Weekend getaway recs with 4mo
Hi everyone, looking for suggestions for infant-friendly weekend getaways in a nature-filled location that are 2-3hrs max drive from Berkeley. In July our baby will be 4 months and we want to do something before my leave ends. Especially interested in specific hotel or Airbnb recs as we’re still learning what we need for getaways with such a young baby. Thanks in advance!
May 11, 2025
Parent Replies
We’ll be headed to Santa Cruz with a similarly aged baby and staying at an AirBNB (plus 3yo sibling). Many of the houses we browsed had kid gear and there also a number of BabyQuip providers in the area that we plan to utilize (http://babyquip.com).
We did a family trip to Truckee when our first was that age which was also a nice escape but can be a little hot in July for comfortably hiking & being outside with baby in a carrier.
Biggest piece of advice is to consider where you can be when the baby is sleeping during the day and early evening. Hotel rooms without a separate living space are hard because you have nowhere to escape during sleep times.
We recently spent time with our newborn and toddler in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area and it was great. Lots of good nature and hiking along the Yuba River nearby, and both towns are super quaint with good casual dining options and such. Also appreciated that while we felt like we were out of the big city there were places like Target and such nearby (which we found ourselves in when we didn’t pack enough wipes or a hat for baby!)
Asilomar Hotel and Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove is lovely. It's a compound of many different buildings and the accommodations vary a bit, but you often see deer on the grounds, and it is adjacent to sand dune with a boardwalk (more deer and birds), and it's a short walk to Asilomar State Beach with tidepools and shells and hermit crabs. There is a dining hall at the conference grounds which makes pretty good food and means you don't always have to head out to a restaurant (though if you do, there are plenty of good ones). There are a number of state parks and state beaches i the area if your idea of "natured-filled" is more adventurous. Pinnacles National Park is a personal favorite. If you are up for camping (I took my daughter camping when she was 5 weeks old, so I'm not joking about that; it gets harder when they start walking and want to play in the fire pit and eat random things off the ground), there's a campground on the east side, but no convenient hotels. I love the Bear Gulch trail and cave (cave will probably close soon for bat pupping season). The west side of the park isn't far from Soledad, so staying in a hotel is feasible (if you haven't been there, the park spans the crest of the coast range with no connecting roads, just trails, so you have to pick one side or the other to stay). The rocks are spectacular, and we've seen coyotes, quail, tarantulas, bobcats, etc. I have yet to see a condor there, but they do hang out there.