The catch at Terranea Resort
Five things stand between the clifftop photograph and the stay. None of them is hidden and none stops Terranea being a complete resort, but each one changes what you pay, how you spend a day or where you eat dinner.
On our shortlists
- Best beach hotels in LA102 clifftop acres, a cove for snorkel tours and four pools
- Best family hotels in LAA kids' club for ages 3 to 12 and a pool with a 140-foot waterslide
- Best spa hotels in LA25 treatment rooms and a heated 25-metre Spa Pool on the cliffs
- Best hotels with a view in LAClifftop rooms sold on an ocean view, with Catalina on the horizon
The rate is the start of the bill: the resort fee and valet add $150 a night.
A resort fee of $75 a night applies to guestrooms, suites, Bungalow Guestrooms and Casita Guestrooms, and $90 to the one- and two-bedroom bungalows, the one- to three-bedroom casitas and the villas. Overnight valet is another $75 a night, and the public day lot is not for overnight parking. On top come the Rancho Palos Verdes hotel tax (10% in October 2026) and a 0.3% California tourism assessment. A room at about $725, the entry rate on a December Tuesday, costs about $875 a night with the fee and valet, before tax. The fee does buy things every guest gets: Wi-Fi for three devices, in-room coffee, pool chairs and umbrellas, fitness classes, nightly live entertainment, the Saturday guided hike and a Lexus shuttle to select places in Palos Verdes.
What to do. Price the stay at the room rate plus $150 a night. Winter weeknights are usually the cheapest, and summer and weekends cost more. Casitas have parking reserved at the door, so ask whether valet still applies.
The rest of Los Angeles is 47 to 61 minutes away by car, and no train gets near.
Terranea stands on the Long Point headland on the southern side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. With the roads clear, which in Los Angeles means off-peak, LAX is 35 minutes by car, Downtown 47, Santa Monica and the Getty Center 48, Rodeo Drive 49, the Hollywood Walk of Fame 56 and Universal Studios Hollywood 61. LAX is nearer 40 in ordinary traffic, and rush hour adds to every one of them. No Metro rail line reaches the peninsula: the K Line ends at Redondo Beach, 27 minutes away by car. The Lexus shuttle in the resort fee goes to select places in Palos Verdes.
What to do. Hire a car, or budget for rideshares, and treat the city as day trips rather than evenings out. If more than two days of the trip are Hollywood and Santa Monica, a hotel closer in will serve them better.
Four pools, and only one of them takes every age.
The Resort Pool is the family pool: 5,000 sq ft with a 140-foot waterslide and a splash pad, open 8am to 8pm. The Vista Pool is for ages 13 and over and has a hot tub, also 8am to 8pm. Cielo Point is adults only, 21 and over, 8am to 8pm, with a DJ on select afternoons, and day passes are sold, so it is not private to hotel guests. The 25-metre Spa Pool is for spa guests, who must be 18 or over, from 8am to 6pm, with lap swimming from 5am to 8am and 6pm to 8pm. Resort guests can buy a $125 day pass for the spa, fitness centre and Spa Pool, Monday to Thursday only and excluding holidays, subject to availability and not sold in advance.
What to do. Choose by who is travelling: a family with children under 13 has one pool, a couple has three. If the 25-metre pool matters, ask the spa on arrival what qualifies for access, because a pass cannot be bought ahead.
The dinner kitchens close between 8pm and 10pm, and the nearest other table is a drive away.
Terranea runs eight places to eat and drink, but the dinner rooms stop early. mar'sel serves dinner only, from 5pm to 9pm every day. Bashi closes at 9pm from Sunday to Thursday and 9.30pm on Friday and Saturday. Catalina Kitchen serves until 9.30pm, or 10pm on Friday and Saturday. Nelson's closes at 8pm, except on Friday and Saturday when it closes at 9pm. After that the Lobby Bar and Terrace stays open to midnight, or 1am on Friday and Saturday, with bar bites, boards, a burger and a salad. Nothing off the property is within walking distance: the nearest other tables are a drive away, from five minutes.
What to do. Book the early table, and eat before 8pm on the night you arrive. Keep the Lobby Bar as the late fallback, and hire a car for any evening that is not at the resort.
The rooms are the part of the stay that recent guests rate below the setting.
Recent guests mark the rooms down: pleasant but plain for the price, set against grounds, pools and views that earn the praise. The Hotel King and Hotel Double are 450 sq ft (42 m²), each with a balcony or patio, in the lobby building beside the pools and restaurants. The guestrooms and suites were redesigned in 2017, and a refresh of guestrooms, meeting spaces and public areas is set to finish in 2027. The resort describes its $120 million property-wide reinvestment as ongoing, with the meeting and event spaces finished in October 2026. No dates or room closures are published for the guestrooms.
