Drove down from SF to Carnel on Thanksgiving eve. Chanced upon this charming, delightful inn with romantic idyllic ambience, close to Carmel Beach. Easy accessible parking right at door step. Spent the night at the Dolphin room which has a lovely fireplace , spacious bathroom and well maintained furnishings. There is also generous supply of amenities. Staff here are friendly and helpful. Strongly recommend this place as the rates are very reasonable. Great value for money!

Pros: Great location, quaint shabby chic setting & storybook architecture. Run smoothly by competent staff. They provide lotz of towels and a nice little breakfast.

Cons: Needs many small repairs. Shower is inadequate.

We have stayed at several other inns in Carmel. This time we wanted to try the Lamp Lighter Inn as it is an icon of Carmel storybook architecture. We stayed in the Bluebird cottage. The living area was nice but there were quite a few little things that needed attention. The TV and the fireplace didn't work properly and there were other small things that had not been attended to ie: several light light bulbs out and poorly maintained windows & shutters. Our biggest complaint was the shower. Very cramped, with about a 6 foot clearance and only a hand held shower head with very little water pressure.... a broken soap dish, an ugly defunct soap dispenser and just old & unappealing. The management needs to take a closer look.

That being said we loved our stay in Carmel. Recommend Graisings, Flying Fish Grille & Roys at the Inn at Spanish Bay for terrific dining.

I have stayed at this Inn twice now in the last year. Both times were great. The best part about this inn is the fabulous location! It is right on Ocean Avenue about 2 blocks from the beach, and 1 block from all of the great shops and restaurants in Carmel. The rooms are cute and charming. The inn delivers breakfast to your door in the morning. The Treetop room has a very small shower and sink. To accomodate for the tiny bathroom sink, the inn has placed a sink/vanity combo in the room. The Concours suite is very roomy and has a nice bathroom.

Stayed at the Lamp Lighter Inn, Hansel and Gretel cottage.

The Good: Awesome having your own cottage, with a fireplace. The small upstairs loft is great for kids! The place even has a small kitchen! Very cozy and cute.

The Bad: It sits right on the sidewalk that tourist use to go to the beach. (see picture) Very noisy! Ocean ave is right outside your front door! The place has a “Dutch” door, and when you have it open, EVERYONE wants to look in and talk to you about the place. You get a small breakfast in the morning. When mine arrived both milks had expired dates on them, one was like cottage cheese! Very gross. Doesn’t seem like they pay much attention to the small details. The places are old, old, old. Need a lot of updating. The shower/bathroom area is cramped and I wouldn’t recommend it for a group/family of over 3. Also some of the windows do not close all the way. They are just open/half open all the time.

The Ugly: Carpet, furniture with cigarette burns (and smell), and weird heater?A/C? unit by the TV.

If you could get the place for less than $280.00 (US) a night, it might be worth it. It’s a cute place and great idea not being attached to anyone. Staff is nice and tried to remedy my sour-milk problem, but didn’t have any that where not expired! If you could put up with those things and just eat breakfast at Katy’s Place, then all should go ok!