Mendocino, CA

Mendocino is a small coastal village perched on the bluffs of California's north coast in Mendocino County, with a year-round population of roughly 800 residents. The town carries the air of a 19th-century New England fishing hamlet, a holdover from the wooden saltboxes, water towers, and churches built by shipwrights and mill workers in the 1850s and 1860s. Today it is best known for its artists' community, its headland setting above the Pacific, and its role as a gateway to the Mendocino Coast and the towering redwood groves of Northern California. It sits roughly 150 miles north of San Francisco, a drive of about three hours along US-101 and Highway 1.

The Mendocino Headlands State Park wraps around the village on three sides, providing several miles of cliff-side trails with views of sea stacks, the Pacific, and the Big River estuary. The park is a short walk from anywhere in town and effectively serves as the village's front yard.

Just north of town, Russian Gulch State Park draws visitors to a fern-lined canyon, a waterfall, and a rocky headland coastline. The park entrance is only about a five-minute drive from the village center, making it an easy morning trip for guests.

A short drive further north brings travelers to Fort Bragg, California, a working coastal community of roughly 7,000 people and the largest town on the Mendocino Coast. Fort Bragg is home to the famously colorful Glass Beach, the dunes and tidepools of MacKerricher State Park, and the California Western Railroad's historic "Skunk Train," which runs into the redwoods. Fort Bragg sits about ten miles north of Mendocino along Highway 1.

Between the two towns, the Point Cabrillo Light Station preserves a restored 1909 lighthouse and a small complex of keeper's buildings set on a windswept headland. The lighthouse grounds are open daily and lie roughly three miles north of Mendocino.

Together, this cluster of bluffside village, headland parks, working harbor town, and surrounding redwood country makes Mendocino a natural base for short-term rental guests. The village's walkability, its Victorian streetscape, and its proximity to several of Northern California's most photogenic coastal landscapes give visitors plenty to do in every season, while the limited supply of accommodations keeps demand for well-located rentals consistent year-round.