One of our readers, Zobars, wrote in asking about vacationing in San Diego. I've included some tips below, but surely forgot to include others so please chime in other San Diego residents!
San Diego can essentially be broken up into two parts. North County and then Downtown/city. The Zoo and Sea World are downtown. The Wild Animal Park and Legoland are North County. Depending on what time of day your travel, it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours to go from one end to the other. Point being, plan your trip accordingly and find a hotel somewhere in the middle, say the Del Mar-ish area {if you plan on visiting all four theme parks}. Or reserve a hotel in the city and make the drive north for a day of North County fun {miss the traffic and leave your hotel around 10ish}.
Other things to do besides theme parks?
The Beach {what else? La Jolla Cove is our personal favorite - large bermuda grass area and usually calm waters perfect for children - also the La Jolla Cove seals are always fun to watch
Balboa Park {located right next to the Zoo so when you get tired of animal, walk across the street and relax - take a snooze in the shade even, also filled with tons of museums including Natural History, Automotive, Space, Sports Hall of Fame etc - very cool place}
Padres {the Petco stadium is awesome, super kid friendly and they serve tons of great food including classic ballpark hotdogs, Rubios, sushi, and more}
Gaslamp Quarters {get the true San Diego city experience here}
Coronado {take the ferry across to Coronado island, rent bikes and cruise the quaint beach town}
There is tons to do here. I could go on and on. There's no wonder it's been labeled America's Finest City.
wow! sounds fun. maybe i'll take a vacation there.
ReplyDeleteThe Missions are wonderful, especially San Juan, where the swallows return every spring--the city literally built up around the mission- It is huge historic and very peaceful Adore the large fountain with the koi swimming lovely gardens. Well worth the drive north.
ReplyDeleteBalboa Park is a week unto itself 15 plus museums all topics covered. Outdoor organ concerts certain times of the week--largest outdoor organ in the nation I believe, and no you cannot hear it from their resturaunt, i tried. They also have puppet theater, they are well known for, once or twice a week. On sundays, if this is still true, they have 20 small cottges, each a different nation, with host/hostess--serving free snacks/drinks from that nation--di ask for donations--each place has displays of crafts and wares from each country, and last is a UN gift store. More cool. Museum of Man on the first floor, as you go in, has an elderly mexican weaver, if he is still there, go talk with him--he is an exhibit, been there for decades--wonderful gentleman--great memory. I get there an hour before opening, and snag the best of the free all day parking spots, close to one of the museums. If you have boys, you will lose them to the railroad museum--I took my husband twice on this trip for feb/14 and lost him there both times. I adored the Folk art museum myself. It is best to buy the day pass or week pass and go for 2-3 days.
Coronado Mile High deli--great food without busting your budget--toy store should still be a few doors down--new and vintgae items. the drive over the bridge is awesome(no toll)! You can a ferry over as well.
The Zoo is the largest in the nation, and the largest botanical park in the world as well. I highly recommend, getting there at opening, and hiking the 15-20 minutes it taking to get to the pandas, for the panda line forms early and long--they have a new baby on display I believe. I wnet to just to see panda.. I am from chicago and am spoiled by 2 world classed zoos. The pandas are most active in the morning. by thi time my part of the line was done seeing the baby, after waiting for an hour, it was napping for the rest of the day. The bus tour is nice, when your feet get tired, toward the end of the day.
There are whale watching tours ,and the aircraft carrier is now open for tours at the dock--there is parking right there in adjacent lots. Aslo, there are sailing ships you and tour as well --was in a recent film.
Hope this helps somewhat--my info might be dated a couple years.
Thanks a lot Missy for posting about San Diego. I would love to visit the La Jolla Cove. My daughter absolutely loves seals. Can't wait for our trip.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the places that you mentioned too Noran.