Our most anticipated stay of the year: 4 nights at Alila Ventana Big Sur. After flying into Oakland airport, we walked over to the Hertz counter to pick up our rental car. At the counter, the woman pointed us to a row of cars and told us to select one. After scanning the row of Hyundai Elantras, Nissan Altimas, and Toyotas we picked a 2021 Toyota Prius to take us on the 32-mile journey for our one-night stay at the Hyatt Centric Mountainview, further on the 120-mile journey to the Ventana Big Sur.ARRIVALAfter turning onto Coast Ridge Rd, we drove up to the front gate. We were greeted by an attendant who confirmed our reservation & then opened the gate for us to enter (when unattended there is a call box you can use to reach the front desk who can also open the gate). We drove up the windy, very small road to the valet station. The valet greeted us, reconfirmed our reservation & ushered us up the stairs to the Sur House for check-in. At check-in, we were provided a glass of wine & were given a map along with an overview of the property. Check-in was wonderful as we were one of two couples in the Social House. It was intimate and very informative.ROOMAfter check-in, we walked less than 1 minute to our Big Sur Villa, Room 23. This room is located in the building to the right of Social House, which made for a short walk to the pool & lawn seating areas.

The Big Sur Villa is "bi-level accommodation with plenty of room to roam". Downstairs there is an outdoor patio, a living room with a fireplace along with a dining area equipped with a Nespresso machine, a sink, ample storage & a mini-fridge. Upstairs there is a very comfortable King bed, two outdoor terraces along with a bathroom equipped with dual vanity, a soaker tub & a shower. At over 900 sq feet, the room was bigger than many NY apartments and was quite comfortable for our 4-night stay.

In the room was an Ipad, that could be used to order food (during our stay the hotel was all-inclusive), request housekeeping, or check your folio. Each night, we ordered in-room dining for breakfast the next morning, with the food arriving promptly at the scheduled time.DININGAfter we were settled in the room, we headed out on the 0.5-mile walk to the Sur House for dinner. Prior to arrival, we received an email requesting our preferred dinner time & we selected 530pm. The walk from the room to the restaurant was through the Redwoods & absolutely breathtaking. There were chairs placed along the 0.5 walks if you needed to sit & the hotel also offered a service to help those unable to walk to the restaurant. Upon arrival, we were greeted, checked in & brought outside to the leftmost table facing the ocean. I would highly recommend coming to dinner early to ensure you can select this table which allows for endless views, as well as once the sun sets, the outdoor temperature rapidly drops. The staff has heat lamps by each table and will hand out blankets, however, the cold will still cut through you.