National Exchange Hotel

Not often do you get to experience a hotel built in the 1800's that maintains the same vibe and ambiance. Perfect location in the center of historic Nevada City, a Northern California destination.

Enjoyed our stay at the National for two nights while visiting Nevada City. Lovely hotel, and for the most part, friendly servers. Wonderful bed; thermostat that works perfectly; plenty of hot water! Tiny details that would have made our visit even better are: a couple of hooks in bathroom; lotion, hair dryer, hooks for wet coats. Two coffee envelopes not enough for two people; need creamer in room. Stale muffin for breakfast not good enough; should have to-go cups for coffee. P.S. we don't need a gold metal seal on the t.p.--no need to "force" being upscale.

They obviously spent some money renovating an ancient hotel. The restaurant was superb. Some attractive design.

Our king studio room was dark with an airshaft view and was poorly lit (a choice between a 250 watt overhead fixture and 40 watt bedside lamps. The furniture in the room was poorly chosen to maximize livability. Rotten price/value relationship.

The hotel is nice and clean, the staff was great. Reservations were made easy and room location was over looking the main street with our own private balcony. Alexie at the front desk, even took the time to let us know some of the best restaurants and the locations.

I was disappointed with room 210 because it is marketed as a suite, but the sitting room cannot be closed off from the sleeping room which removes the advantage of a suite. Further, it is adjacent to a noisy common area.

Our experience with the National Exchange Hotel started off amazing but then sorta slid downhill. We booked a birthday staycation here specifically so I could use the clawfoot tub in Room 317, since we don't have a tub at home. The person who made the reservation for me was amazing—super-friendly, understood the importance of getting that specific room (since there are only two with tubs in the whole hotel), and even found us a discount. When we got to the hotel, there was no parking. They only have about 15 spaces for a 38-room hotel and no contract with any other parking lots in the area. The desk clerk frostily informed us we could pay to park on the street (3-hour limit, meters are off from 6pm to 9am) as if we were somehow being unreasonable for expecting the hotel to have a parking spot for us. We checked the hotel lot multiple time throughout that day and night, but no spaces ever opened up. I was expecting our King Suite room to be like the ones with the big windows pictured on the website. Instead, we had a view of another room across an airshaft, not unlike that of some of the microhotels we've stayed in in big cities. If you're a New Yorker, you'll feel right at home! The room and bathroom were spacious and attractively designed, but the tub faces a blank wall and there is barely any storage in the bathroom or bedroom. No closet, armoire or dresser—but at least they've invested in wall hooks! The bed linens and mattress were super comfy, and I loved the plush new towels in the bathroom. The clawfoot tub definitely lived up to expectations. It has smooth, curvy edges that make getting in and out easy, and it keeps the water nice and warm. However, the shower door leaves a large gap that allowed water to leak out and flood the bathroom floor. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Lola, which has been a favorite of ours for years. I don't know if it's the policies of the new management or just the fact that it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but the meal was pretty disappointing. The chicken was dry yet the veggies were soggy. The $65 ribeye is now 12 ounces (half of that gristle) instead of 16 ounces, and they're serving it with home fries instead of mashed potatoes...? Also, it took us 45 minutes to get our food. They did bring us free birthday ice cream, though! The next morning my husband ran out at 9am to feed the meter and I called down to order breakfast from the restaurant, which you have to go pick up because they don't have room service. That took 90 minutes. When we tried to use the $10 restaurant discount card they'd given us at check-in, the same frosty clerk from the previous day informed us it wasn't good for takeaway orders—definitely something they could have mentioned either at check-in or when we placed our order. To top it off, we got to our car 2 minutes after the meter expired and already had a $50 parking ticket. That's on us, of course, but parking would not have been such a sour note during our whole stay if the hotel had provided it. Not sure why they don't just contract with a local lot and then charge guests a nightly parking fee.

We were delighted by our stay! Beyond the physical charm, we appreciated the friendliness of the staff, the excellence of the restaurant’s food and service, and the community feel of the bar as a gathering place where you can often hear live music. You won’t want to miss this experience.