The Belamar Hotel — Affordable Boutique Hotel in Los Angeles

I spent just one short night at this lovely boutique hotel last week. I had to drop off my daughter at LAX early the next morning, so Manhattan Beach looked like an excellent choice as a place to spend a day and evening together before her two week séjour away from home (I will totally set aside the fact that her departure — she’s 10. And a half — was waaaaay harder for me than it was for her).

Anyhoo, a little bit of research unveiled the Belamar Hotel – only one L  – Hotel. I always, always read reviews on Trip Advisor before I commit to staying at any independent hotel property. Reviews were excellent and I will add my favorable comments to the mix. Although the hotel is 1.5 miles away from downtown Manhattan Beach and from the beach itself, we thoroughly enjoyed walking there, through the residential neighborhood and admiring this and that house. There are parking meters along the beach if driving is your thing.

The room was EXACTLY as pictured here. Pristine and clean and lovely and a relaxing shade of turquoise blue. The  artwork displayed throughout the hotel was amusing, not serious or self-important which was a nice way to make the hotel more “approachable” to some of us who may not feel like our cool factor is totally up to par.

Since we had a huge ice cream sunday at the fabulous Manhattan Beach Creamery, we weren’t hungry for dinner till late, so decided to stay in, order a movie and get room service. Not only was the food really, really good, but the prices – relative to room service pricing – were actually reasonable.

We did not go for a swim but did go down to take a look at the pool. It almost qualifies as an interior pool as it is surrounded by 3 solid walls and has a roof that seems to slide open, but a cozy fireplace and candles and great lounge chairs make it very inviting. Oh, and the water was warm.

Highly recommended by moi. I’m going back. Oh, forgot to mention the free WiFi. Duh!