National Hotel, Nevada City

While the location of this hotel can't be beat in historic downtown Nevada City, our stay was awful. We paid a little bit extra for a "suite" which was astonishingly dingy and musty smelling. The wicker funiture in the living room area was so awful I wouldn't put it in my back yard. The beds were so hard that we had get drunk at the bar downstairs in order to get any sleep. At least the bar is conveniently located. The mattresses had to be at least 30+ years old and the bedding and pillows were worn out and a little frightening. If 20/20 did a special report on this hotel, the blacklight segment would probably make me want to take a bath in Lysol. In all honesty, the place should probably be condemned. The ceiling in the hallways on the top floor looked as though it had been leaking for years and were caving in in spots.

We made a reservation for dinner at 6:00pm on Christmas Day at this hotel. When we arrived, we were told that we had to wait for 30 minutes before we could be seated. A group of five ahead of us who had a 5:00pm reservation was waiting for an hour a fifteen minutes. The host was not friendly to any of us and made a sarcastic comment, "You could go somewhere else for dinner if you didn't want to wait, but then we are the only one in town that is open for Christmas!" As more and more customers walked in, the hosts would tell everyone the same thing - to wait for 30 minutes. We then decided to take a peek at the dining area and we counted 8 empty tables! None of us were seated at all. Finally, we decided to walk out. We will never ever go back to a restaurant like this that treat its customers with no respect at all!

My husband and I are avid historic hotel hoppers! We compare everything to the Strater Hotel in Durango which is a high 5 on our list. The National was intriguing because of its history and even its outside appearance. Granted, the hotel is over 150 years old, but there are some things you should be able to expect even though the hotel is old...like cleanliness, maintenance, comfortable rest?? Our room had EXTREMELY dirty carpet and we found ourselves walking in our shoes until we laid down in the rock-hard 70's mattresses. The toilet leaked water all over the floor if you leaned back on it. The air conitioner had to be plugged in to run and there was no cool air. The tv was snowy. There were mismatched sheets and pillow cases. The wallpaper was ripped everywhere. I spilled some water on the floor in the bathroom and there was mud on my paper towel! Then I decided to go swim in the pool and exercise my worries away, only to find an inch of DIRT in the bottom of the pool. I thought it was just stained and then grabbed a brush and touched the bottom stirring up a load of dirt! It looked like a slime pit! This is so sad...someone needs to refurbish this hotel. We paid $114 with tax for a $40 room. The only thing this place had going for it, other than its rich history, was its location in downtown Nevada City. Save your money and put it in a "Save the National Hotel" fund!

It is true it is a historic Hotel, but there is a difference between old and worn out. The room had no screens on the windows, I opened one and a wasp came in. The wall paper was loose and stained from a leaky roof, the bed was hard, no water pressure in the shower, and very little hot water. The best thing about the place is the Bar. I tried to cancel my second night, but there is a 2 night min. on weekends. If you want to stay at a 150 year old hotel, try the Holbrooke in Grass Valley, it burnt down once, and was rebuilt, so it is very nice, I would say the National needs to be burnt down, and rebuilt also