Colonial Terrace Inn by the Sea in Carmel

Excellent location, great breakfast delivered to our room every morning. Property grounds are beautiful and staff is very helpful and nice. We are a family of 3 stayed 4 days in unit 26 overlooking the ocean. It was a very spacious suite. We will be back.

Great location is the USP. It's an old place but maintained well.
Not very convenient if you have seniors with knee issues.
Limited choice of breakfast.
No kitchen / restaurant.
We stayed in a 2BR suite with oceanview. It's their largest suite and it had a kitchenette with burners, microwave, mini fridge n few utensils.
Other rooms don't have kitchenette.
Our room had gas fireplace too.

My +1 and I spent a few days in Carmel, and decided to stay at the Colonial Terrace. In short, the grounds are beautiful, the room was cozy, and the staff was very accommodating.

The location is only one street up from the beach, and a 5-10 minute walk to downtown. There is a pretty good hill you have to walk up if you take Ocean Avenue, but we thought being closer to the water was worth it.

We decided to get a queen size room with a partial ocean view. Since we had a little one with us, we asked for a crib and refrigerator (available upon request) in our room a few days before we arrived. We were told by Brenda that our room was too small for either, but she offered to upgrade us to a larger room with a courtyard view at no charge. We appreciated the offer, but were looking forward to the ocean view so we declined and decided to bring an ice chest with us instead.

When we got there, I checked in with Mark, who was pretty helpful with advice on our stay. I pushed my luck and mentioned that I knew our room was too small for a refrigerator, but I asked if they had a mini fridge. We were in luck! He brought one over right away and didn't have to rely on the cooler.

Our room was small but had a glimpse of the ocean, and we were happy. The bed was a bit soft, but that's just personal preference. Everything was clean and homey and we enjoyed our stay. A continental breakfast menu was offered with our stay, and we ordered our bagels, pastries, coffee and juice the night before and it was delivered. Be advised that if you're looking for something low carb or keto-friendly, you're on your own, but that's to be expected with continental breakfasts. One morning we were shorted coffees and a bagel, but we called the front desk and they brought everything right over.

Also, because of COVID, room service was by request only and we left our breakfast trays outside to be picked up. I tried to tip the staff extra by leaving a bill conspicuously under the corner of the tray, but I found it left there when I returned. I chalked it up to a safety precaution since most places don't take cash these days.

Overall we had a great time. If I stayed there again I might spring for a larger room with a balcony and ocean view, but we thoroughly enjoyed our room and stay. Thank you to the staff for making us feel welcome and taking such good care of us.

Great location one block from the ocean. The front desk has chairs and towels you can borrow for the beach which great. Lots of cute outdoor seating and a fireplace which was cool. Staff was very nice. Our room (queen courtyard view) could use an update but was good value for the price.