Before I became a mom myself, I thought traveling with kids would be a breeze. I mean, my parents did it, right? But that was before I understood how toddlers were a totally different genus and species and how much they need naps and how much they want to eat anything except what you’re feeding them. Then of course, throw in COVID-19 and all travel becomes a big question mark you’re better off just not answering and staying home instead. But as the pandemic seemed to be rounding a corner, we decided to try a nearby mini vacation getaway at a purported family-friendly resort.

Enter Carmel Valley Ranch.

Growing up in the Bay Area, I’ve always been fond of trips to Carmel-by-the-Sea with my family. But we never really stayed overnight because it was still just close enough to do a day trip without needing to stay longer. However, with a baby or toddler, staying nearby is definitely more worth your while for the amount of time you drive. Plus, those naps are a time-suck too! So when a co-worker told me how lovely Carmel Valley Ranch (CVR) was, that it was family-friendly, and that it was part of the Hyatt collection of properties, my interest was piqued. It sounded like a great spot to stay while enjoying the Monterey/Carmel area.

CVR resort is definitely a worthwhile splurge of your Hyatt points or Chase Ultimate Reward points that can be transferred to your World of Hyatt account–which is exactly what we did for our first post-COVID family mini-vacation. It’s a luxurious stay filled with relaxation and outdoor activities for couples and families alike. Plus, it’s really not that far from world famous white sand Carmel beaches or Monterey.

Ahead in the post I’ll break down how I booked with points, the room, activities, dining, and more travel tips! Please help me pin it for future review! 🙂

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Start here and click ahead or read in order. Each section ends with a link to take you back to this menu if you need.

1. Prices and Booking with Points for Carmel Valley Ranch
2. The Room — Vineyard Oak Studio with King Bed and Outdoor Tub
3. Activities to do at Carmel Valley Ranch
4. Hiking -Horseshoe Loop at Carmel Valley Ranch
5. Dining at Carmel Valley Ranch
6. Nearby Excursions by Carmel Valley Ranch
7. Final Review & Toddler Travel Tips for Carmel Valley Ranch

1. Prices and Booking with Points for Carmel Valley Ranch

Let’s cut to the chase. This resort is not cheap. I wouldn’t be able to afford it if I were to book it at face value.

However.

Carmel Valley Ranch is part of the Unbound Collection by Hyatt, and it was a big part of the reason we chose to stay here. I’ve been an avid Chase Points collector especially since my wedding, and Hyatt properties are one of the best point conversions you can make with your Chase Ultimate Reward (UR) points. For 25,000 points a night, we were able to book our room–a Vineyard Oak Studio with King Bed and Outdoor Tub! You can also spend 40,000 points a night for a bigger suite with separate living room, but I was happy with our room already for this rate and we only have one toddler.

I won’t pretend I know all the geeky point conversion stuff (because I don’t), but I do know that you can get some pretty good credit card bonuses with Chase and that those points can go a long way, especially with Hyatt hotels. In a simple points-to-cent conversion, 25K points would be $250/night–which is pretty cheap compared to the typical room rate that can range from $700-$1000+/night depending on season and day of the week. You just need to make sure you have a Chase credit card with an annual fee to be able to transfer your UR points over to your Hyatt account. I’d always make sure you know there is availability and the exact points you need to book your Hyatt room before making the transfer.

Other suites at CVR can start at $1000 and go upwards $1400/night, but you can book the Ranch Suite for 40,000 points a night. I’d say this might be worth it only if you have a larger family and really need that extra space and living room. To search for point rooms, simply click between View Points and View Rates when trying to book on the Hyatt site.

TIP: If you cannot find rooms for points, try searching with 1 room, 1 guest–omit children. I found adding children will sometimes eliminate the points room for some reason.

NOTE: Taxes and resort fees not charged when you book with points!

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2. Carmel Valley Ranch – Vineyard Oak Studio with King Bed and Outdoor Tub

From other websites, they mentioned the rooms are numbered in order of distance from the Lodge (or main lobby). 100s are the closest, 300s are farthest–and our room was in the 300s or Bluff Suites for a Vinyard Oak Studio with King Bed and Outdoor Tub. Walking to the lobby (all outdoors) would take much longer from this area, but there are parking areas adjacent to the rooms.

