I love my home, but sometimes I just need new scenery for a couple of days — a change of pace, a mini-adventure.
Most recently, I headed north to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the relatively new Terranea resort. As soon as I arrived, I knew I’d picked the right spot.
Here’s what I liked about this getaway:
• Location, location, location
Only two hours north of San Diego and about an hour from downtown L.A., the Palos Verdes Peninsula feels more like the Mendocino Coast than Southern California. The resort is built on 102 acres and provides a 270-degree ocean panorama. Terranea is isolated — in a good way. With 582 rooms (suites, casitas, bungalows, and villas), it feels like an Italian village. What could be better?
• Friendly faces
Call me an oddball, but when I travel I like people to be nice to me — and I have to say that the staff at Terranea is the most gracious I’ve encountered in a long time. Not condescending — just cheerful and obliging.
• Fun stuff
For me this means walking somewhere new and different. At Terranea, trails wander along a clifftop providing views of wildflowers, stony beaches, and the deep blue sea. Off property to the north, I discovered the Point Vicente Lighthouse and chatted with two spear-fishers looking for striped seabass. The resort also offers kayaking, biking, a fitness center, yoga, spinning, circuit training, three swimming pools, a sandy cove beach, a 9-hole golf course, a full-service spa, and a children’s program that appears to be above the norm. Trump National, an 18-hole championship course, is three miles down the road.
• Pampering
About that above-mentioned full-service spa, I’ve had my share of massages, but the one I enjoyed at Terranea is now the standard against which I will judge all others. Christie, my masseuse, trained at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego and worked at L’Auberge Del Mar before moving north. How’s that for a small-world coincidence?
• Food options
I like flexibility when it comes to mealtime. I enjoyed a quick muffin in the Spa Café and lingered over an excellent dinner in Catalina Kitchen. I didn’t try Mar’sel, where Michael Fiorelli is chef de cuisine, but I liked my lunch at Nelson’s — named for Mike Nelson of Sea Hunt fame. Villas, casitas, and bungalows come with kitchens, and there’s a Trader Joe’s close by.
• Eco-friendly environment
The draught-tolerant landscaping is attractive, but the eco-factors that really surprised me were the owls, hawks, and falcons that are employed to keep seagulls off the property. I’m not surprised that Terranea is on Condé Nast’s 2010 “Hot List.” It’s certainly on mine. (866/802-8000, www.terranea.com) ELIZABETH HANSEN
