Fairmont Grand Del Mar

The drive in winds past the scrub and sandstone of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve before the resort appears, a Mediterranean villa of ochre walls, tiled roofs, fountains and loggias. The developer Doug Manchester opened it in 2007 as The Grand Del Mar, in the hills of north San Diego, and it later passed to Fairmont as the Fairmont Grand Del Mar.

History

Manchester had built much of the modern San Diego waterfront, including the Manchester Grand Hyatt, before he turned to a resort of his own. He wanted something in the manner of the great Florida houses of the 1920s, built without compromise, and he gave the project a canyon site on the edge of a protected preserve and a championship golf course. The resort opened in 2007. Fairmont later took over its management, adding its name in 2014, and it joined the group's portfolio of historic and landmark hotels.

Architecture and design

The architecture draws directly on Addison Mizner, the architect who invented the Mediterranean style of Palm Beach and Boca Raton in the 1920s. Spanish, Italian and Moorish references mix in the courtyards and loggias, with arched colonnades, wrought iron, painted ceilings and fountains. The interiors are formal, filled with antiques, tapestries and murals, and the scale of the public rooms is grand. The grounds open onto the canyon and the golf course, and the resort is surrounded by protected land rather than housing. The fine dining restaurant takes its name, Addison, from the architect himself.

The golf course, designed by Tom Fazio, follows the contours of the canyon and is reserved for resort guests and members.

Rooms and suites

Rooms and suites are set in the main building and its wings, many with balconies over the courtyards, the golf course or the canyon. The decoration follows the formal Mediterranean scheme of the public rooms.

Dining

Addison, the resort's fine dining restaurant under the chef William Bradley, serves a French-influenced tasting menu built on Californian produce. In 2022 it became the first restaurant in Southern California to hold three Michelin stars. Amaya, the more relaxed restaurant, serves Mediterranean cooking with a terrace, and the bar and lounge cover lighter meals and afternoon drinks.

Wellness

The spa occupies its own wing in the same Mediterranean style, with treatment rooms, a fitness centre and a pool set aside for adults. Several pools are spread across the grounds, and trails into the canyon preserve start close to the resort.

Weddings and events

The resort hosts weddings in its courtyards, on its lawns and in its ballrooms, and its meeting rooms take conferences and company retreats.

Location

The resort stands in the Carmel Valley area of north San Diego, about 30 kilometres north of downtown and a short drive inland from the beaches of Del Mar. The Del Mar racetrack, founded in 1937 by a group that included Bing Crosby and Pat O'Brien, runs its summer season a few kilometres to the west. Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve runs east for several miles, with a small waterfall and a nineteenth-century adobe ranch house along its trails, and Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve lies on the coast to the south-west. As a luxury resort in San Diego, it is unusual in being surrounded by open canyon rather than sea or city. San Diego International Airport is about 25 minutes by car, and the nearest train station is Solana Beach, on the Pacific Surfliner and the Coaster line.