Two Unique San Diego Hotels: Bahia Resort and El Cordova

Two unique San Diego hotels, two very different styles, two equally enjoyable experiences.

I hadn’t been back in the city for decades. My Navy career started in San Diego at various months-long Navy schools. Classes took up my days, but weekends meant driving up to La Jolla or down Coronado’s Silver Strand. I went shopping at malls (hey, it was the 80’s) at Mission Valley or Fashion Valley, and picked up a Mrs. Field’s cookie when they were still a relatively new mall delicacy. Sometimes I’d check to see what was going on in the newly-designated Gaslamp Quarter, but the answer then was “not much” because downtown San Diego was pretty dead.

Now I was back to speak at a conference, see friends that I hadn’t visited in person in decades, and NOT do dumb things that I did in younger days like ride all over town on a boyfriend’s motorcycle without wearing a helmet. The rich smell of salt air was the same, though.

Before checking in with my husband to the first of two hotels, the Bahia Resort Hotel, we spent our late afternoon time wandering around sprawling Balboa Park.

Balboa is a public park that is packed with museums and attractions including the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Since we only had an hour or so before sunset, there wasn’t time to do much except walk around and admire the landscaping and Spanish architecture in one of the older sections of the park.

For dinner, a friend recommended Pueblo in Pacific Beach, with food inspired by nearby Baja California. The Mexican border is only about 15 miles south of here, so cuisine and people have mixed with each other for hundreds of years.

It was pretty crowded for a weeknight, but the staff squeezed us in and we had a nice meal amidst the cheery hubbub.

When we checked into the Bahia Resort Hotel in nearby Mission Bay, we were given a room in a multi-story building at the far end of the property. It was kind of a hike getting to the other end where the lobby and restaurants are, but with lovely San Diego weather and my need for getting in more steps each day, I didn’t mind at all.

The Bahia opened in 1953; one of the very earliest hotels in that area. It is very well maintained, with modern amenities. What makes it unique is the mix of different types of rooms and suites, because the owners added 20 units here and 40 units there over the years, resulting in an interesting mix of modest little bungalows, a two-story motor court sort of section, and our “high rise” building. There is also a conference center and meeting rooms.

In between is lush landscaping, a pool, a playground, fitness center, tennis courts, and shuffleboard.

In my walks back and forth, I realized that the trees, grassy areas, walls of ivies and bougainvillea, and tropical plants like bird of paradise help the Bahia visually stitch together a disparate group of buildings that were built in different decades and in slightly different styles.

I was particularly fond of a large grove of palm trees next to our multistory building.

Ocean breezes whipping the palm fronds around created a soothing soundscape right by our room.

Another unique feature is an Airstream trailer near the lobby where you can buy breakfast bites, snacks, and coffee. It is located next to a habitat for two blind rescue seals that live at the Bahia.

Gracie has lived there since 2005, and Billy since 2015.

They are fed mackerel, squid, and other seafoods, which the local birds have obviously figured out because they magically show up right around feeding time, hoping for a handout or to snag a stray food item. I had fun watching the seals swim around and play.

The muffins, breakfast burritos, and coffee from the Airstream Café Grab ‘N Go were fine, and more affordable than going to the on-site Dockside 1953 for a full meal. We grabbed a quick takeout dinner of excellent gyros one night from Kojack’s a few blocks down the road in Mission Beach, right on the ocean.

The second of our two unique San Diego hotels was in Coronado.

Take either the soaring, curving bridge across San Diego Bay to get there, or the Coronado ferry.

Coronado is a beautiful, distinctive, wealthy town and its hotels are priced accordingly. This hotel reviews blog post by La Jolla Mom was helpful, and local friends suggested Cherokee Lodge but it was booked up.

We stayed at the hacienda-style El Cordova Hotel, very conveniently located downtown across the street from the famous Hotel Del Coronado, near Coronado Beach, and right on the Orange Avenue main thoroughfare which is full of restaurants and shops.

It was originally built in 1902 as a retirement mansion for Elisha S. Babcock, a railroad bigwig from Indiana who, along with two other wealthy men, bought all of Coronado and adjacent North Island in 1885 for $110,000. He and others were the ones who built and promoted the Victorian confection Hotel Del in the 1880’s.

Now the renovated and expanded El Cordova, similar to the Bahia but a lot more compact, is a bit of a rabbit warren of smaller buildings, larger buildings, a few local businesses, and rooms tucked atop narrow stairs as ours was, all around a wonderful central courtyard.

I am a total sucker for beautiful tilework, whether it’s Spanish, Turkish, the Pewabic tile I found near Detroit’s Eastern Market . . . any tile!

So, the location plus the promise of tile decoration all over the hotel and in the rooms was the decider for me in booking.

Although we didn’t snag a room with colorful tiles, I did like the terracotta designs in our small bathroom . . .

This is an historic property, so although there are suites and larger rooms – some with kitchens – the rooms can be small. I don’t care as long as the bed and room temperature are comfortable (ours certainly were.)

Many of the rooms face the center Spanish Village courtyard, which can get noisy at night from people in the pool or at the on-site Miguel’s Cocina restaurant. Our room faced out onto Orange Avenue, and it was pretty quiet.

There is no hotel parking, but try to snag a spot on the street nearby for overnight. There is a two hour limit during the day, but it’s free in designated spaces from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Since the two-hour clock doesn’t start till 8 a.m., that gives you until 10 a.m. to move your vehicle. There is a paid underground garage across the street, too.

For a hearty breakfast the next day, we walked up Orange Avenue to Clayton’s Coffee Shop, which has been there for decades and offers a classic diner experience.

You can play around with one of their vintage tabletop jukeboxes, although at least the one at our counter seat didn’t work anymore. Nostalgic music from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s is piped in, though, so you don’t feel aurally deprived.

I was in a SoCal bougie area, so I went bougie with my breakfast – avocado toast.

Is avocado toast an Australian breakfast culture thing, or a Southern California phenomenon?

Bon Appétit says it’s a little of both.

Mine at Clayton’s was delicious and I ate every bite.

Usually I’m not much of a hotel person. I’m in town for business, or passing through, or mostly trying to save money on lodging so I can blow it on meals, museums, and other experiences.

These two unique San Diego hotels, however, were very much a part of making my trip to the city memorable.

All photos and videos by the author

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