Where and what are the best things to do in San Diego?

Question

I would also like to know the best attractions and the best/coolest restaurants to eat at. Also, any other points of interests...besides the obvious like Sea World and the Zoo. Thank you in advance! Oh...There will be no kids going on this trip, but we are interested in the Zoo and Sea World and stuff like that. I want to know everything!!!

Answer 1

Go to the Old Globe Theater for some live drama. See Balboa Park and the botanical garden. Go to the Hotel Coronado for the old-time charm and the beautiful location. Go to San Juan Capistrano, which offers a stunning view of the city, the bay, and the ocean all at once (and take a warm sweater, it can get chilly right there). For eating, I don't know specifically, but the Gaslamp (or is it Gaslight?) district is good for nightlife. Also, visit La Jolla (section of town) for more great eats and a more refined dining and shopping vibe. Get out of town and see Torre Pines, a little north of San Diego. Finally, if you're there long enough, get out east to the desert - like Borrego Desert State Park.

Have a great time!

Answer 2

I live in Los Angeles and San Diego is a wonderful place to visit, IMHO. You got two of the biggies with Sea World (expensive and overrated, in my opinion, for adults) and the Zoo (a must-see). Here are some other things to do:

1) Night out in the Gaslamp Quarter. This is a section of downtown that is full of great restaurants, night clubs, etc. A great place for a night out on the town (but it will be expensive).

2) Take the trolley to Tijuana. The city runs a public trolley that takes you all the way to the Mexican border. There, you just walk across some turnstyles and youre in TJ. Note that it's a VERY Americanized view of Mexico thats basically a huge tourist trap, but it is something that you should experience once in your life. Be careful of pickpockets.

3) SD Wild Animal Park. If you are renting a car, you should consider taking the drive out to the Wild Animal Park. This is like a zoo (actually, the SD Zoo and this are run by the same organization), except there are no cages - the animals roam pretty free on large sections of land. It's pretty cool (although the SD Zoo is better if you had to choose).

4) Old Town. Once again, this can be a bit touristy, but this is where you can view California's first Spanish settlement. It tried to recreate life in the late 1800's and I think it does a good job of it. If this is your first time to California, I definitely recommend this - the older I get, the more I realize how the early California missions have influenced the state's culture to what it is today.

5) The beach. If this is your first time to California, I'm guessing that you want to see the beach. If you are young and up for some action, I recommend going to Pacific Beach. This is where a bunch of cheap food and bars are located - and it's pretty much right next to the beach. If you are older or dont want that scene, I suggest Coronado Island or maybe Mission Beach.

6) Renting jetski's or boats in Mission Bay. Mission Bay is such a great area for watersports. Rentals are expensive, but if the weather is right and the water somewhat warm, it's worth it.

Note that many of these activities arent full-day activities. The Wild Animal Park, the Zoo, and Sea World are the only true full-day activities that I can think of.

Also, there are other activities if you run out - the "town" of Julian is one. I recommend picking up a good tour book (Frommers is pretty good for SD) and going from there.

Answer 3

Visiting the Zoo is a must, but Balboa Park (where the Zoo is) is full of a ton of great museums. Each day of the week a certain few are free - if any of them catch your fancy, plan out which day you can stop by before your trip so you don't have to pay to enjoy them. Mission Beach has a cool roller coaster and is a happening beach. For dining, you can't beat Monsoon (indian) and Royal Thai down in the Gaslamp (downtown). Ra (sushi) is hip and has great food as well. Hash House a Go-Go has unbelievable breakfast food and is very popular (5th Avenue just north of Balboa Park). Overall, the Gaslamp, Hillcrest and La Jolla have great dining. And for lodging, I would say try the Sheraton on A Street or if you'd like to be near the beach get a vacation rental. Expedia and CoastRentals (www.coastrentals.com) or VRBO for options.

Answer 4

How long you are going to be there effects what you can do. There is so much to do in the area. As you already said there is the Zoo and Sea World. The wild animal park is also really neat. Old town is not as good as it use to be but is still worth going (if you can find parking) They have museums and shops and great mexican restaurants in there also there is a little 18 hole golf course next to Old town that is all par 3s and is quite fun even for the bad golfers. Balboa park is an all day trip or two. they have a lot of museums to go to but in my opinion the Air and Space museum and the toy train museum are the best! But there are lots of neat museums to choose from and sometimes they have cool traveling ones too. We went to one that had all the different models of torture devices through out history. It was really interesting. You have to go to Mission Beach and Belmont Park and Sea Port Village. They have a lot of shopping and it is right on the beach and you can ride a few rides too. And go to the Midway (the docked naval carrier) that takes most of the day to do but id very interesting. There is so much more to tell you about so if you want to know more just email me. In fact my parents are in San Diego right now!!

Answer 5

Be sure to tour the WWII aircraft carrier that's permanently docked in the marina. It's very, very, interesting. Also the sailing ship that Master and Commander was filmed on. After the tours be sure to go to Top Gun BBQ.(close by). Fantastic bbq(also a scene from Top Gun was filmed there - hence the name change). For dessert, stop in to the Ghiradelli Chocolate store in the same downtown neighborhood for a sundae and goodies to take home. To die for!
We also enjoyed the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Take a drive over to Coronado. The drive and the whole area is beautiful. And if you need to relax, have a picnic in Balboa Park. Old Town has tons of wonderful restaurants and bars if you'd like a bit of nightlife.
I could go on and on since San Diego is one of our favorite cities to visit! Enjoy!

Answer 6

Definately bypass to the San Diego Zoo. i could additionally advise Sea worldwide, Balboa Park and its many museums, previous city. while you're making plans a visit, attempt finding whilst a play/musical is going to be ib city. it is everywhere around city like the previous Globe or Civic Theatre.

Answer 7

If you go to Seaworld do this: get any sort of average sized hand stamp or just some ink, rub in on the top of your hand so it's smudged a little, then just flash your "stamp" quickly at the gate to "re-enter" and you just saved yourself $60 and get to drink free beer. Basically just make it look like you hand your hand stamped. Trust me, it's a lot easier sneaking into that place than people realize; the employees there don't check or care. During our free beer tasting the lady conducting it noticed me and my 5 friends had all done that but she just laughed and served us more beer.

Answer 8

About the zoo, the in town (old) one is OK, but their new animal park about 30 miles out is wayyyy better.
It is operated by the same people but huge open space with no cages.

Answer 9

Dont miss the light house in Point Loma.

Answer 10

my favorite place to get great Mexican food was in Cardif...Las Olas on Highway 1...the salsa will make you sweat!