This San Diego County gem marries small-town and beach-town vibes for a supremely soothing getaway.
“So, wait,” I say, as my driver barrels up the I-5 to avoid encroaching traffic. “Is Oceanside a suburb of San Diego? When I told people I was coming to Oceanside, they kept saying, ‘Oh, I love San Diego.’ So, then I thought it was a neighborhood in San Diego, like North Park or Little Italy. But you said it’s 45 minutes from the airport. Are they separate cities? Is it like Phoenix, where Glendale is a suburb, but we count it as part of the whole Phoenix metro?”
“Oceanside is in San Diego County,” he calmly responds to my blathering. “It’s its own city, like Carlsbad or Encinitas, but it’s all in San Diego County, so people lump it all together.”
It’s all starting to make sense. Like many Phoenicians, I grew up regularly vacationing in San Diego proper – SeaWorld, Balboa Park, San Diego Zoo. I hadn’t realized Carlsbad, where my dad rented a beach cottage for a few years, was also in this county that spans 4,300 square miles (about the area of Connecticut) with 70 miles of beach.
Ditto Oceanside, a beach town just south of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in the northernmost part of the county, colloquially known as North County. My childhood friend visited Oceanside every summer with her family. Each time she mentioned it, the name alone threw me into bookworm reverie. It sounded exactly like the kind of town where one of The Baby-Sitters Club Super Specials I whipped through as a kid would be set.
Baby-Sitters’ Beach Vacation! Maybe this summer, Kayla will meet a cute boy and eat ice cream with him on the pier, I’d muse, with a faint tinge of envy.
Fast-forward 25 years, and I’m ready for my own beach vacation. I leave my own cute boy (and cute dogs, and less cute responsibilities) at home for a long-overdue solo trip to this idyllic-sounding town.
RESORT CASUAL
Like a pair of sisters sprawled side by side on beach loungers, two new resorts lie on some of the best beachfront real estate in Oceanside. Mission Pacific Beach Resort (missionpacifichotel.com) and The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa (theseabirdresort.com) opened adjacent to the historical Ocean-side Pier in 2021 as part of the largest beach development in San Diego County in more than 50 years. Though owned by the same hospitality company, each has a distinct vibe and clientele.
Mission Pacific feels like a lavish jungle, with neutral tones and natural materials like wood, teak and rattan accented with plenty of green plants and pops of warm metallics. With its buzzy rooftop bar and adults-only pool, it says “grown-up luxury.” The Seabird Resort, on the other hand, is expressly family friendly. There are pool and beach activities as well as Little Seabirds kids’ programming (crafts, scavenger hunts, tie-dye workshops). The Seabird has a fresh, nautical feel, with bright white walls contrasted with deep blue and sunny yellow rugs, pillows and flowers. A collection of vintage bathing suits is framed in The Shelter Club lounge near the pool. Both properties are luxe, but approachable – it’s a beach town, after all, and guests in bathing suits and towels mingle with those in suits and cocktail dresses.
I room at Mission Pacific, but I bounce between the two hotels throughout my stay, walking across the street for meals and the spa at The Seabird.
BEACH, PLEASE
My first order of business after checking in: the beach. I walk out of the resort and see tourists queueing around “the Top Gun house,” the Victorian cottage built in the 1880s in Oceanside and featured prominently in the Tom Cruise classic. During construction of Mission Pacific and The Seabird, hotel ownership had the structure relocated to the resort grounds. It now houses High-Pie (famoushighpie.com), a bakery specializing in hand pies, as well as a replica of Cruise’s motorcycle from the original movie and all manner of Maverick memorabilia.
I snap a pic of the cottage and then amble down to the beach to find another charming relic: a 1941 Rambler camper, restored and retooled into a beachside bodega stocked with drinks, snacks, sunscreen, and chair and umbrella rentals. The rentals are complimentary for guests of Mission Pacific and The Seabird, and a Rambler cashier sets them up for me and recommends the grapefruit-lime flavor of the De La Calle! Tepache on offer. I sip my fizzy refreshment while I read a magazine and appreciate the feel of warm sand beneath my feet. I can’t remember the last time I saw the ocean, but it was definitely pre-pandemic. The water is already a little chilly on my visit in August, but I still wade in until it splashes my shoulders, savoring the gentle push and pull of the waves. Such a lovely reunion.
BEYOND THE BEACH
While I love the beach, I’m not someone who can spend all day there. I’m pleased to learn Oceanside has a bit more going on than sand and surf. Oceanside Museum of Art (oma-online.org) is small, but packed with interesting exhibits during my visit, including an exhibition of Works Progress Administration art that movingly juxtaposes older pieces with modern interpretations. Fun fact: The Seabird resort has a wing with art on loan from OMA, so you can see part of the museum’s collection (gratis!) even if you can’t make it to the museum itself.
I also dig the architecture of the Oceanside Civic Center and Oceanside Public Library (oceansidelibrary.org), which abut OMA. The original buildings were conceived by architect Irving J. Gill in the 1920s, and in 1990 a new complex, inspired by Gill, was designed by architect Charles Moore. Cubic white edifices with Mission-style arches and breezeways punctuated with pink, yellow and blue tiles look striking against the blue sky. A vast fountain fills the plaza in front of the library, dotted with palm trees in blocky, colorful and low-profile planters. It’s like a Hollywood imagining of a California beach town’s city center – just perfect.
