This property smells like someone has smoked in it every day, all day long for the last 50 years. Surely this review won’t be approved for posting so I won’t waste my energy explaining the back and forth process to get my money back, finding a new place to stay for a week, and dump $300 in groceries we shopped for on the way to the property. Seriously inconvenienced after a day of travel with a 5 year old. VRBO should be forced to have employees investigate properties prior to approval to post for rent. I will never use VRBO again.

Great little spot. Felt like a cozy hideaway. Had everything we needed and more.

We stayed 7 nights in the downstairs unit at Casa Tortuga in October and enjoyed the convenient location for walking to the pier and other places. Despite being off of a main drag through San Clemente and surrounded by businesses, the unit was quiet. It was convenient to have a garage to park in even though it is tight parking. Our smaller Prius was able to make it (albeit with much complaining from the car's sensors!) even though the guests in the upper unit arrived in an SUV. It was nice for our car to be sheltered from the sea film that collects on windshields. We enjoyed the patio for relaxing after a day of walking, or for al fresco breakfast. The electric fireplace nicely knocked off the chill on a couple of mornings. The bed was comfortable and even though there were not many hangers the double bar in the small closet sufficed for draping our clothing that we did not want folded in a drawer. We cooked all of our breakfasts except for one (at the wonderful Mimosa Cafe) in the well appointed kitchen. And if you forget to bring coffee, the small bakery just steps away has a tasty high octane brew. The owner was able to meet us when we arrived later than expected and we appreciated Samantha's availability and prompt and gracious replies to questions. We would stay at Casa Tortuga again. This was our first stay in San Clemente and it is a delightful area that met our need for a low-key vacation with varied activities.

Loved it!

We are full-time RVers and our RV needed to go into the shop for repairs. We also have two golden retrievers so were concerned about finding a place. Samantha couldn’t have been more thoughtful working with us. We ended up needing to extend our stay five days and she was willing to help us again! She responded quickly to all of our messages. The place was a couple of blocks to the beach trail and we all enjoyed walking there daily. This VRBO met our needs in our time of need. Thank you

Cute pad close to the beach

Enjoyed the comfort and style of this great 1 bedroom flat. It had everything I needed for my long weekend in southern Cali. Location to North Beach was great. Close to some great places to eat, including Ellie's Table which is a great place for morning coffee. Highly recommend this home. You won't be disappointed.

The apartment is cute, very clean, comfortable, and had everything I needed, including a vacuum when I spilled some sand, as well as boogie boards and umbrella and beach chairs. I was worried about the apartment upstairs...would I hear them walking around, will it be noisy...but it was fine. I don’t know if they are actually mice or not, because they were super quiet, but I was there a week and never heard footsteps above my head. It wasn’t an issue at all. The patio was very comfortable and I spent a lot of time there. Property Owner Samantha is very nice and easy to work with. The garage is tight and I knew that going into it, so I was prepared to street park. Only two small cars will fit. A larger car can fit in theory, but it is extremely difficult to get the second car in there. It just wasn’t worth it to even try. The other renters got there before me, so they got the garage first. Like I said, I knew it might be an issue before I arrived, so I’m not upset. I’m just letting people know that if you have a midsize car, it’s probably not going to fit with even another small car in there. That being said, it’s not too hard to find a parking spot on the street, the longest I had to walk was about 20 houses. Houses are very close together. I would stay here again.

This really is the perfect get away. Sam responded very fast and is extremely helpful. If you want to be walking minutes to the beach this is the place. I will visit again, thank you.

Excellent location, very clean, cutely decorated, and great communication between us and the host. Highly recommend.

We enjoyed our stay because of the close location to the beach. A short walk, although it involves walking through an alley behind a row of shops and businesses. You don't have the view of the ocean from the condo, but the condo is decorated sweetly. This is the best-stocked condo we have ever stayed in. Need zip-lock bags? Yep, found them. Need a cooler? Yep, found that. Comfortable bed, nice (not skimpy) towels, everything super nice. One reason we got a condo instead of a hotel room is my husband likes to watch TV late at night and I like to sleep. The doors to bedroom blocked TV noise enough that I fell asleep easily. He would have liked a more comfortable couch for watching TV but said he made the futon work with effective use of pillows. This was a great value, a bit more but not a whole lot more than what our hotel room would have cost. CON: We arrived late at night so had a hard time finding the place. I knew we would be driving into an alley to get to our garage but didn't know there would be a slew of garages with no addresses above any of them, was looking for a turtle on a door but it's back from the street not at same level of garage doors and since it was dark, it took us awhile driving around to find it. In the morning, it seemed so obvious, wondered why we had such a hard time. I would say, drive through Pep Boys turn left into the alley behind their business, and it's the first garage door on your left. Park to the right of the garage temporarily while you enter through the turtle door, open garage door, then park.(during the day, Pep Boys parked a truck in a strategic location so people could not drive through their lot, fyi). The garage was a VERY tight fit. Even though we had a small car the other car in the garage was not. I had to get out and direct my husband each time he drove in because had had about a foot or two on each side. A red VW bug parked in front of a garage door on the other side of the alley didn't make it any easier. Despite the garage and somewhat odd location behind a row of businesses, we enjoyed our stay. I rented bikes at a shop that was .3 miles away and rode on what I think was the most beautiful bike path I have ever been on. If it weren't for the somewhat odd location, rough time with parking, we would rate it a 5. Because of those things I gave it a 4. We would stay here again.

My wife and I stayed here for 4 days and loved this place, the location, and San Clemente! It was true to the pictures and description, had everything we needed, and was a great little quiet, private spot. Just a short walk to the beach made it perfect. The AC just takes the edge off when it got a little warm during the day. Sam was very informative and answered all our questions before and during our stay. Such a unique property...try it!

I was greeted by Samantha, she is such a gem! She showed me around and made me feel very comfortable and handle me the keys! She was sure to fill me in on the activities that were happening around the area and what was going on down towards the beach! My boyfriend and I had a BBQ, relaxed and had some wine and then decided to watch the sunset! It was just so nice watching the sunset from the balcony and enjoying that moment! I would stay here again in a heartbeat!!🙏�🏻�🙌�🏼�❤️ Thanks for being an amazing host!