The Retreat In Laguna

4 – 5 stars ??? This is not a retreat! These are apartments in an alley ½ block off of busy Pacific Coast Hwy. Yes the apartments are above the beach, but most views are limited as the majority of the rooms overlook the rooftops of the other rooms. Mike J.‘s post from 6÷5÷2015 is spot on.

All I can say is wow! We had such a great experience at the retreat. The on site staff Bianca and Ryan were very hospitable and helpful. The villas were beautiful inside and out. We stayed in villa #4 very clean and it had anything you needed; Iron, complimentary coffee, Heater/​cooler, and on site laundry machine. I’m so glad we chose to stay here, it was 100 times better then a hotel. It was nice to feel like you were in your own home. And talk about a VIEW absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed hanging out on the deck overlooking the ocean, it’s just steps away from the beach. They also provided beach chairs, boogie boards, yoga mats, and children’s toys. Talk about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION they are in the perfect spot in laguna. Steps to the beach, you can walk to Ralph’s (grocery store), and all the shops and great dining. We can’t wait to return to the retreat in Laguna, Don’t pass this place up!

We just returned from 9 nights at The Retreat in Laguna — we stayed in #7 (Belle Mare) and had a wonderful time. The staff were friendly and helpful at check-​in/​out, and the 1 – 2 times we requested additional supplies. The kitchen was complete and Ralph’s (grocery store) was right across Pacific Coast Highway, so it was really easy to dine in for a few meals. And the location was fantastic — downtown Laguna Beach was a few easy blocks North (with shopping along the way) and the South walk had a great selection of stores, restaurants and bars as well. The highlight, of course, is the location right above the beach — the sound of the waves was always audible, and the views were fantastic. Note that there is a house in front of the unit, but you have a pretty unobstructed view to the South (that’s the photo they took), and we really thought it was just-​as-​advertised, and we’d definitely stay there again. Oh, the bottom of the property is pretty much directly connected with the stairs going down to the beach — and the property gives you nice beach chairs, umbrellas and other beach fun items (boogie boards, paddle ball, etc) — however, if you own your own boogie boards, we’d recommend that you bring your own, as the leashes were inconsistent. But, all in all, no complaints — we had a wonderful long vacation ending on Labor Day!

Just getting back from spending 5 days at The Retreat in Laguna! We stayed in Villa #1 and did not have our private balcony, but that was not even a big deal as we had access to huge deck with patio table and chairs to lounge on. We grilled hamburgers one night on the grill provided there and enjoyed some very beautiful views. I loved hearing the sound of the waves as we slept. Not too loud where you couldn’t sleep (I have stayed at other hotels in Laguna where they actually provide you earplugs to help with the loud waves crashing). Super convenient location! Just a few steps to beach! Take a left when you get to the beach and you can easily walk to other resorts. Take a right and you can get to Main Beach so quickly. Grocery store is right across the street which made it super convenient when we needed to get laundry detergent or more beer! I would highly recommend staying here to anyone looking for a peaceful and relaxing get away! I can’t wait to come back. The customer service was A+!! Thank you Jason, Brianna and Ryan! See you soon!

The Retreat in Laguna boasts a great location overlooking the Pacific Ocean and close to all of the amenities in the community of Laguna Beach.
The facility is a ²⁄₅ at best. Furniture, bedding and room décor is cheap and cannot be remotely be considered «luxury».
If you are looking to pamper yourself, this is not the place. If you want a reasonably affordable place to stay in Laguna with a central location, The Retreat is suitable.
Service is spotty at best — front desk manager comes across as indifferent to guests’ needs.
Website pictures are also very misleading.
Thank you.
e

This delight is nestled in Laguna Beach. We stayed in the studio. I spoke with Jason who made everything possible. When we got there, Bianca — the onsite manager– was not only attentive but she was knowledgable and told us about the noise policy. The villa was beautiful, clean, and spacious. The views outstanding & the beaches beautiful. It was as if we had our own private beach. She made sure we had everything we wanted. The community deck was spotless — the grills and lamps were in good use. This was our first time to Laguna but it won’t be our last !!!

