Southern California Vibes at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach

Are you planning a trip to southern California and want to stay at a family-friendly resort in an amazing location? Then check out Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach! Not only can you enjoy the beach and soak up this town’s deep-rooted surf culture, but you’ll be a short 30-minute drive away from Disneyland too! In this video I’ll cover the accommodations, the pools, the beach, the dining, and the activities. Many thanks to Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach for hosting us.

Getting There

We flew into LAX on JetBlue. From there, it’s about 36 miles to Huntington Beach. If you prefer a shorter drive, you can fly into either John Wayne Airport, which is just 10 miles away, or Long Beach Airport, which is about 15 miles away.

The Accommodations

We stayed in adjoining rooms, which had been recently renovated. I  loved the beachy aesthetic with the pops of yellow, and the vintage surfing artwork was really cute.

The Pools

There are two main pool areas at the property. There’s the main family pool, which has cabanas and a poolside bar and restaurant.

There’s also a separate area called Slyders, which has waterslides and other fun water features that work both for toddlers, as well as bigger kids like Sean and Ella.

The Beach

The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach is located right across the street from 10-Mile Beach, and close to the Huntington Beach Pier. The “street” is actually a stretch of the famous Pacific Coast Highway, but the property has a dedicated walkway so that guests can cross safely. The weather was still a bit cool when we went, so we weren’t quite ready to try out some surfing lessons. But we loved walking around the beach and watching the incredible waves come in.

The Activities

One of our favorite experiences at Hyatt Huntington Beach was making s’mores at the beach while we watched the sun set. The property has its own section on the beach for this. The attendant builds the fire for you, and you get everything you need for a beautiful evening on the beach: hot chocolate, blankets, and of course, the marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.

Listening to the crackling flames, smelling the briny ocean, having sand between our toes, and feeling the warmth of the fire as the evening chill set in, was such a unique combination of sensations.⁠⁠

The Dining

The signature restaurant is Watertable, and you should definitely make it a priority to have dinner here at least one night because the food is fantastic. The decor is really gorgeous, with a rustic, farmhouse vibe. The restaurant gets its name from this literal water table in the middle of the restaurant, which is actually what the servers use to fill up on water for the tables.

Serge started with the stone fruit salad, which is made of duck prosciutto, arugula, baby tomatoes, olive tapenade, greek yogurt, almonds and orange blossom honey. I started with the asparagus salad, which was shaved asparagus on top of arugula, shaved radish, burrata, egg yolk and lemon oil. I  had the petite filet, and Serge had the Chilean sea bass which was amazing. The restaurant has a great wine list, and the cocktails are really fresh and inventive.

The Hyatt has a nice little plaza with a variety of stores and restaurants. Pete’s Sunset Grille is a casual restaurant with surf cuisine like fish tacos. Tower 15 Pizzeria is a pizza joint. Surf City Grocers is a mini-market where you can get to-go food like coffee and sandwiches. And of course, there’s a full menu available through room service.

Covid-19 Safety

California fully reopened on June 15th, just a few days before we arrived at Huntington Beach. There weren’t any required capacity limits, no more physical distancing, and much looser mask mandates. About 60% of California residents are now fully vaccinated. The staff at the resort still mostly wore masks, but guests didn’t need to. Unfortunately in the month since the state reopened, there’s been a surge of Covid cases in California, largely due to the new Delta variant. In L.A. County, 99% of new cases involve those who have not been vaccinated. The state hasn’t walked back its reopening efforts yet, though Los Angeles itself is now encouraging even vaccinated people to go back to wearing masks, to be on the safe side. All that to say, if you are planning to visit this resort soon, I would call ahead to check and see if there are any Covid-related restrictions. Things may be a bit different than when we stayed there.