Stay and Play in Carlsbad California

“Nothing comes close to the golden coast.” Katy Perry

(We were hosted by The Cassara Carlsbad hotel, but all opinions and photos are mine.)

We love to explore different parts of our amazing state, it never ceases to amaze me how the terrain of California is so diverse! We recently took a trip to Yosemite, which was amazing and you can read about there HERE, and we also took a staycation to Newport Beach, which you can read about HERE. This time we headed a bit more south to the city of Carlsbad and we fell in love. What an adorable little beach city, which we can’t wait to go back already!

Here are some details of our trip including the wonderful hotel and a few adventures we went on during our two night stay. Honestly, we could have stayed at least another two more nights, but alas, real life beckoned us back home.

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For those of you who are not familiar with California, Carlsbad is a little over an hour south from Disneyland (depending on traffic). You could fly into John Wayne airport and drive south about 50 minutes, or fly into the San Diego airport and drive north about 40 minutes (again depending on traffic).

STAY: The Cassara Carlsbad (a Hilton Hotel), newly remodeled and a great time to be had by all! We would go back to this hotel in a heart beat! Here are all the details…

Lobby: As soon as you walk in you are welcomed with huge ceilings, lots of seating areas and beautiful views of the pool and ocean. There is a small bar area to order drinks and food with tables to enjoy.

Rooms: We had the opportunity to stay in one of their suites and I am here to tell you, we loved it! Whenever hotels have an option to give parents a different space from children always makes me do a happy dance! That way we don’t have to hide out in the bathroom once they go to bed if we want to stay up a little longer.

The balcony was also a hit for us since we could see the ocean in the distance and if you are there in spring you would see nothing but flower fields!

Pools: There are two different pool areas; one quiet pool, geared for lap swimming with a spa that overlooks the ocean. Then there is a family pool area with a splash pad, small slide and hot tub.

Activities: Besides the pools, there are also other places to play. Our kids loved the playground, table tennis, shuffle board, basketball court and corn hole. In another room there was also a pool table.

PLAY: There are so many places to go and play in Carlsbad from theme parks to flower fields (during spring) and beautiful beaches. It also borders lots of other cute little beach cities that are fun to explore. Here is list of different options that are all family friendly…

Legoland – I have lots of blog posts on Legoland, you can check out the most recent one HERE.

Downtown Carlsbad known as “The Village” – A super cute downtown area with lots of shops, restaurants, places to rent bicycles and even some fun murals.

Bike Trails – We biked downtown, along the beach and then we found the Coastal Rail Trail, which was short and very flat, easy for all kids.

Beach – You can go straight to the beach from the downtown area, there are lots of accessible walkways and stairs, this was just one we passed on our bike ride.

Hiking Trails – Batiquitos Lagoon, Annie’s Canyon Trail and Torrey Pines State Reserve were all suggested to us. We decided to do the Torrey Pines trail, it came highly recommended from my friend Kim from The Parentologist who used to live in the area. I am so glad we took her advice because the trails were great, but the views were AMAZING!! There are some shorter, look out points for the less adventurous type, then another “beach trail” that has 100 steps (not good for any strollers or people not up for all the stairs).

After walking down the 100 steps you land on a black sand beach pretty secluded and the perfect spot for a snack break!

Making Music Museum – We didn’t have a chance to experience this because it wasn’t open due to covid, but it is re-opening and I’ve heard is a cute stop for music loving kiddos.

Carlsbad Outlets – Again, we didn’t have enough time to explore the outlets, but if you are in the mood for shopping, you might want to stop by here.

EAT: There were quite a few places that people suggested to us for where to eat, but we didn’t have enough time to try them all. Here are a few places we ate while there…

Miguel’s Cocina (lunch or dinner) – We would definitely go back here, loved the chips, queso, guacamole and fajitas. I would NOT order the tacos again, too spicy for my liking.

Pizza Port (lunch or dinner) – Good pizza, with a nice gluten free option, but a little pricey (in my opinion).

Pannikin Coffee and Tea (breakfast or lunch) – A little outside of Carlsbad, a great place for brunch. Something for everyone, even lots of gluten free options.

Other suggestions that were given to us for food: Potato Shack for pancakes & Swami’s Cafe.

Have you ever visited Carlsbad before?? If not, do you have it on your list of places to stay now?