11 Best Hotels in Sacramento and the Gold Country, California

Far enough from downtown's bustle yet convenient to shops, restaurants, and performing-arts venues, this serene inn occupying a Victorian-era home is run by a couple whose sense of style informs everything from the spotless, individually decorated guest rooms to the landscaped outdoor spaces. The main house contains six rooms, all with TVs and tub showers, and all but one on the second floor. There's also a one-bedroom apartment in the carriage house behind the inn. All guests can access the Victorian's chipper communal sunroom, which has a toaster, a refrigerator, and a microwave. Brewed coffee is laid out here, as are teas.

The oversize rooms in this elaborate Italianate-style home have brass beds, down comforters, gas-burning stoves, and claw-foot tubs. Broad wraparound verandas encourage lounging, as do the colorful gardens and large elm trees. A delectable breakfast is served each morning; fresh cookies are available all day.

This lavish but rustic B&B occupies a converted turn-of-the-20th-century hay barn, the centerpiece of which is a 27-foot slate fireplace that rises to a sloping ceiling of timber beams. Every room was designed with romance and pampering in mind, with meticulous bedding, gas fireplaces, and private entrances to sleek, deep outdoor tubs secluded by lattice sliding doors. Lush gardens and hammocks overlook a pond and wooded nooks. Guests enjoy breakfasts of homemade breads and dishes cooked with herbs and vegetables grown on-site or nearby.

The guest rooms in this six-story Hilton Tapestry Collection boutique property win points for their expansive windows, contemporary style, smartly designed bathrooms, and works by local artists. All rooms have built-in desks and 55-inch HDTVs with app-streaming capability, but they don't have microwaves (though some have small refrigerators). The on-site Cafe Bernardo serves above-average food (also available through room service), and the energetic bartenders at the Four Palms bar fashion delectable craft cocktails.

Guests typically leave this B&B gushing over just about everything—the Tuscan-villa atmosphere, the expansive vineyard vistas, the sublime hospitality, the elaborate breakfasts, the luxurious accommodations, the ultrasoft sheets. Each of the five spacious suites (500–700 square feet) is designed for comfort and relaxation, with plush furniture and bedding; fireplace sitting areas; private patios; and well-lit marble bathrooms with double vanities, rain showers, and deep soaking tubs. The women who own the inn also operate the adjacent Teneral Cellars winery (tastings daily), which donates 10% of sales profits "to organizations that empower women and fight for gender and racial justice." 

The architects of this courtly hotel, which opened with a splash in 2023, incorporated the redbrick Romanesque Revival–style facade of the 1928 structure that preceded it. Done in contemporary style with soft brown and powder blue accents that defer to exposed brick evoking the past, the guest rooms and suites have dedicated sitting areas and bathrooms with ultramodern fixtures. All the studio and one-bedroom suites have full kitchens and sofa beds, making them a viable option for larger groups. Standard rooms have microwaves and small refrigerators. The accommodations range in size from 306 to 607 square feet, but even the smaller ones make efficient use of their space. The room rate includes a well-stocked breakfast buffet, and the Historic Star Lounge serves lunch, dinner, and cocktails (happy hour 3–6).

A judicious 2023 makeover broadened the appeal of one-block Amador City's 1879 redbrick hotel without sacrificing the throwback feel of the guest rooms, two with balconies overlooking town. A wooden staircase leads directly from the lobby bar to three second-floor rooms with king beds, three with queens, and all with exposed brick walls and painstakingly sanded original floors. The bathrooms, equipped with period-sensitive fixtures, are stocked with high-quality products. As with the hotel, renovations to the restaurant preserved a sense of the past, with the updated farm-to-fork cuisine providing contemporary travelers additional incentive to book here. A nearby hilltop cottage contains three larger suites. Rates are higher for these, but good views and a quieter setting compensate.

Soft shades of brown and gray and furniture milled from California oak lend this full-service hotel's spacious rooms and suites a haute-rustic feel. Convenient to the Downtown Commons (DOCO) shopping and entertainment complex, Golden 1 Center arena, the Capitol, and Old Sacramento attractions, the hotel pleases business and leisure travelers with up-to-date electronics, deluxe bath products, and in-room yoga mats and spa treatments. On-site facilities include the third-floor pool and Revival bar, a steak house, and the independently run 25,000-square-foot Punch Bowl Social, with a bar and restaurant, bowling, billiards, darts, and other diversions.

Effusive but not intrusive hospitality is the trademark of this contemporary inn between Placerville and Plymouth whose spacious light-filled suites and a cottage have views of the oaks, firs, and other trees surrounding the property. Furnished with king-size beds with pillow-top mattresses, all the accommodations have private decks and sitting areas with fireplaces. Microwaves, coffeemakers, flat-screen TVs with satellite connection, and refrigerators stocked with complimentary sodas and waters are among the other amenities.

Once more proudly anchoring the southern portion of Nevada City's historic district, this three-story boutique property, whose structure dates from 1856, underwent a multiyear makeover, and the attention to Victorian-era detail impresses throughout. It starts with the wrought-iron balconies out front and continues in the lobby with its dark trim, porcelain-hex-tile floor, and floral wallpaper. Accommodations—which range in size from smallish rooms with full or queen beds to suites and studios with kings—all have furniture, photographs and prints, and accents like ornate retro phones that recall the hotel's early decades, as does the decor of the restaurant, Lola, named for the 19th-century entertainer Lola Montez. As in the 1800s, the bar is a swank place for a drink.

What began in the 1880s as a saloon and boardinghouse for miners and other long-term guests now contains four second-floor guest rooms done in pastels and furnished with high-quality linens, free Wi-Fi, and flat-screen TVs with cable. Two rooms have direct access to a balcony that overlooks Volcano's small business district. The breakfast here is substantial and well made.