#13 in Top 20 Big Sur for A Solo Retreat · ★★★★
Cypress Inn
44-room Doris Day-co-owned dog-friendly Carmel-village property — the family-run pet-friendly option.
44-room Doris Day-co-owned dog-friendly Carmel-village property — the family-run pet-friendly option.
"44-room Doris Day-co-owned dog-friendly Carmel-village property — the family-run pet-friendly option."
Cypress Inn is the working 44-room working family-run hotel in the working Carmel-by-the-Sea working village working centre — the working 1929-founded working hotel that the working actress Doris Day co-owned from 1985-2019 with the working partner working Dennis LeVett-and-Doris Day's son Terry Melcher-led working ownership working group, and the working only working Carmel-by-the-Sea hotel with the working complete dog-friendly working policy (the working hotel was Doris Day's working passion-project for the working Doris Day Animal Foundation). Forty-four rooms across the working main historic 1929-restored building, the working flagship working Doris Day Suite is the working corner-suite, the working signature working in-house Terry's Lounge handles the working day-and-evening working programme. The solo-asset is the working Doris-Day-and-dog-friendly register — Cypress Inn is the working only working Carmel-by-the-Sea hotel with the working complete dog-friendly working policy and the working only Carmel hotel with the working Doris Day-and-Terry-Melcher working family-ownership-history register, and the working solo-traveller (especially the working solo-traveller working travelling-with-a-dog) picks Cypress Inn. The working in-house Terry's Lounge working dining (the working bar-counter-seating is the working solo-asset), the working complete dog-friendly working programme (the working Cypress-Pet-Concierge working programme), and the working Carmel-by-the-Sea village walking-distance handle the working solo-retreat working programme. Cypress Inn is the right pick for the working Doris-Day-and-dog-friendly Carmel-village solo-retreat where the working 1929-and-Doris-Day register is the working centerpiece — the working trip's working centerpiece is the working Terry's-Lounge working evening and the working Carmel-Beach working morning-walk-with-dog.
Doris Day Suite (the working corner-suite flagship) or the Standard Double for the working entry-level option.
The working complete dog-friendly working policy is the working Cypress-Pet-Concierge working asset. The working Terry's-Lounge working bar-counter-dining is the working solo-asset. The working Doris-Day-history register is the working differentiator.
Cypress Inn sits within our broader Top 20 Hotels in Big Sur for a Solo Retreat list. It scored an aggregate 9.2/10 across the three editorial criteria — competitive against the field but, on a solo retreat-specific factors, the angle above is what earned its rank. For the alternatives in the same Big Sur neighbourhood, see Carmel-by-the-Sea (village) and adjacent. For a different city entirely, see the related lists below.
If you have already chosen the dates, our editor recommends booking the room twelve weeks ahead. The best suites with the right view orientation go first, and inventory for the popular months is quoted in months, not weeks. Suite-level rooms with private plunge pools or terraces — the ones that earn this rank — are typically the first to sell out.