The pictures on the website were very enticing for this type of room, but I’ll start by saying that you might not get what you see. From the website, I thought the outdoor area with the outdoor tub and patio would be much larger, but our room’s did not turn out to be so large. It still ending up being okay after considering all aspects of our room, (no stairs and right next to the parking lot were a win!), but I did wish we could have gotten the larger patio room! Like we didn’t get a “custom love seat swing or picnic table” in our room as described on the website–but my guess is these rooms were rooms that required walking down more steps to the entrance. A bit more cumbersome with a toddler and all her stuff, so I took the tradeoff since there are no elevators in this place.

I thought the outdoor tub with fireplace sounded really romantic and charming. Also, since I knew from previous travels with a 6-month old (at the time) that nap time and bedtime might entail sitting in a dark room on your phone and keeping super quiet, having a nice patio to chill on might be kind of nice for me and my husband. The patio was definitely useful and helpful during naptime, and we ended up soaking in the tub for a bit and then reading outside. But we didn’t end up using the patio in the evening for bedtime because it does get chillier at night and we didn’t want the patio light from entering and exiting to wake up our daughter. I think it could have been feasible, but we just chose not to use the patio at night.

Our dual-sided fireplace was nifty to be used inside and out. I liked the timed fireplace a lot (turns off automatically), but I wouldn’t say it’s the safest thing for a running toddler to be around and we blocked ours with the arm chairs in the room so she wouldn’t get too close to a heated grate. The room was definitely large and spacious, and it probably felt even larger due to the vaulted ceiling too. We laid out a huge tarp for our little one to roll around and play on and there was still space in the room. (Scroll through slideshow for pictures of the room and little amenities.)

Some things that were nice or good to note (and see gallery pictures):

• Heated tiles in the bathroom – wow was this a luxury!
• Plush bathrobes and slippers – I lived in these!
• Mini fridge – came with complimentary water bottles
• Nespresso coffee maker and coffee pods
• Filtered water spout in bathroom
• Single sink in our bathroom, but it worked out okay actually
• Friend staying in CVR also said a microwave was deliverable to your room upon request
• Pack-and-plays also available upon request
• Loved the lavender pillow spray!

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3. Activities to Do at Carmel Valley Ranch for Toddlers

With a 500-acre property, Carmel Valley Ranch is a spacious area with plenty of activities for everyone to do. From swimming to tennis to golf, to yoga and hiking and archery, to horses, falcons, bees and more, to whisky tasting or soap making and more, there’s so many options that I won’t go over all of them in this section.

Not everything is free, but you have a lot of choices to say the least. I will say for a toddler, the options are much more limited in what they can do. Many of these workshops, classes, or activities have age cut-offs and they may start around 6. I’d love to come back when my daughter is a little older to explore age-appropriate activities and workshops! They do also offer some form of “daycare” or “kids camps” for a fee so parents can take off to enjoy adult time and activities. The youngest age they take is 2. (Scroll down to Children’s Programming on this page.)

I would start with checking out the Activities Calendar on their website for the days that you are visiting (or planning to visit) as the available activities for the day change day to day. You can also search in the search box on their activities page to find specific activities you’re interested in and see what days they are hosted.

During times of COVID-19, class sizes may be more limited and require pre-registration. The activities calendar is where you can find the times, fees, and how to register. There’s some free fitness classes (e.g. Yoga) as long as you register in advance. I’d also familiarize yourself a little bit with a map of the resort. They give you one at check in, but it was good to know beforehand so I really had a grasp of how large this resort was.

For family activities for small toddlers specifically, I’d recommend a few things below:
(Note times are recorded as of August 2021–check the Activities calendar for the most updated times as I’m sure they’re subject to change!)

• Family Pool down at River Ranch
  5:30a-8p | All ages| River Ranch
  
  River Ranch is about a mile down the road from the Lodge where the lobby is. It’s actually right near the entrance and the first left once you past the Gate House. It’s a separate activity area where the family pool is located. This is the only family-friendly pool where kids can play, as the pool up at the Lodge is 16+ only. While this is a little disappointing for the adults with kids, it means there is an adult sanctuary area and a kiddy play area where everyone can enjoy the environment they need.
  