This little Italian Villa will certainly please you in just about every way. The management and staff goes out of their way to accommodate your special needs and for us we had many. We are local residents that came here because we were remodeling our home and wanted to get away from the demolition. We stayed a week and found «The Retreat» to be exactly that, a home away from home. The beds are extremely comfortable which I found to be very important for a good nights rest and you have a choice of several pillow types to choose from, if one does not work you have three more that may. If you like to be left alone than this is the place to be. If you are a particular type person and appreciate attention to detail than this place will definitely serve your purpose. Thank you all at «The Retreat» for being so nice.

Location and views are great. Staff was fine. Better options for price and less scary crowd.

Really nice! Amazing views! We stayed the their «penthouse» and it was worth every penny! The only problem for us was that the common area deck was right next to out unit, and it was really loud all the time, because people were hanging around up there all day long, in big groups.
But I would still recommend this place.

Just returned from Laguna. I stayed in. Villa Leone… Jason was so helpful I had the perfect room… the sound of the waves… the high end kitchen… I loved not having to leave…60 seconds to the beach… Beautiful soft towels… the bathroom was stunning very high end…2 tv’s…the list is too long… it was perfect and can’t wait to go back… LOVE LOVE LOVE! the area is great too… lots of wonderful surprises waiting you…

After parking our SUV in the assigned area for three days we were abruptly told to immediatelymove our car to a an unattended church parking lot four blocks away due to the rule of no SUV’s. Our’s is a BMW X3 which is smaller than some standard sedans. Apparently the manager panicked because new guests were expected. That turned out not to be true because the available spaces remained vacant for some time. Given the price of our stay I think we were rudely dealt with.

Great property and great experience from start to finish. Jason was very accommodating and addressed my concerns during the booking process and Maureen made sure we were happy during our stay! Beautiful villas, view, and location. We will definitely return.

The view out the window is 5 stars, as is the location, just steps away from the beach or from the shops in LB. Watching the waves and seeing the sun set is beautiful. But at these prices, I still expect top notch amenities, and at least the Villa Roma has seen better days.
The AC wasn’t working during one of the hottest weeks of the year. Overhead fan in the living room didn’t work either. The cords on several of the blinds weren’t working either — so you rolled them up as best as possible by hand. I got the feeling of being in an older motel where things just hadn’t been kept up very well.
If you want to know about the size, ask the property managers to give you room measurements. The photos are shot with a long lens to make rooms appear twice as spacious as they really are. You’re going to be in close quarters. The «dining» area features high bar type chairs — fine for adult but tricky for kids younger than 10 or so to get in an out of.
The site staff seems to be well – meaning but may have spent too much time in the sun — they’re not confidence-​inspiring and don’t seem to know the basics of how to work key parts of the property.
Boogie boards for the kids are available, which is nice, and there’s an outside shower with warm water for washing off the sand. Outdoor patio area features umbrellas and tables for outside dining and lounging.

We stayed at the retreat last spring nope didn’t work out.

My family and I just spent our 4^th summer vacation in a row at The Retreat in Laguna. This is a beautiful spot right on the ocean on main beach in Laguna. Downtown and shopping is walking distance as well as a Ralph’s that is 1 block away. The condo is fabulous, well stocked with towels, toiletries, and full kitchen supplies. The grounds around the Retreat are very nice and they have several barbecues to use. Each condo has a private deck and they have a large community deck also that looks right onto the ocean equipped a barbeque, tables and chairs and a lovely outdoor sofa, chairs and table.
The staff is very helpful and friendly, Maureen is especially great! She set a beautiful table, including a nice bolttle of wine on the large deck when we mentioned that we were having company for dinner. They also gave us free passes to the Sawdust Festival.
I would recommend the Retreat to anyone, families, friends or couples who want a fun and relaxing vacation spot where you feel surrounded in luxury.

