Four-star One MICHELIN Key Santa Monica, Los Angeles
Casa del Mar
A 1926 beach club on the sand at Santa Monica, red tile roof and wrought-iron balconies, with the pier a short walk along the shore.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key
- Rooms
- 129, including 17 suites
- Opened
- May 1926, as a beach club
- From the airport
- About 25 minutes from LAX, our estimate
The hotel
A hundred years on the beach.
Club Casa del Mar opened on 1 May 1926, a private beach club for Hollywood and Southern California society. The Los Angeles architect Charles F. Plummer gave it an Italian Renaissance Revival front, red tiles and iron balconies. The club had gone by 1960. The US Navy took the building in 1941, and from 1967 it housed Synanon, a drug rehabilitation group later known for its authoritarian ways. For decades the beach club was a building put to other uses.
Edward Thomas Hospitality, owner of Shutters on the Beach next door, bought it in 1997 and spent more than fifty million dollars restoring it. Casa del Mar reopened as a hotel in 1999 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The interiors are by Michael S. Smith, and in May 2026 the building turned a hundred. The MICHELIN Guide has given it one Key since 2024.
- On the sand The hotel sits directly on the beach, with the Santa Monica Pier, shops and restaurants within walking distance.
- The pool An outdoor pool and hot tub look over the beach and the Pacific.
- The lobby A lobby lounge with semi-private cabanas, for a drink or a light meal by the sea.
Rooms & suites
Four-poster beds and the Pacific.
Rooms have four-poster walnut beds, white linens with blue and ivory accents, and bathrooms in Italian white marble.
- Rooms Ocean-view rooms Arched windows and the feel of a beach estate, some looking straight out to sea.
- On two floors Penthouse Suites Three of them, each over two floors with a living room and fireplace, a dining area, and one or two bedrooms.
Dining
Three places to eat, all facing the sea.
Venues as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- Terrazza Pacific and Mediterranean Floor-to-ceiling windows over the ocean
- Patio del Mar Seafood bistro Outdoors, next to the sand
- Lobby Lounge Drinks and light plates With cabanas in the lobby
Recognition
Awards and listings.
- One MICHELIN Key Since the first US selection, 2024
- Forbes Travel Guide Four stars, 2026
- National Register of Historic Places Listed building
Good to know
Before you go.
- Children Welcome at any age. Under eighteens stay free in an existing bed.
- Pets Accepted on request, with a charge.
- Next door Shutters on the Beach, its sister hotel, is next door.
Getting there
Flying to Los Angeles.
LAX is about 25 minutes away by car, our estimate, longer at rush hour. Private jets mostly use Van Nuys, about 35 minutes by our estimate; Santa Monica Airport is closer, but its shortened runway keeps out larger jets.
- Las Vegas 50 min
- Aspen 1 h 55
- Los Cabos 2 h 20
- New York 5 h 30
- London 11 h 50 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Is Casa del Mar on the beach?
- Yes. The hotel stands directly on the sand in Santa Monica, a short walk from the pier.
- How many MICHELIN Keys does Casa del Mar have?
- One. It was among the five Santa Monica hotels given a Key in the first US selection in 2024.
- How old is Casa del Mar?
- It opened in May 1926 as a private beach club and became a hotel in 1999, after a restoration begun in 1997.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Los Angeles?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Los Angeles, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Los Angeles
Other hotels worth the trip.
- The Beverly Hills Hotel, Dorchester Collection A piece of old Hollywood, with three MICHELIN Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating.
- Hotel Bel-Air, Dorchester Collection A secluded garden hideaway in Bel Air, the other Three-Key hotel in Los Angeles.
- The Maybourne Beverly Hills Spanish Colonial lines in Beverly Hills, and the only Two-Key hotel in the city rated Five-Star by Forbes.
- The Peninsula Beverly Hills Central Beverly Hills, with Two MICHELIN Keys and The Peninsula Spa.
- L'Ermitage Beverly Hills A Beverly Hills hotel with A-list amenities, Two Keys and a Forbes Four-Star rating.
- Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills (A Four Seasons Hotel) At the foot of Rodeo Drive since 1928, with Wolfgang Puck's CUT downstairs.
- Chateau Marmont The only hotel in West Hollywood with Two MICHELIN Keys.
- Shutters on the Beach A beach hotel in Santa Monica, also rated Four-Star by Forbes.
- Regent Santa Monica Beach Modern rooms by the ocean and a Guerlain Wellness Spa.
- Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills On South Doheny Drive, with a fourth floor given over to wellness rooms and lobby flowers by Jeff Leatham.
- Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills Every room has a balcony, and the pool and the Gemma restaurant are up on the roof above Wilshire Boulevard.
- The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles Its rooms fill the upper floors of a Downtown tower at L.A. Live, and a seasonal bar opens on the 26th-floor sun deck.
- SLS Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Beverly Hills Philippe Starck designed it as his first luxury hotel in North America, where Beverly Hills meets West Hollywood.
Staying at Casa del Mar?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Los Angeles, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.