West Coast kid friendly warm winter destination - help!

[Anonymous]

Help please! I’m seeking a destination for a winter trip that is an easy flight (ideally direct) from SFO. Criteria:

-Warm
-Warm pool / swimming
-Kid-friendly

Pluses:
-Good outdoor activities like hiking
-Good food, coffee, stuff
-Kids club (certainly not a must)

We’ve loved Hawaii trips and Enchantment Resort in Sedona. Going as a couple with a 5yo. Open to either hotels or airbnbs but ideally would like to be around other kids at least a bit. We don’t golf. Budget is ideally less than $1000/night but there’s big range here - happy to stay somewhere simple with a pool and hike, but also could splurge I suppose. Mexico is out due to complexity and flight length unless someone has a place they simply love.

Ideas:
-Ojai Valley Inn (seems what we’re looking for but maybe to golf-y and expensive?)
-Back to Hawaii
-San Diego (but where should we stay? I’m interested but my husband needs to be convinced - I’ve only ever been for work)

What am I missing? I can’t decide where to go! Thank you so much in advance for any responses.

[Anonymous]

I love San Diego — we go often (from the DC area) because we have family there. It’s a great trip with kids. Is your child into Legos? Legoland is a lot of fun, as well as all the usual attractions there (zoo, safari park, Balboa park). There’s also a good children’s museum in San Diego. We stayed in La Jolla the last time we visited and it was great. Did a kayaking tour of the coves, which we’d never done before, and it was awesome! I love it out there; IDK if part of the allure is the weather — that may be less of a draw for you because you live in CA (although I lived in San Francisco for a while and I know it’s much chillier than Southern California!). Anyway, I think it’s an amazing place for a trip with kids.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Okay! Thanks so much for the response. I’d welcome additional Sam Diego hotel opinions. Would it be best to stay somewhere halfway up toward Legoland, like the Fairmont or Auberge? Are any hotels most likely to have very warm nice kid friendly pools even in January? Is it nice to be by the beach like at the Auberge or will it be warmer if we’re inland a bit? I’ve been to the Omni La Costa for work and would like to avoid there specifically. Thank you again!

[Anonymous]

OP here again - any other destination ideas or San Diego recs for hotels with confirmed warm pools?

[Anonymous]

Phoenix/Scottsdale
Tucson
Palm Springs
San Antonio

Warmish winter destinations on that part of the country.

[Anonymous]

Only Hawaii will be reliably warm as you know.

Ojai Valley Inn is a very special place. Put it on your list for summer.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I can’t answer too many questions about accommodations, as our budget has always been lower than yours, and we tend to stay closer to our family, who are near Carmel Valley. However, I think many places have heated pools that you should be able to use. We’ve stayed at a Residence Inn or the like, and in March the pool was open and heated.
We have stayed in Mission Beach before and liked it — but did a VRBO there, so no hotel recommendations.

[Anonymous]

We just stayed at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine for Breeders Cup in November. It has a large beautiful heated pool with cabanas. It also is close to the University Towne Center outdoor shopping mall (and indoor skating rink). Your child would love a visit to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps and there is a gorgeous beach at La Jolla Shores.

[Anonymous]

Neither Ojai nor SD will be warm/swimming weather in winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neither Ojai nor SD will be warm/swimming weather in winter.

Hence OP's request for a heated pool.

[Anonymous]

We are also in the Bay Area and have spent winter breaks in San Diego, Palm Springs and Phoenix. None of these places are reliably warm that time of year.

We have also done Mexico and Hawaii in the winter. Cabo or Puerto Vallarta is cheaper and a shorter flight compared to Hawaii.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are also in the Bay Area and have spent winter breaks in San Diego, Palm Springs and Phoenix. None of these places are reliably warm that time of year.

We have also done Mexico and Hawaii in the winter. Cabo or Puerto Vallarta is cheaper and a shorter flight compared to Hawaii.

+1

[Anonymous]

If you don't want to go back to Hawaii, Cabo for sure. We stayed at the Montage Los Cabos last winter with our young teen, and it was amazing.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all, for the recs. I’d welcome any more specific places people have stayed that you recommend.

[Anonymous]

I live near San Francisco and we’ve done San Diego twice for vacations and plan to go again - but each time was late March / early April.

The first time I went with just my older DD - 5 at the time - and the second time we went as a family. We stayed in Coronado at the Glorietta Bay Inn, which we really enjoyed. It’s not a traditionally kids’ hotel, but my girls loved the breakfast (make your own pancakes / add chocolate chips), and the pool / beach toys at the front desk. The pool isn’t big, but our girls found “friends” on both trips. I didn’t recommend it originally because the pool, while heated, would probably be chilly in the winter - especially that close to the beach - and some of the rooms are a little dated - but we plan to stay there again.