Fern River Resort, Felton

I have fallen in love with this place and feel like it's home away from home when I'm there. Off season prices are excellent and the cabins on the river are especially nice. Spending hours on the deck with the beauty all around is refreshing. Love them Redwoods!

Loved the RV Resort in Felton, CA Planning my next trip in 2008, thank you for the hospitality. This is an awesome resort right along the San Lorenzo River

We arrived early, at around 12. Check-in was at 3 but the room was ready so they gave us the key which was a nice surprise. The complex was very pretty, with several redwoods growing in the area. We walked in and were immediately impressed the wood paneling was beautiful, the view of the river and the redwoods out the back window was amazing, and the kitchen had everything, stove, oven, full sized refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave, and toaster. Within the first 30 minutes we were disappointed. We tried to make coffee (with the coffee we brought since we were warned by earlier reviews that they didn’t provide coffee), when I got up to check on it I noticed there was water and coffee grounds all over the counter, under the microwave, in the drawers, flowing onto the floor, etc the coffee maker’s carafe wasn’t made for the coffee maker and the water wasn’t going into the carafe!! What a mess. We went to throw out the coffee grounds and noticed that while there was a garbage can there wasn’t a trash bag in it! Only a bit of newspaper in the bottom! Talk about cheap! Oh well, after a 30 minute clean up, it was time to relax. That is when we discovered the furniture was right out of the Flintstones. The couch was a lovely piece, carefully handcrafted from solid granite and padded with a polyester cover that crinkled when you sat on it. This thing was so hard that you could break a bowling ball on it. Hmmm, a quick scan of the remaining chairs revealed that our options were very limited. The only piece of furniture with any padding at all was an orange chair that caused immediate lower back pain due to the strange angle it placed on your spine. Off to the bedroom in hopes of a place to find some comfort. Oh no, it too was as hard as stone, and just as comfortable. A bead of sweat formed on my forehead as I contemplated two nights trying to relax while standing. Perhaps sleeping in the car was an option, but the 28 degree night temperatures made that option a rather chilling thought. If you want a nice, spacious cabin in the Redwoods, with a decent kitchen, just pack up your air beds, a few garbage bags, folding chairs and this will be the place for you. And don’t forget to bring the earplugs, because the walls are so thin that you can carry on a conversation with you neighbors (ours played guitar and sang late into the night). For us, the romantic weekend ended a day early when we politely handed the key back and said we were leaving early. This was quickly followed by the inn keeper frantically searching for the words to say “No Refunds, No Negotiations”. What a terrible disappointment. Great concept, extremely poor execution.

I moved to Calfiornia last year and could not find a good place to stay close to where I wanted until my apartment was finished. I found Fern River Resort and fell in love the place. The cabins themselves are wonderful and very romantic and right on the water front. I ended up staying there a total of 3 and half weeks and hated to leave. The owners themselves made me feel right at home. I would tell any body coming out west there would have to stay at Fern River Resort if only for a weekend. Must tell you the hot tub was wonderful at night the water was hot and the area was very clean. I think out all the cabins I stayed at I think cabin number 8 is the best one its right on the river and you can sat on the porch at night and listen to the water running down the river.

We stayed at the Fern River Resort. I have to say we had a wonderful time and impressed with how clean the cabins are. We felt like we had our own slice of heaven surrounded by redwood trees and sleeping to the sound of the river outside out cabin deck. We cooked out, went hiking, bird watching and then went to Santa Cruz to the Board Walk and the Ocean. It's rare to find so much diversity in landscaping so close together. The Spa at Fern River Resort was a pleasure to use after a busy day sight seeing. The management was very friendly and helpful in giving us directions and questions we had concerning the area, which made our stay much more enjoyable. We will be back again next year. Jennifer Miller

My husband and I spent 2 days in the redwoods at this little place in the mountains called Fern River Resort. Most of the time we just relaxed on the porch overlooking the river. A perfect weekend getaway from the city.

Needed a place to stay for a weekend of salmon fishing in Santa Cruz!! It was a very short drive to the Santa Cruz harbor from the resort and the manager himself an avit fisherman was more than happy to give us some great tips for fishing in Santa Cruz!! The cabin we stayed in was very clean and comfortible and the resort is very peacefull and quite,the manager and his wife made us feel right at home!! Fern River Resorts is everything you need and more to enjoy the mountains and the coast!!10 out of a 10, We will be back!! P.S. theres the BEST chinese resteraunt a mile away!!

What started out as a problem was the minimum stay requirement. Apparently it was a busy weekend because we could not get a two night stay. Being only an hour away and with gas costing way too much to go further we decided to book anyway. Friday night dinner was at La Brushetta two blocks away. The rib eye steak was to die for and the beet salad was exquisite. The salad was spendy though at $18 but the steak was huge. It was way to much for one person. Next time my wife and I will share. It was dark when we got to our cottage. The TV became obsolete, instead we talked for hours by the fire. Saturday we spent at several local wineries. Bargeto’s was the best. Sunday was spent relaxing on the deck. We ate Sandwiches made at new leaf, the local health store and did not leave until after dark. I think the last day was the most enjoyable. Even though we didn’t stay the night, it was well worth having the third day so we could just spend it relaxing rather than having to check out by 11:00 AM. Next time were staying a week in one of the river front units.

I accidentally ran across this review site when looking up Fern River Resort. I couldn’t believe some of the posts that I have read. Over the years our family has become close to the owners so I must post our own experience. My family and I have been going to Fern River Resort for over 30 years now. We have watched the owners children grow up with our own. Now our children are bringing their own children. We rent 7 or 8 cottages every summer. We stay 7 to 10 days and have a grand family reunion. The picnic tables are lined up on the top of the riverbank with our children and our grand children as well. Mom and Dad and my brothers join in and we have a giant BBQ potluck almost every evening. Some times the owners bring a dish and join us. The conversation is relaxed and pleasurable. The kids play in the river while us adults watch from above. It’s a fun place for our entire family. We always reserve our favorite cabins for next year before we leave.

I loved that this place had a private use hot tub, so many times when you stay out at a resort or hotel and go to use the hot tub to relax, children pile in a top you, or other couples make you uncomfortable with their overly public displays of "affection". But here we could have the hottub to our selves for a half hour, and knew that it would be spotless, since the resort managers/owners clean it between each use. Plus with a hottub in a private gazebo clothing is optional! I completely understand the rules surrounding use of the hot tub, I mean who would want somebody's lotion residue floating around, or risk the chance of sitting in warmed up kid pee. The "rules" as others stated are common sense things such as not overloading the septic system, or ruining towels with makeup when there are makeup removing towelettes in the room. I think these guidelines are in place because some might not have encountered a septic system before and don't know they can overload it, and other people are just pigs when visiting hotels. As far as amenities... the kitchens were stocked with plates, silverware, cooking utensils and cups... not your standard fare 2 plastic cups but real items. I am glad there wasn't a fresh roll of toilet paper in the room, because i hate when hotels throw out tons of half rolls of TP and waste our natural resources! and there was a fresh and wrapped roll of tp under the sink. I would recommend this place to anyone, and already have. For Santa Cruz county there rates are wonderful, especially considering a standard hotel room is $80.00, and there you get a full one bedroom little cottage with a deck to lounge on.