Imperial Beach, CA

A few months ago I was lucky enough to travel to San Diego, CA for work. We decided to stay the weekend and had a tough time trying to decide where to stay. Originally we had decided to stay in Coronado, but he hotel rooms were extremely expensive. Next, we started looking in the La Jolla area, but again ran into similar issues. The hotel would be paid for by our company and our budget was restrictive. We stumbled upon the Pier South Resort in Imperial Beach, CA. We were not familiar with the area and knew nothing about the hotel, other than it was within our budget. We booked the hotel using our Marriott Rewards Premier credit card and earned 5x Marriott points for our booking.

The hotel was fantastic. The whole hotel focuses on the beach and the ocean. Rooms offer view of the beach, the outdoor dining area is separated by the beach by a glass wall (wind protection) and the pool is right on the edge of the property, nearly on the beach. The hotel is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection and features a fantastic lobby.

The neighborhood around the hotel is also very nice. For dinner, we walked to the Coronado Brewing Company which featured an excellent menu of fish dishes and other sandwich options.

For breakfast the following morning, we visited Katy’s Cafe, a local favorite. The coffee and breakfast options were delicious and I highly recommend visiting the cafe to get your day started.

What made Imperial Beach great was how quiet the neighborhood is. You are able to remove yourself from San Diego in a quiet and peaceful neighborhood. If you wish to explore San Diego, the drive through Coronado is beautiful and you drive up Silver Strand Blvd.

If you find yourself trying to spend a weekend in San Diego and want to get away to a quite surf town, I highly recommend Imperial Beach, CA.

Safe Travels!