*Disclosure: a portion of our stay was hosted by the hotel.
Heading to San Diego, California and looking for a place to enjoy the beach with your family? Check out La Jolla, a beachside neighborhood in San Diego. Home to the famous Torrey Pines golf courses, the glider port, and a stunning beach. Not to mention, plenty of amazing dining options with a view and even an aquarium.
We stayed at the La Jolla Shores Hotel because it was low-rise (I love a good smaller hotel so much more than a high rise), had a gorgeous beach right outside the door, and several dining options. It also offered underground parking, cool kids activities, and even beach barbeques (which we tried, see below!).
STAY
The room was comfortable and spacious, far more so than newer properties, giving us plenty of space for a cot for my third daughter. We travel with a folding single mattress on road-trips, but the cot was more comfortable and there was plenty of space for it.
The La Jolla Shores Hotel also has kitchenette suites, but we were just fine with our mini-fridge and spacious double queen room.
The patios all offer a view, either a side-view (like ours) or beachfront view of the La Jolla Shores beach and park.
ACTIVITIES
The beachfront location is perfect for everything from sunbathing (my personal favourite), to boogie boarding (the hotel provides boogie boards for you!), to go on a kayak or paddleboard adventure with a local tour company (there are plenty right up the street). My brother-in-law, who lives nearby, even says snorkeling is great just a ways off this beach to view leopard sharks.
In the summertime, shuffle your feet
as you enter or leave the water
as it’s stingray season and
they sting if you step on them!
There is also a nice size outdoor pool with comfortable lounge chairs and a small hot tub. In the summer, poolside, the hotel plays movies at night once a week, sundae parties, and more. S’mores on the beach is also a summer treat!
In the courtyard, they set up different games for family fun: a large Jenga, two ping pong tables, a Connect4 and sometimes they lay out a few portable mini-golf pieces. This was our favourite place to hang out after sunset.
The pool is really the perfect size and temperature for getting off the sand. My sister and I spent an entire afternoon lounging by the pool, picnicking on snacks she brought for us to nibble on all day. It was incredibly relaxing!
The girls enjoyed virgin cocktails poolside too!
Every day that we went sight-seeing, we would come back and the girls and Mike would go boogie boarding. It was so ideal for our family.
DINING
The Shores restaurant is a full-service restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We enjoyed two casual dinners here, sitting on the patio at sunset and the food was tasty and they had a good variety. The kid’s menu (which even my 14-year-old still likes to order from) includes all the staples like macaroni and cheese, pizza, and burgers.
On our beach day, which I spent having my sister (who lives nearby) join us for the day, we ordered up a beach BBQ from the Shores restaurant. You can order meat, sides, drinks, and desserts to have delivered to the beach where there are BBQs so you can cook your own. Alternatively, you can have the kitchen prepare the meat for you. We had the kitchen prepare steaks, hot dogs and fish with a huge side salad and some chips for us. The girls even got to have milkshakes.
We enjoyed the sunset while we ate right in the sand.
I would highly recommend this hotel and would most definitely stay here again when we return to San Diego.
See more about our California road trip to San Diego and back here, I cover our route, and all of our stops including North Bend, Oregon, San Fransisco, Hollywood and things to do in San Diego with kids!