  The pool is heated to 80 degrees and quite comfortable and only 4 feet at its deepest. There is also a little Splash Zone to the side of the pool for kids to run through, which is next to a baby hot tub (1 foot deep). My daughter had a blast in all these areas, including the baby hot tub! Pool towels are available at the entrance/cafe.
  
  River Ranch also houses the lane pool, fitness center, tennis/pickleball courts, bocce ball courts, and an Activity Cottage where little kids can go for basic babysitting and kids’ camps. (Scroll down to see Children’s programming.) We also opted to eat dinner here after swimming. There is also a nice swing spot by the pool area.

• Garden Meet and Greet
  Saturday| 9:00a-10:30a and Tuesday and Thursday| 10:00a-11:00a | Complimentary | Under 12 with adult | Meets at the Organic Garden
  
  The Organic Garden was really fun to visit with our toddler because of all the bright and vibrant colors of the summer blooms from dahlias to sunflowers to lavender and all the fresh produce and vegetables across the 2-acre garden and orchard. We got to speak with Mark, who oversees the garden and he discussed how he tries to find the coolest varieties of flowers to grow and really create layers of height, dimension, color, and texture to his garden items. It was obvious how much he loved his plants and lovingly grew and cared for them. He even gifted my daughter a dahlia that accidentally been decapitated by another visitor, which was a beautiful little souvenir we took home.
  
  We visited the goat barn behind the garden and were able to meet new baby goats and feed some of the other ones in the barn. There was also a chicken coop where we also fed the chickens! We didn’t stop by the apiary (bee hives) but they were also located in the same area.
  
  I would recommend calling and taking a shuttle down here with little kids as the walk down from the Lodge is a bit steep. Mark or any other staff you see can also help you call a shuttle to get back up to the Lodge after your visit is over!
  

• Hilltop Meet and Greet
  Saturday & Sunday| 1:00pm-2:00pm and Wednesday | 1:00pm-2:00pm | Complimentary | Meets at the Hilltop Corral
  
  We didn’t get to do the Hilltop Meet and Greet because it was during naptime and we were checking out already, but we heard the attendant in the Goat Barn explaining that we could meet the animals at the Corral during this time. It sounded pretty cool and I’d recommend it to families who don’t have a naptime constraint!
  
  However, if you cannot make this time, you can still hike to the Corral yourself and walk around the stables to see the animals anyway! We were able to do this on our hike without even realizing that we would run into all the animals at the Hilltop! It was a great little treat at the top of the hike I’ll go into in the next section. We saw alpacas, goats, bunnies, horse, donkeys, and I loved the Scottish Highland Cattle/Steer the most! These were just babies too when we went and super cute.

• S’mores at night
  6:00p–10:00p | Nightly | Complimentary | The Lodge
  
  Every night at the Lodge, you can grab pre-packaged S’mores packages and some skewers to make your s’mores over multiple firepits around the Lodge. I loved how each baggie was packaged in cute brown paper bags. It came with enough graham crackers to make 2 s’mores sandwiches, an entire packaged bar of Hershey’s chocolate, and two marshmallows. A thoughtful moist towelette was also included. It’s definitely a fun family thing to do after dinner, though it might be a little more hectic with a toddler running around!
  

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4. Hiking – Horseshoe Loop Trail

I debated writing a separate post about hiking on the property, but for now, this section will just be a summary of our hike with a toddler. There are many paths you can hike but we opted for just the Horseshoe Loop and down the Huff N’ Puff Trail. The entire hike was a little less than a mile, but there was some elevation changes and we did walk around a bit at the top too. You can find the full official Carmel Valley Ranch Hiking Guide here.

To start off, I would begin your hike at the Vineyard Lawn. Whether you ask a shuttle to drop you off at the Vineyard Lawn from your room, or if you walk from the Lodge through the vineyard and down to the Vineyard Lawn, you want to start there. There’s a cute little swing on an oak tree (several signature spots on property) also among the Lavender and you can stop by it on the way to the lawn too.

We had a shuttle drop us off because we were coming from our room that was a little farther away from the Lodge. Had I known we could start at the Lodge, I may have made the trek through the vineyards, but it was also a nice wide open path where we started on the Vineyard Lawn and right next to a huge spread of lavender flowers to start off our walk to the hiking trail. It smells absolutely heavenly here and you get to start off your trek passing all the lavender along with the grape vines.

