Huntington Beach, CA ~ HYatt Regency Huntington Beach

During our last trip to California, we were headed to San Diego again, but we wanted to do something a little different than we had in the past. So, to change things up a bit, we decided to try out Huntington Beach for a few days before heading down to San Diego.

We flew into the John Wayne Airport (SNA). This was a short 20 minute drive from our hotel. We ended up staying at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. We weren't sure what to expect, but these few days ended up being some of our favorite days of the whole trip and it was in part due to this hotel. It is so family friendly and had something for each of us that we enjoyed. 

Huntington Beach is located between Los Angeles and San Diego, along the Pacific coastline. It is also about a 30-35 minute drive to Disneyland. Because of its prime location and world famous surfing beaches, Huntington Beach is known as "Surf City USA."

Again, what made this time in Huntington Beach so great was the hotel. I cannot stress that enough. If you are coming here as a family, as a couple, on a bachelorette trip, or any other special occasion or vacation, I really feel the Hyatt is the best place to stay. Its amenities and location are unbeatable in my opinion. I'm not getting anything for talking so highly of this resort. I simply love it and feel it's the best choice for families. I will speak more to this as I keep going. ​

Our time here was very short, so we tried to focus on more of just a resort day, getting in some beach and pool time, rather than going all over Huntington Beach. We arrived late on a Friday night, so after a good night's rest and some room service breakfast, we headed off to find some coffee and hit up the pool. We had been talking up the pools to our kids for some time and they did not disappoint. This is definitely one of the best features of this hotel, especially if you are coming with kids. With two different pools, there's something for everyone.

The hotel had a coffee shop within a little store called Surf City Grocers, that served Starbucks, so we stopped in to get coffee to enjoy by the pool. I will say it was the worst cold brew from a Starbucks I had ever had, so maybe skip that place and go to another coffee shop while in Huntington Beach. There is a Philz Coffee not too far from the Hyatt, that I wish we had gone to instead.
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So, back to the pools! The Hyatt had two pools. One was very family friendly (Slyder's Water Playground) and one was more adult friendly (Mankota Pool). Both allow kids. We tried out both during our day at the hotel and I preferred the Mankota one due to it's size and less of a crowd.

In the morning we went to the Mankota pool first because it was deserted and had the entire pool to ourselves for about an hour. Later a bachelorette party came, but they only sunbathed. It was awesome! The kids played and I read my book and choked down my gross cold brew because after a late night getting in, I needed my coffee.

​The pool itself is fairly large with views of the Pacific Ocean. This pool has a ​poolside bar that you can get food and drinks if you want. We were there too early in the morning, so they weren't open yet. But you could see the convenience of, located right next to most of the seating around the pool.

Mankota Pool

Slyder's Water Park

The other pool is more the kid-friendly pool. It is located in a much smaller area on the side of the hotel, rather than the center. So, you don't get the great ocean views as you are sunbathing. But, there is a slide!

​This pool also has a poolside bar with food and drinks. While we were there, a waitress came around regularly to ask if we needed anything, making it very easy to just sit back and do nothing but swim.

This pool area was much busier. We were still able to find some lounge chairs, but it just felt tighter in this area and not as spread out. Our room actually looked out at this pool and it seemed to stay pretty busy throughout the day. There were a lot of kids, and it wasn't as relaxing as the Mankota pool.

After our morning swim, the kids really wanted to hit up the daily koi feeding. At the hotel, they have a beautiful pond near the spa entrance, filled with koi fish. At a certain time each day, kids are welcome to come get a cup of koi food and feed the koi. My kids loved this so much, that we had to do it the next day, before we checked out of the hotel. 

There weren't too many people there, and we were able to find a spot by ourselves to feed this giant fish. 

It was getting near lunch time, so we chose to get lunch at Pete's Sunset Grill. This is located within the resort and had perfect outdoor seating all in the middle of the action. We not only enjoyed the food there, but also the good tropical drinks. They had a great kid's menu and a lot of choices on their menu. When we return to this hotel, we will for sure go here again for at least one meal. 

