Kid-Favorite Lodgings

Now you no longer just visit fantasy land, you live in it. LEGOLAND California has two hotels right outside the Carlsbad theme park entrance—each with their own colourful themes, restaurants, pools and playful features—from a disco lift to a slide in the lobby.

Both properties are designed with travelling families in mind. The hotels’ junior-suite-style rooms—emblazoned with colourful walls and LEGO models as art—have separate sleeping areas for grown-ups and children. The children’s quarters have bunk beds, their own TV and a LEGO brick box for impromptu building. Both foyers feature giant mosh pits full of plastic bricks, so kids can build away while grown-ups check in. Plus, all hotel guests enjoy both complimentary breakfast buffets and early entry into the park (up to an hour, depending on the season).

Choose your hotel based on the theme: the original, 250-room LEGOLAND Hotel offers four room themes—pirates, adventurers, LEGO friends and Ninjago warriors—and larger-than-life LEGO sculptures, made with more than 3 million bricks, all over the hotel. Head into the Bricks Family Restaurant and neighbouring Skyline Café, and check out the mini cityscape that has Spider-Man scaling a building and a wizard reading a book by a rooftop pool. Industrial-strength glue holds the sculptures together, so go ahead and touch. Outside, there’s a real pool, too, with soft LEGO bricks that can be used to build in the water. Meanwhile, don’t miss the hotel’s disco-themed lift, which is nearly a ride in itself.

The LEGOLAND Castle Hotel, meanwhile, opened in 2018 with 250 rooms based on three kingdom-oriented themes: wizards, knights and princesses, with LEGO art ranging from owls to cats and fire-breathing dragons, and tiny star lights embedded in the ceiling over the children's bunk beds. The Castle’s lobby offers its own diversions, from the slide that runs parallel to a flight of stairs, a Knock Knock Door that tells jokes and a small 'dungeon' ready for photo ops. Its courtyard area has its own pool, a LEGO-stocked playground and a big screen TV set on a small lawn, playing LEGO films daily. The hotel’s Dragon’s Den restaurant has live entertainment (jesters who take requests when you spin the wheel on the wall), and a parent-friendly bar.

With either hotel, remind your children to pack their LEGO Mini Figures, which they can trade with staff at the hotels or in the park.

The famously themed rooms at this historic 110-room hotel include plenty of kid-pleasers. Pint-size princesses will no doubt spin and twirl in the fairytale-like Old Mill Room, while horse-lovers can climb aboard the pint-size carousel steed in the Pony Room. If your little girls can’t get enough pink, consider the Mini Maxi or Floral Fantasy rooms. Other fun themes and features include waterfalls and rock walls in the Caveman Room and a bed supported by wagon wheels in the cowboys-and-cattle-drives-themed Yahoo Room.

Outdoors, play at a hilltop pool with a 45-foot waterfall that plunges into a lagoon. The kids can splash while you sit back and take in sweeping views of San Luis Obispo and the surrounding coastal hills. On site stables offer guided trail rides. All this, and your kids under 18 stay free.

The giant pool with three water slides might be enough to keep plenty of families busy, but this resort has the irresistible plus of being right on the edge of Huntington Beach, nicknamed “Surf City, USA.” The whole family can take surfing lessons with local pros, rent bikes and pedal the ocean-hugging boardwalk, then end the day gathered around the hotel’s fire pits for cocoa and s’mores.

The resort also features Camp Hyatt, where kids ages 11 and under play games, do crafts, and hit the beach, with a specific theme for each days’ activities. The camp is available for half- or full days, plus evenings on the weekends—great for planning spa time or a grownup night out.

With cheery and colorful rooms with whimsical touches for kids, this hotel makes a great home base for families visiting the City by the Bay. Little ones get goodie-filled knapsacks upon check-in, a fun way to perk up tired little travelers. Family rooms have separate bedrooms for the kids, baby-proofed rooms are available, and suites with kitchenettes for making quick meals and snacks. Bath time gets a boost with in-room tub toys. Snuggle up for quiet time with a special library of books and DVDs.

Start the day with Continental breakfast, included for all in your room; milk and cookies are served every afternoon. The hotel is situated in San Francisco’s bayfront Marina District, within walking distance of Crissy Field, Fort Mason, and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Perched on a tiny peninsula extending into San Diego Bay, the Loews Coronado is a bustling resort perfect for an active family. Its pool configuration is set up for good times all around: wading pool, designated family pool and hot tub, and ping pong tables. Tempted to take a dip in the peaceful adult-only pool and hot tub? No worries—just sign the kids up for the resort’s half- or full-day kids’ club, with activities like sandcastle building, scavenger hunts, and magic tricks.

Older kids can hit the teen lounge for watch movies or get enjoy Play Station games. Better yet, get everyone outside enjoying San Diego’s awesome weather with a spin in the resort’s loaner kayaks, standup paddleboards, sailboats, or personal watercraft. Beautiful Silver Strand Beach is within walking distance.

If you’ve got one of those kids who can’t get enough of trains (and maybe you secretly like them too), let him—or her—have a dream getaway at this unusual lodging. The resort, surrounded by lush and rugged forestlands in Dunsmuir, about 211 miles/340 kilometers north of Sacramento, features 12 cupola-topped cabooses big enough for families (there are separate cabooses and converted box cars for adults only). Each caboose sleeps up to five, and includes a private bathroom, and includes a mini-fridge and microwave.

A swimming pool and hot soaking pool add to the outdoor fun. The jagged formations of Castle Crags State Park make a dramatic backdrop for some of the railcars. There’s also a creek for splashing in summer. The resort’s Dinner House restaurant and lounge (open for dinner, Friday through Sunday) is—naturally—housed in antique dining cars.