Follow the path as it curves to the right, and some golfing fairways will be on your right. When the path kind of forks, you will see distinctly that going to the right will lead you to the Horseshoe Loop trail. If you continued straight on the white paved path, you would return to the Bluff Suites. The trail will head uphill and it feels a bit steep at first before it levels off. Total elevation change is about 250′ by the time you get to the top.

Keep veering left, and do not take paths for Appaloosa or Muckleberry trails, unless you actually want to venture that way. See the map below. At the top of the hill, you will see the Hilltop Corral, where some of the other ranch animals are kept–horses, donkeys, goats, alpacas, bunnies, and even some really cute Scottish Highland cattle! They were babies when we went and we were able to watch them eat a fresh batch of feed. This is definitely a fun stop for little ones!

We brought along our Deuter Kid Comfort hiking carrier to hike with. To be honest, if your kids are a little older (e.g. 4years and up), you might not need a carrier because they might be able to hike it themselves. However, there was some uphill climbing and sharp drops into brush and further if you weren’t careful, so I did think that the carrier was a good option for us.

I have a feeling that without the carrier, my two-year-old would be asking us to pick her up and carry her pretty shortly after we started hiking and then at that point, we probably would just have turned around and gone back! At the Hilltop Corral, however, we did let her out to run around because things were flat and she could see the ranch animals too.

I also recommend to bring some good hiking shoes, something with solid grip for the rockier or rougher parts of the trail, especially if you’ll be carrying a kid on your back. My go to hiking shoes are always my Merrell’s that I got after backpacking to Havasupai. The hiking Merrell shoes are a little less intense than the Merrell hiking boots, but the boots are sooo nice on your ankles! Both are a bit of a splurge, but worth it for your feet in the long run as I’ve been using them for the past 4 years.

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5. Dining at Carmel Valley Ranch

Carmel Valley Ranch is a 500-acre property, so getting food even on the property is a little challenging because rooms are spread out quite a bit. And of course, you’re going to be paying a premium for not leaving the property, but with a toddler, it can be worth it sometimes. I had considered dining out for dinner at Carmel-by-the-sea, but after looking up restaurants, it just felt like a headache finding somewhere kid-friendly with food she might eat that had outdoor dining (because I’m still paranoid) and reservations. Then thinking about finding parking too just kinda made me feel like I would be more relaxed to dine on property!

Your dining options are:

• Valley Kitchen – Sit-down restaurant at the Lodge and right by the adult pool for breakfast, lunch, dinner–and a bar
• River Ranch Cafe – Poolside cafe, has deli-style take out items too. Hot food served til 6p, cold deli items available until 9p
• The Market and Creamery – Marketplace with coffee bar and local artisan items like cheese, wine, honey, lavender products. Also has some cold deli items for takeout (salads, sandwiches, wraps, pastries, chips). Friday nights they take out a wood fire grill and make pizza fresh! (See pictures below.)
• The Clubhouse Grille – Restaurant located in the golf clubhouse; this one we didn’t get to check out but seems like something for more if you happen to golf too (not sure of hours or if open right now during COVID!)
• In Suite Dining – Room service; subject to 22% gratuity + $7 delivery fee. The menu includes some item choices from Valley Kitchen
• And if you have a kitchen with your room/suite, there was an Earthbound Organic Farm on the way to CVR and a Safeway nearby too if you want to cook in your room!

We personally ate at Valley Kitchen twice (breakfast/brunch and lunch) and grabbed hot food at the River Ranch Cafe for dinner before they closed so we could continue our afternoon pool play and eat by the pool.

Valley Kitchen is connected to the Lodge, and offers indoors and outdoors dining, plus a beautiful bar area too. The outdoor dining is adjacent to the pool, but I found it quite nice to get the fresh air and great ambiance! We had lunch on the second day there and breakfast/brunch the morning we were checking out.

Tip: I would recommend making reservations before your stay to ensure you can have your meal at a time you want, especially with kids and during this time of COVID-19! You can choose indoor vs. outdoors seating when you reserve online at their Open Table page.

The service was fantastic, although I have to say our lunch server was better than the brunch one. He even brought our daughter a smaller kid’s cup with a straw when we requested water for the table–without us even asking him! They also have some characters to color on the back of kids’ menus and will provide some crayons for your little one.

