48 Hours in Laguna Beach

Last week was our fourth wedding anniversary and we headed to Laguna Beach for a quick getaway to celebrate. We stayed at Hotel Joaquin, a boutique hotel nestled into the hillside. The hotel’s location was great—close enough to walk to a beach or into town, but you still felt secluded. The hotel was designed by Robert McKinley and I loved taking in all the little details throughout the property.

All we wanted to do was sit by the pool and relax so that’s what we did for the majority of the two days we were there. Because we were there on a Thursday/Friday, the hotel was relatively quiet and there was hardly anyone else at the pool. I was especially excited to finally wear a bikini and coverup I bought during quarantine—haha! I loved the large daybeds they had by the pool and am now thinking about that as an idea for our backyard lounge area.

A friend had told us about Crystal Cove State Park so we headed there around sunset before dinner. The views of the coastline were so gorgeous—I’m always in awe of the California coast. We had dinner at 242 Cafe Fusion, an amazing sushi spot also recommended to us. We probably wouldn’t have picked it otherwise and it ended up being amazing! We also ate at Zinc Cafe, a great spot for breakfast or lunch.

I didn’t do much shopping, but I did pop into Good Together House and Laguna Supply and loved their assortments of home goods and clothing. I also stopped into Nicholson’s Antiques, which has a gorgeous collection of antique pieces. On the way back to LA, we stopped at Lido Village, which has shops like Amber Interiors, Jenni Kayne, The Real Real, Clare V, etc.

We really loved our time in Laguna and will definitely be making more trips back! It was so easy to get to from LA and such a nice change of pace.