Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine

A Hill Town Above La Jolla Village Drive

Most hotels in this part of San Diego are boxes with a view. This one is a piece of architecture. Michael Graves drew the whole of the Aventine, completed at the end of the nineties on a sloping site in University Center: the hotel, a large office building, a restaurant court and a health club with its pool, all set so that the recreation sits in the sunniest hollow of the plot. Graves did the interiors and much of the furniture too, which is why the ochre, terracotta and deep blue read as one idea rather than a lobby refit. Approached from La Jolla Village Drive it looks less like a chain hotel than a small hill town.

Why It Works

We kept it for the signature and for the practicality, in that order. There are very few hotels on this coast where a major architect designed the building, the interiors and the furnishings as one commission, and the complex won an AIA design award for exactly that. A property-wide renovation has since refreshed the rooms without erasing the palette. Then there is the everyday side: more than four hundred rooms means availability in a city that fills up, four places to eat and drink on site, a heated pool with cabanas, and a car park underneath the whole thing.

Why This Location

This is the Golden Triangle, San Diego's business and university quarter rather than its postcard. Westfield UTC and its restaurants sit under a mile away, walkable in good shoes; the UC San Diego campus, the Salk Institute and the hospitals are minutes by car. La Jolla Shores and its beach are a short drive west, and the Torrey Pines golf course and reserve are a little further north along the cliffs. Downtown and the Gaslamp are twenty minutes or so south. You trade the sound of surf for a quiet inland night and far easier parking.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Postmodern landmark, calm, business-literate

• Rooms: More than four hundred, including studio suites, VIP suites, corner and pool-view rooms

• Best For: Architecture and design travellers, university and conference visitors, families who want a pool and space

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Graves designed the furniture as well as the buildings, and the complex still reads as one composition

• Dining: DRIFT eat and drink for seasonal regional cooking, Shor for breakfast and its weekend buffet, Market La Jolla for coffee and provisions, and the seasonal Cove bar at the pool

• Amenities: Heated outdoor pool with hot tub, sun deck and private cabanas, StayFit fitness centre, tennis rackets to borrow, underground parking, dogs accepted

• Attractions: Westfield UTC under a mile, UC San Diego campus minutes away, La Jolla Shores beach a short drive, Torrey Pines golf course and reserve up the coast

Rooms Inside a Landmark

The guest rooms are the quietest part of the design, which is deliberate: pale walls, dark wood, and the colour held back for the corridors and the public rooms. Ask for a pool view if you want the Graves geometry in front of you, or a high floor on the city side for the inland light at the end of the day. Studio and VIP suites add a separate sitting area and suit the long academic or corporate stay this address attracts, and the corner rooms are the ones worth asking for on a short visit.

Four Ways to Eat Without Taking the Car

DRIFT eat and drink is the main room, seasonal and regional in its sourcing, with tables inside and out. Shor covers breakfast and puts on a buffet at the weekend. Market La Jolla is the practical one, good for coffee, a sandwich and something to take up to the room. In season, Cove opens at the pool for cocktails and poke bowls, which is the pleasant way to spend a late afternoon here. For anything else, the restaurants of Westfield UTC are a walk away.

What to Know Before You Book

The pool is heated and open from early morning to late evening, and the cabanas go first at weekends. Dogs are accepted, which is rare at this scale. The hotel fills with conference and university business midweek, so weekends are the calmer stay, and the reverse is true of the surrounding streets. If the sea matters more to you than the building, book closer to La Jolla Shores; if the building is the reason you are coming, this is the address.