Travel: A Day in Laguna Beach

California has so many beautiful beaches, and Laguna Beach is one of the best of them. Laguna Beach is a small coastal city in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles, known for its many art galleries, restaurants, coves, and beaches. It is also very close to some other places we like, such as Dana Point and its picturesque marina, San Juan Capistrano and its unique old Spanish mission, and the town of San Clemente. My husband has told me many times said we should visit the Laguna area one day, but we never made it there before for some reason, even though we love the Orange County beaches. But we were invited by Ritz Carlton Hotel in Laguna Beach, so we finally made that dream come true, and spent a day in Laguna Beach.

On the way driving there, my eyes were wide open — it’s such a cute little town, art galleries one next to another along the beautiful shoreline, while there are so many cute boutiques, jewelry stores and different style restaurant around. I already knew right away I am going to come back and spend few more days here! It will become a new nearby getaway for us, because it is just over an hour’s drive from home.

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We thank the Ritz Carlton (Laguna Niguel) Hotel for warmly hosting us in an ocean view suite. The suite featured two bathrooms, and a gorgeous bedroom with a balcony, and a large separate living room, also with a balcony, all looking over the beach and Pacific Ocean below. If you have the budget and need the room, I strongly recommend to get a suite just like that. The view is fantastic and the room is so warm and clean and luxurious. My husband was particularly impressed by the extensive use of beautiful marble throughout.

One of the restaurants in the Ritz Carlton is the RAYA, with a dining room that has a front-row view of the sun setting over the Pacific.  We had a lovely dinner there, and were intrigued by the creative Pan-Latin menu, with such interesting seasoning for the dishes that made them all unique and tasty.  I enjoyed the Pan Seared Scallops, while my husband and Red Bear split a Thai Curry Buddha Bowl, and we all shared some vegetables sides.  The Raya is located just off the lobby of the hotel — and if you are trying to make a sunset dinner reservation with them, try to do it as early as you can!  There are several other dining and drinking options in the Ritz Carlton, but we liked dinner at the Raya so much, we returned there for breakfast in the morning, and we were not disappointed!

The hotel also customized a cute plate of cupcakes decorated with boxing gloves for Red Bear, because they know he is an avid kickboxer — the coolest hotel welcome gift we have received, for sure!

During our stay there, the hotel has already starting to prepare their Christmas decor, from a giant sweet cake to a giant Christmas tree outside the front door, so we are thinking of a “Beach Christmas Stay-over” in the hotel again.

We thank Ritz Carlton and its outstanding staff for working with us on this post, and for adding another great #RCmemories in our family’s travel album.