While many spa and wellness resorts push guests toward fixed goals, the Stanford Inn by the Sea breaks healthy living into manageable, easy-to-integrate steps. At the property’s Mendocino Center for Living Well, long-term wellness starts with nutritious food and simple habits that inspire joy—from the delight that comes with discovering new trails with the dogs, to the satisfaction of meditating or relaxing in a saltwater pool.
Stanford Inn owners Jeff and Joan Stanford have spent four decades creating a safe, secluded and storied place to reconnect with nature. Vacation packages help you incorporate education and themed activities into a stay. The resort also offers individual instruction in practices such as Tai Chi, yoga, acupuncture, massage and Chinese medicine, along with creativity, cooking, foraging and gardening. You can unwind in the dry sauna, soak in the hot tub, or stroll through organic gardens first tended by Chinese farmers more than a century ago.
Those gardens shape the wide-ranging vegan menu at Ravens Restaurant. The Stanford Inn’s signature dining spot has served organic, plant-based food for decades, paving the way for well-known establishments like New York’s Eleven Madison Park, which will transition to a plant-based menu this summer. Breakfast at Ravens is included with an overnight stay, providing healthy fuel for Mendocino-area outings.
You’ll find a comfortable retreat in the Stanford Inn’s spacious garden- and ocean-view rooms that feature fireplaces and private decks. The resort has welcomed dogs since day one. Owners Joan and Jeff Stanford and their furry family members, Parker and Ellie, outfit rooms with dog beds, water bowls, canine sweet potato snacks, special dog sheets that protect furniture, an activity guide for four-legged friends, and other amenities.
Pups are welcome to dine on the patio, and families can reserve rare indoor seats in the dog-friendly lobby. Let your pup curl up at your feet while the Ravens team dishes up unforgettable food. Staffers will steam vegetables and make oatmeal for dogs upon request, as well. Local Mendocino residents can choose to order to-go cocktails and appetizers from Ravens—think guacamole or black bean borracho with chips—to enjoy at home.
