What staying at San Ysidro Ranch is really like

Happy New Year! I have been in L.A. these past few weeks, celebrating the holidays and avoiding the N.Y.C weather.

While I was here, I found out that lazy jamie’s 5–9 TV Tray Table was named Best in Show 2025 by Architectural Digest with the title The AD Darling. When I was developing it, it was impossible to know if anyone was going to like it, or if I’d completely embarrass myself, but I chose to bet on my instinct anyway. To see it recognized in this way by the ultimate authority in design is further assurance that I know how to make decisions—and that there’s no reward without risk.

Over Christmas, my husband and I decided to take a mini-getaway to San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, which is a two hour drive from L.A. I’ve previously written about SYR in my California hotel guide, and I’m lucky to have stayed there a handful of times in the past.

There are a couple of cute pockets in Montecito to visit on your way in or out of town, but it’s a sleepy place. It’s mostly older, wealthy retirees and celebrities who want to escape L.A., both of which surround their expansive properties with 20-foot high hedges and security cameras every 10 feet. You’re much more likely to see the gardeners and domestic workers who keep the city running than any actual residents.

It is, of course, one of the most beautiful places, thanks in part to the natural landscape (where the Santa Ynez mountains meet the ocean) but also the city’s strictly enforced beautification standards and noise ordinance. (When I was wedding planning, I looked into getting married there, and you have to shut off music by 10 p.m.) SYR, with its lush yet impeccably manicured gardens and storybook-with-a-Spanish bent cottages seems to represent the best of Montecito design.

In what will be shocking news to many, SYR is owned by Ty Warner, the inventor of Beanie Babies. Yes, the one who put his name on all of the tags. He still loves to put his name on things, and you will find a selection of Ty products in the gift shop, Ty holiday lights, a Pad “Ty” dish on the menu among others, and the Warner Cottage available to book. He also owns one of my other favorite hotels, Las Ventanas in Cabo, among others that I haven’t tried yet.

You will often see Ty dining at his usual table in the restaurant, The Stonehouse, which is open to the public and is a “night out” destination for people living in Montecito or Santa Barbara. You can tell who lives where by the amount of work they’ve had done.

One of the bonuses of staying at SYR is that all three meals are included in your stay (excluding alcohol). By the property of girl math, this means that all of your food is free, and therefore the exorbitant nightly rate is worth it.

Most people take breakfast in their room. Every cottage has an indoor and outdoor seating area, and they know how to do room service here. Lunch is usually by the pool, and dinner is at Stonehouse. There isn’t any dish that you’ll write home about, but you’ll remember the experience and the presentation. Many of the cocktails at dinner are smoked table side, and there is the flambéed steak Diane that’s made in front of you. By your third night, you may ask them to go ahead and bring it prepared.

The rooms at SYR aren’t rooms, they’re cottages, and they’re such that you never want to leave them. There isn’t much to do there outside of the pool and a small spa (there are also hiking trails just off the property) and so that’s kind of the point. While there are varying degrees of size, there isn’t a bad cottage at SYR. Each one is big, thoughtfully appointed, private, and mostly importantly, outfitted with its own hot tub. There’s a certain kind of freedom in skinny dipping in the hot tub after a couple of drinks at dinner and staring up at the stars, pretending to be a Montecito mother of four.

In every room I’ve stayed in at SYR, there’s always a little ceramic piggy. There are about four different variations, and I’m obsessed. This past visit, I finally decided to bite the bullet and pick one up at the gift shop for my bedside at home. Let’s hope it brings prosperity in 2026.

I don’t have any trips planned for a while so I hope you enjoyed this one! This little piggy is heads down so she can win more awards. xx