FIRST VIEWS? Several destination boast famous sights, the kind of markers that we expect to see when we first pull into town. Hollywood has its hillside sign, and San Francisco boasts the Golden Gate Bridge. Yosemite Valley's El Capitan is often the first thing visitors look for when arriving, and, in Mendocino, it is all about those historic and winsome water towers. They're skyward structures from another day, and beloved local landmarks, too, but the idea of getting to spend time in one, or even sleep within a tower's walls, feels as fanciful as traveling back in time, to when the water towers were first constructed in the beautiful ocean-close burg. But nowadays, you can...
BED DOWN IN A WATER TOWER, making the experience one of the more unusual overnights in all of the Golden State. The water towers may hail from the 1800s, but their updated amenities hail from today. At the Sweetwater Inn & Spa guests can enjoy a trio of redwood hot tubs (one is clothing optional) as well as the unmistakable fragrance of the cedar sauna. And the property's Redwood Tower rocks a rooftop deck, oh sweet. At the MacCallum House? The Water Tower Suite has its own entrance, not to mention "a working redwood tank on top." The tower at JD House just underwent a renovation in 2018, and includes a wood-burning fireplace. And the Bever-Roberts Tower has its own captain's snug.
FOR ALL OF THE WATER TOWERS, their plentiful amenities, nifty perks, and plush features, swing by Visit Mendocino, to get up on this oh-so-Mendo marvel, a true slice of history that helps to form the handsome hamlet's instantly recognizable skyline.