Staying at Hotel Cerro San Luis Obispo means being in the heart of downtown, in this super chic boutique hotel. Seriously, the design aesthetic here is on point!
I’ve been writing up a ton of travel guides to SLO after my recent central coast trip this summer, and I had to do a detailed hotel review on Hotel Cerro.
I can’t believe I’ve never spent time in SLO before this year! It’s so cute and there’s so much fun stuff to do.
I have friends who went to Cal Poly and they always talk about how much they love San Luis Obispo, so I was excited to check it out. And it did not disappoint!
It’s a cute college town, with plenty of beautiful nature surrounding it.
Although, it didn’t feel overly like a college town because we were there in the summer. During normal, non-panny years, be sure to check when SLO graduation weekend is and avoid that time. It’ll be super busy and might be tough to get restaurant reservations.
Pssst, heading to San Luis Obispo? Don’t miss these travel guides to help you plan your trip!
Things to do in San Luis Obispo (SLO Travel Guide)
Best Restaurants in SLO
San Luis Obispo Downtown Guide
What to Do in San Luis Obispo (Top 17 Things)
Top San Luis Obispo Wineries
If you’re looking for the perfect place to stay during your SLO trip, Hotel Cerro is where it’s at.
After spending a warm afternoon running around Cal Poly and checking out the Architecture Graveyard, we checked into Hotel Cerro. Let’s get into my full review!
Hotel Cerro San Luis Obispo Review
Location:
1125 Garden Street
San Luis Obispo, CA
As I mentioned, Hotel Cerro is ideally located right in the center of downtown SLO.
You’ll be able to easily walk to the farmers market, all the best San Luis Obispo restaurants, sights like the Mission and the Modern Art Museum, downtown events, and cute boutiques like Ambiance.
Truly, the location could not be more primo.
SLO in general is a great middle meeting point if you’re getting together with friends and some are based in northern California while others are based in southern California. It took us about 3.5 hours from San Francisco.
Parking:
We were happy to find that there’s underground parking available, although no valet services and it’s self-park only (I think this was due to the panny).
While you could certainly get away with not having a car at all and just sticking to the downtown area, it’s nice to be able to drive to things outside of downtown like the different beaches, Hearst Castle, or even Paso Robles for the day (which is about a 40-minute drive from SLO).
Rooms:
Our room was lovely and had nice amenities like pour-over coffee (gotta have good coffee in the AM, ya know what I mean?).
We also had a cute little (and I do mean little) deck area that we could sit out and enjoy our morning coffee on.
The rooms and the hotel itself all have a very minimalist, mid-century modern vibe with a little industrial chic mixed in there. You know I love mid-century modern style so I was all about it.
The only thing that kinda threw me off was the showers. They are open-air without a door, because, again, minimalist chic. That’s usually not my favorite design because I get cold in open showers that don’t have doors.
Our shower ended up getting water all over the entire bathroom floor. I called down to the front desk about it and they said they’d never had that issue before. So maybe it was a fluke, but we never could figure out how to take a shower without getting the whole bathroom floor sopping wet. Just something to watch out for and maybe ask about/get some help with if you book this hotel and have issues with the shower when you’re there!
Overall, the rooms were really nice and the perfect place to unwind and just feel comfortable after a day out exploring places like Hearst Castle or checking out the SLO farmers market.
Food:
We had dinner at Hotel Cerro’s restaurant, Brasserie SLO, and we really enjoyed it. These mussels were soo delicious.
The interior has a great ambiance, but the outdoor courtyard area is also really lovely. We loved the whole outdoor vibe with the fire pits and cozy tables.
They make some great cocktails as well, so stopping by the bar before heading out for the evening isn’t a bad idea either.
This purple concoction with gin and violet liqueur was a winner!
Rooftop Pool:
We were obviously really excited about the rooftop pool! It’s absolutely beautiful and such a relaxing spot to spend an afternoon.
There were tons of cabanas available for lounging on (at no additional charge—a rarity at hotels) and we soaked up the views of the rolling hills from up here.
I just wish there was a hot tub up here! I definitely would have spent an evening stargazing from it.
Gym:
I managed to get in a workout while we were here (really proud of myself because it’s always so tough to motivate myself to workout while I’m on vacation!) and while the gym was under construction at that time, it was well-stocked with all the essentials that I needed for my workout.
Spa Cerro:
We didn’t get massages while we were staying at Hotel Cerro, although I wish we did! You can check out their spa menu here.
If you’re not booking a stay at Hotel Cerro, you can book a massage at Spa Cerro and also get access to the rooftop pool for the day as well.
Those are all the deets on Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo! If I haven’t convinced you to book a stay here yet, I haven’t done my job, lol.
If you’re heading to SLO and have questions, feel free to shoot me an email or DM me on Insta, @wtfab!
Heading to Central California? Don’t miss these guides:
Things to do in San Luis Obispo (SLO Travel Guide)
Best Restaurants in SLO
San Luis Obispo Downtown Guide
What to Do in San Luis Obispo (Top 17 Things)
Top San Luis Obispo Wineries
Best Beaches in San Luis Obispo
Camping in San Luis Obispo
Airbnb San Luis Obispo
Mission San Luis Obispo, but Make it Pink
FAQs
Hotel Cerro offers a pool, on-site restaurants, spa, gym, and free wifi.
Yes, Hotel Cerro has a pool that you can use from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.
Prices vary depending on the room you stay in. Prices range from $345 per night to $535 per night.
Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
