Love is in the air, apparently, as we have back-to-back weddings to attend over the next two weeks, as well as celebrating our own 5th wedding anniversary this weekend. The first wedding took us to the always beautiful San Juan Capistrano, California, for a weekend getaway on the Pacific Coast.
San Juan Capistrano is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego along the I-5 freeway. The closest airport to SJC is the John Wayne Airport for Orange County, California, but unfortunately there are no direct flights between JWA and Austin. As such, we once again used our handy-dandy Southwest Companion Pass, and points transferred over from our Chase Sapphire Reserve card in order to book flights into Los Angeles International Airport for free.
That meant we had about a 1.5 -2 hour drive ahead of us, so we would be needing a rental car as well. Using some of the tricks I mentioned in my recent rental car article, we were able to snag a full-size Hertz rental for less than $100 for the whole weekend.
As we’d arrived in Los Angeles right around lunchtime, our very first order of business was to grab some grub, so we headed over to airport-adjacent Venice, California for a tasty lunch at the much-lauded Superba Food + Bread. There, I ordered a curried chicken salad that hit the spot, alongside 1/3 of a baguette because….when you’re in one of LA’s most well known bakeries, you order the bread!
After lunch, we steeled ourselves for that old nemesis anyone who has spent time living in Southern California dreads — Friday 405 traffic — and began the slow crawl down the coastline to San Juan Capistrano.
Finally, we arrived at our hotel for this trip, the Residence Inn San Juan Capistrano. Part of the Marriott chain, we actually were able to book this stay (and the one next week too!) using points earned with the Marriott Rewards Credit Card. (And btw – this particular credit card is currently offering 75,000 bonus points for spending just $3,000 within the first three months of card opening — a pretty sweet deal.)
The hotel normally runs between $160 – $220 a night, so using points saved us around $400. And because Residence Inns are all-suite hotels, that meant our room came with a nice seating area and kitchenette to boot.
We were also impressed with the staff and service at this hotel. Every time we entered or exited the front lobby, someone was there to greet us with a big smile. The free breakfast and free internet were nice perks as well. And the convenient location made this hotel a real winner in our books.
Once we’d settled in and unpacked a bit, we decided to venture out to the Dana Point harbor, just a few short blocks away. The harbor itself was filled with yachts galore, as well as our dinner location for the evening, the Harbor Grill. While the restaurant wasn’t anything special, they did bring us a complimentary dessert for our anniversary, which was a nice touch.
The next morning, thanks in part to still being on Central time, we were up before 8am and ready to head out to the hills overlooking the sleepy town for a view looking back down to the ocean.
We took the Las Ramblas trail up to the Patriot Trail to Flag Hill, then circled back towards our car via the Cerro Rebal Trail Loop. This was a great little hike, but be forewarned that the trails aren’t particularly well marked and it can be easy to wind up on a different spur than you intended. Also — some of the hills, like the one that kicks off the Patriot Trail section are killers. My Fitbit showed our hike was the equivalent of climbing 62 flights of stairs!
After the hike we were famished, so we headed over to Lupe’s Mexican Eatery for some Cali-style burritos. We were so hungry that we devoured our lunch before I remembered to take any photos, but trust me, this place is delicious. Housed in a strip mall, it may not look like much, but both of our burritos were phenomenal. This ended up being our best meal of the trip!
Up next, we had a bit of time to kill before the wedding, so we headed to downtown area of San Juan Capistrano and popped into the Five Vines Wine Bar. Here we enjoyed house-curated flights of California wines. I tried the Chardonnay sampler, which featured four fantastic buttery chardonnays for just $21.
The wedding took place at the nearby Villa at San Juan Capistrano, and I must say we do clean up pretty well sometimes!
Finally, on our last day in San Juan Capistrano, we jumped up early to nab a table at the Ramos House Cafe, right next to the train tracks in the famed Los Rios Historical District. Their brunch featured Southern classics with a Cali twist, like my Crab, Bacon & Fried Green Tomato Hash, which was served with a buttermilk biscuit and homemade apple butter.
Satiated, we were able to stroll around the rest of the Los Rios Historical District and see what else they had on offer. We especially enjoyed the butterfly garden.
And, with that, our whirlwind weekend in San Juan Capistrano came to an end. There were several things we didn’t have time to do this trip — like visit the Mission, hang out on Doheny Beach, or grab a drink at the famed Swallow’s Inn. But that just means we’ll have to visit again sometime in the future!
