Top Things to do in Carlsbad (San Diego) with Toddlers
Last week I was supposed to travel to Hawaii with my 20 month old, but unfortunately our friends got covid and our plans were cancelled. I still wanted to take a trip with my daughter, so I last minute booked a hotel and drove with her out to the beach in Carlsbad, California. We had a fantastic time and it is SUCH a family friendly town, I thought I’d give you my recommendations.
Place to Stay
Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort
View from our room
We loved this place. It is a hotel and timeshare in one, so they have daily activities for both kids and adults. They have an area with firepits and big grassy area which is perfect for kids to run around. It has a view of the pacific and the beach is just a walk down some stairs. They rent out bikes, have a gym, a pool/hot tub, an adults only hot tub and a couple of restaurants next door. It’s located in the “village” so everything is walking distance. We saw a lot of families with kids and then a quite a few older (retiree age) couples, who I believe all had timeshare weeks and had been coming for years. Many of the rooms are 1 bedrooms with kitchen, although we just stayed in a traditional hotel room and it was just perfect.
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Things to Do
The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA
We were lucky enough to make it here before they closed for the season. It is SO pretty! We walked through the fields and looked at the flowers. They also offer a tractor ride, and there are gardens and other things todo as you walk through. There is also a playground that we played on. There were various food options too.
Strawberry Picking
This was probably my favorite thing we did. You pay $5 dollars to get in and then you can purchase a bucket for strawberry picking. We made our way over, they give you scissors to cut the strawberries. Now… Nora didn’t quite understand and mostly just wanted to eat all the strawberries (don’t take kids in anything you don’t want getting messy- she was covered). I had to steer her away from eating them straight off the vine! We had a blast though. I believe they also have tractor rides, and food stands and other games to keep kids entertained. We also went back the next day to buy fresh produce from their market.
Carlsbad Village Farmers Market
Who doesn’t love a farmers market?!
Sunset with my girl
This market in oceanside reminded me a bit more of a “fair”, with fair like food stands and lots of fun things for sale. It got a bit crowded but we enjoyed trying food from a few stands and people watching. They had live music and bounce houses for the kids. After, we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset.
We did not make it here, but were told it is a great walk for little ones. I believe it is 3.5 miles but you don’t have to do the whole thing.
Beach/Pool
We spent a majority of our time swimming and playing at the beach and the pool. At 20 months, the pool was a bigger hit than the beach.
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Places to Eat
I don’t drink coffee, but they had lots of delicious offerings!
This place has a good area for kids to
Good for a quick stop, food was good and came quickly.
We love strawberries, and this place has everything strawberry related you could want. We got the strawberry shortcake.
This is the only sit down restaurant we went to, and it was delicious!
We waited in line, and it was worth the wait!