If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD270.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Beach-house boutique or swish resort hotel? L'Auberge del Mar balances artfully between the two. A happy marriage of vintage hints and SoCal-coast styling add a breezy chic to these ocean-side lodgings, where you can flit between poolside cabanas, flood-lit tennis courts and herb-infused steam rooms. The enduring charms of its Del Mar village locale has drawn A-listers and vacationers to its scenic shores for generations. And when you’re ready to venture beyond the hotel’s comfy confines, a footpath takes you directly to Del Mar Beach – considered among San Diego's finest.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A box of truffles from a local chocolatier on arrival
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £245.63 ($307), including tax at 13.4 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional resort fee of $55.00 per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast.
Also
Be sure to budget for the resort fee of $50 a night (which covers everything from tennis balls to beach chairs).
At the hotel
Tennis courts, free WiFi throughout, year-round heated pool, 24-hour fitness center, scheduled fitness classes, beach-cruiser rental, free village shuttle (within a two-mile radius), seasonal beach valet. In rooms: 42-inch TV, minibar, Keurig coffee machine, tea-making kit, Bluetooth sound system, bathrobes, Lather Lust bath products and air-conditioning.
Our favourite rooms
We were big fans of the Cabana Kings, with their easy access to the pool area and big covered patios that were made for balmy evenings. For toasty nights in during the chillier winter months, plump for a Coastal King, with its cosy end-of-the-bed fireplace.
Poolside
Bookable cabanas take poolside lounging to the next level, with sofa seating, sunloungers, free guacamole and even a big TV for the easily bored. There are plenty more loungers circling the pool, plus a pool bar and a bubbling hot tub just steps away.
Spa
Guests are invited to warm up around the spa’s fire-pit before enjoying treatments such as rosemary salt scrubs, sea-stone massages or soothing body wraps, before sweating it out in herbal steam rooms.
Packing tips
You can leave your beach gear at home, since a valet is on hand to cover essentials such as towels, chairs and parasols.
Also
All areas, including the restaurant, restrooms and swimming pool, are accessible to mobility-impaired guests, plus several room types are ADA compliant.
Pet‐friendly
Very. The hotel welcomes up to two dogs a reservation with a $200 pet charge (for the stay). Four-legged friends also get plush beds, water bowls and even a chef-prepared menu that will make Rover feel like royalty. See more pet-friendly hotels in San Diego.
Children
Little Smiths are welcome, although there is nothing that caters specifically to kids and the atmosphere is more suited to grown-ups. Cribs can be arranged free of charge and extra beds will cost you $45 a stay.
Sustainability efforts
L'Auberge del Mar is green in all the right places, with energy reduction and water conservation measures, recycling bins in all guest rooms, and reusable cups, water bottles, etc throughout the hotel. They also partner with the Feeding San Diego hunger-relief organization.
Pick a table close to the Sunset Terrace for the best view of the ocean and those Pacific sunsets.
Dress Code
California casual by day, but do zhuzh it up for dinner.
Hotel restaurant
Food at the hotel’s Adelaide restaurant is centered around ‘coastal California’ and inspired by produce grown and gathered by local farmers, fishermen and foragers. The ocean’s bounty is celebrated, with fruits of the sea pulled from Pacific waters all the way between Baja and the Canadian border. Chef Nick Green’s ambitious menu also cherry-picks from around the globe, with Italian burrata, Spanish octopus and Japanese sweet potato making a cameo. The result is elevated locavore dining with a typically Californian cosmopolitan tilt. It’s open from breakfast to dinner, with an outstanding brunch menu for mid-morning mimosas.
Hotel bar
As its name suggests, the Living Room Bar is the central social hub of the hotel, and it is suitably kitted out with squishy sofas, friendly barkeeps and a creative cocktail list. Happy hour is actually two hours, from 3pm on weekdays, offering cut-price concoctions and house tipples, plus live music adds to the ambience at weekends. Open till dusk, the Pool Bar is the place for libations on your lounger and sundowners accompanied by snacks. Beans are ethically sourced and pastries freshly baked at the hotel’s cosy country-style café, Lyric Coffee.
