Friendly, quaint, cozy and definitely worth a visit! I’m talking about Capitola, an adorable little seaside town of 10,000 people, which is located about 50 miles south of San Francisco. While I have been to nearby Santa Cruz many times it wasn’t until close friends of mine took over a cute little hotel in downtown Capitola that it came onto my radar.

Beaches, shopping, great food and friendly locals…The perfect place for a Girls Weekend!

Wrights Station Winery

We started the weekend off right with wine tasting and lunch at Wrights Station Vineyard & Winery. Relatively new, Wrights Station is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains and specializes in estate grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The winery has a lovely private room, which can be reserved in advance. We brought our own lunch and then purchased wine to go  with it!  Don’t worry, we had two designated drivers!

The Capitola Hotel

Not that we need a reason to come together, but this weekend was chosen not only to celebrate our newly minted hotelier’s birthday, but also as an opportunity to say farewell to 2015. We wanted to give 2016 a proper start and what better place to make that happen, then the Capitola Hotel!

Located right in the heart of the village, the hotel is only steps from the beach as well as many restaurants, shops and galleries. We took full advantage of them all! There are 10 rooms and with 9 in our group we took over the entire Hotel. All but one of the rooms are accessed directly from the lobby making it easy for us to visit each other… Like a giant slumber party!

Once everyone was settled we met up in the lobby for a wine and cheese hour! Just to the left of the lobby there is a cozy little courtyard complete with comfortable chairs and a fire pit. If you get cold there are warm blankets available as well! A great place to sit and relax with a glass of wine before heading out for the evening. Speaking of which… We enjoyed the courtyard so much we were almost late for dinner!

After dinner we spent the evening in the lobby dancing and talking the night away… The following morning we woke to freshly brewed coffee and breakfast treats also in the lobby! Such a nice way to start the day!

Around Town

Capitola isn’t a big place, but it does have a lot to offer!

There are many fun shops to pop in and out of and of course I managed to find a few treasures to bring home! A travel book and funky bracelet at Pacific Gallery, a fun new shirt at Yvonne’s and candy at Carousel Taffy.

Our dinner at The Stockton Bridge Grille was fun and the food and service were good. Sunday’s lunch took place at Margaritaville, (no relation to the Jimmy Buffett chain). Not only was the service great, but it was right on the water and the food was really good! I had a trio of incredibly yummy tacos, Fried Avocado, Skirt Steak and Chorizo Potato. The Chorizo Potato was my favorite! The views were lovely and both of these restaurants would be worth a second visit!

Wishes For 2016 & Each Other

As I mentioned earlier this weekend was about making sure we got 2016 off to a great start! We participated in a group activity designed to encourage and inspire each other! We wrote down any negatives from the previous year as well as hopes for the coming year, which we then shared with the group. As each of us took our turn the rest wrote notes of encouragement and inspiration on small slips of paper. These were then put into tiny scented jars which we all took home. Fun!

Full Disclosure: Close friends of mine own the Capitola Hotel, but the services I enjoyed while staying there are offered to all guests. This includes both the wine and cheese hour as well as the fresh coffee and breakfast.