Ojai keeps coming up. It is a market Michelle Graci knows intimately and sells in regularly, because her clients simply can't stay away. Clients who spend a weekend there come back different. Not dramatically. Just slower. A little quieter. Usually asking whether anything is available nearby.
Michelle Graci, realtor to the stars, has watched Ojai change over the years in a way most places don't manage — it's gotten better without losing the thing that made it worth going to. 2026 is a very exciting time for the community. New restaurants, renovated historical hotel, an atmosphere that makes a visit during a weekend feel adventurous and not just something to tick off the list.
Here's what Michelle tells clients when they ask. The short version is: go. The longer version is below.
Where to Eat
Highly Likely — 211 W Ojai Ave
Michelle started mentioning this one the week it opened and hasn't stopped. Chef Kat Turner — Top Chef, if you follow that world — took over the old Beacon Coffee space and turned it into something all-day and genuinely hard to categorize. Mediterranean-Asian is the label but that doesn't quite do it. Eggs with whipped tahini and pita. Maitake mushroom toast. Chicken with hot honey and yuzu aioli. The room feels settled and unhurried in a way that new places usually don't. Her clients who go once always end up going back the next morning.
Breakfast through dinner. Bring a bigger appetite than you think you need.
Condor Bar & La Cocina — Hotel El Roblar, 122 E Ojai Ave
You don't have to be staying at El Roblar to eat here, and Michelle makes that clear every time she brings it up. Condor Bar is the hotel's Mexican restaurant — Santa Maria-style grill, good cocktails, a room that got the restoration right. It has the bones of a 1919 building and the feel of somewhere that's been running for years. La Cocina next door does the daytime side: European-style breakfast and lunch, indoor and outdoor, easy and good. Michelle says clients go in for one drink at the bar and text her from the table two hours later. The martini gets mentioned a lot. So does the chicken.
Order the chicken at Condor. Don't skip it.
Radio Roma & Taco Roma — 307 E Ojai Ave
This one surprises people. Ojai isn't a nightlife town, which makes Radio Roma all the more worth knowing about. By day, there is Taco Roma, the laid-back place with its Mexican Street Food inspired by Mexico City, family friendly, and tostadas de atún that make people come back for. By night, Radio Roma opens up and everything changes, becoming a mezcal bar and a listening space, complete with vintage Klipsch speakers and vinyl DJs. The food comes from the same kitchen. The churros with dulce de leche have been written up by Eater. Michelle mentions it to clients who assume Ojai shuts down after dinner. It doesn't. Not here anyway.
Reserve for Radio Roma on weekends. Gets packed after 9pm.
Olivella — Ojai Valley Inn, 905 Country Club Rd
Forbes Five-Star, dinner only, and the reason Michelle tells clients to save room in their budget for one real meal. Olivella is the serious restaurant at the Ojai Valley Inn — Italian-California, everything sourced locally, menu changes based on what's actually in season rather than what looks good printed on a card. The patio faces the Topatopa Mountains and the wine list is the kind that takes you a while to get through. For a client celebrating something, or who just wants one meal that justifies the whole trip, this is the one she sends them to. And if Olivella's price point is too much, The Oak is right there on the same property — casual, all day, outdoor pergola, same beautiful setting for a fraction of the cost.
Dinner only, Wednesday through Sunday. Book early — it's small and it fills.
Where to Stay
Hotel El Roblar — 122 E Ojai Ave
And this is the buzz around Ojai at the moment, which Michelle never fails to mention. El Roblar is the original hotel here; 1919, Spanish Revival, witnessed it all, and it reopened during the summer of 2025, with renovations done in such a way that it retains its original charm yet feels incredibly contemporary. It is spread out over fifty rooms located in the original structure, the newly built Sycamore House, and private bungalows with courtyard gardens and fireplaces. Michelin picked it up almost immediately. The Condor Bar is inside. La Cocina is inside. There are very few reasons to leave.
Get a bungalow. The courtyard and fireplace at night are worth whatever extra you pay.
Ojai Valley Inn — 905 Country Club Rd
Been here since 1923 and still the gold standard. Michelle sends clients to the Ojai Valley Inn when they're coming with family and need a property that genuinely works for everyone — kids' club, multiple pools, golf course, spa, four restaurants on site. You could spend a whole weekend without needing a car and not feel like you missed anything. The spa specifically keeps coming up in client conversations. And the sunset from the property is one of those views that ends up in phone backgrounds. It just does.
Spa books out fast on weekends. Don't leave that one for last minute.
Caravan Outpost — 311 W Ojai Ave
Not for everyone, which is exactly why Michelle likes recommending it. Vintage Airstream trailers, proper bathrooms, a campfire circle, free bikes, and a five-minute walk to Highly Likely. Clients who stay here tend to say the fire circle on Saturday night was the part they remember most — strangers talking, that particular Ojai quiet around the edges. It's nothing like the Ojai Valley Inn and that's the whole point. For a couple or a group of friends who want Ojai without the bill that comes with a five-star resort, Caravan is genuinely the right call.
Walk everywhere from here. Grab the bikes and don't overthink it.
What to Do
Shelf Road Trail
Michelle recommends this one first, every time, regardless of how fit someone is. It's an old abandoned road that runs along the north side of the valley — 3.5 miles round trip, easy grade, orange and avocado groves on both sides, big views of the valley the whole way. You can do it before breakfast. The pink moment — that unique light which touches the Topatopa mountains in the evening, starts from here and it is not a scene from the postcard but from life. No special equipment is needed. This trail reveals why so many people return to Ojai.
Start at North Signal Street. Late afternoon is when the light does what it does.
Topatopa Bluff Trail — Sisar Canyon Rd, Upper Ojai
Michelle is upfront about this one: it's tough. 10.5 miles long and almost 4,000 feet up in elevation, this one is for experienced hikers only. That said, the feedback from her clients who have taken this hike is unmistakably authentic. It begins with a gorgeous walk along Sisar Canyon – with its flowing water, sycamore trees, giant oaks; you'll feel like you're in another universe altogether. And then the challenge kicks in. From the summit, you will have an amazing view on clear days, all the way out to the Channel Islands.
Go early. More water than you think. This is not a casual Saturday hike.
Cloud Climber Jeep Tours
Open-air jeeps, Ojai's backroads, guides who actually know the history of what they're showing you. Michelle points clients here when they're visiting with people who aren't hikers, or when they just want to cover a lot of ground in a few hours without doing the work themselves. The tours go up through the Topatopa Mountains and into Matilija Canyon — terrain most visitors never see. Good for a Saturday morning before lunch at Highly Likely. Book through the Ojai Valley Inn's Discover Ojai concierge, and do it before you arrive.
Michelle Graci doesn't oversell Ojai. She just keeps sending people there and letting the place do the work. El Roblar opened, Highly Likely opened, Radio Roma is packed on weekends — the town has added things without turning into something else. That's harder than it sounds.
Go for a weekend. If it turns into a longer conversation about where to actually land in Southern California, reach out to Michelle Graci. That part's her job.
