Joya de la costa central del retiro, Carmel-By-The-Sea

The condo is beautiful and in a great location, literally a stone's throw from everything in town and all of the wonderful restaurants and shops, not to mention the beach. We took advantage of the fireplaces and thought the beds were comfortable.

There were minor hiccups - one being that there was no cable, only network TV. We were able to use the HDMI cord to plug into our laptop and stream some of shows and movies, but if you didn't know how to do this you would be out of luck. Even the property manager thought this was unintentional, so I'm guessing it was an oversight. Not that we were there to watch TV, but given the rain and that it was Thanksgiving week we definitely wanted to watch a movie or two + some cable channels.

There was only Woolite detergent and no dishwasher pods/soap, so we had to go out and buy some on Thanksgiving Day. I would just suggest that someone checks this before new guests arrive.

The location of the garbage cans was not listed correctly in the rental agreement, and we ultimately had to text the owner and property manager Thanksgiving night to find out the actual location (around the corner from The Forge vs. within the condo complex). We never successfully found the recycling bins but were able to drop our stuff in the Coldwell Banker ones nearby. The manager is extremely responsive so it was never an issue, but could have been avoided altogether if the correct details were included upfront.

On the note of the rental agreement, I didn't receive any Welcome/Check In instructions leading up to our stay, so I had to login into the Trip from my computer (the VRBO app doesn't help) to try and find the attachment for the instructions on how to enter the property. That type of information is typically sent a week or 2 leading up to the stay so that the information is handy. When we got inside there wasn't a Welcome packet or binder with the information either, so anytime we needed to check something I had to go back into the website to find the details. The garage opener didn't work and we didn't have the code, so that required another text to the owner and property manager. Some minor kinks to work out!

The kitchen has an abundance of some items (wine glasses) and not enough of others (basic water glasses) but overall is pretty well-equipped. It would help if the rental agreement listed the items included so you can plan ahead.

We would definitely stay again but suggest that some of these issues are addressed!