Budget Friendly La Quinta Vacation
In May I ran across an amazing deal for $100/night at La Quinta Resort in honor of their 100 year Anniversary. I scoped out our summer calendar and reserved a room! The $100 room deal is over, but they are celebrating their 100th Anniversary all year long with deals like $100 for 100 Years ($100 resort credit per night), or the Third Night Free when you book 3 nights. These deals are subject to availability, so get them before they’re gone!
We live in the Coachella Valley, but don’t really get to experience it in a tourist type way, so we were excited to enjoy La Quinta through vacation eyes!
Sunday
Arrival
We arrived around 2pm on Sunday and hung out at the Main Pool until our room was ready. (A small word of caution, 4pm check-in means check-ins in general begin at 4pm, not all rooms are ready or available at that time.) The Main Pool area has the biggest and most family friendly pool on the property, along with a separate kiddie pool for little ones, a hot tub, a bar, and a restroom.
Dinner
We headed to the room when it was ready and then out for dinner at Mariachi La Quinta. Mariachi has great food and handcrafted decor that the kids were talking about the entire time we were there. We were starving from our afternoon at the pool so we were thankful for the quick delivery of chips and salsa to our table, and the even quicker refills when they were finished off in 2 minutes. Our server was amazing, the jamaica was sweet, the food came quickly, and the kids meals had options for tacos and enchiladas which one of my kids loved (the other still chose chicken strips, surprise surprise).
Mariachi is one of the local restaurants participating in the Shop La Quinta Local Community Card. Right now the city is matching 50% when you purchase the Community Card (ex: purchase $100, get $50 bonus card). The bonus cards have to be used by September 30th as the idea is to help local businesses get through the slower summer months. The cards are very easy to use, I added them to my Google Wallet and was able to use it like any traditional credit card.
Dessert/Tomorrow’s Breakfast
Next up, dessert! I had been hearing about 1/2sies since it opened and couldn’t way to try it out. 1/2sies is also participating in the Shop La Quinta Card program and Sunday’s they have half priced donuts from 7pm until closing! If you are buying for your family I would recommend going with the bigger packs, it will save you a lot vs. purchasing individual donuts. We got enough to have one for dessert and have some left for breakfast, they did not disappoint. Our family favorites were the Biscoff and the Filled Churro! We planned to go for ice cream at some point during our stay, but ran out of time. Lucky for us we still have money left on our Shop La Quinta Cards, so we will be back! Check out their instagram page for deals and weekly activities like trivia and movie nights!
Monday
I sat outside on our little casita patio having coffee and my 1/2sies donut before everyone woke up. My youngest woke up next so we explored the property a little bit, and wow, is it beautiful. Views of the mountains, gorgeous trees, cactus garden, waterfall and area with lawn size Connect 4, stacking cups, and chess!
Pickleball & Pool Time
I reserved a pickleball court for 8am, hoping the heat wouldn’t be too bad at that time, it was hot, but not terrible. We were definitely ready to hit the pool after an hour of playing!
*Budget tip - If possible bring your own paddles and balls, the court rental was $35/hour, and the paddles were $10 each to rent which would have meant an extra $50 for us! I was able to buy some for the same price and now we have them for future use!
There were two casita pools in short walking distance from our room. It was so nice not have to lug our stuff to the Main Pool and back to swim for an hour before lunch! The casita pools are about the size of a large backyard pool, they are surrounded by casita rooms, but since we were there around 10am I wasn’t too worried about the kids being loud and waking anyone up.
Lunch
We decided to stay at the resort for lunch at Twenty6 which was just a walk across the property from the our room. The coloring pages were on theme with the resort and the kid portions were big, my two younger kids could have easily shared a plate of chicken tenders and fries (their go to order)! Prices at the resort restaurants are a little more that you would find if you go off property, just something to keep in mind if you’re trying to stick to a budget.
Pool Time & Ice Cream
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool, with a quick trip to get ice cream at The Marketplace at the resort. Through the end of August their Thrifty ice cream is 50% off from 2-4pm Sunday-Thursday (during the half-off sale cones cost extra). They have a rotating selection of Thrifty ice cream to choose from, I was really hoping for Chocolate Malted Crunch, but they didn’t have it available. My kids are not adventurous ice cream eaters so they didn’t want to try the Circus Animal Cookie or Cotton Candy, and stuck with the tried and true Vanilla and Rocky Road.
On the way back to the pool my son and I stopped for a game of chess. It felt like it was approximately 100 million degrees outside, but he insisted we play right now, and not later when the sun would not be baking us. The things we do for our children.
Dinner
We used our La Quinta Community Card and picked up dinner from Norma’s Italian Kitchen. We were all too tired to eat like civilized people at a restaurant. We got the Pasta with Italian Sausage and Green Pepper, a loaf of garlic bread, and an extra large half cheese/half pepperoni pizza. The extra large pizza was about the size of a large at a typical fast service chain pizza restaurant (think Dominoes, Little Caesars) and the portion for the pasta was more than big enough to share between 2 adults. A delicious ending to a fun-filled day!
Tuesday
Homebound
Time to say goodbye to the resort and wonderful couple days!
If you’re looking for more family friendly things to do in and around the Coachella Valley subscribe to the Calendar of Events. For just $4/month you will have access to the calendar with hundreds of budget friendly events & activities each month!
Happy Adventuring!
~Melissa