San Diego Tiki Hotels

Hey,

I want to book a weekend getaway in San Diego. What are the most TIKI hotels and restaurants down there ? I'm guessing Shelter Island is where I want to go. I was looking at Humphreys Half Moon Inn, but it seems modernized. Some help with this pullleeeezzze.

Shelter Island is probably your best bet, although the hotels don't come cheap. Humphrey's has retained a lot of it's Polynesian look and feel. The Bali Hai is just across the street, and most of the other buildings retain a tiki-like look (you can easily identify the A-frames), although much of the explicit tiki decorations are now gone.

You can also try the Red Lion Hanalei in Mission Valley. Their bar and lobby was detikified some years back, but their Islands restaurant is extremely tiki, as well as another part of their main lounge. You can also find tiki on the hotel grounds as well.

And don't forget the Gaslamp district. There is Mr. Tiki's Mai Tai Lounge and Hilo Hatties on 5th Avenue.

Good luck on your trip!

I've stayed at both the Hanalei and at Humphrey's, and they're both great in their own ways, but I prefer the Hanalei for sheer tikiness and a few intangibles. Both have lots of tikis on the grounds, but many of the tikis at the Hanalei came direct from Steve Crane's Luau in Hollywood when it closed. Plus, as tikipedia mentioned, they've got the Islander, which despite having undergone some unfortunate renovations remains very, very tiki. Humphrey's has got the Bali Hai right across the street, and the Bali Hai has some great history, but the tikiness just isn't as immersive. They're all worth a visit and aren't far from each other, so try to visit them all if you've got time and just stay at the place that's most convenient. Here's my tiki travel guide to San Diego:

http://www.critiki.com/cgi-bin/travel.cgi?dest=sd

Here's another thread:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=4724&forum=1

PS - although not tiki, Paradise Point in Mission Bay may be the next best beach front tropical retreat East of Hawaii. http://www.paradisepoint.com

Also, you may wish to visit during TikiOasis.

On 2006-02-12 10:25, christiki295 wrote:

Also, you may wish to visit during TikiOasis.

WHen is the tiki Oasis this year ?

Here is the Tiki Oasis link:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=17075&forum=4&start=90

The Catamaran in Pacific Beach is also very tropical, including a pretty cool lobby with waterfall and parrots -- at least the last time I saw it. http://www.catamaranresort.com/