Iron Springs Ocean Beach Resrt, Pacific Beach

I've been going to Iron Springs every couple of years since I was in grade school and every trip has been fun and comfortable. The beach and surrounding forest is beautiful, the staff is always helpful and I've always come away with memories and stories that my friends and family talk about for years. The only troubles I've ever had was a bed losing a leg in the middle of the night, which the front desk was very nice and apologetic about, and a raccoon eating a bunch of a birthday cake we had sitting on the table outside(fattest raccoon I've ever seen). Plan on going back very soon!

I love Iron Springs resort and first stayed there in 1974 when I was 19 years old. There is a huge piece of drift wood that was there then that is still there now, atleast it was last year. I have pictures of all of my children and now my grandchildren on it. The resort has gone down hill in the past three to four years. I noticed that the same loving care that was always given to each cabin was not the same. I keep thinking, if I owned this place I would do this and this.....but they haven't. But the truth of the matter is...it IS the mis-matched furniture and the distant seashore mildewy smell that gives it the romance. It is not some spotless, California spa resort. Its rustic and it is very much like you owned your own little cottage on the ocean and only got out to visit it once or twice a year. I know all the cabins personally. I know the walkways and the pool and the beach from end to end. There is really nothing like it. you can sit in your cozy little cottage late at night by the fire and hear the surf roaring and watch the little bobbing lights of boats out on the water fishing. Its really spectacular. I just wish the new owners loved it as much as we all do.

I would consider this more of a camping experience than a resort. It is mix and match furniture. The rooms were not very clean. I am sure that they carpets haven’t been cleaned in years. The towels are tattered and torn. Bathrooms were not clean. The pool is in need of work. The bottom is very rough and cuts your toes. The view however was spectacular the grounds were nice. Dogs are welcome which is a must for us. So if you want to rough it with a great view this is the place for you.

As a family tradition, we had been going to Iron Springs Resort for years. However, in recent years the maintainance of the place has noticably declined. When we arrived there last Labor Day week-end the sheets were dirty and the desk person initially refused to do anything about it, saying the cleaning folks had already gone home. However, I managed to convince her that sleeping on a stranger's dirty sheets was not acceptable!She reluctantly found some clean sheets which we put on the bed. Also, there were termites swarming! The location is beyond spectacular, but poor management will prevent us from staying there in the future.