What to do. Book for the position rather than the decor, which is why the Bungalow King Guestroom beside the spa is the pick. For a 2027 stay, ask the resort whether any work will touch your category before you pay.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants to see Los Angeles without a car, or whose trip is built around Hollywood and Santa Monica, because most of the sights are 47 to 61 minutes away. Anyone who will mind $150 a night in resort fee and valet on top of the rate. Families who want a choice of pools for children under 13, and anyone who wants a late dinner anywhere but the Lobby Bar.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone booking a week in which the resort is the holiday, with a car for the odd dinner out. Four pools, a spa with 25 treatment rooms, The Links along the cliff, a Saturday morning hike along the bluffs to Point Vicente Lighthouse, fire pits at Nelson's for the sunset and grey whales offshore from December to April all sit on 102 acres where the buildings cover a quarter of the land. Book a Bungalow King Guestroom, budget about $880 a night before tax, and let the grounds do the work.
The catch elsewhere in LA
- The Beverly Hills HotelBeverly Hills
Extras sit on top of a four-figure rate. Beverly Hills hotel tax is 14 per cent and the hotel's other city and state levies bring the total to roughly 15.5 to 16 per cent, and parking is $70 a day, which you will want because almost everything is a drive.
- Shutters on the BeachSanta Monica
A $60 nightly resort fee plus tax is added to every stay, and overnight valet is $90 a night, so a room that starts around $740 comes to about $930 with the 15 per cent hotel tax, the fee and $11.25 in nightly tourism fees, before the car.
- Malibu Beach InnMalibu
Pacific Coast Highway runs directly behind the building, and some guests mention hearing traffic over the surf; the King Pier View Rooms have the highway in view. Ask for a sea-facing room on the third floor, away from the street entrance.
- Sunset Tower HotelSunset Strip
The room rate is not the whole price. A nightly amenity fee of $52.43, tax included, is added to every stay, parking is by valet at $75 a night, and 16.695% hotel tax applies to the room.
- Santa Monica Proper HotelSanta Monica
A $55 nightly destination fee plus tax is added to every stay, and valet parking is $90.27 per vehicle with tax, so the room rate is not the nightly cost, least of all for a guest with a car.
- The Hollywood RooseveltHollywood
Noise is part of the deal. The hotel runs restaurants, bars, private events and pool programming, music and pool activity can be audible in the cabana rooms around the pool, the Tropicana is shared with day-pass guests aged 21 and over, loungers are first come, first served, and the pool can close for private events or film shoots.
- The GarlandStudio City
The 101 freeway runs along the north-east edge of the grounds, and some rooms hear it. The hotel had its balcony doors replaced in 2013 to cut the noise, so keep the door shut at night and ask for a room away from the freeway side.
- Silver Lake Pool & InnSilver Lake
Noise is the recurring complaint: thin walls let through footsteps from the floor above and the corridor, and street-side rooms hear Santa Monica Boulevard traffic into the night, so ask for a quiet room away from the boulevard.
- Hotel FigueroaDowntown LA
The entry rooms are small: the 1 Queen Bed room is about 187 sq ft (17 m²) and the 1 King Bed about 270 sq ft (25 m²), so book the king or a suite if you want space to sit.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Terranea Resort
What are the downsides of Terranea Resort?
Five things stand between the clifftop photograph and the stay. None of them is hidden and none stops Terranea being a complete resort, but each one changes what you pay, how you spend a day or where you eat dinner. The rate is the start of the bill: the resort fee and valet add $150 a night. The rest of Los Angeles is 47 to 61 minutes away by car, and no train gets near. Four pools, and only one of them takes every age. The dinner kitchens close between 8pm and 10pm, and the nearest other table is a drive away. The rooms are the part of the stay that recent guests rate below the setting.
Who should not book Terranea Resort?
Anyone who wants to see Los Angeles without a car, or whose trip is built around Hollywood and Santa Monica, because most of the sights are 47 to 61 minutes away. Anyone who will mind $150 a night in resort fee and valet on top of the rate. Families who want a choice of pools for children under 13, and anyone who wants a late dinner anywhere but the Lobby Bar.
Our verdict
Book it for a week of pools, spa and clifftop walks, and ask for the Bungalow King Guestroom. Budget for a car and $150 a night in resort fee and valet, and choose a hotel closer in if your days are Hollywood and Santa Monica.
Last checked: October 2026