Review: Shore House at the Newly Renovated Hotel del Coronado

When Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, it aimed to be the largest and grandest hotel in the Western world. Elisha Babcock Jr. and Hampton Story, two businessmen from the Midwest, bought the entirety of Coronado — a barren peninsula across the bay from up-and-coming San Diego, Calif. — for just $110,000. 

The Del was created in tandem with Coronado itself — its streets, parks, home plots and infrastructure — and was built in just 11 months for $600,000. Some visitors choose the Del precisely for this living history — to see the Queen Anne architecture and craftsmanship of the original wooden building (called The Victorian), whose lobby, guestrooms, iconic event spaces and courtyard were all painstakingly maintained and refreshed as the final part of a six-year, $550-million-dollar renovation that officially wrapped last year. 

Over the years, additional accommodation options have been added to supplement The Victorian, and each of these “neighborhoods”— The Cabanas, The Views and Beach Village — received upgrades, while a brand-new option, Shore House, was introduced in 2022 during the renovation’s first phase.

Where to Stay at Hotel del Coronado: Shore House for Luxurious Family Vacations

It was here, at the 75-villa Shore House, where I began my stay with my husband and two kids (ages 2 and 5), in great company with other families and multigenerational groups.

From our chaise loungers, I watched parent after parent gracefully make their way through seating and pool toys with a baby on hip and a toddler trailing behind while older siblings dove into the pool or giggled in their goggles in the Jacuzzi. 

The pool is the main hub of the communal Shore House experience and offers the exclusivity and intimacy of a country club. One of several places designed to encourage guests to mix, it is steps from the sand, complete with ample seating, cabanas and a bar — and tucked in among three stories of guestroom balconies and white shiplap siding, a design nod to The Victorian building. 

Travelers can come to Shore House with little knowledge of the Del’s days of yore hosting wealthy, health-conscious Victorians with months-long stays, or the numerous celebrities who left their mark on the property, from Marilyn Monroe, who filmed “Some Like it Hot” here, to “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum, who designed a crown chandelier for the property that is still in use today.

For those who care to explore, it’s a treat to discover the history next door, but Shore House stands firmly on its own merits as an elevated beach house stay. 

Indeed, Shore House and Beach Village are the two most luxurious options at the Del, with Beach Village being the better pick for guests looking for a quieter stay complete with private pools and no shared dining venue. The two neighborhoods have been part of Hilton’s upper scale LXR Hotels & Resorts portfolio since 2024, while the Del’s other neighborhoods are part of Hilton’s Curio Collection. 

And that higher designation makes sense right from the start of a stay here, when guests are whisked into the property via Shore House’s private valet and check-in process. Then there are the interior touches that made me feel like we had our own beachside abode — from the entryway, with a dry-erase board featuring a warm welcome from our housekeeper and hooks to hang our towels and sun hats, to the features that anticipated essential family needs — such as a stacked washer-dryer for cleaning sandy clothes and damp swimsuits and a full kitchenette seamlessly tucked into the white cabinetry.

Beautiful tile work elevates the nautical aesthetic, such as a chevron pattern with distressed cream tiles in the living room and square tiles with blue wave-like lines in the kitchen. The centerpiece of the living room is a cozy seating area for family chats with an L-shaped sofa, two chairs and a television and a fireplace flanked by upholstered benches. A high top behind the couch seats eight and our configuration could sleep just as many — with a king bed in the primary of our one-bedroom villa, a pull-out sofa in the living room and two double beds in the connecting room. 

Though we typically prefer room service for breakfast, the in-room options are limited. Coming down to the Bistro for a breakfast buffet of pastries, chia-seed pudding, scrambled eggs, fruits and more is part of the communal charm here. Kids arrived in their pajamas or swimsuits, and there’s indoor-outdoor seating with lots of room for wiggling. 

What to Do at The Del With Kids

Of course, Shore House guests have access to the full suite of the Del’s offerings — and we tailored it perfectly to our stay. We reserved a private fireplace to roast s’mores on the sand — my kids’ favorite part of the trip (and by far, the stickiest). 

We also reserved our own umbrellas and beach chairs for a day at the beach. Trading home-schlepped sand toys like currency, my kids made new friends while I ran over to the Fitness Center for a barre class full of locals. 

Our family rejoined in the sand, snacking on guacamole and quesadillas from the Beach & Taco Shack. (This June, premium smoothie outpost SunLife Organics will be available beachside as well, bringing the Del’s founding promise of wellness into the modern era.) Throughout the day, we visited the various resort lawns, where there was always a group of kids throwing a football or engrossed in the interpersonal dynamics of a makeshift game.

Instead of long dinners at one of the newest restaurants (Nobu and Veranda), we kept it easy and kid-centric, opting for Eno Market & Pizzeria’s tasty pies followed by ice cream and popsicles at Sundae’s. While I joined one of the daily 90-minute history tours of the property that begins at the new Ice House museum, I later took my husband and kids to The Victorian to experience it. They marveled at the preserved stain-glass windows, gleefully rode the original birdcage elevator to the top floor and walked the wide carpeted stairs back to the grand chandeliered lobby.

But out of all the spoils doled out by the Del, my favorite was our room’s long veranda, where we watched the comings and goings of the beach from our second-story perch. There were shirtless runners, city folk in their urban clothes, sprinting toddlers free from their strollers, elementary-aged kids wielding shovels and a lifeguard truck driving through the sand. In the sky, helicopters, military jets and drones were reminders that Coronado is also home to a massive military complex — a source of constant fascination for my son and husband.

As my toddler napped and my 5-year-old made jellyfish crafts and collected seashells at the Ocean Explorers kids’ club, my husband and I enjoyed the feeling of floating over the sand, dreaming up future visits. 

I told him about how in the early 1900s, middle-class travelers and families began visiting Coronado with the arrival of Tent City, a collection of hundreds of tents and thatched-roof cottages just south of the Del. It was just further proof that Coronado — bolstered by the hotel that started it all — has been innovating since the start, creating new ways for visitors to experience the coastline and make it their own.