1. San Diego

The Bay Club Hotel and Marina is on Shelter Island, a man-made finger of land, lined with hotels, restaurants, boat slips and yacht brokers, plopped into San Diego Bay. The Bay Club offers 105 rooms; all have decks or balconies, and most have big marina views. Ramble across the street, where there's a little beach with half a dozen fire rings, a long grassy area and a playground. 2131 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego; (800) 672-0800. www.bayclubhotel.com. Rates $99 to $229.

2. Laguna Beach

Crystal Cove State Park cottages are waterfront shacks, built from the 1920s to the 1950s. There are 13 cottage lodgings available for rent (all sleep at least four people; one sleeps nine). Reservations are accepted up to seven months in advance, and cottages get grabbed up immediately. Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach; (800) 444-7275, www.crystalcovebeachcottages.org. Rates are $121 to $191 (assuming four guests) for the private cottages with kitchens; $32 to $98 for rooms in the dorm cottages.

3. Morro Bay

At Gray's Inn & Gallery, there's no pool, but you have miles of beaches to the north and Montana de Oro State Park to the south. Besides browsing the shops and feeding the three obstreperous sea lions in the odd little Morro Bay Aquarium (a nonprofit rehab center for distressed animals), you can rent a kayak or canoe, take a bay tour by semi-submersible vessel. 561 Embarcadero, Morro Bay; (805) 772-3911, www.graysinnandgallery.com. Rates range $120 to $187, depending on season.

4. San Simeon

The 90-room Best Western Cavalier Oceanfront Resort is a haven with two outdoor pools, 900 feet of ocean frontage, lots of grass for kids to run around on and a restaurant. A few miles south, you'll find the restaurants, shops and the beaches of Cambria, not to mention the Shamel County Park playground (on Windsor Boulevard). 9415 Hearst Drive, San Simeon; (805) 927-4688 or www.cavalierresort.com. Rates $99 to $319.

5. Mendocino

In a notoriously quaint town full of B&Bs; (and a playground at Friendship Park), Alegria is the only one with its own trail to the beach, about 200 steps. This is a much-amended 1861 house with neighboring cottages - 10 rooms and suites in all, some with TVs. Hot tub, no pool. 44781 Main St., Mendocino; (800) 780-7905 or (707) 937-5150, www.oceanfrontmagic.com. Rates $159 to $299, with three-night discounts that drop summer rates as low as $109 and winter rates as low as $79 (based on three- or four-night stay).

This article appeared on page M - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle