Is it worth a trip? I am trying to decide whether to take my son who is 4.5 years old there before he is too old for it. San Diego is of interest too, possibly SeaWorld. Would you recommend flying into Carlsbad? Any hotel recommendations?

My 10 year old grandson still loves to go to Legoland.
Can't tell you anything about hotels, car rentals or airports.

Appropriate ages for Legoland are 4 to 8 and 70 to 90. I can explain the latter if you wish.

Carlsbad is basically a suburb of San Diego. Its airport has got to be small with very few flights in and out. I would think the best deal would be to fly into San Diego and drive up to Carlsbad. It's only about a 35 mile trip.

If you can get a flight into carlsbad, sure, why not? It is much smaller though so it is not as likely you can get a good deal on your flight there.

I would say yes on Legoland.

re hotels, there is a hotel just east of Legoland perched up on a hill. I think it is one of the big chains but it looks nice. Also there is a 5 star property that used to be the Four seasons but it may be a Park Hyatt now.

btw, downtown Carlsbad is lovely with a wonderful old town area lined with stately gnarled old trees down the center of the street. Worth a visit.

Also beaches in Carlsbad are very nice.

I just spent a week there with my 5 year old son and we both loved it. I think it's a blast! We flew into San Diego, got a rent car and it was about a 30 minute drive to our condo in the La Costa area of Carlsbad. From the condo it was about 10 minutes to Legoland. I just posted about ticket deals that are available (5 days for the price of 1, free child with adult).

There's a lot of fun stuff for little guys: the zoo, harbor cruise, riding the trolleys, beaches (La Jolla has really nice ones), the aircraft carrier, Maritime museum and Legoland.

I looked into flying into Carlsbad but the flights weren't convenient for us. I find SAN pretty easy to deal with and it's easy to get on the highway and head north.

I did a lot of research on hotels and ending up finding a condo in La Costa. We stayed a week and I really wanted a kitchen and such. The Best Western Beach View in Carlsbad looked pretty nice. There are loads of hotels in the area so it really just depends on if you want to be at the beach, next to Legoland or whatever.

Tally, can you share where you stayed?

North County is a lovely area - there are several hotels that are very nice. What is your budget? I cannot imagine being able to get a good deal on a flight into Carlsbad and would just fly into San Diego. Be mindful of the time of day - traffic can be a bear headed up the 5.

I have recently stayed at La Costa on a few occasions and they have a fun pool if your son likes to swim.

Here's the link to the vrbo listing. http://www.vrbo.com/51431
The owners were really friendly and helpful, the condo is very nice, the location was very convenient (right next to a small shopping center with a grocery store), parking garage, pool. It's located near the La Costa spa and resort, although we didn't do any spa stuff. I'd definitely consider staying there again unless I opted for staying at the beach.