La Costa Greens, Carlsbad, CA

Most of La Costa Greens went up in the 2000s, one of the newer pieces of the Villages of La Costa master plan that the City of Carlsbad approved for the southeast part of town. The neighborhood fills the square between El Camino Real, Poinsettia Lane, El Fuerte Street and Alga Road, with Aviara across El Camino and Bressi Ranch to the north. Homes here are either townhomes with balconies and small patios or larger single-family houses, some of them custom builds with four to six bedrooms. The city mapped several of these villages in 2003 and set a separate plant palette for each, so landscaping shifts a little from one enclave to the next. Smaller associations inside the neighborhood run their own pools and spas, and some homes look out over golf fairways and open space. Outdoor time usually means walking over to Alga Norte Community Park, just past the line in Bressi Ranch, for its pools, skate park and dog runs. The Leo Carrillo Ranch trails are a bit farther east, and open space lots set aside in the plan break up the streets. The neighborhood's own strip of shops sits on El Camino Real near Alga Road. Nómada cooks fire-grilled Mexican dishes with Sinaloan roots and pours agave spirits and Valle de Guadalupe wines, with live music and weekend brunch. Chin's next door serves Szechuan standbys like Lin Ko steak and cream cheese wontons. Across El Camino, La Costa Coffee Roasting roasts its beans on site beside the Cinépolis theater. Daily errands land across the street too, where Vons sits on El Camino Real and the Dove Lane library is close by. Trader Joe's and Sprouts are up the road in Bressi Ranch. Both Palomar Airport Road and La Costa Avenue reach the freeway, and the Poinsettia Coaster station is near the coast. Expect a car for most of it. The shops sit along a busy arterial rather than inside the streets, and some homes carry more than one association fee. Buying in La Costa Greens gets you a newer house with Bressi Ranch, Aviara and the La Costa resort side all within a few minutes, and almost nothing about daily life here needs the freeway.