San Diego

I'm planning a trip for myself, my mom and my 6 year old daughter in July. Any recommendations on where to stay/things to do? TIA!

Re: San Diego

We stayed in Old Towne because of the history and it's heritage which was cool - great mexican restaurants there. We were on a budget for that trip so I found OT to be cheaper. If I had a little more to spend, I would look into the Gas Lamp Quarter - beautiful, anywhere near the water, breathtaking!! Either way, no matter where you stay, it's really not about the hotel because there's so much to see and the weather is so gorgeous that you are always out.

So, regardless of hotel, definitely see Gas Lamp Quarter, Old Towne - eat at a Mexican place, yum! Check out Balboa Park, Catalina Island - if you can take a sailboat or some cool day trip there it is the most beautiful place. The best!

Also check out, and this goes without saying lol, The San Diego Zoo and Sea World. Sea World is not as large as the one in Florida but it was fun. The Zoo is UNBELIEVABLE - I mean, it is known as one of the best in the world and when you are there, you see why.

HTH!

Message edited 5/15/2013 3:18:56 PM.

Re: San Diego

I love everything about San Diego! I wrote a review about our trip if you'd like to read it, it's long but very detailed.

San Diego Review

Re: San Diego

I LOVE San Diego.

I totally agree with staying in Old Town. It's literally 5 minutes from the airport and very central to downtown, Balboa park, the marina, etc.


We stayed at the courtyard by Marriott Old town. We're Marriott loyalists. It was totally fine, your standard courtyard, but if I went again I'd probably check out the Hacienda Hotel, which is by Best Western. I am not usually a BW fan, but it looked nice. The BW might be better for kids with the buffet breakfast kind of thing whereas courtyard is a business hotel so there's a starbucks in a small cafe. It's not anti0kid but it's not super kid friendly. There's also a Fairfield Inn. One tip if you stay at Courtyard - it has expensive valet parking, but it's a across the street from the school. if you're there on a weekend, the parking is wide open, but you'd have to move the car to a side street by Monday morning. I can't speak to the parking at the other locations but I imagine it's similar with expensive faily parking ($15 or so). We found that was the case in a lot of places in CA. you have to pay to park everywhere and it's not cheap.

LOVE the Mexican food there! Old Town Mexican or whatver itw= was was ok. Cafe Guadalajara for breakfast was OUTSTANDING. So amazing. El Agave was overpriced and to me, over-rated. I really didn't enjoy that meal and loved the much cheaper options more.

There's a lot of history in OT. We really didn't get to experience as much of it, but we walked around quite a bit. There is a lot within walking ditance in terms of restaurants, little shoppes and historical sites. You can get several troley lines from Old Town but we opted to drive.

The San Diego Zoo is of course amazing. You could do 2 full days there and spend a week or more doing everyhting in Balboa Park. We will definitely be back. You also have Lego land and Sea World, which we didn't do since we had 3 days at Disneyland

We also really enjoyed our Whale watching tour. They have whale watching year round in San Diego because of the different whales that migrate at different tmes of year. It's not for everyone though. Almost everyone on the boat was seasick. I really never get seasick and I came very close to puking even after taking a dramamine. It's also a lot of waiting around. It was worth doing, but I'm not sure I';d do it again or how it compares to New England Whale watching. I will say whale watching in the Caribbean was MUCH calmer, but we didn't see whales. haha.

We ate at a cute coffee shop called "to the point" not far from the marina. Recommended for sure.


It might seem like going to Little Italy is a waste of time since we have such great italian here, but one of the best meals or my trip, and definitely in my top ever was Bencotto in Little Italy. SOOOO delicious. I can't even tell you. I'd fly out just to eat there.

Horton Plaza is an outdoor mall right in the middle of downton (as in right by the Padres stadium, the convention center of comic-con fame and gaslamp quarter). pretty typical stores but they have some beautiful art and it's a great atmosphere. I enjoyed it.

I didn't really explore the gaslamp quarter except to drive around. We had pretty full days with the zoo and whale watching so we weren't really interested in nightlife. They have some interesting walking tours, but nothing really blew my skirt up. I would rather have seen a show at the Old Globe or checked out a museum.

Will your trip only be San Diego? We did San Diego, Disneyland, and LA/Manhattan Beach so let me know if you have questions.

Re: San Diego

If you have plans to go to legoland - if you go to Home depot on 6/1 between 9-12 there is a free kids activity and they are supposed to be giving out fee kids admissions to legoland.


While we have yet to go, this is our San Diego itinerary:
Sea World
San Diego Zoo/Train Museum/Carousel/Balboa Park
Legoland/Legoland Waterpark
Universal Studios
Disneyland

I got discount tickets via City Pass.

Other things to look into that we will try to do if we have time:
Coranado Springs
La Jolla
Gaslamp area
Temecula (wine country)
Children's Swim area (which was taken over by wildlife)
Beaches

Re: San Diego

Re: San Diego

Thanks so much the recommendations. I will definitely look into them. I'm still looking for a hotel to stay at though and my company has now changed so I will be going with some co-workers instead of my mom and daughter.

We are not really sure which hotel to stay in. I think it would be best to stay in downtown SD. Any recommendations for hotels? So far I looked into the W, Westgate, or the Westin.