, rolling hillsides, the occasional small town—no coast in the world has this kind of drama at every turn.
Group venues hug the coast like wild pearls along a twisted string. And like wild pearls, each venue shines on its own without quite fitting into the standard mould of big-city meeting space. Following are several options for groups heading to the Northern Calfornia’s unforgettable coast.
Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove
Originally opened as a YWCA conference center in 1913, Asilomar is still the largest conference center on the coast of Northern California. With 11 original Arts & Crafts-style buildings on the National Registry of Historic Places and 313 rooms, the facility can handle groups of up to 1,000. But it is not your typical conference center.
For starters, it was created by Julia Morgan, the iconic designer of Hearst Castle in San Simeon. And despite sitting just over the hill from Monterey, Asilomar is on its own.
Cell phones work, but forget about Wi-Fi and other modern electronics outside the central buildings. Dining is family-style, and attendees are as likely to meet the resident deer, squirrels, otters and birds as other humans. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary stretches along 276 miles of coastline north and south of Asilomar, with wild, windswept beaches for walking, tide pooling and simply relaxing.
In between sessions, there is plenty of time to explore distinct seaside habitats, including sand dunes and marshes along self-guided hiking and biking trails, or wander the nearby streets of Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea. Just south is Pebble Beach, site of five U.S. Open golf championships.
And the name? Thank Stanford University student Helen Salisburymade up the word “asilomar” from two Spanish words: “asilo” (retreat or refuge) and “mar” (sea). It is one unforgettable retreat by the sea. PageBreak
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Not every attendee wants to, or can, explore the waters off the coast of California. So do the next best thing and explore the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium was created to showcase the cold, rich waters teeming with marine life just outside, from slowly pulsating jellyfish that create psychedelic tapestries to cavorting sea otters and sharks searching endlessly for the next meal.
The aquarium is open to groups after-hours every day except Christmas. Groups can enjoy local wine and beer with seals, octopuses and living kelp forests in the background, schmooze beneath full-size whales and dine with schools of sardines glistening in the light as bluefin tuna speed past.
The aquarium also provides glimpses of the local coast that attendees can’t see on their own. Aquarium researchers have an active program of robotic underwater exploration with thousands of hours of high definition audio and video. This is the only place in the world where attendees can help discover alien life forms just a few miles away, map undersea mountains and investigate the remains of a sunken whale that provide a feast for more than 200 different kinds of underwater creatures. Coming up next: a new observatory that will give attendees (and researchers) real-time audio and video of the deep ocean floor.
The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay
Luxury on the coast. It’s every attendee’s dream. And if it’s luxury on the Northern California coast they are dreaming of, The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay is the place to go. Hotel owners spent close to two decades working with California’s strict coastal protection regulations to build the 261-room property atop the cliffs in San Mateo County. The property is just 20 minutes from both San Francisco and San Francisco International Airport, but the view to the west shows nothing but open coastline and, maybe, some distant cargo ship silhouetted in the setting sun.
Sustainable is the name of the game, from careful recycling to menu choices at Navio. The restaurant features all-local ocean cuisine and menus can change daily depending on what is available from local suppliers.
The property has 17,000 square feet of indoor space, and a trio of outdoor spaces can accommodate up to 400.
It is also one of the few places where attendees can golf seaside anywhere in Northern California. The traditional Scottish design Ocean Course is ranked among the top courses in California. The Old Course is a parkland-style course with a home hole that plays next to the ocean waves. PageBreak
Pacifica
Why feature an entire town? Because coastal Pacifica, south of San Francisco, is focused on creating the best for groups of up to 100.
“Meeting here is about the fresh air, the salt air, the wild air,” says Chuck Gust, owner of Nick’s Restaurant, a popular group venue on Rockaway Beach in Pacifica. “There is something invigorating about the coast that you don’t see in the city. This coast gives you a sense of purpose and power that your group won’t feel anywhere else.”
Nick’s has 1,400 square feet of meeting space or groups can buy out the entire restaurant. Just across the street is the 97-room Best Western Plus Lighthouse Hotel, one of the larger properties in the area.
“During breaks, you can walk along the beach,” says Marty Cerles, the property’s general manager. “That’s a plus you just don’t get in the city. When you meet in a city hotel space, you get to see four walls. When you meet here, you get to see the Pacific Ocean right outside.”
And for planners looking for a unique off-site venue, it doesn’t get much more unique than Sam’s Castle. Built in 1908 by San Francisco rail magnate Henry Harrison McKlosky, the oceanside castle is filled with antiques and memorabilia from the days when it was a popular movie set for everything from medieval England to Victorian India.
Little River Inn, Mendocino
There aren’t many golf courses that are also Audubon Society-certified bird refuges. The Little River Inn’s 9-hole course is one of them. Perched on a clifftop over the Pacific Ocean three miles south of Mendocino, the inn has been in the same family for five generations.
The inn offers 66 rooms, one of the top restaurants along the coast north of San Francisco and indoor meeting space for up to 100. An ocean-facing deck can be tented for larger groups, adding another 800 square feet of usable space.
Once attendees arrive, there really isn’t much reason for them to get back in their cars. Golf, tennis, hiking—it is all on property. Unless, of course, they want to escape for a sunset kayak trip, llama trek, spa visit or a little shopping just up the coast in Mendocino.
Freelancer Fred Gebhart is a San Francisco-based freelance writer who enjoys scenic drives along the Northern California coast.
