The Historic Brookdale Lodge, Santa Cruz Mountains

Our family had such a great time here. We found this lil gem because we wanted to get away from downtown Santa Cruz and expand our search to find this beautiful wooded area. We love the location! It is such a beautiful and peaceful place to enjoy a few days. The lodge was pretty cool, and the rooms were definitely spacious and clean. Love the bathroom, hot water, nice lighted led mirror upgrade. It was nice to have the fridge/ freezer combo. **Now for the unexpected part... we were unaware that the Brookdale lodge was known for being haunted until the day before we were set to arrive. We were a little nervous but decided we would be ok as long as we didn't go looking for anything or inviting anything in with us. However, our first night, we were up a little late watching movies and heard some pretty loud thumping noises & footsteps coming from above us. We were in room 107 and heard this above us in 207. Honestly, we didn't think anything of it and just figured obviously there were people upstairs moving around and up just like us. The second night, around 2am, we were woken up by even louder footsteps and noises. We could hear someone literally running back and forth, then almost like someone was jumping up and down. We sat there for a little bit and thought maybe we should say something to the front desk in the morning. It eventually stopped, and we went back to bed. Later that morning, we were watching TV and getting ready to leave when we heard the loud thumps again overhead. We all looked at each other and started laughing, not knowing what kind of party was going on upstairs again. Shortly, we headed out the door to go to the boardwalk when we ran into Fabi. She was cleaning the rooms next door, so we asked if she knew if there were a lot of people staying in the room above us, and she said no. She told us her friend works upstairs and she had rooms to clean but not any that were around us......

It's an historical place with lodge architecture in a beautiful mountain setting. The room was a nice size. The desk was helpful. The Italian restaurant in the town to the North was excellent. Very close to the Redwoods.

The property is in the mist of a remodel/renovation but I absolutely loved everything about it. I’d never heard of it or new it’s history before I arrived but I instantly fell in love with it. The location is perfect being surrounded by redwoods and only a couple minutes from Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek. The room was spacious and very comfortable, especially the bed. It’s nice having a porch and being able to almost black out the room while sleeping was great. All the staff was nice and accommodating. And their market has most anything you might need if you don’t feel like driving the 2 mins to town. I plan to be back often and can’t wait to see it when renovations are complete. Especially the Ballroom with the river running through it. This spot was a great find!

Just a short drive to Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek and Felton. The room was modern, clean and comfortable.

The place is clearly an older facility, but it has undergone some nice renovations. I have seen other renovations at facilities that were mere band-aids to cover problems. These updates were well done, using quality materials, and you can tell that the staff is working hard to maintain the facility and keep it comfortable while not losing the charm of decades past. The little cafe below is excellent. The food was great and the service quite good.