Imagine a day that starts with a swim in a mountaintop pool seemingly suspended over the Pacific, reaches a peak with dinner illuminated by one of Big Sur’s most spectacular sunset settings, and finishes with stargazing from a mountaintop pool open 24 hours and featuring a traditional Japanese bath. That’s a day in the life of 160-acre Ventana Big Sur, where the 59 ultra-private rooms, suites and villas are tucked into an oak-shaded woodland and your high-ceilinged driftwood-inspired room could potentially include both a Jacuzzi bath and a private hot.

A menu of daily activities includes yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, and guided nature walks that take you deep into the redwood canyon below for true forest bathing. In addition to a variety of massage options, the resort’s Spa Alila offers astrology readings, reflexology, and cranial-sacral massage, and couples can partake in private cabanas near the pool. For an even more immersive nature experience, there’s the popular campground deep in the redwood canyon below, which now features comfy “glamping” tent cabins, each complete with Adirondack chairs on a spacious deck, fire pit, and even a hammock or two suspended between the trees.

Photo: Courtesy of Ventana Big Sur