San Diego (And Surround Areas) - Hotel and Things to Do

Double your food budget.

We spent $165 on three meals for two in Long Beach the day before a cruise last year. That includes getting bagels for breakfast. None of the restaurants were as nice as The Chimes. Maybe on par?

Snorkel with leopard sharks in LaJolla

Definetely spend some time on Coronado Island. Stay at Hotel Del if you can get one of the newer rooms at The Cabanas building. The resort is very family oriented. Wouldn’t recommend the Victorian building, rooms are rather antique….After spending a full day out and about you’ll be content with enjoying a nice beach fire at the best beach in all of SoCal (imo) while watching your kids enjoy themselves. But Coronado is just a fantastic family oriented area. I recommend Little Frenchie for a Sunday brunch if you can swing it.

Definitely spend a long afternoon or day checking out La Jolla. Watch sea lions, check out the underground sea cave, check out the tide pools, take your kids to the children’s playground, and walk the shore. Don’t leave La Jolla without eating at The Taco Stand, best burritos you’ll ever have. La Jolla is an absolutely stunning area.

Try to catch a sunset at sunset cliffs in Point Loma.

Both the San Diego zoo and the San Diego zoo safari park are a must but both will take a full day each. With two young kids, probably better to go with the former. Best zoo I’ve been too….and I don’t really care for zoos.

Balboa can be an almost full day. Research which museums you’d like to check out but a nice stroll and a picnic is a nice time as well.

Of course check out the gaslamp district but there isn’t a whole lot of kid oriented things there. There are lots of food and drink options. Cowboy star is my favorite steakhouse. I enjoy Born and Raised for a “couple’s” atmosphere.

Take your kids to Belmont Park for some playtime. My kids who are still young enjoy it. You can also catch a nice sunset off mission beach there as well.

USS Midway is a must. And not too far from there is the Little Italy district. Lots of food options and my favorite dining area. Wherever you decide to dine, make reservations.

There’s a whole lot more to do but my advice is take it slow and relax while in the SD area. Personally I’d skip staying a couple nights between LA and SD, although I can see why it interests you. 4-5 days isn’t enough to explore everything SD has to offer but it is enough to make you want to take a second trip. My recommendation for an in between stop for two nights is Dana Point. Plenty to do with the kids for 2 days.

Oh and if Hotel Del doesn’t work for you, definitely stay in La Jolla. Yea the drive to get into SD city is annoying but it’s worth it imo.

Hope this helps.

We’re looking for a bit sleepy if I’m being honest (but not resort on a beach sleepy haha). If given the choice between La Jolla or Hotel Del which should we pick? I always shy away from splurging to much on a hotel (outside of paying a premium to get close to the areas we want to explore) because I feel like we’re never at the hotel enough to take advantage of what we’re paying for.

So I feel comfortable saying that we’re not staying in SD proper but still up in the air in where exactly we should stay.

After doing some research last night, our plan now is to do 5 nights around SD and the last 2 somewhere between SD and LA. Will definitely check out Dana’s Point and Laguna.

Thank you for the post! We definitely plan to take it slow and just enjoy the time away. My thinking now would be to do activities in the morning and early afternoon and then plan to be at the beach somewhere by mid to late afternoon for sunset. Or activities, late lunch/early supper and then beach in the late afternoon and sunset

We definitely plan to do the zoo, balboa, midway, and Belmont park. Will look more into the safari. We’re excited about little Italy, we’ll honestly probably eat there 4 of the 5 nights haha. I keep seeing the Padres mentioned, is that worth it with a wife who cares zero about baseball?

quote:

---

Hope this helps.

---

This is great info - I'll headed to SD end of July and staying two nights at Hyatt Mission Bay then three nights at the Hotel Del. Looking forward to enjoying the beach and zoo with the kids

Be specific about “La Jolla”.
Some places out there are technically “La Jolla”, but well away from the beach, etc.

Embassy Suites La Jolla is nowhere near the water.

There really is not a delineation between “San Diego” and many of the surrounding communities.

Have you looked at Coronado Island?
With kids The Zoo is a must.
You
Could do Seaworld as well if theme park is your vibe. Legoland is fun if kids are young.

I like Point Loma Seafood. It’s not fancy. George’s in La Jolla is great.

Cabrillo National monument has great views on a clear day. Tide pools are interesting for the kids.

The ocean water is always cold. Walking on the beach is relaxing.

I’d stay in Coronado. Short drive to the Zoo.

Old Town is kind of corny, but fun.

The safari park in Escondido is nice for kids.

4-5 days is fine. A day at beach. A day at zoo. Seaworld or Legoland for a day. Balboa Park for a day. Tool around Coronado and relax for a day.

My husband and 2 other couples went to San Diego for 7 days last summer. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina. It was an excellent location. On our first full day, we took the Hop on Hop Off Tour which pick up was right in front of our hotel. We got off at Coronado. After several hours, we hopped back on and go off again at Old Town (which is interesting) and had an excellent late lunch at Miguel's Cocina. Then hopped back on the bus to continue our tour until we got back to our hotel stop. The next day, we spent the whole day at the Zoo and Balboa Park since they are right next to each other. On the Saturday, we went to tour Little Italy and the huge Farmers Market (only open on Saturday). Then we headed to La Jolla which is very nice. Other things we toured are the USS Midway, the men went to Torrey Pines for a round of golf, cruised the bay, and visited the Gas Lamp District and Petco Park. We had dinner one night at Flemings, which was awesome. Hope this helps you make some decisions and that you enjoy your trip as much as we did.

Thank you so much for the post - this is a big help. Had not heard of the hop on hop off tour or the restaurants you listed. Will definately do some more research. Before we started researching for the trip I really wasn't that excited (I pushed for a mountain vacation in CO or UT), but after reading these comments, plus doing our own research, I couldn't be more excited!

For the family, I would pick Newport/Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, or Dana Point over Huntington Beach.

All great beach towns. Dana Point is the quietest of them all, but probably one of the most family friendly places in California.

You won't regret staying a day or two in coastal South Orange County.