A First Look at The Bower Coronado, a Luxury Boutique Hotel With the First Rooftop Bar in Coronado, California
The Bower Coronado is an intimate and elevated 39-room boutique hotel in the San Diego seaside community.
A jaw-dropping, boutique, luxury hotel crowned by the first rooftop bar and restaurant in the Coronado neighborhood has opened in San Diego, California. The Bower Coronado is a 39-room retreat with bespoke concierge services to make guests immediately feel welcome like locals.
It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long to open a rooftop bar in historic Coronado, given its panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and Mexico. With only a little more than three dozen rooms in the entire hotel, each guest receives personalized attention.
Concierges, who are buzzing around and available by text 24/7, arrange in-room spa treatments, yoga classes, personal training, sailing excursions, sunset road cruises in a 1931 vintage speedster in the driveway, and beach days with towels, chairs, umbrellas, and even picnics.
Once you arrive at the hotel, there’s no need to drive again since the hotel provides shuttles and beach cruiser bikes to get around the main drag, Orange Avenue.
The hotel’s design is inspired by wabi-sabi, a traditional Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in simplicity and imperfection.
Why You’ll Love It
The hotel’s aesthetic flows with wabi-sabi design, using natural substances like limestone and artisan woodwork to create an aura of intentional simple imperfection.
The Japanese philosophy guided the architectural firm Delawie and interior designers SFA Design Group to infuse calmness and tranquility throughout the hotel—from the lobby, to the garden space, and into the guest rooms.
Though everything in the hotel is modern and fresh, the design pays homage to the land, which was the site for John D. Spreckels’ Japanese tea garden before the Villa Capri by the Sea, a retro motel was built on the plot.
The neon Villa Capri sign still serves as the backdrop in the rooftop bar and restaurant called Dive, open from 7 a.m. breakfast to late-night cocktails.
A neon Villa Capri motel sign greets guests at Dive, the hotel’s rooftop restaurant and bar.
Dive is open daily from breakfast to late-night cocktails and offers stunning ocean views.
Amenities
Each of the three guest floors has its own lounge area with a small, communal, help-yourself refrigerator filled with drinks like juices, soy milk, tonic water, cola, and ginger beer.
A communal reverse-osmosis water system lets guests fill their water in pitchers and branded water bottles found in the rooms for a more eco-friendly approach to hydration.
In the morning, freshly baked warm croissants magically appear, along with fresh coffee, freshly squeezed orange, and grapefruit juice.
Guests can relax by the hotel’s cozy fireside nook—a space for stillness, warmth, and quiet connection.
Accommodations
When guests walk into the hotel room, they’re greeted with a framed photo with their name on the ultra-comfortable Stearns and Foster bed, welcoming them to the hotel. Personalized envelopes are sealed with wax.
Each room at The Bower Coronado features exquisite amenities and the Lanai rooms (pictured) on the ground floor include private patios.
The bed linens, towels, and even the bathrobes are from Frette, an exclusive Italian textile company. Toiletries, like natural bristle toothbrushes and natural toothpaste, are stocked in the bathroom so guests don’t have to worry about bringing anything.
From rich linens to mood lighting and curated treats, every detail is crafted for guests’ comfort.
A glass shower room with Le Labo bath amenities sits in the bathroom with a Dyson hair dryer and Dyson hair straightener ready in homey baskets. Rooms have balconies that look out onto the marina and Hotel Del Coronado.
Bathrooms are stocked with luxurious Le Labo products and Dyson hair tools.
The Neighborhood
Popularly known as Coronado Island, the neighborhood is technically not an island anymore. It’s known as a “tied island” because it was once separated by water. Now a peninsula, it’s connected by land via Silver Strand, a thin sandy isthmus where Silver Strand State Beach sits.
Most people travel to Crown City (as it’s known by the locals) via the iconic Coronado Island Bridge that stretches from San Diego proper to Coronado offering sweeping views of the San Diego skyline, San Diego Bay, and Coronado from the bridge.
Another popular way to get there is the ferry that takes people from the harbor in front of the San Diego Convention Center to Coronado Island’s ferry landing.
Because of its relative isolation, Coronado has grown as a getaway for Hollywood glamour icons like Marilyn Monroe, U.S. presidents, and authors like L. Frank Baum, who authored “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
The neighborhood of Coronado aka “the Crown City” offers oceanfront dining, a beachfront boardwalk, outdoor water activities, and more for visitors to enjoy.
Insider Tips
Check-in is at 4 p.m. and check-out is at 11 a.m.
The resort fee is $50 per room, per night and includes access to the fitness center, a seasonal welcome drink on arrival, high-speed internet, and daily bottled water, tea, and coffee in rooms.
Dogs are allowed in the first-floor Lanai rooms and up to dogs are allowed per room.
The hotel is a non-smoking property.
$1 per night of every guest stay supports Emerald Keepers, a community-based effort to care for the coastal community of Coronado.
Guests can book a variety of fun experiences through the hotel’s concierge including a sunset sail session, golf cart rental, beach picnic, and more. View their offerings here.
The hotel provides Moke shuttles and complimentary beach cruiser bikes for guests to get around.
Escaping to The Bower Coronado certainly does feel like guests have landed in a wonderful world of tranquility and serenity.
For more information and to book a stay at The Bower Coronado, call (619) 605-6000 or visit their website. Follow on Instagram: @bowerhotelcoronado
1417 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA 92118
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[Photos courtesy of The Bower]
Helen I. Hwang is an award-winning journalist, author, and mechanical engineer. Her works have appeared in The New York Times for Kids, Eater San Diego, People Magazine, Parents.com, Trip Advisor, Huffington Post, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine,TravelSavvy.com, and other publications. She has also written a book, titled All Grown Up: Please Touch Museum and Its Move to Memorial Hall, for the Please Touch Museum, a children's museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, Helen worked as a researcher for the Peabody Award-winning NPR radio program, Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Over the years, she's lived on three continents and traveled to more than 40 countries. She currently lives in San Diego, CA, the 16th place she's called home. More about her can be found at helenihwang.com.