Last orders
9pm (10pm Fridays and Saturdays).
Room service
You can order up from a separate room-service menu for breakfast in bed and for evenings meals, snacks and drinks.
L'Auberge del Mar sits a few minutes’ walk from the coast in the San Diego County beach town of Del Mar, in the south-west corner of California.
Planes
The closest place to land is San Diego International Airport, about a 25-minute drive away. There are several options for getting from the airport, including Uber and Lyft services, as well as shared-ride shuttles, such as Super Shuttle. They are all readily available curbside and prices range from $30 to $40. With 24 hours’ notice, the hotel can also book a private car for you for your return journey.
Trains
Amtrak and Coaster offer train services along the Southern California coast, from Santa Barbara through Los Angeles and to San Diego. The closest station is Solana Beach, just seven minutes away by car.
Automobiles
You’re in road-trip territory here, and with so much expanse to explore, hiring a car is the American Way. The hotel has electric-vehicle chargers, and valet parking is available around the clock (at $55 overnight).
Worth getting out of bed for
L'Auberge del Mar and its environs offer activities from the sedate to the invigorating. The hotel’s impressive spa is a good place to start, with its herbal-infused steam rooms, fire-pit relaxation zone and long list of ocean-inspired body treatments. The wellness center also offers a 24-hour gym with top-notch gear. Sportier types can arrange tennis matches or lessons on one of two courts, or just head to the nearby beach, where there’s two miles of sandy coastline for walking, running and swimming. Surfing classes are also easily arranged through the concierge. Hop on one of the hotel’s free beach-cruiser bikes to explore Del Mar village or just spend some time strolling around its quaint boutiques and English Tudor architecture. You can tee off at several nearby golf courses, too, take a punt on a horse at the renowned Del Mar Racing track, or discover Balboa Park, a 1,200-acre wonderland with 15 museums, eight gardens and the famous San Diego Zoo.
Local restaurants
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that there’s no shortage of top dining options in Del Mar. One such spot just across the street is Pacifica Del Mar, specializing in seafood and steak, enjoyed from an ocean-facing seat. Its bar dispenses more than 200 vodkas. For more casual California cuisine, the bistro-style Sbicca serves a menu of American and Tex-Mex classics from a rooftop terrace with Pacific panoramas.
Local cafés
A super-local spot for your morning coffee is Pacifica Breeze Cafe, where you can sip on a latte on its elevated sunny patio while gazing at a sliver of ocean. For the best caffeine-with-views, however, head up stairs to the rooftop terrace and grab a coffee at Kini Koffee – a small kiosk on top of Del Mar Plaza.
Local bars
Laid-back Del Mar doesn’t stand out for its nightlife, but you can still find a few bars to prop up in the neighborhood. Jimmy O's is a lively, neon-lit pub where live sports during the day give way to karaoke and a DJ-soundtracked dance floor come nightfall. If you’re looking to ramp up your night, the scene in much-livelier San Diego is 20 minutes away.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this beachside hotel in Del Mar village and unpacked their vintage Hawaiian shirt and Rainbow sandals, a full account of their SoCal break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside L'Auberge del Mar in Del Mar village…
Once a hotspot for Hollywood’s Golden Age movie stars and top-bill crooners, the San Diego seaside village of Del Mar still has more than a whiff of the A-lister about it. And built on the site of old celebrity haunt the Stratford Inn, L’Auberge Del Mar too retains a certain vintage glamor of its locale. An eight-figure revamp also certainly added plenty of contemporary polish to the place and its raft of luxe facilities. With its top-notch spa, swish poolside cabanas, and excellent all-day drinking and dining options, you can easily remain content within the confines of the hotel’s five acres of ocean-view landscaping. But take some time to explore this scenic stretch of the San Diego coast, its breezy charm, outdoorsy lifestyle and beach-town appeal, and it’s soon obvious why so many of today’s celebs have also chosen to make it their home.
