RITZ-CARLTON LAGUNA NIGUEL
1 Ritz-Carlton Drive, Dana Point, CA 92629
Rates: range from $425 for a standard, garden-view double up to $2,000 a night for a suite with a kitchen, fireplace, private lounge and ocean-view balcony.
Stay here if you: like the idea of watching surfers and Pacific waves crash into each other outside the window while you labor on a treadmill, and the ability to indulge in a wine tasting, cheese and chocolate bar within stumbling distance from your room. Or if you want to be waited on, catered to, back-rubbed and Yoga-stretched in out-of-the way luxury.
It’s close to: the beach, most notably. It’s a steep hike from the hotel’s 150-foot cliff-top perch to the waves. But the ever-helpful staff will load your stuff, a few beach chairs and an umbrella or two onto a golf cart and shuttle you to the sand. If that’s still too much exertion, the staff will guide you to the full-service spa, or set you up alongside one of two pools, where you can lie all day, ordering drinks and snacks, without lifting a pinkie toe off your chaise. If you have a car, (this is Southern California; going anywhere requires a car) the artsy town of Laguna Beach is 5 miles north. Dana Point’s laidback downtown is to the south.
The rooms are: modern sparse-chic. A $40 million renovation to the 25-year-old hotel four years ago brought light, airy furnishings, all sandy tans, whites and seafoam greens. Many have ocean views; others overlook the property’s ubiquitous color-splashed gardens. The goose-down pillows and feather-mattress beds are seductive enough to put you at risk of sleeping through vacation.
They put all of the money into: training the staff to be solicitous and gracious, with a sense of humor but without high-end-hotel snootiness.
The bottom line: It’s too far south to be part of the L.A. swirl, too far north to be in San Diego’s orbit, and light years from Disneyland, at least in temperament. But that can be good, particularly if it’s a relaxing oceanside getaway you’re after.
Karen Auge
