Santa Monica is the epitome of a Southern California beach town with its surfable waves, walkable downtown, laid-back atmosphere, and seaside amusements. Santa Monica makes for a family-friendly weekend getaway, with just enough to see and do in a couple of days without being overwhelmed by the need to squeeze it all in.
Carnival game prizes at the Santa Monica Pier (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)
Carnival Rides & Games
This suburb of Los Angeles is probably best known for the Santa Monica Pier and its amusement park, Pacific Park. Here, you'll find 11 rides including a roller coaster, a handful of fast food options, and carnival games galore. There is something so summery, retro, and joyous about taking a spin on a Ferris wheel on a pier perched over the ocean!
There is no entrance fee to the park. You can purchase individual ride tickets or serious ride lovers can purchase an all-day wristband for unlimited fun.
Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)
Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Shop
After taking in a few rides, head over to the Soda Jerks Fountain Service for hand-dipped ice cream sundaes. Located on Santa Monica Pier, this ice cream shop offers limited counter seating inside next to an indoor carousel plus outdoor tables.
Choose from old-school favorites like egg cream. Adventurous eaters will go nuts for Curious George's Jungle Shake, a blend of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, mixed nuts, and banana. You can also create your own sundae from 16 flavors of ice creams, sherbets, and sorbets plus nine toppings.
“The Ocean Park” create-your-own, kid-size sundae from Soda Jerks Fountain Service in Santa Monica, California
Seaside Aquarium
Santa Monica Pier is home to the Santa Monica Aquarium. This may be the smallest aquarium I have ever visited. But it is a non-profit and admission fees are minimal.
My five-year-old enjoyed creating a paper shark puppet here. Meanwhile, her toddler younger brother gazed at the tanks of fish and got a chance to pet a sea star.
Sea stars at the Santa Monica Aquarium (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)
Stroll, Shop & Watch
Once you tire of the pier, walk over to the Third Street Promenade. This 30-block pedestrian-friendly shopping area offers no shortage of retail stores or dining options. Adding to the fun are street performers singing, dancing, doing acrobatics, and playing musical instruments of all kinds.
Whimsical dinosaur fountain along the Third Street Promenade
An Affordable Place to Stay
We stayed just outside Santa Monica at the Los Angeles Marina del Rey Courtyard by Marriott. Our room was a little cramped for a family of four, but the service was friendly and the hotel was clean. I appreciated the subtle little extras this hotel provided, like individually packaged earplugs (for those of us married to a snorer). The outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees was a pleasant diversion, too.
View of the pool at Marina del Rey Courtyard from our hotel room balcony
The breakfast buffet is not included but features fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, juices, coffee, make-your-own waffles, and an omelet station.
Spirit of Aloha in SoCal
Head to Duke's Malibu for some scrumptious fresh fish, live ukulele music, hula dancing entertainment, and a gorgeous view of the ocean.
Hula Dancer at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion in California
It was too chilly for a beach outing during our Labor Day vacation to Santa Monica. We did enjoy amusement park rides, play carnival games, and eat tasty food. What more could we ask for?
What's your favorite attraction, restaurant, or hotel in Santa Monica? Let us know in the comments!
A Note from The Travel Mama: The Santa Monica tourism board welcomed my family with a beach bag of logo items and two free Pacific Park wristbands. All opinions are mine, as always.
About Colleen Lanin, The Travel Mama
Thanks for the post! Looks like you and your little ones had a wonderful time! My family and I went a few months back and loved it! We rented out one of the santa monica vacation rentals down by the pier. It was the perfect location since it was not only close to the beach but it allowed the kids to go to the pier as much as they wanted.
Hieee! I will do this totally with the first kid I get.
xo-
mp
Looks absolutely lovely. ♥
Great place to go when you are so close since we live in San Diego!
We have stayed in the past at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. The lobby is a bit swanky and the rooms are nice (for Sheraton standards) although they seem to be stepping it up a bit in the bed/bedding and trying to catch up to the Westin. They have a free shuttle to and from the surrounding area (within a certain radius and easily the pier, beach, and 3rd street promenade). We also walked to the pier which took about 10 min. (At least) one side of the hotel has balconies and ocean views and there is a little convenience store half a block away which helped us in the milk and snacks department.
Santa Monica is just beautiful. I would visit that city as many times as I could. It has a subtle vivaciousness in a gorgeous setting that makes it desirable to come back to. I love their wide and endless beach along with the expansive, entertaining promenade.
My kids still talked about the bike ride we did from Santa Monica beach to Venice beach. We only had a day there so we knew it’s a place we would want to come back to visit again.
It looks like you guys had a great time. I’m glad to see you visited the aquarium on the pier. It’s an often overlooked, yet great option for the little ones. And my kids LOVE the dinosaurs spouting water on the Third Street Promenade.
It was wonderful to meet you IRL! Thanks for sharing of our yummy dinner! 🙂