The food was also good, though definitely a bit more pricey! The crab cakes were some of my favorite for brunch 🙂 And I was actually quite happy that the grilled cheese sandwich for my toddler came with steamed broccoli, which she happily chomped on (as well as the French fries, ha!). However, for lunch you can substitute fries for salad, truffle fries, or fruit!

For River Ranch Cafe, the food options are a little more limited and entail more things like burgers. ($20), tacos ($22), hot dogs ($10)–all overpriced, but at least tasty. I liked the burger more than the fish tacos, though!

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6. Nearby Excursions Close to Carmel Valley Ranch

You likely will have plenty to do on this 500-acre property that you won’t really need to leave the resort. However, if you want some other food options, it may be worth leaving the resort for a change in dining fare and just because you’re in the area so you can take advantage of some the cool opportunities nearby! I’ve highlighted some here with the distance and driving time it takes from CVR.

Carmel-by-the-Sea (7.9 mi) – 12 min

I’ve always loved Carmel-by-the-sea’s quaint town feel. Many a memorable date here with my husband back in our teen years and favorites included wandering in the Thomas Kinkade gallery, getting gelato out of a cute Italian deli, eating at mom and pop restaurants, admiring all the beautiful houses along the beach, and of course, playing in the white sand beaches too! Our daughter loved her second time at a beach (first time she was too young to remember) and feeling the cold waves wash over her toes!

Point Lobos State Regional Preserve (8.9 mi) – 12 min

Point Lobos is one of my absolute if not favorite state parks. The trails are well-marked and the views and sights are just amazing, especially China Cove and Whaler’s Cove. My husband and I discovered it on our 2-year dating anniversary on a whim and fell in love. I would bring some decent shoes. I think even kids would love all the trails, though they would be slower. We brought a hiking carrier this trip, so that is another option!

17-Mile Drive (12 mi) – 18 min

Ahh…the famous 17-Mile Drive! I think I may have done this drive 5 times in my life and it’s still just as beautiful each time! The only downside with a little one is perhaps getting in and out of the car seat at each of the view points, which might be cumbersome. But if they’re older, they may enjoy the stops very much if you take your time with the drive! $10.75/vehicle to enter on the drive, but you can get it reimbursed if you spend $35+ at any Pebble Beach Resort restaurant.

Monterey Bay Aquarium (12.9 mi) – 20 min

The inspiration behind Finding Dory and every bit as magical as the movie makes it out to be. Another childhood and adulthood favorite, I never tire of visiting here. And it’s even more magical watching my daughter enjoy it each time! 🙂 With COVID-19 right now, there are timed entrances and you must pre-purchase tickets. They are not sold at the doors. ~$50/adult and kids under 4 are free.

D’Jango Farms for Alpaca Trek Experience (8.2 mi) – 13 min

This Alpaca experience looked SO fun that I wished our family could have done it! However, it is a 12+ activity, but I’m including my research here for those who might have older kids too. You get to meet the alpacas and learn about them and then take them on a little hike!

For the Adults

• Carmel Valley Village (5.8 mi) – 8 min
  A small and quaint tucked away wine country, you’ll find several wineries here where you can go tasting. Bernadus comes highly recommended to try!
  
• Folktale Winery & Vineyards (1.1 mi) – 2 min
  I specifically singled out this winery because we saw it on the way to Carmel Valley Ranch and it looked so cute! My girlfriend went a few weeks later to stay at CVR as well (adults only) and ended up checking out this winery. Her pictures were stunning and she had rave reviews of the food and wine and ambiance! It’s not in Carmel Valley Village but it is very close to Carmel Valley Ranch. I’d stop by and visit in the future if I had the chance! Below are some of the pictures she so kindly shared with me to use for this post.

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7. Final Review & Toddler Travel Tips for Carmel Valley Ranch

All in all, we had a great stay at Carmel Valley Ranch! I feel 2 nights is a minimum stay to get to fully enjoy some of the property amenities and activities. Would I have paid $700-$1000 a night for the rooms at face value? That might be debatable, but booking with points? Definitely worth it.

