Mendocino Village
My husband and I immediately fell in love with this little town. Mendocino Village is located 3 hours North of San Francisco on the California coastline.
The town is vibrant and beautifully preserved with gorgeous natural surroundings complemented by beautiful architecture—rows of elegant Victorians, New England Salt Box cottages, the iconic Presbyterian Church, Mendocino Hotel and Kwan Tai Temple. The historic Main Street and Lansing Avenue are populated with beautiful toy shops, galleries, boutiques, new and used bookstores, chocolatiers, pubs, cafes and restaurants catering to foodies, hippies and hipsters alike.
Between the town’s edge and Pacific Ocean lies the Mendocino Headlands State Park, whose winding pathways lead to secluded beaches and benches where visitors can take in the show of breaching whales and barking sea lions.
What to Do
Mendocino Arts Center
The local arts center is home to nightly theatrical performances and they also host the yearly Mendocino Film Festival and Mendocino Music Festival.
Ford House Visitor Center & Museum
Open every day from 11am to 4pm, this visitor center gives you a look into the history of the area and it even has a scaled down model of the town in it. Throughout the house, are historic photographs, tools, and relics that tell the story from the felling of the redwoods to the shipping of the lumber aboard the legendary doghole schooners.
Hiking
Mendocino is home to a ton of beautiful parks. Take a look here at all of the options!
Shopping
Whether you need some fun socks, toys, groceries, books, games, clothing or chocolates, there’s a shop for you! Mendocino Village has some adorable shops with lots for you to take home with you.
Biking
Rent a bike from Catch a Canoe and spend some time biking around town.
Kayaking
Head down to Van Damme State Beach and catch a kayak tour with Craig at Kayak Mendocino! It gives you a truly beautiful view of the coastline from a different perspective.
Where to Stay
MacCallum House is our absolute favorite place to stay in the area! It’s exactly the kind of place you picture for this area - historic, surrounded by beautiful blooms, and quiet. And it’s right in town so you can walk to everything!
Where to Eat
For being such a petite town, Mendocino Village has a lot of options when it comes to dining. Here’s a few of our favorites that didn’t break the bank.
This is the place to go for breakfast/brunch. They have had a plethora of menu offerings and even quite a bit of options for those who eat gluten free or vegan diets. You can sit inside or outside on the patio and they even have a bakery case for you to be able to pick up a muffin and coffee to go.
Gnar Bar is your local Japanese restaurant and it is ridiculously good. So if you’re looking poke, ramen, sushi rolls, dumplings or musubi, this is the place!
First of all, this place is very unassuming. From the road, it looks like a normal storefront, but the second you walk around back to the entrance, you’re greeted with color flowers, lush green plants, and complete serenity.
When they advertise themselves as “global cuisine” you never really know what that entails. But when you see things like Thai Firepot, Brazilian Fish Stew, Indian-Style Masala Curry, Vietnamese Salad and Stout-Braised Pot Roast in the menu, it all seems to make sense. And let me tell you - everything is good.
What’s a day on vacation without some ice cream? All of their flavors are made locally at CowLick’s in Fort Bragg and they even have one that is mushroom flavored (which supposed tastes like maple syrup but I wasn’t brave enough to try it). Apparently they are known for their pizza too, but we didn’t get to try that while we were there.
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