Last month, my teen and I spent the night at the Chaminade Resort & Spa in Santa Cruz for a mother-daughter getaway about an hour and a half from San Francisco. In that brief time, we were immersed in so many outdoor activities that it felt like a grown-up summer camp.
The hilltop campus consists of separate buildings connected by walkways, with tons of green lawns between them and golf carts whizzing around. The vibe was such that you might join another family at their fire pit and share your s’mores (we did), strike up a conversation with wedding attendees in the hot tub (they did) or just be left alone to enjoy the serene surroundings. When we were at the Chaminade, two weddings and an engagement party were underway; that could easily become overwhelming at a smaller spot, but the resort’s 300 acres are expansive enough that it just felt festive to pass bridesmaids in their finery on the sidewalks.
After checking in—the room numbers are marked by a set of oversized dominoes—we dropped our bags in the cute room and headed to the tennis courts. We brought our own rackets and balls, but you can also borrow tennis and pickleball equipment at the fitness center. Afterwards, we freshened up for dinner at the View restaurant, an easy walk from our room although you can always call for a golf cart lift from the front desk. The restaurant’s named the View for a reason—it overlooks the beautiful forested valley below and on a clear day you can see the ocean.
The food was fresh and delicious. For starters, I had a roasted beet salad and my daughter had the ahi tuna poke with a cucumber so finely sliced it stretched more than a foot. The bites we shared were honestly filling enough for dinner, but we still went on to have mains: smoked prime rib for her and shrimp fettuccine for me, with shared braised brussels sprouts with bacon which was my favorite of all the dishes. For dessert, we split a delicious flourless chocolate cake with ganache and chestnut praline. She made her way through some incredible mocktails—the “no jito” was her favorite, but she also tried the spirit-free paloma—while I indulged in the Muchas Luchas with Milagro silver, Cointreau and fruit (chinola, lime and mango). I’d deliberately set our reservation for dusk, so we watched the sun set as we ate—it’s hard to find a better experience than that.
Later that night, we sat at a fire pit and ate s’mores, then swam in one of two pools adjacent to each other. The “swim-up cinema” was showing a movie while we languidly swam under the stars. A bar was still operating late at night just steps from the deep end, and if it had been daytime we could’ve ordered a snack from the adorably decorated Sandbox Food Truck that’s permanently parked on the grass just outside the pool gate. Back in the room, we hung up our swimsuits on the yardstick-styled hooks, a thoughtful addition that only deepened the age-old mystery of why some hotels have pools but nowhere to hang your damp suits.
We visited outside of Chaminade’s cooking class season and also failed to hike one of its trails (three miles through eucalyptus groves and grassy fields)—but those are two more elements that give summer camp vibes. Breakfast isn’t included, so visitors should either make a reservation at the View or bring along their own bagels and pastries and enjoy them on the small patio that comes with each room. While my daughter slept in, I enjoyed a cup of coffee (the rooms all have a Tayst espresso machine sitting atop a vintage-looking “icebox”) while looking sleepily at the woods. Heaven!
We reluctantly checked out and then embarked on a little sightseeing before heading home, including the Mystery Spot (yes, we now have a bumper sticker!), walking on the sand to see the beachfront Walton Lighthouse and riding the bright red funicular to lunch at the famous Shadowbrook restaurant.