Also very California: the lowrider funeral procession cruising in front of St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic church across the street. As I marvel at the tricked-out cars in all their shimmery, sparkly flamboyance – and their drivers and passengers in their badass funeral finery – I think, Wow. Art really is all around us.
That maxim holds true at The Ozone (shoptheozone.com), a boutique back by the hotels where you can get stunning Missoni towels and Lisa Eisner Jewelry. I splurge on a pair of RAEN sunglasses, a beloved California brand, and then head to the Tremont Collective (tremontcollective.com), a warehouse turned hub for local shops and food stalls. There’s Brixton, Atacama Surf Shop, Communal Coffee (a coffeeshop, boutique, artisanal grocer and flower bar, of course) and, what I’ve come for, Shoots Fish & Beer (shootsog.com).
TACOS Y MÁS
“Shoots,” is what every cashier, concierge, Uber driver and hotel rep has told me when I ask them where to get the best tacos in this town. The tiny food stall – founded by a pro surfer, a chef and a hospitality vet – is connected to a bottle shop and bar. True to its name, it specializes in fish (tacos and poke) and craft beer (IPA, double IPA, blonde ale and Japanese lager). The pescaderos tacos include the catch of the day, cabbage slaw, Shoots sauce (a kicky crema), pickled vegetables, cilantro and cotija. They are quite tasty – you can feel the freshness of the fish and the corn tortillas.
I hate to be a contrarian – and no disrespect to the locals I’ve interrogated – but for my money, the best tacos in Oceanside are at Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (craftcoast.co). This industrial brewpub is a five-minute walk from my hotel, and I love it so much that I eat there twice during my stay. The birria, al pastor and pollo asado tacos are heavenly, with abundant, high-quality meats and fresh accoutrements on homemade corn tortillas. But the carne asada is transcendent. I am not even a beef person, yet I eat every caramelized morsel of juicy, gristle-free top sirloin. Get it “Craft Coast Style” with crispy melted cheese and pinto beans for the heartiest taco you’ve ever eaten. (Two tacos will get you full here. Three if you’re ravenous.)
The resorts also have tempting dining options. High/Low is a coffee shop/pastry counter/breakfast and brunch spot at Mission Pacific. The Rooftop Bar at Mission Pacific has a bird’s-eye view of the pier, a lengthy craft cocktail list and Mediterranean-inspired noshes like the yummy spread trio (white bean hummus, whipped feta and baba ghanoush) and succulent tiger prawns with red chermoula and lemon.
At The Seabird, The Shore Room is a breezy – literally – open-air hangout for happy hour with beach views; and Piper offers seasonal coastal cuisine along with house-made pasta. My basil gnocchi with pistachio pesto and local catch of the day (striped bass) with seasonal veggies (sugar snap peas and squash) and romesco are perfection. It’s the crispiest fish skin I’ve had in a long time.
R&R
It isn’t a vacation without some lounging. If you’re more of a pool girlie than a beach girlie, you can rent private cabanas at the pools at Mission Pacific and The Seabird. Or just post up on the free-use lounge chairs. Surprise, surprise: I, a child-free woman, prefer the pool scene at the adults-only Mission Pacific piscine. The Seabird pool does offer a devastatingly sweet and strong piña colada, if that floats your boat. Down that and some hot, salty french fries, and you’ll forget all about the screaming children splashing around you.
I wrap my visit with a trip to Sunny’s Spa & Beauty Lounge at The Seabird and am pleasantly surprised at every turn. First, the décor – truly bright and sunny, as its name suggests, not dark and candlelit or white and sterile like resort spas tend to be. The fellow at the front desk greets me with a glass of Champagne and calls me Leah, not Ms. LeMoine, a formality that has always made me uncomfortable in service situations. He’s fun, friendly and talks to me like a real person, not like a hospitality robot. The treatment waiting area is full of cool books and comfy chairs that invite lingering. It opens onto a balcony overlooking the ocean, where the sun is starting to set. I’m joyful and relaxed even before the massage therapist calls my name.
I may not have had a vacation fling à la The Baby-Sitters Club (a good thing, ahem, since I’m in a committed relationship), but I’m pretty sure Kristy and the gang never hit the spa and sipped Champs in their Super Specials. Sometimes it’s good to experience things when you’re a little older.
O’Side Sips
Fancy yourself a connoisseur of the liquid arts? Sign up for the O’Side Sips rewards program. For each check-in at participating local breweries, wine bars, cocktail hot spots and coffee shops, you’ll earn points to cash in for prizes ranging from a cork coaster to a wine tumbler. It’s no Stanley cup, but you might as well get a little something for all your drinking – er, for supporting small businesses. visitoceanside.org/food-and-drink/oside-sips
Getting There
A nonstop flight from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to San Diego International Airport runs a little more than an hour. From there, Oceanside is a 45-minute to hour-long drive. Driving directly from Phoenix takes roughly six hours.