After lunch, it was time to head off to the beach. Huntington Beach is a very popular beach, and getting to it can be tricky if you are staying at other hotels in Huntington Beach. But another amazing feature of our hotel was that they have a bridge that takes you from the hotel, over the road, and right to the beach. At the end of the beach side of the bridge, the hotel also provides you with beach toys, chairs, umbrellas, and towels. This is all a part of the resort fee you pay for. This was such a huge benefit to us and allowed the kids to play, while we took it all in, in our beach chairs.
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We belong to World of Hyatt and have stayed with them so many nights that we get some extra perks, one of them being no resort fees. I often hate paying for resort fees at other hotels, but this one felt worth it and wouldn't have bothered me, given you get these benefits out of it.

Drinks at Pete's

Bridge to the Beach

Fun on Huntington Beach

After we had, had our fill of pools and the beach, it was time for dinner. We wanted to go somewhere we could walk and found a place called Ola Mexican Kitchen. It was probably a 10-15 minute walk to the restaurant, but the entire walk is bordering the ocean. So, it's worth it for the views alone. This place touts it's "Mexican food with a view," and they don't lie! It sits on the second floor of a shopping complex and looks out to the Pacific. The food was good, too! My son fell in love with their chips and still talks about them to this day. They had some seasoning on them that he loved. We were lucky and got an outdoor table that had a great view of the ocean. The table was right up against a clothing store across from the entrance of the restaurant, but we didn't mind at all. In fact, we love it because it felt more secluded. The restaurant was packed, as it's a popular location. So make sure to make reservations or get ready to wait for a while if you were to choose to eat here.

On our walk back to the hotel from the restaurant, the sun had set and we were able to take in our resort at night. It's absolutely gorgeous at night and it was fun to see it all lit up. It was at this moment that both me and my husband thought this would be the perfect hotel to come back without kids for a little romantic getaway. The restaurants were all abuzz with people both inside and out. It would have been fun to stop in and grab some after dinner drinks or dessert and we probably would have if it was just the two of us. But with the kids in tow and them having other things on they wanted to do, they were anxious to get back to our room to grab a special gift we were given at the front desk when checking in the night before. 

Once back at our hotel room, the kids grabbed our special gift which was s'mores kit. I'm not sure why we were given this kit for free, because usually you need to purchase one from Surf City Grocers, located on the resort property. This is another offering the hotel had to offer, which was using one of the fire pits located around the resort to make s'mores. There are some fire pits that require you to make reservations and pay a bit extra, but there are also fire pits located throughout the resort that are first come, first serve.

You can also rent a spot out on the beach where they set up a bonfire for you at night. Surprisingly, the night we were there they were all sold out, despite the high cost, so plan ahead if this is something you would want to do.

​The "free" fire pits were located in a more central location within the resort and were all occupied when we were looking, but there were a few in the Slyder's Water Park area that no one was at. We were the only ones there. With the palm trees and pool lit up, and the kids content roasting marshmallows, this was the perfect end to our day at this resort. 

​The next day it was time for us to pack up and head off to San Diego for the rest of our trip. We ended up grabbing breakfast to go at Surfside Grocers and wandered around the resort. We found that there are also bike rentals for both adults and kids, that again are a part of the resort fee. We knew there were adult bikes, but had no idea there were also kids' ones. So next time we come here, we will be making sure to ride those bikes, as there was a perfect path along Huntington Beach to ride them. 

Pulling away from the hotel, we knew it wasn't, "Goodbye!" but a, "See you later!" This resort and Huntington Beach made such an imprint on us and our kids and we will definitely be back for longer the next time for a fun weekend getaway when we need a little California fun and sun. ​

​Check out the recent Redfin article we were featured in: ​

The Savvy Sightseer was named a top Huntington Beach, CA, local expert by Redfin. Check out the article we were featured in: [8 Most Affordable Huntington Beach Suburbs to Live In | Redfin]