We had another lovely stay at this beautiful cottage home on Balboa. We vacationed here two years ago and since then the home was updated - a remodeled kitchen and a new 1st floor full bath. We highly recommend this property!
We were looking for a comfortable and pretty place where we could vacation with an elderly family member. The place was great for our needs and well-stocked with essentials (such as toilet paper, trash bags, soaps, etc). We enjoyed the patio area and being able to take walks and look at the gardens and at the boats in the bay. Parking can be challenging but the place has a garage for one car. The host was responsive and helpful.
Beautiful cottage, prefect for our family trip to Balboa Island and Disneyland. Love the house and the location. Would love to come back as soon as possible!
I loved the interior decor in keeping with a beachy cottage feeling. Also loved the up to date clean and bright kitchen. We enjoyed the SUP paddle boards every day in the bay. And occasionally walked to Main Street for dinner or coffee.
We have stayed on BI for the last 15 years. This is one of our very favorites to date. Traditional BI cottage with all the comforts of today. Great location and owner. We will be sure to come back!
We spent a perfect week at this wonderful cottage home on Balboa. You can tell from the moment you walk in that this home is loved by the owner. Spacious front room and back room. 3 bedrooms upstairs were just right for our family. Highly recommend and would book again in the future.
We have stayed at this property for 3 years now. It has the best location- only 4 houses from the boardwalk on a very quiet street. Only 4 blocks from Marine and a nice walk to the Balboa Ferry. Home is comfortable and very clean and includes all the amenities you need. It reminds me of the quaint home in the movie The Holiday- quaint, English cottage.
We stayed on the island last year for the first time and fell in love and couldnât wait to come back. We rented this perfect little beach cottage this year and had a great experience. We fell in love with all the original charm to this cottage. Layout was convenient for us. Weâre a family of 5 with kids ages 6,4,2. Perfect location when walking to the beach or the shops/restaurants. The street was very quiet and the neighbors were friendly. Definitely would rent again!
Storybook home on charming street of Balboa Island. Favorite feature of home is front porch. Only drawback was microwave and oven not working properly. Made it difficult to cook for my family.
This was our second time renting this very charming cottage. It is only 4 houses to the boardwalk/bay and is located on a very quiet street. It is a convenient walk to the main street where the restaurants, shops and convenience stores are located. It is also close to the Balboa Ferry which takes you to the beach. While it does not have air conditioning, there were plenty of "tower fans" in the home to circulate the air, especially at night. It has a garage for parking your car (very important on the Island) and access to a washer/dryer. We love this cottage and highly recommend it if your are considering vacationing on Balboa Island.
good location, nice patio with garage not worth the hassle
It's a good place if you are looking for a centrally located vacation spot. It's missing amenities that make it a good place to hangout. The fireplace wasn't working and the owner was able to schedule the repair man on the last full day of our vacation which we opted out. The electric stove dial numbers are worn down and difficult to manage the temperature. Even though we had purchased groceries we ate out or ordered take out. The owner left items at the house and stopped by on the 2nd day to pick up then a day later sent me a text with a list of items for me to look for around the house so she could pick them up on the 4th day. The owner also sent me texts to retrieve her mail and packages out for delivery and where to store them so she could then pick them up. It seemed like we were paying a family friend at a discounted rate to use the house rather than a rental property. The owner also claimed a mirror was broken which didn't occur while we were staying on the property. I would not recommend this property to a friend.
This was our second year staying here and the house was just as wonderful as before. We couldnât have asked for anything more in terms of comfortable beds, excellent communication, proximity to water/shopping/dining. The house is gorgeously appointed, the kitchen is well equipped, the WiFi excellent and we loved how centrally located the island is. There are excellent dining choices walking distance from the house but Newport is just a cross the bridge. My daughter took surf classes at Huntington Beach (12 minutes away) and we love the beaches south as well: crystal cove 15 min, Laguna 30 minutes. But what we really appreciated is that we could walk out of the garage with our kayaks or the paddle boards graciously provided and be in the water in minutes. We come to Balboa Island every summer, weâve stayed in 3 other homes, this is our favorite place to stay.
We had a great visit. Close to everything. Patio is lovely. Walk to restaurants, shopping, grocery⊠Loved paddle boarding around the island each morning too. Thank you!
We had a great time in this beautiful, original Balboa Island home. Having a front patio with table and chairs and lounges was wonderful to sit on in the morning and afternoon. Close to the beach and downtown Balboa Island just just what we wanted. Hope to come back again next summer.
Enchanting! From the peaceful patio to the adorable antique phone bench. Stepping back in time where you are able to take long deep breaths. Clean peaceful cottage close to all the action - but far enough away to hear silence. Definitely our new favorite!!!
Cute, clean Balboa beach cottage. Liked that rental dates could be flexible, longer than a week. Check in etc was very easy. Would definitely recommend!
This cottage is darling and beautifully appointed.....the neighborhood is very quiet and the home is only 1/2 block from the bay. Easy walk to the Ferry, the main area of Balboa, and even Fashion Island if you want to take a good, hearty walk. Bed was comfortable and even though it was a warm week, the house stayed cool (fans were appreciated, too).
We had a wonderful time in this lovely, well appointed home. We greatly appreciated the homey touches and the proximity to the beach. Veronica responded quickly to any questions we had but the instructions and layout were so user friendly, we had nothing come up. Having a garage made day trips a breeze and we enjoyed eating our dinners outside on the beautifully planted lanai. We looked forward to the morning and evening visits from a hummingbird as well as a monarch butterfly. I highly recommend this property and host.
This is a classic Balboa cottage. There are quaint features everywhere you look, yet all all the modern amenities are there. The cottage is within easy walking distance to the bay front as well as the the downtown shops and restaurants. I canât imagine a better place to spend a lovely vacation!
I am originally from MN, but was raised in Ventura County and lived in Los Angeles before moving to the Newport area in 1974. I am an interior designer and have lived in this house off and on since it was purchased. We did move to NYC and LA for some periods of time over the years, but this has always been 'home'. I mostly raised my daughter from the age of 5 here. Now she and my grandchildren enjoy all of the same beach and 'Island' activities that have remained so much fun.
From the time my aunt brought me to Balboa Island when I was in junior high, I have had an affinity for 'The Island'. This house has great bones and amazing, charming detail. It was designed by a gentleman named Yale who favored the English Cotswolds style, though mine is more of a New England Salt Box He built seven houses on my block, on Coral and Turquoise in the 1930's. Everything, including doors, were hand built at that time when the wood had to be brought by barge and labor was very affordable.
It is wonderful to be so close to the South bay front beach and just 3 blocks from the market and Marine Avenue shops and restaurants. The interior of this home has wonderful knotty pine which was dark - like a mountain cabin - when I purchased the house. We had to have the wood sandblasted in order to put a white wash on it, which is unique and more appropriate at the beach. The floors in the LR/DR are brick, set in a herringbone pattern. Unique and easy peasy.