The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa

Location. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is one-quarter mile from the Main Street Pedestrian Mall in Riverside, Calif. The hotel is one-half mile from the Riverside Convention Center. The Santa Ana River and Lake Evans are within two miles. Riverside Plaza is three miles away.

Hotel Features. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa spans 2.5 acres and features arches, gargoyles, stained- and leaded- glass windows, wrought iron accents and a pergola. The lobby's architecture includes dark beamed ceilings, stucco wall arches and wooden pillars lining the corridor. A 94-foot carpet displays the names of all 21 California missions arranged by founding dates. The hotel's museum, offering daily tours, exhibits international art collections. Tuscany-inspired Kelly's Spa offers massages and body treatments with herbs and oils used in Italy. The hotel includes an outdoor pool and a spa tub. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa offers four restaurants. Mission Inn Restaurant serves eclectic California cuisine on the Spanish Patio. Duane's Prime Steaks & Seafood features award-winning wines. Las Campanas offers authentic Mexican cuisine in an outdoor garden with a bright blue tile fountain and a weathered-rock waterfall. Bella Trattoria features Italian fare, such as brick oven-baked pizzas, build-your-own pastas and pressed Panini sandwiches. Eleven meeting rooms provide 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor events space.

Guestrooms. Guestrooms at Mission Inn Hotel & Spa feature antique and oriental furnishings. Rooms include desks and minibars. Refrigerators are available upon request. Beds feature triple-sheets and oversized pillows. Hypo-allergenic bedding may be available upon request. Select beds include down comforters and duvets. Fabrics display earth tones. Thirty-two inch plasma televisions offer video-game consoles. High-speed Internet access is available for a fee. Rooms include blackout drapes and windows that open. Select rooms feature fireplaces. Bathrooms provide shower/tub combinations, scales and bathrobes.

Expert Tip. Built in 1876 by Christopher Columbus Miller and sold to his son Frank Miller in 1880, Mission Inn Hotel & Spa began as a two-story 12-room adobe boarding house. Through additions and renovations, the hotel was transformed into its current collection of contrasting and complementing elements: arcades and orange gardens, turrets and domes, flying buttresses and spiraling staircases, and catacombs and carillon towers.