The Carter House Inns is a nice, high-end bed and breakfast hotel with a convenient location and good restaurant.
- Friendly, helpful staff and innkeeper
- Convenient location, walking distance to waterfront, Old Town restaurants and shopping
- On premises restaurant praised by Bon Appetit magazine as "Delightful, remarkable"
- Very comfortable beds
- A little more expensive than other places to stay in the area
- It's a small thing, but toiletries are not up to the standard of the rest of the room
- 301 L St.
Eureka, CA 95501
800-404-1390, 707-444-8062
Website - 32 rooms, several suites, one cottage. Some rooms require climbing stairs. Their reservation page tells which ones they are.
- Complimentary full breakfast; evening wine and hors d’oeuvres; homemade treats
- Restaurant 301 on premises features innovative regional cuisine. Breakfast is served in their dining room.
- Spa tubs and fireplaces in many rooms
- Free wireless Internet
- Carter Cottage is a one-bedroom house that accommodates two people. It's the perfect place for a romantic rendezvous.
The Carter House Inns are housed in four Victorian-style buildings near Eureka's Old Town. Two are beautiful, authentic reproductions of Victorian structures, but they're so nicely done that without knowing which ones they are, you'd have a hard time figuring it out on your own.
Hotel Carter also houses Restaurant 301 and a lobby filled with comfy couches and a real wood fireplace. Just across the street is Carter House, a copy of a house originally built in the 1880s in San Francisco, Carter Cottage (a private cottage for two) and Bell Cottage, which contains three suites. All are nicely decorated with comfortable furniture and bedding that facilitated one of the best night's sleeps we've had away from home in a long time.
Restaurant 301 serves an innovative menu based on regional specialties. Bon Appetit magazine described it as "Delightful, remarkable" and it won Wine Spectator's Grand Award for a wine list that's thicker than some Doctoral Theses. Frankly, we think the chef occasionally over-innovates, creating dishes that might be better presented in a traditional manner.
If owner Mark Carter is around, he knows all the local sights, making him a good resource to help plan your day. Hotel and restaurant staff are very friendly and helpful, too.
Carter House is part of Unique Inns, which also includes the Inn at Occidental and other great places to stay on the West Coast.
As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with a complimentary accommodation for the purpose of reviewing it. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.
