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Lafayette · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels near University of California, Berkeley

Fiona Gallagher

Fiona Gallagher Australia and New Zealand

Updated 1 September 2026 · 13 Lafayette hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Lafayette, out of the 13 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.5 down to 4.

All five are within 1.8 km of University of California, Berkeley.

The Faculty Club

Highest rated of the five

The Faculty Club

★★★★★4.5 from 280 reviews

The Faculty Club comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.5 from 280 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is found under poi.

13 hotels in Lafayette qualified for this list and five made it. Claremont Resort & Club is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. The Faculty Club1

    The Faculty Club

    ★★★★★4.5 from 280 reviews

    under 200 m from University of California, Berkeley, about a 1 minute walk

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    • Claremont Resort & Club2

      Claremont Resort & Club

      ★★★★★4.5 from 2,419 reviews

      1.8 km from University of California, Berkeley, about a 22 minute walk

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      • Berkeley City Club3

        Berkeley City Club

        ★★★★★4.5 from 656 reviews

        800 m from University of California, Berkeley, about a 10 minute walk

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        • Residence Inn by Marriott Berkeley4

          Residence Inn by Marriott Berkeley

          ★★★★★4.2 from 413 reviews

          1.0 km from University of California, Berkeley, about a 12 minute walk

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          • Graduate by Hilton Berkeley5

            Graduate by Hilton Berkeley

            ★★★★★4 from 888 reviews

            400 m from University of California, Berkeley, about a 5 minute walk

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            How this list was put together

            13 Lafayette hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to University of California, Berkeley second, then took the top five.

            Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

            The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

            What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

            Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

            Fiona Gallagher

            Fiona Gallagher Australia and New Zealand

            Half her year is already on research boats, so holidays are deliberately dry land. Long-distance hiking routes in the off season, alone, with nothing being measured.

            Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.