In follow up to my previous blog post this week about tips on booking travel and local shopping recommendations, I thought I’d share some of the places we ate at and activities to do in southern California.
We were in the Carlsbad area for 5 nights so we planned two day trips and the rest of the time we stayed local. Between the time change, sleeping in one room together, daylight savings, nap schedule, and an 18 month old boss…we had to be flexible. 🙂
Shop Smart Tips for:
Local eats…
The concierge is great for recommending hot spots to dine at and making reservations so we took advantage of that. Our priority was family-friendly places and fast service!! We ate almost every meal in under 45min and ate the majority of the time at the hotel because it was truly the most convenient. However, we did manage to dress up for two nights out of our stay.




- Choice Superfood Bar & Juicery (Vegan) – the yummiest outdoor juicery with a play area for kids and lounge area for adults.
- Beach Plum Kitchen (Breakfast & Lunch)
- Naked Café (Breakfast & Lunch)
- The Argyle Steakhouse (Brunch, Lunch, Dinner)
- Casa De Bandini (Mexican)
- Fish 101 (Seafood)
- SubZero Ice Cream & Yogurt (Dessert) – watch them make your ice cream from scratch right on the spot.
Local activities…
This was our 5th trip back to California in the last 5 years so we are slowly working through all the fun things to do down there. This trip we only had time for Carlsbad Village, the San Diego Zoo, the beach and hotel pool but here are some other goodies that I’d recommend.
Oh…and before I forget, always check with the concierge to see if they can get you better pricing on any local attraction admissions. We were able to get a better rate through the hotel when they purchased our zoo tickets. We skipped the line and walked straight in.
- Balboa Park , theNAT, and other museums and cool attractions
- Batiquitos Lagoon
- Birch Aquarium
- Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
- Del Mar Village
- La Jolla Shops
- LEGOLAND
- San Diego Safari Park
- SeaWorld
- The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch
- USS Midway Aircraft Carrier



Hope these suggestions help for your next visit to southern California!
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