diff --git a/client/src/components/Planner/DayPlanSidebarMobileAddPlaceButton.tsx b/client/src/components/Planner/DayPlanSidebarMobileAddPlaceButton.tsx
index 96f942c22..4864d75f2 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Planner/DayPlanSidebarMobileAddPlaceButton.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/Planner/DayPlanSidebarMobileAddPlaceButton.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useState } from 'react'
 import { Plus, X, MapPin } from 'lucide-react'
 import { useTranslation } from '../../i18n'
 import type { Place, AssignmentsMap } from '../../types'
+import { placeMatchesSearch } from '../../utils/placeSearch'
 
 export function MobileAddPlaceButton({ dayId, places, assignments, onAssign, onAddNew }: {
   dayId: number
@@ -17,9 +18,7 @@ export function MobileAddPlaceButton({ dayId, places, assignments, onAssign, onA
   // Find places not assigned to this day
   const assignedToDay = new Set((assignments[String(dayId)] || []).map(a => a.place_id))
   const available = places.filter(p => !assignedToDay.has(p.id))
-  const filtered = search.trim()
-    ? available.filter(p => p.name.toLowerCase().includes(search.toLowerCase()))
-    : available
+  const filtered = available.filter(p => placeMatchesSearch(p, search))
 
   return (
     <div className="md:hidden" style={{ padding: '8px 12px 12px' }}>
diff --git a/client/src/components/Planner/usePlacesSidebar.ts b/client/src/components/Planner/usePlacesSidebar.ts
index 9cf90d3e7..557aeedc3 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Planner/usePlacesSidebar.ts
+++ b/client/src/components/Planner/usePlacesSidebar.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import { useSaveToCollectionStore } from '../../store/saveToCollectionStore'
 import { placeToSaveTarget } from '../Collections/saveTarget'
 import type { Place, Category, Day, AssignmentsMap } from '../../types'
 import { getGoogleMapsUrlForPlace } from './placeGoogleMaps'
+import { placeMatchesSearch } from '../../utils/placeSearch'
 import { safeHttpUrl } from '../../utils/safeUrl'
 import { plannedPlaceIds, plannedPlaceIdsForDay, type PlannedAccommodation } from '../../utils/plannedPlaces'
 import type { MenuEntry } from './planParts'
@@ -290,8 +291,7 @@ export function usePlacesSidebar(props: PlacesSidebarProps) {
           if (!categoryFilters.has('uncategorized')) return false
         } else if (!categoryFilters.has(String(p.category_id))) return false
       }
-      if (search && !p.name.toLowerCase().includes(search.toLowerCase()) &&
-          !(p.address || '').toLowerCase().includes(search.toLowerCase())) return false
+      if (!placeMatchesSearch(p, search)) return false
       if (ratingFilter !== 'all' && (p.rating_avg == null || p.rating_avg < ratingFilter)) return false
       if (localityFilter && !matchesLocality(localityOf.get(p.id), localityFilter)) return false
       return true
@@ -307,16 +307,13 @@ export function usePlacesSidebar(props: PlacesSidebarProps) {
    * different questions.
    */
   const filterCounts = useMemo(() => {
-    const needle = search.toLowerCase()
     const base = places.filter(p => {
       if (categoryFilters.size > 0) {
         if (p.category_id == null) {
           if (!categoryFilters.has('uncategorized')) return false
         } else if (!categoryFilters.has(String(p.category_id))) return false
       }
-      if (search && !p.name.toLowerCase().includes(needle) &&
-          !(p.address || '').toLowerCase().includes(needle)) return false
-      return true
+      return placeMatchesSearch(p, search)
     })
     return {
       all: base.length,
diff --git a/client/src/mobile/screens/trip/places/placesBrowserModel.ts b/client/src/mobile/screens/trip/places/placesBrowserModel.ts
index fae376d1e..dffb19097 100644
--- a/client/src/mobile/screens/trip/places/placesBrowserModel.ts
+++ b/client/src/mobile/screens/trip/places/placesBrowserModel.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { AssignmentsMap, Day, Place } from '../../../../types'
+import { placeMatchesSearch } from '../../../../utils/placeSearch'
 import {
   plannedPlaceIds as sharedPlannedPlaceIds,
   type PlannedAccommodation, type PlannedReservation,
@@ -44,9 +45,7 @@ export function matchesCategoryFilter(place: Place, categoryFilters: Set<string>
 }
 
 export function matchesSearch(place: Place, search: string): boolean {
-  if (!search) return true
-  const q = search.toLowerCase()
-  return place.name.toLowerCase().includes(q) || (place.address || '').toLowerCase().includes(q)
+  return placeMatchesSearch(place, search)
 }
 
 interface PoolFilterArgs {
diff --git a/client/src/utils/placeSearch.test.ts b/client/src/utils/placeSearch.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..01677361f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/utils/placeSearch.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// FE-UTIL-PLACESEARCH-001 to FE-UTIL-PLACESEARCH-004
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
+import { placeMatchesSearch } from './placeSearch'
+
+const place = {
+  name: 'Café Central',
+  address: 'Herrengasse 14, Wien',
+  description: 'Classic Viennese coffee house',
+  notes: 'Book a table ahead',
+}
+
+describe('placeMatchesSearch', () => {
+  it('FE-UTIL-PLACESEARCH-001: an empty or blank query matches every place', () => {
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, '')).toBe(true)
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, '   ')).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('FE-UTIL-PLACESEARCH-002: finds the name and the address, ignoring case', () => {
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, 'central')).toBe(true)
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, 'HERRENGASSE')).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('FE-UTIL-PLACESEARCH-003: also finds the description and the notes (#2252)', () => {
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, 'viennese')).toBe(true)
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, 'table ahead')).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('FE-UTIL-PLACESEARCH-004: missing fields are skipped, and a miss is a miss', () => {
+    const bare = { name: 'Stop', address: null, description: undefined, notes: null }
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(bare, 'stop ')).toBe(true)
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(bare, 'nowhere')).toBe(false)
+    expect(placeMatchesSearch(place, 'pizza')).toBe(false)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/client/src/utils/placeSearch.ts b/client/src/utils/placeSearch.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..caecc18ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/utils/placeSearch.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import type { Place } from '../types'
+
+type Searchable = Pick<Place, 'name' | 'address' | 'description' | 'notes'>
+
+/**
+ * Whether a place matches the search box of the places list (#2252). Name and
+ * address as before, and also the description and the notes, so a place found
+ * by what was written about it ("vegan", "book ahead") turns up too. One helper
+ * for the desktop list, its filter counts and the phone's browser, so the three
+ * can never disagree about what a search finds.
+ */
+export function placeMatchesSearch(place: Searchable, query: string): boolean {
+  const q = query.trim().toLowerCase()
+  if (!q) return true
+  return [place.name, place.address, place.description, place.notes].some(
+    field => !!field && field.toLowerCase().includes(q),
+  )
+}