Haunted hotel guide · Old Town San Diego, California

The Haunted Cosmopolitan Hotel, Old Town San Diego: Room 11

An 1820s adobe that became a stagecoach hotel, now ten Victorian rooms above a saloon, with a Bandini daughter said to flick the lights in Room 11.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

4.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
1827Bandini adobe begun
Room 11Most requested room

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Cosmopolitan Hotel stands on Calhoun Street inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, the oldest part of the city. It began as the adobe home of Juan Bandini, built from 1827, and became a stagecoach hotel when a second story was added around 1869. Restored by the state, it reopened in 2010 as a restaurant, saloon and ten-room hotel furnished with American antiques from the 1860s and 1870s. It is one of the most historic stays in our guide to haunted hotels in San Diego.

Its ghost stories are friendly ones. Room 11 is the most active, and the presence there is usually said to be Ysidora Bandini, Juan’s daughter. A woman in red is said to wait in Rooms 4 and 5, and a ghost cat roams the halls. Ghost Adventures filmed here in 2011.

Cosmopolitan Hotel at a glance

4.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation4
History5
Ghost hunter access3
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookable
  • Address 2660 Calhoun Street, San Diego, CA 92110
  • Built 1827 to 1829 as the Bandini adobe; second story added about 1869
  • Most haunted spots Room 11, Rooms 4 and 5, the upper balcony
  • Best-known ghosts Ysidora Bandini; the Lady in Red; a playful ghost cat
  • Booking the haunted room With only ten rooms, you can ask for Room 11 (or 4 and 5) when you book directly; it is not guaranteed
  • Good to know No TVs or phones in the rooms; original single-pane windows, so earplugs are provided; breakfast of coffee and pastries in the saloon

Check availability

The ghosts of Cosmopolitan Hotel & Restaurant

Ysidora Bandini and Room 11

Room 11 is where most of the activity is reported. Guests say lights switch on and off by themselves, things move around the room and doors open and close on their own. The presence is usually identified as Ysidora Bandini, Juan Bandini’s daughter, who married Colonel Cave Johnson Couts and died in 1897.

The romantic version says Ysidora fell from the upper balcony outside Room 11 and was caught in the arms of Couts, who later married her. It is a lovely story, but it does not fit the building. When Ysidora was a young woman the adobe was a single-story house; the second floor and its balconies were added around 1869, long after she had married. Her son, Cave Couts Jr., bought the building in 1928 as a memorial to her, which may be why her name stays attached to it.

The Lady in Red of Rooms 4 and 5

The hotel’s other well-known ghost is a woman in red who is said to wait in Rooms 4 and 5 for a gentleman who never arrives. Some people think she is Ysidora too. She is always described as harmless.

The cat and the empty rooms

Guests also describe a playful cat that wanders the halls and disappears, and voices and other sounds coming from rooms that are empty. Every apparition reported here is described as friendly.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Room 11: The most active room: lights, moving objects and doors that open and close. Request it by number.
  • Rooms 4 and 5: Where the Lady in Red is said to wait.
  • The upper balcony: The setting of the Ysidora legend, though it was built decades after her supposed fall.
  • The saloon: Downstairs, where breakfast is served and Old Town’s history is all around you.

History of Cosmopolitan Hotel & Restaurant

Juan Bandini, a cattle rancher and one of the leading figures of Mexican California, built a single-story adobe here between 1827 and 1829, using roughly 10,000 adobe bricks. It is described as the second-oldest building in Old Town. Bandini lived here for nearly three decades before he had to sell the house to cover his debts.

Around 1869 Albert Seeley, a stage line operator, turned the house into the Cosmopolitan Hotel. He added the second story and the wooden balconies, and the hotel became a stagecoach stop. Business fell away after the transcontinental railroad arrived and a fire damaged the area, and Seeley sold by 1888. The building spent time as an olive factory.

In 1928 Cave Couts Jr., Bandini’s grandson, bought the building as a memorial to his mother, Ysidora, and reopened it as the Miramar hotel, with electricity and gas by 1930. James and Nora Cardwell bought it in 1945, and their son Frank renovated it in the 1950s. The Cardwells sold the property to the State of California in 1968, and it became part of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

A long restoration returned the building to its 1870s appearance, and the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant reopened on July 21, 2010. Today it has ten rooms with antique furnishings, private dining rooms and a historic saloon, and no televisions or telephones in the rooms.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Book directly and ask for Room 11 by number; with only ten rooms, it fills quickly.
  • Pack earplugs or use the ones provided. The original windows are single-pane, and Old Town is lively in the evening.
  • Have dinner in the restaurant or a drink in the saloon, then join one of the Old Town ghost tours that start nearby.
  • Walk to the Whaley House, one of the most famous haunted houses in America, a few minutes away.
  • Pair your stay with the Horton Grand in the Gaslamp Quarter for a two-night San Diego ghost trip.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Cosmopolitan Hotel in San Diego haunted?

The Cosmopolitan is one of Old Town’s best-known haunted buildings. Guests report lights and doors moving on their own in Room 11, a Lady in Red in Rooms 4 and 5 and a ghost cat. Ghost Adventures filmed here in 2011.

What room is haunted at the Cosmopolitan Hotel?

Room 11 is the most active. Rooms 4 and 5 are linked to the Lady in Red.

Did Ysidora Bandini fall from the balcony?

That is the legend, but the building had no second story or balcony when she was young; those were added around 1869, long after her marriage.

Can you stay at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town?

Yes. It has ten rooms with antique furnishings and no TVs or phones. Book directly to request a room by number.

How old is the Cosmopolitan Hotel?

The original adobe was built from 1827 to 1829 for Juan Bandini. It became a hotel around 1869 and reopened after restoration in 2010.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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