Just returned from Bacara and the only real disappointment was the weather, cold and rainy most of my time there. My room was located in Building 20, not the most ideal location (near the parking lot, lower level) but our veranda looked out at the courtyard of the hotel grounds.

The room itself was decorated beautifully and loved the turndown service at night. The spa staff was extremely accomodating (I had to rearrange one of my appoointments) and I found the 2 treatments that I had to be top notch (and I have been to many spas across the country). The gym at Bacara is great: plenty of machines, treadmills and elipiticals and unlike some places you don't have to sign in when you utilize the facilities. The pool area was gorgeous but unfortunately we couldn't utilize it due to the inclement weather. My only complaint was the food was extremely high priced. On average breakfast was $65.00 a day for 2 adults. Other people I was with also complained about the outrageous room service prices (they automatically add gratuity and delivery charge). The food was of superior quality though. I checked in on a Saturday and it was a nice touch that in the lobby they had a butler serving frozen smoothies, at 5:00PM they switched it over to champagne.

Overall a very, very nice resort.

Read all of the reviews for this resort and agree with a great many of them.

When selecting to stay at this resort, make absolutely sure where your room is. Which building it is in and what is the room number, and ask to see a picture from the balcony to see if you have a view.

The room we were first given (rate $550.00 per night) was a very nice looking room (Bldg 13-Room 205) with a nice bathroom and a nice balcony. Problen was, the view from the balcony was of a stucco wall 6' feet away, the midlle section of Palm tree trunk, and two broken accent lights for that tree. Basically there was NO view. So why have a balcony.

We contacted the management, because we stayed 3/27/06 and 3/27/06 (Monday and Tuesday), to ask for another room. The resort was a ghost town, maybe 20% occupancy. After discussions lasting more than an hour, management relented and moved us to another room (Bldg 32 Rom 208) with at least a view of the landscaping but next to the entrance to the resort and the resorts laundry facilities. Every car, truck, buggy, that came and went we heard, plus the laundry people work in the we hours of the morning.We accepted the room, because you basically sleep and shower in the room. Later that night, thought, we realized that this room also is next to the train tracks for several freight and passenger lines. But we stayed the course.

It is as another reviewer stated, if you do not spend $1500 for one of the very fews rooms with a view, stay somewhere else. The Pacific Ocean is the attraction of this resort, problem is 95% of the rooms cannot see it, and the beach oozes tar. So make sure you leave your feathers at home, the tar will ruin any nice shoes you wear to the beach.

The staff: baretenders, bellmen (specially Alex), the valets, the massage therapists, waiters are all wonderful and exceptionally helpful and want to please. The resort management and the spa front desk personnel are very difficult to work with.

Unless you can afford to spend at least $1500 a night for a decent room don't bother to stay here. We paid about $500 a night and the ONLY reason we went there in the first place was the fabulous negative edge swimming pool. Got situated by the pool in the early afternoon and were there less than an hour when management came through like storm troopers telling everyone they had to leave! (even the people who were paying BIG BUCKS per night) Turns out there was a private wedding scheduled that afternoon and all night and they somehow reserved the entire pool area. Management did not tell their guests the pool would be closed. After being literally kicked out of the pool we retired to our room where we enjoyed the vented bathroom door so everyone in the room could hear EVERYTHING that went on in the bathroom! Also had a $160 dinner that severly lacked service and almost poor quality food. After spending over $700 to use the pool for less than an hour we politely refused a measly bottle of champagne for being inconvenienced. This hotel is so over priced for what you get that there is no word in the English language that can describe just how truly bad it is.

I have read many reviews before I make the reservation. My stay was on an average busy weekend and I did have a good time.

Spa - It is not as nice as the La Costa Spa in Carlsbad, CA but it is an average spa. I have a organic facial done and it is nice. I have to agree with another reviewer that the attendant of the spa really do not speak very good English, and not extremely attentive. I would suggest that they should improve in several ways. 1. Have a small tour/explanation of what kind of facilities they have if you are a first timer. 2. More magazine and drinks selections at the waiting lounge. 3. Some ice-cold cucumber. 4. Some plastic bags for your wet swimsuit.

Room - The room size is decent and the decoration is pretty nice and pleasant. But it is very noisy!!! The sound insulation is very bad. I was lucky that I did not stay at a super busy time.

Dining - I have dined at both the miro and the bistro. The food at miro is very nice; I would suggest the duck breast entree. Dinner at miro is fairly expensive about 100/person if you select a moderate price wine. Bistro is great for having your morning breakfast, beautiful ocean view and the price is good 25/person for breakfast.

Pool/Beach - The pool is great and has great view. Great well-wired cabana for busy people that still need to be wired during the stay :(. The spa pool is salt water, very nice. The beach is very rocky....... not a beach worth to go near.

I would give it an OK.....