I was booking an quick get away from the rainy weather of Seattle for just a couple nights. Thought that laguna beach would be an ideal place to go. I saw this place online and immediately was excited. I had made up my mind that this was the place i wanted to stay.
So we pull up to the retreat. It was gorgeous. Great views. Beautiful atmosphere, prime location right downtown and on the beach. PERFECTO!
We pull up and I call Jason (the owner I think) to see the room we had been talking about for a week. He says, hold on I’m calling my assistant to come let you in because she lives right across the street… So we wait, and we wait, and we wait… 45mins of sitting outside in our hot little car… I call Jason back, she isn’t here. He calls her on another phone on speaker and I hear everything. She is yelling at him saying that she is busy, and it is after hours and she is taking a shower and isn’t going to come «show» a room at that point… Ok I just agreed to BUYING the room so she would let us in out of the heat. So Jason tells hers now that we have bought the place and she needs to. Come down. She is upset because their is a party at the retreat that weekend for the 4^th of July and she didn’t want to rent that room. Well too bad we just did. So another 35mins later, this lady shows up. I’ve never felt like I’ve intruded so badly on someone’s private time before, and she made us aware of that too. She said she was off work and it’s after hours and that she had planned on using our room to hold all the party food for the other guests. Thanks! So now that I feel like a jerk for coming into town after hours and making someone come into work again, let’s start the vaca.
Next day. My gfs and I run to the store to grab some beer and go to the beach. We pull up to the condo and take all the beer out and cups for the beach, and immediately the lady comes out yelling at me about noise. (we just pulled up) she said that they have never had any complaints about the noise and that we are disrespectful because her daughter is right there and we are cussing… (which I don’t believe we were, but really I don’t remember) (oh yes, as there is a 4^th of july party going on the main deck with a bunch of older ppl drinking and CUSSING, but i get yelled at) she proceeded to lecture me for the next 10mins about noise complaints and drinking and driving. HOLD ON NOW, drinking and driving… Oh yes she went there! I repeatedly told her that we were not drinking and driving, that the cups were for the beach that we were about to walk down to, and the beer was in the trunk. She still pointed the finger and even brought the word «cops» into the convo. Like really, I’m 25 and you are talking to me like a 16 yr old that just came home from a party drunk at 3am. Thanks!
Next day, we are checking out… No one upon check in told us that check out was 10am. And along with how expensive the rental was initially, I never thought checkout would be 10am. Not normal! So luckily we were all packed up and ready to go, but sitting down eating breakfast when that lady, once again, pokes her head in our room… REALLY. And she tells us in a super nasty way that check out is 10am and it is now 10:30. As I’m sitting there apologizing over and over and saying we will be out in a few minutes then, she turns and walks away from the condo and continues to yell at us. Real classy.
We really didn’t spend too much time at the retreat due to her freaking out every time we drove back up even for a split second. It was unpleasant to say the least due to her crazy attitude and allegations. Not impressed at all.
But 2stars for the beautiful space we didn’t really get to even enjoy. :/

Our experience here at the Retreat was truly 5 star. Jason, the manager, was really genuine and helpful. The office closes in the afternoon and we arrived around 9pm. He stopped by to say hi and make sure we got in safe which was really nice. The location is awesome and walking distance to everything. Our room was really nice. It was clean and you could tell there was a lot of love that went into every detail of the design of this property. Luxurious but so functional you could tell a lot of thought went into design. We stayed for 3 nights and it went by so fast because we simply lost track of time bc we had so much fun. We’ll definitely be back whenever we want to stay in laguna!

