As one of our last trips before baby, we came down to Dana Point in Southern California for a wedding. We had never been to Dana Point before. We initially had it on our itinerary for our epic month long PCH roadtrip, but knocked it off last minute when we decided to spend extra time in La Jolla and had to make it there on a schedule for a lunch reservation. Needless to say, we were excited that we finally got to spend some quality time here!
We arrived pretty late on the first day, and checked into the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort. The rooms were great – ours had a fantastic little seating area, and a great balcony overlooking the marina. I’m a sucker for waking up to a water view!
Day One
Our first full day started with a walk down to Stacks Pancake House. When I searched for breakfast in the area, this was by and far the top rated spot, and OH MY GOD was it true. I seriously have ben dreaming about these banana macadamia nut pancakes since the day I had them. I’ve tried like 6 pancake places in Denver since then, and none have been even close to as delicious as these.
In addition to the pancakes, the spot has incredible savory dishes, all with a Hawaiian twist. The pork kalbi and eggs and the biscuits and gravy were phenomenal, and their fresh pressed OJ and house made lattes were fantastic as well. This is definitely a must do if you’re in the area, and honestly would drive at least an hour to eat this if I were anywhere nearby in SoCal.
After a VERY HEAVY breakfast, we walked back up the hill to the hotel. The hill up to the hotel is pretty steep, and especially as a very pregnant person, was quite the workout. We changed into our bathing suits and spent the rest of the day just lounging by the pool. The pool does have a lunch menu and drink service, but the hotel was SEVERELY understaffed. Both days that we ordered food it took about 2 hours to arrive, and drinks were taking about 20-30 minutes. Most of our group ended up leaving and going to get their own drinks and food off property and bringing it back as opposed to waiting. Hopefully by the time we visit again this will be fixed!
For dinner, we made reservations at Glasspar, which was also right down the hill on the marina side of the hotel. I loved that everything we did was within walking distance. The food here was fantastic. We ordered one of every appetizer to share (we had 12 people so it worked out), and most of us shared entrees as well. The standout was this shrimp pasta, and their lobster roll.
After dinner, most of our party grabbed a drink at a nearby bar or at the hotel bar, but as a very pregnant person, I called it a night.
Day Two
Day two started by walking down to the marina for breakfast at Coffee Importers. This adorable coffee shop/breakfast spot has two locations side by side – one for their handcrafted coffees and another for their breakfast and bagels. Their breakfast bagel sandwiches were huge, and definitely hit the spot for another day lounging in the sun.
The coffee was also delicious, and well worth the bit of a wait on a weekend morning. There is no indoor seating, but tons of seats outside overlooking the marina, and the whole area was full of families enjoying breakfast in the sun, and walking the marina afterwards.
After eating, we did walk around the marina just a little bit. There are a ton of restaurants and shops, and we definitely would stop back in and spend some more time here if we could. With the amount of people we were with, and all the wedding festivities, we didn’t get quite as much time to explore the restaurants as normal.
After our walk, we spent a little time at the pool before we had to head up and get ready for the wedding!
The hotel is honestly the most beautiful venue for a wedding. The grounds of the resort are so gorgeous, and with the hotel being up on a hill, you have these majestic panoramic views of the ocean and the marina. We had a fantastic time celebrating our friends that night.
Day Three
On our last day, we drove down to Bonjour Cafe for breakfast. We split this incredible french toast dish and a quiche, along with some delicious handcrafted coffees. The restaurant is apparently known for their quiche, and a ton of locals were stopping in to order full quiches for their Easter celebrations the next week.
After brunch, we started our drive back up to the OC airport, stopping for a bit in Newport Beach to shop at the Lido Marina Village, which is one of my favorite little shopping areas that we discovered on our PCH roadtrip.
We’ll definitely be back again, so let us know what other spots we should hit in Dana Point, and what other adorable small towns we need to add to our list in Southern California!
