A stay at the Hotel Del Coronado, Coronado, CA

We have been taking short trips by car with the side effect of having to spend very little money, so we decided to splurge on a night at the Hotel Del's Beach Village.  These are apartment-style rooms in a compound near the main hotel.  They have several private pools and jacuzzis (the jacuzzi were closed due to the pandemic.

Our room was on the beach, on the second floor.  It slept four comfortably with a large master bedroom and a large fold-out sofa bed.  It was great to be right on the ocean!  We spent time in the large pool for the compound and then sat on the beach.  The water was really cold.  The Hotel sets up chairs and umbrellas.  They light fire pits in the evening and there are group s'mores roasting.  (The set-up is an extra charge of $200 and includes a private fire pit, chairs and makings.  We didn't do this, because that seems pricey.)

We had dinner at Serea, which is fine dining restaurant at the Hotel Del Coronado.  It was excellent with a wide range of seafood and some other options.

In the morning, we walked around downtown Coronado, which is very charming with a lot of small stores and restaurants.

It was a fun mini-vacation.  The room was $1,500, which is way more than we usually spend.  With all the amenities, it felt like we were away for a very long time.  Much of the Hotel is under renovation.  Also, some of the most famous features, like the Crown Room Sunday buffet, were not available, because eating is strictly outdoors in California.

My only complaint is that check-in is at 4 PM and check-out is at 11 AM.