Where to eat and where to sleep
Jenner itself has a handful of places, all with a view. Within fifteen minutes there are many more. Hours on the coast change with the season and the weather, so call or check the website before you drive out.
Eat in Jenner
River's End Restaurant
The bluff-top dining room above the river mouth has been the special-occasion restaurant on this coast for decades. Local seafood, duck, a long wine list and the sunset through the windows. The bar opens at 4:30 pm. Reserve ahead, especially Friday to Sunday. The deck is the spot for a drink if you are not eating.
Café Aquatica
A tiny café on the river bank with organic coffee, pastries, soups, sandwiches and a lawn full of Adirondack chairs looking out at the estuary. Live music on weekend afternoons. This is where the village hangs out; get a chai, sit on the grass and watch the pelicans.
Jenner Inn
The inn's small café serves guests and walk-ins on a seasonal schedule. Worth asking what is on when you are in town.
Picnic supplies
There is no supermarket in Jenner, just a small store on Highway 1 for basics. Stock up in Guerneville or Bodega Bay. The Goat Rock lot, the Vista Trail tables and the Café Aquatica lawn are the picnic spots.
Duncans Mills
The old railroad town on Highway 116 is the breakfast and coffee stop on the way to the coast.
Gold Coast Coffee & Bakery
House-roasted coffee, wood-fired pizza, pastries and a shady courtyard. The line on weekend mornings moves fast.
Cape Fear Café
Southern-leaning comfort food: big breakfasts, shrimp and grits, fried chicken. Dependable and generous.
Blue Heron Restaurant
Pub-style food, a lively bar and live music nights, in a building that has fed river travellers for a century. No website of its own; the village directory has the details.
Bodega Bay
Chowder, crab and fish fresh off the boats in a working harbor.
Spud Point Crab Company
The famous one: clam chowder and crab sandwiches from a shack across from the boats. Eat at the picnic tables. Cash and card, often a line.
Fishetarian Fish Market
Fish and chips, fish tacos, chowder and a market counter. Casual, quick and consistently good.
Terrapin Creek Café
A small, long-admired restaurant with a seasonal menu built around local fish and produce. Book ahead.
Inns and lodges
Rooms are few and weekends sell out months ahead in summer and fall. Midweek and winter are easier and often cheaper.
Jenner Inn
Rooms, cottages and suites scattered around the village, many with river or ocean views and fireplaces. The classic Jenner stay since the 1970s.
River's End Inn
A few cabins and rooms on the bluff beside the restaurant, with the river mouth outside the window. Sunset without leaving your room.
Timber Cove Resort
A dramatic 1960s redwood lodge on the cliffs past Fort Ross, redone with mid-century style, the Coast Kitchen restaurant and bar, fire pits and the Bufano peace totem on the point.
Fort Ross Lodge
Sixteen simple ocean-view rooms with fireplaces and hot tubs on the bluff just south of Fort Ross. Quiet, dark skies, whales from the lawn.
Ocean Cove Lodge
Sixteen motel-style rooms on the bluff at Ocean Cove, between Fort Ross and Stillwater Cove, with a bar and grill on site. The handy base for Salt Point, the dive coves and the north end of the coast.
Bodega Bay
The Lodge at Bodega Bay (with Drakes Sonoma Coast restaurant), Bodega Harbor Inn and several motels give you more choice and a spa, with Jenner a twenty-minute drive up the coast.
Houses in and around Jenner
Dozens of homes on the hillside above the village and on the ridges north of town are let through the usual rental sites. Look for "Jenner" and "Sea Ranch to Jenner" and check the cell and internet notes carefully.
Camping
State park sites book through ReserveCalifornia up to six months ahead. Summer weekends go in minutes.
Wright's Beach
The only campground on this coast with sites right on the sand. No hookups, cold showers nearby at Bodega Dunes. Hugely popular.
Bodega Dunes
A big campground in the dunes behind Salmon Creek Beach with RV sites, showers and trails to the beach. The easy family option.
Willow Creek & Pomo Canyon
Primitive, quiet, under redwoods or by the river. Pomo Canyon sits at the trailhead for the hike to Shell Beach. Bring everything, including water.
Stillwater Cove Regional Park
A Sonoma County park above a small cove past Fort Ross, with a creek trail and sites in the trees. Books through Sonoma County Regional Parks, not the state system.
Casini Ranch Family Campground
A private campground on a bend of the Russian River with a swimming beach, kayak rentals and all the amenities. Good for RVs and groups.
Salt Point State Park
Two campgrounds in the pines above the tafoni coast, with Fort Ross and the wine country on the way back to Jenner.