05/31/2026
My sister Wendy was kind enough to write a little summary of their 4-night trip to San Juan Capistrano in California, that I helped book for them this month. She travelled with our mom and they created some beautiful travel memories together. I wanted to share with my travel community to inspire that a short trip, can also be extremely special.
I would like to thank her for her words and insight, into this beautiful and easy destination.
We stayed in San Juan Capistrano, which is about an hour north of San Diego along the coast. It’s a beautiful, historic, quiet town, and I’d say it takes about two days to properly explore it. The history is religion. (Named after the 15th-century Franciscan saint, John of Capistrano, it served as the seventh of the California missions and was built directly adjacent to the native Acjachemen (Juaneño) village. Intended to convert the local Indigenous population to Christianity, the mission also relied on them for labor. A devastating 1812 earthquake collapsed the grand stone church, killing 39 Acjachemen people. Today, the mission remains a highly revered spiritual site, holding cultural and ancestral significance for the Juaneño people.) It is also known for swallow migration and there are stories around this that relate to the buildings in the Mission.
It’s especially great for older people, with mobility issues, who enjoy strolling around, looking at gardens, little shops, and artsy outdoor spaces. There’s a really nice market area with a grassy courtyard and live music in the middle. One of the fun parts is that the train runs right through town, and there’s a great restaurant called Trevor’s on the Tracks where you can actually sit and watch the trains go by. There were also lots of other really good places to eat.
Another place we visited was the pier and harbor area. It’s mostly fishing ports and marinas, worth spending an afternoon around. We did a harbor cruise, which was okay, but because the harbor is enclosed by a rock barrier, you never really get fully out onto the open ocean.
We went to Laguna Beach, which is about 25 minutes from San Juan Capistrano. The views there are incredible — sweeping scenery of both the coastline and the hills. We did some walking and sightseeing there, and of course the beach itself is absolutely beautiful. It’s definitely much busier though. There’s obviously a lot of money in that area, so everything is more expensive. Tons of gorgeous cars, upscale shopping, and really busy restaurants and coffee shops.
The weather was fantastic the whole trip. One of the things I love most about places like California and Cabo is that they’re nonstop flights of only about three hours. I really don’t enjoy long flights, so quick and easy trips are ideal.
