As you approach the entrance to the expansive Best Western Plus Hacienda Hotel, you’re greeted by an actual 1840s California Gold Rush water wheel. This is your first taste of the charm and history of Old Town. Hacienda Hotel’s several buildings spread across a hillside and feel more like a sprawling village than a hotel. The comfortable hotel offers sweeping views, gracious hospitality, and a conscientious dedication to California’s Green Stay Initiative. It’s a Certificate of Excellence award winner, and a Best Western Chairman’s Award winner – the chain’s highest honor. Best Western Plus Hacienda Hotel is a great choice whether you are traveling for business or leisure. Families will love the spacious suites, affordable rates, and resort-style amenities.
Best Western Plus Hacienda Hotel Rooms & Suites
Best Western Hacienda Hotel has 200 guestrooms. Guests have three accommodation styles from which to choose. Standard King rooms are carpeted and have white walls, dark plantation shutters, and contemporary Santa Fe furniture. Beds are dressed in bright white with deep red accents. Furnishings include a flat-screen TV, small desk, seating area, and table and chairs. Rooms also have stylish contemporary microwaves, mini-fridges, and coffee and tea makers. Bathrooms are split with toilets, showers, and tubs in one room, and vanity sinks and large mirrors in the other. Both have terra cotta floors and white walls.
Double Queen rooms are larger and have two queen beds with the same décor and furnishings as King rooms, plus a full bathroom with tub and shower, and a second vanity sink outside the bathroom. All rooms have in-room safes. Guest suites have kitchenettes, king beds, and separate living rooms. Some accommodations have private balconies. Premium adjoining suites with kitchenettes for long-term stays and ADA accessible accommodations are available.
Other room amenities in rooms and suites include, daily complimentary water, hair dryers, irons and boards, data-port telephones with voice mail, clock radios, LodgeNet TV channels and Pay-Per-View movies.
Best Western Plus Hotel Old Town Amenities
The Spanish Colonial Revival Mexican Hacienda style of the lobby is marked by luxurious chocolate-brown vintage leather couches with patterned cushions and exposed brass tacks, straight-back chairs and heavy dark wood furnishings, wrought iron Colonial wall sconces, an imposing stone fireplace, terra cotta flooring, and ornate floral area rugs. Ceiling fans spin lazily from the wood-beamed ceiling. Dark wood plantation shutters subdue the bright California sun. The vibe is rich and relaxing.
The sprawling hacienda-style property is surrounded by parks. It’s crisscrossed with staircases and partially shaded walkways that connect buildings with large verandas, and courtyards with casual seating and gurgling fountains. The grounds are airy; lush with palm trees, bougainvillea, shrubs, birds-of-paradise, and other tropical plants. Many points on the property offer gorgeous views of the serene hotel and surrounding neighborhood.
Hacienda Hotel has a resort-style outdoor pool and hot tub surrounded by a spacious patio with killer views of Old Town. The heated pool has an ADA accessible pool chair. The hotel also has a business center with three computers in the lobby to check on flights and local attractions, or keep in touch with your office. Wi-Fi is available in all public spaces. You’ll find 4,500 feet of meeting space in five meeting rooms with banquet facilities at this hotel for business or social events. They also provide free shuttle service to the airport, Amtrak, and the B Street Cruise Ship Terminal.
Best Western Hacienda Hotel’s award-winning restaurant, Old Town Tequila Factory Restaurant & Cantina, has great rooftop views of Old Town. Expect gigantic margaritas, specialty tequilas, freshly-made tortillas, house made guacamole, and a tempting Mexican-influenced menu, along with festive music and the captivating views from Tequila Terrace. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, weekend brunch, and daily happy hour.
The small fitness room with gold walls, two floor-to-ceiling mirrors, a drop ceiling with florescent lighting, and durable carpeting is practical, but nothing fancy. There are both cardio and strength training machines and a stability ball for workouts. A large TV is mounted in one corner. Complimentary water and gym towels are available.
Note: Hacienda Hotel is spread out across a hillside, which means there may be many stairs (or several short elevator rides) to get to your accommodation. Finding your accommodation can also feel tricky, although there are a couple large directories displayed on the grounds.
Best Western Plus Old Town Neighborhood
Old Town has a special place in San Diego history, because it is the city’s birthplace. It was San Diego’s original Downtown neighborhood before it was moved to its present bayside location in 1871. Old Town is filled with character and one of the city’s most popular neighborhoods with tourists.
Hacienda Hotel is within walking distance of Old Town’s dining and shopping hub along San Diego Avenue dominated by Mexican fare and touristy specialty shops, three nearby parks – Heritage Park known for its Victorian architecture, Presidio Park offering some of the best views in the city, and Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park gives visitors a taste of San Diego’s Native American, early pioneer, and Latin American cultures and tells the story of its historic roots. The carefully preserved architecture, more than one hundred specialty stores, thirty restaurants, twelve art galleries, and twenty-five historic sites and buildings that make up Old Town offer an experience you won’t soon forget.
Be sure to visit the Bazaar del Mundo, Old Town Market, and Fiesta de Reyes for truly unique shopping experiences. The brave hearted can also visit the Whaley house, known as the most haunted place in the nation with countless documented paranormal experiences. Most come for a few hours of fun and are pleasantly surprised when they end up spending an entire day enjoying all the Old Town neighborhood has to offer.
Presidio Park sits high on Presidio Hill behind and above Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. It was the location of Royal Presidio of San Diego, the first European settlement on the U.S. West Coast. Settled in 1769, it was the headquarters for Spain’s colonization of California. Today, the popular 40-acre park is a California Historical Landmark. The park is divided into four distinct areas, Inspiration Point, Palm Canyon, Padre Cross, and The Arbor. Junipero Serra Museum and Presidio Park Mormon Battalion Monument can both be found in Padre Cross.
Check out other great restaurants in the Old Town neighborhood during your stay. Some sound suggestions include La Piñata Mexican Restaurant with its bright white exterior, red tile roof, and grand archway over the parking entrance, it is the oldest restaurant in San Diego’s historic Old Town neighborhood and a great place to take the kids. Old Town Mexican Café is famous for their hand-made artisan tortillas and carnitas. Customers also rave about the Mexican-style rotisserie pork ribs and molcajete served in a festive and colorful atmosphere.
Best Western Plus Old Town Promotions
Best Western Plus Hacienda Hotel offers frequent guests an opportunity to become a member of the El Presidente Club that offers a bevy of benefits including special rates and added amenities. If you’re vacationing in San Diego, try one of the hotel’s many discount packages. Past promotions have included a romance package with a welcome margarita, a full American breakfast, and dinner for two at Jack and Giulio’s Italian Restaurant; a bed and breakfast package with deluxe accommodations; a girls’ getaway; a park and cruise package; and a golf package with deluxe accommodations, breakfast for two at Acapulco Restaurant, and two green fees with cart at Salt Creek Golf Club. Check the website for the availability of these or other vacation promotions.