Me, my husband, and 12-year old daughter will be driving from Vegas next week to stay 2 weekdays in a So CA beach town. Can you give recommendations? We want to go to the beach for sure, and maybe a little shopping; mostly relaxation before school starts.

Under consideration: Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica (way too expensive!). I really know nothing about Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Redondo, etc.

Can you give some suggestions?

Thanks!

On a trip to San Diego last week, we stopped at San Clemente, just south of LA. It was a really pretty area - we went to the state beach there, which is pretty much right in town. Looked like a nice place to spend a few days. I know it isn't on your list, but I thought I would throw it out there as an additional idea.

Monterrey!!!

montery is way too out of the way imo.

I would do Coradando, Laguna Beach or I liked the San Clemente recommendation. I stayed in a very beachy/campy kinda place in San Clemente one year - I will find the hotel website - what is your budget?

http://beachcombermotel.com/

It is not the montage - but we really enjoyed it - very "beachy"

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts.
dawnnoelm - Our budget is around $110-150. I try to get military discount/or Entertainment discount (not what they used to be) wherever we go. We tend to stay at the all suite-bfast included properties.

Any further opinions on the LA beach towns?

I do not like Hermosa, Manhattan or Redondo - I did stay in Santa Monica recently - and I cannot remember the name of the place! It was not on the beach and RIGHT off the ten. It was okay - it was on points and I imagine you could get it for your budget.

I will try to remember the name - 3rd street promanade would be fun for a 12 year old girl. My 13 and 10 year old loved it.

Santa Monica for under $150? Where?

If you don't need to stay right on the beach, the El Segundo area has a lot of the suite type hotels and is close to Manhattan and Hermosa Beaches. Clean surf, nice boardwalk, mall(s) for shopping at Manhattan Beach Blvd and Sepulveda.

There is a Residence Inn in Manhattan Beach. It's not on the beach, but considering that the beach will be foggy until about 10am, and again after 3pm, and there is a mall nearby it's a good alternative. Lots of things to do in the beach towns--rent bikes, watch the surfers, good food, too.

Hi LVkym..
Just checked Expedia for next week and the
La Costa Spa & Resort in Carlsbad is around $200 a night for a 4-5* resort, its a gorgeous property and about 5 minutes to the beach..
La Quinta Inn is around $159 and its a 2 star off the freeway..
Hope this helps for you and have fun!

lacostaresort.com

Check www.travelzoo.com they are showing lots of deals on California hotels. Most are in the San Diego area, though.

If you want to have stuff to do, you wouldn't want to be in Orange County. I would not consider Manhattan Beach or Hermosa. Maybe Newport Beach. But I would probably stay a bit south of Santa Monica and go to Santa Monica during the day for the beach and shopping etc. There is no nice hotel ON the SM beach for $150 unless you score a deal, but it shouldn't be a problem finding something within a 5-10 mins drive away from the beach in that area. I would also consider Coronado and other areas in San Diego around there.

I'm not sure what some of these posters have against Manhattan, Hermosa or Redondo Beaches. (Okay, admittedly, Hermosa gets a little wild after dark) The OP said she would like the beach and a little shopping. Which of those 2 attributes are the South Bay Beaches missing? (mlgb has already pointed out the affordable, breakfast-included lodging)

Check out: www.downtownmanhattanbeach.com
www.rivieravillage.org

There is nothing wrong with the SoBay beaches: Manhattan, Hermosa or Redondo are rated A+.

SoCal beach town atmosphere and great sandy beaches and piers. Excellent area for restaurants,window shopping, and walking around day or night.

Try the Marriott Residence Inn in Manhattan, or less expensive and farther back from the beach, the Mariott TownPlace. El Segundo, a mile north, has many places to choose from as well.

Thanks lvk and MBNancy for sticking up for "our" towns. Also consider the Crowne Plaza, across from the harbor in RB. Great bike rentals.

I do not have anything "against" them - I just would not stay there if I had choices .

Regarding the hotel for under 150.00 - you are right - I was on drugs . I used points to stay at the Doubletree Santa Moncia -- so had no idea what the cost was! Sorry Lvkym.

If you can do the La Costa - my dh and dd stayed there a few weekends ago for a daddy/daughter get away and had a blast. The rooms were recently redone and the pool was a lot of fun.

A friend and I stayed at the Crowne Plaze in RB for one night a couple years ago. It was great - we wished we could have stayed longer, but we were capping off a trip to San Diego and she had a flight out of LAX the next morning. The area was pretty cool and the hotel was very comfortable - nice pool and hot tub too, although we did get locked out on the pool deck - total Lucy and Ethel moment. After searching in vain for another way out that didn't include going through the parking garage at midnight in our bathing suits(the pool is on the roof of the garage), we realized that there is a hotel phone right by the pool with a direct line to room service - or I suppose in this case, pool service. The room service people sent a security guard who let us back into the hotel. Very nice people

if you are retired military you can stay on base at the navy lodge (for a good rate) at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, CA (right across the bay from San Diego).
It is right on the beach that was ranked as one of the top 10 beaches in the U.S.

I don't think there is anything wrong with Hermosa, Manhattan etc. I actually really like them, but because I think they're nice places to live, not to visit necessarily if you only have one day.

I think it's too quiet if you're a tourist family with a kid looking for things to do during the day, and too loud for a family at night with drunk 19-21 year-olds runing around. I wouldn't say the beaches are better than places with more things to do, like Santa Monica or Marina del Rey which has good restaurants and close to Santa Monica and LAX. Hope that explains my comment.

I guess I'd take drunk teenagers over homeless heroin addicts, if I had a choice.

And just which beach in the Marina are you swimming at?