Palihouse Santa Barbara

The way into Palihouse Santa Barbara is a short flight of tiled steps off the Garden Street pavement, past a white wall lettered Hotel, Café, Bar: the evening's itinerary, in reverse. At the top, under a wooden balcony and a roof of clay tiles, two storeys of white building stand round a Mediterranean-style courtyard, with a whitewashed fountain set in the brick and a lemon tree and strelitzias in terracotta pots. The café puts its tables round the fountain and keeps an all-day menu, and the bar and the pool are out here too, so most of a day can go by without losing sight of the fountain. Each of the 24 rooms has a fireplace and a patio of its own. Palisociety calls the look Vintage Preppy meets American-Riviera. In one bedroom that means pale blue walls over terracotta tiles for the Riviera, and a beige dial telephone on the side table for the vintage.

Recommended for a couple who would rather walk Santa Barbara than drive it, and for a small family in the Grand Studio Double, which has two queen beds and the pool in view. The Presidio's historic park is a few minutes away on foot, and State Street about three blocks. The beach is the one thing out of reach: seven minutes or so by car to West Beach, or a ride on one of the Linus bicycles the hotel lends free. The café seats 35 in the courtyard, and the courtyard takes 130 for a cocktail party, which is a good many guests for a hotel of 24 rooms.