Taking a Step Back at Alisal Ranch in The Santa Ynez Valley

Located in the Santa Ynez Valley, just above Solvang lies Alisal Ranch, which has a very long history and is now a working cattle ranch along with a hotel. When we arrived, we loved that we could charge our Audi EV as the hotel has 10 chargers, where you can charge for free. The ranch has 73 spacious rooms that are all unique. When the ranch renovated their rooms, they focused on keeping the beauty of what they had and what they could find around them. They brought in local craftsmen to reupholster things like old couches and sand + varnish old wooden tables. When they could not fix and redo, they went local and vintage – something we are so passionate about ourselves. When I checked into our room, just beyond the beautiful creek that runs through the property, I was delighted to find there were no electronics in the room and phone signal was sparse. Coming to Alisal Ranch helps you check out a bit from everyday life and the screen time that comes with the modern age.

The hotel sits on 10,000 acres of protected land, so there is more than enough to explore. When I spoke to Kathleen (Alisal Ranch General Manager) about the property and sustainability efforts, she shared how important it was to her when she first arrived to convert the gardens around the hotel to completely native plants. Surrounding each room, and in every shared green space is an abundance of beautiful flowers, herbs, succulents, and native Californian plants. Kathleen felt it was key to the biodiversity of the local area to bring back the pure native plants that probably called this land home long ago. Black sage, mint, strawberries, rosemary, roses, a plethora of fruit trees, and more line the roads and rooms adding such beauty. The ranch actually waters their land from their own well and water reserves from yearly rainfall. Every direction you look while you are at the hotel, you see green, nature, and hills. Beauty is seriously in every direction – it is such a refreshing feeling.

While we were there, we got to experience their yearly BBQ Bootcamp and learn from the hotel’s chefs and guest chefs alike on live cooking. Talking to Kathleen, I learned that they are passionate about sourcing as much as they can from local sources. They have a winemaker neighbor up the road, who actually grows most of their vegetables so the chefs don’t have a far journey to collect their ingredients. On their wine list, you will find tons of local organic and sustainable winemakers, which is a huge plus in our book. During the BBQ Bootcamp weekend, we were all given these wonderful Alisal branded backpacks full of goodies – spices, trail mix, a reusable water bottle to fill up around the property with their many filling stations, and a sustainably produced bottle of local red wine. The food, dancing, and overall family fun was truly food for the soul and the whole family.

Alisal Ranch offers a huge range of activities for guests of all ages – the hotel is so kid friendly and my two year old loved every moment of our stay. Horseback riding is something they take seriously at the ranch, and you can explore much of the land by horseback. I loved hearing that they look at their horses as part of their staff, so each week their horses are set out onto pastures to roam, run, and enjoy the land. When grass is rich and green, like it was when I was there, their roaming animals get to eat off the land and when it turns to drier summer the ranch switches over to hay that they’ve even grown themselves. While exploring the land, we got to see tons of cattle enjoying the land and black tailed deer too. Being this submerged in untouched nature was a one of a kind experience and something that nowadays unless you live in the countryside, is just not something one gets to experience enough.

Click here to book your stay at Alisal Ranch!