Overall, we had an amazing experience! The place was exactly what we wanted. Peaceful, relaxing and breath taking views. The staff was really great — Maureen in particular. She was extremely accommodating and wanted to make sure we had a wonderful stay.
I originally landed on this resort because I was searching for «bed and breakfasts.» Well… I was a bit disappointed to find out that this wasn’t really a bed and breakfast type of a place. You can pre-​purchase the breakfast but then have to walk over to a near by café to eat. Not really my thing… but not a big deal either. More of a heads up :)
When I booked the room, they warned me that we’d be getting a room without a view, but I verified that there was a main deck I could sit out no to watch the ocean. I probably would have been really bummed if I didn’t know this in advance. We stayed in Villa Rustico. I think it’s the smallest unit they have, but perfect for just me and hubby.
We flew in so we didn’t have a lot of the basic stuff with us (paper towels, extra hangers, etc). Everyone else staying there drove, so if you’re driving, pack all that stuff with you. I had to keep asking the staff for stuff or running over the Ralph’s across the street (which was fun to me, but might not be to you). Having the Ralph’s across the street was extremely convenient too.
The other thing to watch out for, if you plan on working from there, like me and hubby — their wi-​fi goes in and out. Not sure if they have any other way to connect, but might be something to check into and/​or bring a hot spot.
Again, I highly recommend this place for a relaxing getaway. Most of my time from morning to evening was spent on the deck and I would recommend it to everyone considering it.

The location is ideal… between the beach and PCH… Interior design I found to be over-​the-​top and tacky for a relaxed beach vacation: faux Italian… pretty awful… We had rented what we thought was an ocean view room, but upon arrival, had a unit without a view, on the parking lot. No closet space at all… but OK kitchen.
The staff was… weird! Sort of lower-​middle class women who smoked… meth addicty-​looking. Not who you’d expect to be waiting on you at these prices… Didn’t seem friendly and accommodating at all, and they virtually shoo’ed us out of the unit upon checkout for a repair man!!! The manager was kind of a New Yawk or Vegas Guido-type…got the feeling the place is owned my the mob or something… the whole place seemed very shady. I wouldn’t stay here again
If you want to be ON the beach, stay at the Surf and Sand or the Inn at Laguna instead!!!

The Perfect Laguna Beach Get-​a-​Way
My husband and I both work for ourselves and will take work retreats from time to time. The weather was absolutely beautiful and thought what better than vacation villas called the Retreat in Laguna. Normally we go to San Diego or Palm Springs because we live in Orange County. I can now officially see why people from all over the globe travel to vacation in Laguna Beach.
The resort villas are like your own beautiful beachfront house. They are near everything — we parked our car and walked everywhere. It is a block away from the beach and our villa had an ocean view.
With a full gourmet kitchen, the first thing we did was go across the street to Ralph’s and created a little gourmet picnic. We nibbled on that on the deck and watched the sunset — absolutely amazing.
The next morning we hit Orange Inn which is right on the corner for coffee and took a walk along the beach. Later we worked a bit (they have WiFi) then while sitting in beach chairs by the ocean. «Rough day at the office»
The Retreat is one of those vacations that actually leave you relaxed and re-​energized. It is not really a party place because it is pretty quite and peaceful but there is still plenty to do.
Our trip was all about small bites, cocktails and art. We walked along the beach as far as we could, then up the hill to PCH and just explored.
TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS:
* Dining: The Rooftop Lounge at Casa Del Camino for sunset (if you can get in). K’ya for lobster mac and cheese, Rockin Fish, Watermarc, Nick’s & Royal Hawaiian for $ 5 happy hour poke and a lapu lapu.
* Pack comfortably with shoes for walking. (I mention that one from experience)
* There was construction going on when we where there for the remodel of the other villas –should be done in a couple weeks. (just fyi)
* Watch for the dolphins in the afternoon! They can also set up dolphin/​whale watching tours or paddleboarding lessons.
* There is nobody on site after 3 so if you need anything, make sure you set it up ahead of time.
* The Laguna Art Walk is the First Thursday of every month.
* They have a minimum stay of 3 days and you will probably need to book early during the summer.