West Inn & Suites - Carlsbad, CA

I'm going to jump around a bit on our trip to California and skip ahead to the second hotel we stayed at. Yesterday I told you about how we stayed across the street from Disneyland, today I'll tell you about our hotel a little farther south in Carlsbad.

We chose Carlsbad on a whim.  We had decided to head to San Diego after Anaheim and so I asked friends to recommend a place to stay.  They suggested Carlsbad (instead) and the West Inn & Suites so I booked a room.  Best decision ever!  We LOVED this hotel.

Hotel Review:
The hotel was beautiful, family friendly, well equipped and comfortable.  It was close to local attractions like LegoLand, The Flower Farm (seasonal, I'll write about that later) and the beach.  It was a pretty quick drive (30 miles) to the San Diego Zoo.  The staff was very friendly, helpful and went above and beyond.  I could tell that it wasn't a chain hotel, the people that worked there seemed like family.

They have a heated pool that was heated to 85 degrees.  So even though it was only 69 and sunny out I braved it and took the girls for the swim.  I say brave because living in Arizona I usually don't go swimming unless it's at least 90 degrees outside!  However, the pool was so nice and warm that we had a fun (but quick) swim.

It was the baby's first time in a pool.

The pool had many toys to play with, lemon ice-water, towels-a-plenty and a waterfall.  

The hotel had other family friendly amenities like cookies and milk at night, a large library of movies to borrow (and each room had 2 DVD players and tvs), toys in the library and beach toys to borrow.

The suites were very comfortable.  A king size bed in the back and a pull out sofa in the front.  Lots of space to play/make a mess.  The bathroom had Aveda soaps and lotion and big bathrobes.  The kitchen area had a refrigerator, small microwave, small sink and a coffee maker that made really yummy pod coffee.  At night they would do turn down and leave chocolate toffee cookies on your pillow.  Yum!

But wait, there's more! ;)

Free breakfast.  And this time the breakfast actually tasted good.  They had many options including hot and cold foods and a lovely dining area to eat.

So you can see why we were so happy there.  The West property had two restaurants, a fancy steak-seafood restaurant (not the family type) and a bistro that seemed to be hopping all the time.  We got take-out from the Bistro and it was delish!

The weather was lovely all during our stay until the day we left.  This was the view from our window on the last wet morning.  We didn't make it to the beach this time (too cold for us) but I hope that we can go on our next visit.

The girls playing on the big bed.

I'm already planning our next trip out to Carlsbad!  Stay tuned for a review of The Flower Fields.