JILL WEINLEIN

After graduating from UCLA, JIll traveled the world looking for unique destinations. She’s been writing about her travels for almost 30 years in various publications.

She writes a weekly restaurant review for the Beverly Press and Park LaBrea News. It’s inserted into the Los Angeles Times every Thursday and delivered to subscribers from Hancock Park to Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills to the Wilshire Corridor.

Idyllic La Jolla Shores

BY JILL WEINLEIN

Driving down to La Jolla for an overnight stay at the refreshed La Jolla Shores Hotel, we planned to swim in the heated pool, dine at The Marine Room, and walk along the cliffs to see sea birds, seals, and dramatic coastal coves.

This oceanfront hotel offers the sights and sounds of the ocean from guest rooms with sliding glass doors and front-row balconies. There are two chairs to sit on and take in the activity on the sand and aqua blue water. Kayakers paddle out towards the surf to go explore marine life, and families sit on the sand and wade into the water.

Located 12 miles north of San Diego and about two hours away from Los Angeles, La Jolla Shores opened in 1970, and has been a laid-back vacation enclave for couples, families, and even President Gerald Ford and Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

What I enjoy about the location of La Jolla Shores is the healing quality of breathing in the fresh salt-air breeze, listening the the waves softly pound the sand, and the magnificent San Diego sunset.

HACIENDA-STYLE

The hotel recently completed a refresh in guest room that now have softer hues on the walls and newer furnishings. Ground floor rooms have patios looking out to the ocean or overlook a garden courtyard filled with bird of paradise, greenery and Spanish tile fountains.

The hotel offers two heated swimming pools and a jetted spa. Guests can check out beach chairs, umbrellas, and beach towels. Bicycles are available to take out for a spin, and barbecues and tables are available for a nominal fee.

DINING BY THE SEA 

Mornings begin at the ocean view Shores Restaurant, located off the hotel’s lobby. This all day restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, nightly specials and an à la carte weekend brunch with live entertainment.

One of the most unique restaurants in the world is next door at The Marine Room restaurant and Lounge at The Marine Room. Located at the hotel’s adjacent companion property, the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, when there is a high tide or stormy sea, diners receive quite a thrilling show while sitting at a window table. These triple thick glass windows that are also bullet proof, and sometimes turbulent waves crash right on the glass as diners enjoy an array of seafood dishes, steaks and vegetarian fare

UNDERWATER PARK

La Jolla Shores Hotel is located on two acres looking out to the La Jolla Underwater Park, a 600-acre ecological refuge that attracts an abundance of marine life and scuba divers and kayakers. Just north of the hotel is Kellogg Park, a seven-acre beach and grass area dotted with picnic tables and towering fan palms. The park is the favorite embarkation point for divers headed into the underwater park.

LA JOLLA COAST WALK TRAIL

La Jolla Cove is a nature wonderland and natural museum of wind-scoured rock formations and the famous “Seven Caves,” a line of cathedral-like fissures cut into the side of 100-foot-high cliffs. To get bird’s-eye view of the rocky cove, we walked along the La Jolla Coast Walk Trail. It begins at Prospect St. to Sunny Jim’s Cave Store. For a nominal fee, visitors can enter the shop and walk down 143 steps inside a unique man-made rock tunnel. The last step takes you to a platform inside a sea cave filled with water. It is the only cave in La Jolla that you can stand in without paddling on a kayak.

SEAL PUPS

Walk further along a paved walkway we saw hundreds of cormorants nesting, pelicans, and seagulls. Further on is Seal Rock and Children’s Pool. It’s a protected small bay where seals and pups rest on the warm sand. This beach is closed to the public, but there are many viewing spots main to catch a glimpse of this annual event during pupping season.

TENNIS ANYONE

There are two tennis courts available to guests to play, and tennis lessons can be arranged with USPTA professionals offering tips and drills.

Other activities to do while in La Jolla include shopping at the trendy boutiques along ritzy Prospect Street, visiting the Birch Aquarium, hiking in Torrey Pines State Park, and visiting the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.

The La Jolla Shores Hotel is located at 8110 Camino del Oro, La Jolla, California and is owned and operated by La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, Inc. Call (800) 237-5211, or visit www.LJShoresHotel.com.