Goldmoor Inn
Adults-only 14-room boutique on a Mississippi River bluff — Forbes-rated dinners.
An adults-only 14-room boutique on a Mississippi River bluff outside Galena, Illinois — Forbes-rated, with a serious dinner program and the kind of cliff-side privacy that's the point. The Goldmoor isn't in town; it's seven minutes south on the river bluff, surrounded by woods and farm parcels, with rooms that face the river.
Galena's lodging market includes the historic in-town hotels and B&Bs and a few resort-tier properties on the surrounding farmland. The Goldmoor is the cliff-side dinner-and-stay version — closer in format to a country inn with a serious restaurant than to anything in downtown Galena.
The setting
The inn sits at 9001 W. Sand Hill Road south of Galena, on a bluff above the Mississippi River. The town of Galena — Main Street's restored 19th-century commercial district, the Ulysses S. Grant home, the wineries — is seven minutes north on US-20 and Blackjack Road. The Mississippi River and the Iowa side are visible from the property's bluff.
The drive in from Chicago is three hours west on I-90 and US-20; from Madison, two hours; from the Quad Cities, an hour and 15.
The building
A multi-building stone-and-timber compound on the bluff — the original main lodge plus detached cottage cabins. Materials are stone, timber, and the Midwestern lodge vocabulary. Fireplaces in many rooms; the dining room has river-view windows. The aesthetic is country-traditional, leaning Victorian in some details.
Owner-operated. Adults-only.
The rooms
Fourteen rooms across the main lodge and detached cottages. From around $395 in shoulder seasons; peak weekend rates run higher. Rooms include kings with fireplaces, suites with sitting rooms, and detached cottages with private hot tubs. Bathrooms are updated; most rooms have river or woodland views. The cottages are the more private of the two categories.
Food & drink
The Goldmoor's dining program is the property's signature — a Forbes-rated kitchen running multi-course tasting menus and à la carte, with an extensive wine list. Dinner most nights, breakfast for guests, open to non-guests by reservation. It's one of the more serious restaurants in northwest Illinois.
On the property
A small inn's amenity stack:
- Forbes-rated dining room
- Mississippi River bluff with paths to the overlook
- Some cottages with private hot tubs
- Adults-only
- Open year-round
Who it's for
- Anniversary couples doing a quiet Galena weekend
- Travelers who'd rather have a destination dinner room than a downtown walking street
- Repeat Galena visitors who've done the in-town hotels and want the cliff-side stay
- Wine-list and tasting-menu folks
Who it's not for
- Families — adults-only
- Travelers wanting walkable in-town location — Galena's Main Street is seven minutes by car
- Anyone needing a full resort with pool, spa, and tennis
Nearby
Downtown Galena (Main Street's brick-and-cast-iron 19th-century buildings, the General Store, Galena Wine, the Galena Cellars Vineyard tasting room) is seven minutes north. The Ulysses S. Grant Home (the post-Civil-War residence, now a state historic site) is 10 minutes. Chestnut Mountain Resort — small ski hill — is 10 minutes north. The Mississippi Palisades State Park (cliff-and-river hiking) is 15 minutes south. Dubuque, Iowa, with the Mississippi River Museum, is 25 minutes west across the river. Apple River Canyon State Park is 25 minutes east.
