Travel Horizons: Half Moon Bay

Showing posts with label Half Moon Bay. Show all posts

11.26.2018

a perfect Bay Area weekend getaway

With so many ways for Bay Area residents to spend a romantic weekend, it's hard to choose! This Thanksgiving, we returned to Half Moon Bay, California. The Bay Area is such a pleasure when the roads are empty! Leaving home a bit after 11 a.m. on Thursday morning, Waze routed us over the Bay Bridge, through San Francisco, and treated us to a relaxing drive down the coast. We pulled up to the entrance to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay by noon.

Hanging out in the Club... Our room was ready, and after unpacking, we went straight to the Club for lunch. If you've never booked a Club room at a Ritz-Carlton, you're missing a treat. With five meal presentations during the day, the lunch spread included pumpkin soup, sandwiches, salads, cheeses, and desserts ... not to mention Ritz Carlton's addictive chocolate chip cookies. The breakfast buffet now includes an omelet station where the chef will cook your eggs to order ... and Club guests enjoy complimentary cocktails in the late afternoon ... and dessert temptations in the evening.

Golf anyone? The Club's windows look out over the 9th green of the Ocean Course of the Half Moon Bay Golf Links, and I had fun watching golfers playing the hole. But you don't have to just watch... golfers will enjoy the challenge of playing two championship courses — the Old Course and the Ocean Course.

Half Moon Bay is a town with cute shops and good restaurants. We reserved a table for two for Thanksgiving Dinner at Pasta Moon, and our meal was excellent. There were six main course menu options, but I chose the Diestel Farms Turkey — moist and flavorful! I loved my dessert of Warm Molten Chocolate Cake with a scoop of vanilla chocolate gelato. Reservations were definitely necessary, so I'm glad I consulted Open Table.

There's plenty to do to fill a weekend. You can stay at the Ritz-Carlton and luxuriate in the spa — or you can venture forth to hike the redwoods or explore miles of beaches. Here's my blog from my last visit two years ago.

The smart way to stay at RC Half Moon Bay — book through your Virtuoso travel consultant and enjoy a complimentary Full Breakfast for two daily as well as a $100 credit towards a heavenly spa treatment.

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

11.16.2016

four seasons of Ritz-Carlton resorts in California

There are four Ritz-Carlton resorts in California — one for each season — and I've now had the opportunity to visit all four of them. Here are some of the vacation possibilities awaiting you.

spring — Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs

A resort in the desert, guests are surrounded by the austere beauty of the surrounding mountains. What to do? Play golf. Take a desert tour in a 4x4. Visit Joshua Tree National Monument. Swim in the resort's pools (one for families and one just for adults). Indulge in the spa. Enjoy the great cuisine. Or watch the mountains turn gold at sunrise.

summer — Laguna Niguel

A southern California beach resort, Laguna Niguel is a wonderful destination for a summer beach holiday. Laguna Niguel is actually the very first Ritz-Carlton resort in the world. A renovation has replaced the lobby's "Buckhead" dark wood paneling and heavy curtains with light wood paneling, and the windows now look out on the beautiful ocean view. Other activities include golf, cruising Newport Beach Harbor in a Duffy Boat, or visiting Disneyland (40 minutes away without traffic).

fall — Half Moon Bay

We just got back from Half Moon Bay, and fall is the perfect time to visit — pumpkin season. The resort is adjacent to two 18-hole golf courses, including the challenging seaside course in the picture above. You can visit the cute town of Half Moon Bay, and the scenic Signature Drive will fill one day with a picturesque trip: seeing pumpkin farms, hiking redwood forests, visiting wineries, and driving up the California coast.

winter — Lake Tahoe

Located at Northstar, a family-friendly ski mountain overlooking Lake Tahoe, this Ritz-Carlton is both a summer and winter destination. In the winter, you'll enjoy staying in this true ski-in ski-out resort. Located mid-mountain, adjacent to the lifts to the top. The Ski Concierge will set out your skis and heated boots for you each morning ... and store them at night while you enjoy après ski activities (a spa treatment, perhaps?). But summer is also a fabulous time to visit — with opportunities for mountain biking, hiking to a secluded lake, or sailing on Lake Tahoe.

You can receive added-value Virtuoso or STARS amenities at all four of these resorts, including free daily breakfasts and more. Just ask!

copyright (c) 2016 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

10.23.2016

Half Moon Bay | what to do

What's there to do in Half Moon Bay? We are spending the weekend at the Ritz-Carlton and are loving our stay. The room is beautiful. The seaside views are stunning. The resort offers 36 holes of championship golf, a spa, full exercise facilities, and excellent dining. And its Club Lounge is one of the best I've experienced with not only five meal services a day but wine on tap. But as superb as a resort may be, I've always believed that the destination is the most important reason to travel somewhere.

Yesterday, we experienced the Half Moon Bay Signature Drive. A full-day adventure, we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves very much. What did we do and see?

1. The village of Half Moon Bay is a small, charming town on the Pacific Coast. After parking our car, we explored the town. There are interesting, one-of-a-kind shops on Main Street (nothing at all with a corporate brand name). The town features some large murals painted in the side of buildings — see one extraordinary painting in the picture above. Half Moon Bay's local United Methodist Church was built in 1872, and its beautiful sanctuary is just one block off Main Street. We walked past a number of restaurants and made reservations for tonight at Chez Shea. Verdict: really good and healthy organic food!

2. Pumpkin farms line Route 92 which leads from the Peninsula over to Half Moon Bay. We were in luck, as pumpkins are definitely in season in late October. We passed fields and fields of pumpkins on sale for Halloween.

3. Redwood forests. We parked at one of the trailheads for the Purisma Creek Redwoods Preserve and enjoyed an hour hike down the gorge and back. The trail was shaded by a grove of tall redwoods — a beautiful hike to help burn off the calories from all the great meals we've had.

4. Lunch break. We had intended to stop at Alice's Restaurant, but when we passed it around 1 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday, there was nowhere to park so we drove a bit further to La Honda — a biker community — which has several places to eat.

5. Pescadera is another small, charming town. It's recommended to take Old Stage Road from San Gregorio south to Pescadera as turning left onto Route 1 is a challenge when there's a lot of traffic. We saw more unique shops and visited the Harley Farms Goat Dairy. Try the dark chocolate truffles — goat cheese dipped in chocolate. They were good, really!

6. The beach. While the northern California coast is not ideal for swimming (cold water, rough waves), the beaches are a beautiful place to walk and to enjoy the scenery. Be careful with the waves — we saw one dog enthusiastically chasing a ball thrown by his master who almost got swept to sea by a sudden wave. (His owner bravely rescued him).

7. Back to the Ritz Carlton Club Lounge to end a very fun day with a cup of cappuccino and a chocolate chip cookie!

Our entire drive with lunch, shopping, and hiking lasted about six hours — an enjoyable day well spent! See my Facebook photo album of the day.