The Sylvia Beach Hotel

I had previously posted about the Sylvia Beach Hotel and how excited I was to visit it when I went to Oregon this summer. Even with such high expectations, Hayley and I were not disappointed by the charm of this quirky and cozy destination for book lovers.

Garden and porch that welcomes you into the hotel.

A permanent guest.


Street in Nye Beach.

The Sylvia Beach Hotel is located in a historic part of the city of Newport, Oregon, called Nye Beach. Words that would adequately describe the shops, restaurants, and galleries of Nye Beach would include: artsy, vegan, unique, handmade, original, etc. It has an almost Laguna Beachy vibe, only less affluent and not as manufactured. The hotel itself is incredible, sitting on top of a little cliff that overlooks the beach. Each room is themed after a different author, but not in a fake Disneyed-out kind of way. You can tell that the props and decor must have taken years to acquire, making for rooms full of personality and atmospheres that really do capture the taste of their respectful writers' works. Although we didn't stay at the hotel, Hayley and I made dinner reservations for the hotel's Tables of Content restaurant. Dinner is served family-style, and we were excited to meet our evening's company. (More on that in my next post.)

Before dinner, we were able to mosey about the hotel and peek into some of the rooms that guests had not checked into yet. Here are some of the ones we were able to see:

The Agatha Christie Room, the perfect place for mystery solving (there's even a magnifying glass hanging on the door)...

The Shakespeare Room, with enough props to stage any of his plays, and an awesome writing desk if inspirations strikes for some late-night sonnet writing...

The Mark Twain room, with all his books on the mantel....


And, a room I would never stay in...the Poe room, complete with a creepy pendulum over the bed, a sinister raven to stare at you all night, and a walled-up Fortunato...In pace requiescat.

This hotel is definitely on the quirky side and not for everyone, not even for every book lover. There's no Wi-Fi, computers, TVs, radios, or phones in any of the rooms. But there are plenty of books and cozy places to read and coffee and tea are always available. Best of all, there's a library on the third floor with a beautiful ocean view. It's a place that provides escape and inspires exploration.

And I'll be back...