It’s been a few years and I’m trying to plan a day in GC, this time bringing newcomers. Trying to time it so we are there for the parade festivities later but find east in/out parking.
If I recall, parking is typically a PiTA but is “P” the only place to park? Or if I park further along that street in black, I feel like we won’t be able to get out when we have to leave. Is that right? We will have 2 cars.
Would it be wise to get there by noon and just spend the day? And again, can we just bring our chairs to any of those places on the beach I marked a,b,c, so long as we are not directly on a “beach clubs” property?
captain--where are you coming from and why are you using two cars? You don't fit in one, or people want to be able to leave earlier? Perhaps a better choice would be to make arrangements for a taxi both ways.
The big parking lot is probably your best bet if you have to take a car. The road will be shut down beginning at the western corner of the parking lot all the way to the end of the street past Rainbow Cafe. They supposedly will shut it down beginning at 3pm but last week, the first week of the event in 2024, they shut it down at noon and didn't tell anyone in advance. The weather was perfect and it was really well attended both by tourists and locals. Plenty of local arts, crafts and street food vendors. The parade/dancers went down the street the first time around 7:30pm and then came back from the opposite end around 8:30pm. Definitely worth the experience!
Enjoyed your map. We stay in Grand Case so I can't help much with your parking question, but yes, you can bring your chairs and sit anywhere on the beach other than directly in front of one of the places that rent chairs. Plenty of space on the beach to do that.
What's the plan after beaching it early with your own chairs? Will you then carry them back to the cars then walk back into the festivities? It gets very crowded.
Why not consider going early, park, then eat at one of the places that rent chairs, then walk the Blvd to check out vendors, grab a snack like a crepe, listen to music then after parade head back to your cars.
Carol, the short answer is we were staying there so no need to drive! We stayed in the Residence Catalina which is across the street from La Villa and Le Cottage. It’s a 4 unit building with two 2 bedroom units on the second floor, one unit on the ground floor and one penthouse/owner unit on the rooftop. We were in one of the second floor units which gave us a great birdseye view to watch the parade. The building has four parking spots in the garage on the ground floor. The upstairs has a balcony overlooking the street in front and a nice balcony on the opposite side facing the the bay. Having garage parking in Grand Case is a luxury and stress reducer beyond compare.
After 10 pm the noise was non-existent beyond the occasional loud scooter. We’re usually in bed by 9 or 9:30pm and never had a problem. Fortunately, we’re early risers as well since the trash pickup came before 6am everyday. The apartment has one bedroom on the street side and the other adjacent but located inside towards the ocean with the living/dining and kitchen opening to the ocean view. It’s really quiet at this section of the street. We stayed in the interior bedroom and never had an issue. There’s no real noise makers until you go several hundred yards down to Rainbow but I wouldn’t stay at that end of the street if I can help it. The owners recently added a cistern in case of water outages which we didn’t have any.
If I could find a similar size three bedroom at this end of town I’d be tempted to stay in Grand Case with our kids/spouses but I haven’t found one yet.
Ben, thanks, Yes, I used to stay next door to Rainbow. Many years ago , other than Monday Mojito night, it was not all that bad. 2 years ago it was unbelievably loud and totally ruined the vacation.
We've rented the second floor VRBO at Catalina twice, although not since 2019. We loved the location and being able to try all the amazing restaurants without having to drive to GC. The nights of the Mardi were really fun. We could sit on the street side balcony and people watch. We also liked the ocean side balcony. One day we got to watch all the activity on a yacht anchored in the bay waiting for its passengers to arrive. We used the street side bedroom and had no sound issues, although I think that was before Rainbow got so loud.
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