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Hotel del Coronado – an iconic Southern California hotel that has been around for over 130 years. The seaside luxe hotel, that is a hop-skip-and a jump from San Diego, was made a National Historic Landmark in 1977! It’s kind of a big deal.
The Del is a family friendly (and dog & cat friendly!) hotel with PLENTY to do to keep your little ones occupied. The location alone is a dream. You have the beach right there
just waiting for your little ones to splash in the waves and build sandcastles.
This holiday was different for us though. The hubs and I visited kid-free! Woop woop! At the moment, any vacation without the littles is a celebration for us. We are in the stage of life as the comedian Jim Gaffigan describes, “Imagine you’re drowning, then someone hands you a baby.” Yup. That’s us. WE NEED BREAKS, so we sneak away whenever we can to refuel our tanks.
If you’re still confused at why in the world we would want to travel without kids, take a look at my blog post about that very thing!
So what do parents do for a whole weekend at The Del without kids?! I’m so glad you asked!
1 – TAKE NAPS
Obvi. We were kid-free for a whole weekend, what did you expect us to do? (yes, we did that too) We napped all three days. My favorite nap was on the beach. We used to live blocks from the beach in QLD, Australia, and I loved hearing the sound of waves crashing at night. The sounds of the ocean are so calming to me.
2 – EXERCISE
Our family lives an active lifestyle, which we like to maintain while on holidays. Usually, with three kids in tow, this means mom & dad taking turns getting our workouts in. Or we include the kids, which doesn’t always translate to a hugely successful sweat sesh. When we travel without the kids, we get to exercise together, which I love.
Hotel del Coronado has SO many exercise options including: surfing, stand up paddleboarding, beach spin, Mermaid Fitness (think aqua aerobics, but wearing a mermaid tail), beach yoga, pilates, a walking path, a fitness center, and golf is close at the Torrey Pines course.
We opted for several long walks on the path in front of The Del. I snuck away one morning and did beach yoga (pictured on right above), which was so perfect!
3 – EXPLORE THE HOTEL GROUNDS
The property alone covers 28 acres. There’s so much to see!
The lobby at Hotel del Coronado is quite the site! The chandelier would make my kid’s mouths drop. I also loved the original-to-the-hotel elevators that still have an elevator operator! I’m pretty sure that specific operator hasn’t been around since 1888, but maybe she has great skin.
I loved the Chef’s Garden area. We have a garden at home, so I love seeing other gardens and how they’re set up.
You have to go check out what The Sandcastle Man is building on the beach. The sandcastle from the day we visited is below.
You can take an organized tour of the hotel. The Haunted Happenings and Experience the Legend tours will give you fun (and haunted) facts about the hotel’s history.
4 – EAT
Yes, you would eat if you brought your kids on holiday. But eating without them can change your choice of restaurant and even table! Am I right, Mama?!
The buffet breakfast at Sheerwater was sweetness. They had a massive variety from healthy to indulgent.
The famous Crown Room Brunch is a Sunday to-do. People go all out and get dressed up to the nines. (Is that an old lady saying, or is it still relevant?) At nearly $100 a pop for adults, it shows up.
Mama, you’ve left your beautiful little people behind to relish in that kid-free life for a short period of time. Go ahead and treat yo’self to the Crown Room Brunch. It’s nice to feel fancy since your normal day involves potty training your toddler or cleaning spit-up off of you and your tiniest human.
The Beach + Taco Shack was hands-down our favorite people-watching spot. The Del added these two cute little taco trucks that serve nibbles and drinks when they started renovation on the resort. They are located right on the path that runs along the beach. AKA – a prime people watching spot.
You may have to wait in line a bit, but that totally didn’t bother me. You won’t have anyone pulling on your leg saying “Mom, how much longer?! Mom, my feet hurt! Mom, I’m so hungry!”. And this is your prize for waiting in line:
5 – RENT A BEACH DAY BED
The lounge areas and day beds can be rented from the Del Beach rental hut. They’re a nice way to up your beach experience. And remember, you don’t have little ones to keep an eye on, so that’s another plus.
The hotel is currently undergoing some renovations. The renovations didn’t but a damper on our trip at all! In fact, we hardly noticed. The noise level on Friday was a little louder compared to Saturday & Sunday, but we are so used to drowning out noise (hello, kids) that it was fine! The expected completion date to this project is late 2021.
Hopefully you are already planning that next kid-free getaway! You deserve it, especially after you’ve been on lockdown for what seems like a million days.
Let me know in the comments where you’re going kid-free next! If you’re stuck on the packing essentials, here’s a link to our favorites to take on kid-free trips!
This looks like so much fun! I can practically hear the waves and feel the sand. Adding this to my travel list now!
Oh, that’s awesome!!! You’ll love it.
This is a must. Thank you for such great detail.
Sure thing!!
What a beautiful place – looks like a dream! I am adding this to my must travel to list!
Awesome! You’ll love it!
That garden is so cute! Would love to go here when we can travel again!
Isn’t it such a well-kept garden?!