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Travel & Experiences

Family lodgings by the coast

Here are six coastal family lodging possibilities, all with rates that start at less than $150 a night. — Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times staff writer The Bay Club Hotel and Marina,2131 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego; (800) 672-0800 or (619) 224-8888. www.bayclubhotel.com. Shelter Island isn't an island at all. It's a man-made finger of land, lined with hotels, restaurants, boat slips and yacht brokers, plopped into San Diego Bay. The Bay Club offers 105 rooms; all have decks or balconies, and most have big marina views. (Ask for a room on the north side, looking toward Point Loma.) It's close to downtown, the airport and Balboa Park, not too far from Sea World. It has a restaurant and heated pool. Though its grounds aren't spacious, there's plenty of room to ramble across the street, where there's a little beach with half a dozen fire rings, a long grassy area and a playground. Also, for better or worse, you may find yourself eavesdropping on a concert next door at Humphrey's; the music carries easily across the water. Rates $99 to $229, sometimes lower if things are slow.

Here are six coastal family lodging possibilities, all with rates that start at less than $150 a night.

— Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times staff writer

The Bay Club Hotel and Marina,2131 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego; (800) 672-0800 or (619) 224-8888. www.bayclubhotel.com. Shelter Island isn’t an island at all. It’s a man-made finger of land, lined with hotels, restaurants, boat slips and yacht brokers, plopped into San Diego Bay. The Bay Club offers 105 rooms; all have decks or balconies, and most have big marina views. (Ask for a room on the north side, looking toward Point Loma.)

It’s close to downtown, the airport and Balboa Park, not too far from Sea World. It has a restaurant and heated pool.

Though its grounds aren’t spacious, there’s plenty of room to ramble across the street, where there’s a little beach with half a dozen fire rings, a long grassy area and a playground. Also, for better or worse, you may find yourself eavesdropping on a concert next door at Humphrey’s; the music carries easily across the water. Rates $99 to $229, sometimes lower if things are slow.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

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Crystal Cove State Park cottages

Crystal Cove State Park cottages,Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach; (800) 444-7275, www.crystalcovebeachcottages.org or www.reserveamerica.com. These waterfront shacks, built from the 1920s to the 1950s, are what you picture when you close your eyes and think “beach cottage.”

There are 13 cottage lodgings available for rent (all sleep at least four people; one sleeps nine), and 24 others are awaiting restoration. You can eat at the Beachcomber Cafe or up the hill at Ruby’s Shake Shack.

Rates are $121 to $191 (assuming four guests) for the nine private cottages with kitchens, $32 to $98 ($23 for each additional guest) for rooms in the three dorm-style cottages (where alcohol is not allowed). But booking is difficult. Reservations are accepted up to seven months in advance, and cottages get grabbed up immediately. So forget about this summer (unless there is a cancellation). Also, guests are limited to seven nights a year.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Casa Malibu Inn on the Beach

Casa Malibu Inn on the Beach,22752 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu; (310) 456-2219; no website, but e-mail via casamalibu@earthlink.net. This two-story, 21-room hotel, built in 1949, sits on the coveted ocean side of PCH, about seven miles north of Sunset Boulevard and just a few hundred yards south of the Malibu Pier. For a handy playground (and picnic tables with ocean views), try Malibu Bluffs Park, on the west side of Pacific Coast Highway.

The inn is simple, with the rooms arranged around a modest grass-and-brick courtyard and a couple of patio tables, but the ocean presence is intimate. Eight beachfront rooms with open-beam ceilings hang right above the sand. Co-owner Richard Page says that in coming months, the lodging will get new furniture and switch to flat-screen TVs. (The property is set up for Wi-Fi.) The most affordable rooms, which run as low as $139 on winter weekdays and as high as $239 on summer holidays, are the 10 garden-view units. Rates $169 to $499.  (Axel Koester / For The Times)

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