Some things to note and summarize:

Getting around the property and shuttles: I will have to say, I did think that CVR is very spread out–which were some other comments that friends with toddlers staying here had as well. It makes for a nice COVID-19 friendly vacation because you’re pretty far from other guests unless you’re at the pools or restaurant, but you could potentially avoid interacting with many people the entire stay if you chose to.

However, you do need to remember that this property is sizeable and to get around to any of the locations may require driving your own car or calling and taking a resort shuttle. Driving wasn’t terrible, but usually when I’m at a resort, I don’t imagine I have to keep getting into my car and parking/re-parking or worse, loading/unloading my toddler.

The shuttles were fairly quick to get to your room but at the same time, they did require you to pre-plan to call for one and then sometimes the shuttles had to pick up multiple guests, which meant you were waiting for other guests to get on the shuttle too. Since we stayed in the Bluff Suites which were furthest from the Lodge, we often took the shuttle to get there. There is a walking path, but if we were trying to make a mealtime reservation, I just didn’t want to drag my toddler on a long walk.

River Ranch, where all the family amenities (like the pool) and many of the activities are, is about a mile down the road from the Lodge alone–not including the distance to your room. I might recommend driving down here instead of using the shuttle especially if you have water equipment you’re bringing down too. Additionally, keep in mind it will be harder to load a stroller onto the shuttle if you have a younger child. Doable, but it may be more of a pain.

No elevators: Again, there are no elevators on the property whatsoever. Some rooms require walking up stairs or down stairs to get to the entrance. Just something to keep in mind if you are traveling with grandparents or the little ones that require carrying or more assistance in walking.

Weather: Keep in mind you are still technically in Carmel-by-the-sea at this resort, which means coastal weather, fog in the mornings that may or may not burn off quickly. The temperature in the valley itself can be much warmer like the difference between peninsula and inland of the Bay Area–the microclimates vary a lot. But CVR is not technically in Carmel Valley, so check your weather reports correctly before you come.

One of the shuttle drivers said it typically is warmer in August, but this year the weather had remained a little cooler–highs in the low to mid 70s instead of 80s. We were told September and October is also usually nice. I could see non-summer months being colder and less enjoyable for pool activities, but still beautiful and cozy if you plan for the climate and dress yourselves and your kiddos accordingly! The fireplaces and heated tile floors in their rooms certainly help with that!

Service & COVID-19 Friendliness: I felt service was excellent for our experience, and things were very COVID-19 friendly. Check in at the lodge was spaced out, warm, and welcoming. They usually will give kids a little toy at check-in too. We were given a welcome reusable tote and stainless steel water bottle along with maps, activity calendars, and class schedules for our stay. Someone will drive a golf cart to lead you to your room and show you where to park, as well as assist you with any luggage if you need.

We opted not to do room cleaning since we were only there 2 nights and to save on water, but they will ask if you would like to request housekeeping services when you check in. Their protocols say they EMist each room with electrostatic sprayers before visitors can check in. There’s contact-free arrivals and departures through the World of Hyatt App, the in-suite television, or text message–you can text 831-278-4381 prior to arrival with any questions.

I really appreciated the friendly and responsive texting concierge that went directly to Guest Services team who would ask if we needed items and I could also text if I needed extra water, towels, slippers, etc. Things were delivered much quicker than I even expected and I always received confirmation texts about the no-contact drop off being completed.

We had great waiters at the Valley Kitchen as I mentioned before, who really thought about our needs with a toddler. Everyone was just overall super friendly, and I liked all the shuttle drivers too who were helpful and friendly.

And little details they thought of like their lavender pillow spray…mmm…I’m still using it now, a month later!

Finally, before you come: Make sure you check the Activity Calendar and make dining reservations too. I think this can help you plan your stay better and at least block off times for the activities you want to do. The rest of your time can be flexible. Reservations may speed up your wait time for meals because most people who don’t leave the resort will likely want to eat here too.

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I hope all of this information helps you decide or better plan a trip to Carmel Valley Ranch! It was a very relaxing, beautiful, and COVID-19 friendly stay with a toddler! If you thought this post was helpful, I’d appreciate if you pinned any of the pins on Pinterest! 🙂 Thanks and have fun!

xoxo,
Jas

1 Old Ranch Road,
Carmel-by-the-Sea,
California 93923, United States

+1 831-625-950