San Diego recommendations?

[ROCcuse]

I am meeting my sister in San Diego for 4-5 days right before Christmas and was seeing what recommendations any of y'all might have on here.

staying at an AirBnB by Ocean/Mission Beach.

Any recommendations are welcome - food/drink, views, museums/attractions, etc.

Sadly will miss the bowl game by a few days.

Thank you!

 

[maxxyz]

I am meeting my sister in San Diego for 4-5 days and was seeing what recommendations any of y'all might have on here.

staying at an AirBnB by Ocean/Mission Beach.

Any recommendations are welcome - food/drink, views, museums/attractions, etc.

Sadly will miss the bowl game by a few days.

Thank you!

I've always enjoyed San Diego. Went over the summer for a visit with family and had a great time. Comic-Con was in the convention center and made driving a chore, but it was a bucket list thing and great for people watching.

Balboa Park is a must. Museums, parks, gardens, Old Globe Theatre, arts, music, San Diego Zoo. The list is endless. If you like this kind of attractions you could spend two days and still not see everything.

Old Town in San Diego is the oldest settlement in California, established in 1769. It has been turned into a state park and has many buildings that are 200+ years old. Kind of cheesy, but it was interesting from a historical viewpoint and I enjoyed it.

All the beaches are great. I was surprised at the amount of sea lions at some of them. They all kind of mixed up in my mind, but I believe it was Mission Beach that was BUSY. Waterbar was a cool place to have food and a cocktail with panoramic views of Pacific Beach.

La Jolla Playhouse does top shelf LORT theatre. If you like theatre its worth looking to see what the current production is.

If you're a hiker, you will be in heaven.

If you're looking to get a little out of San Diego, Le Mesa is an interesting small city. The main street has a bunch of restaurants, shops, antiques, etc. A good lazy day, and it's on the San Diego Trolley line.

Speaking of the Trolley, it's more of a train and we found it easy and inexpensive to get to lots of locations. It makes getting to downtown easy and was easier than finding parking. Its available seven days a week 7am - midnight. You pay in advance with a phone app. Be warned - if you are uncomfortable with interacting with the occasional homeless citizen you may want to look for other transit. I've never had a problem.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[ROCcuse]

Thanks so much for the thorough recommendations.

I didn't think of checking the convo on the Football board for the Holiday Bowl game before making this post and llandz started a thread on the Tailgates/Get Togethers board too.

I appreciate you responding here and you should definitely copy/paste to the other threads

 

[Marsh01]

i agree on Balboa Park and Old town. check out La Jolla (La Jolla Cove) I like that area better than San Diego itself. Good shopping and eating in the Seaport district in San Diego as well.

 

[dan7800]

I LOVED the USS Midway museum. You have to like military history to enjoy it, but it was a really wonderful experience. Plan on spending most of the day there as the carrier is huge.

If you're up for hiking/some adventure I've taken the trolly down to the border and walked quite a ways along the wall. It's definitely not the safest, so be aware -- but it's a very unique experience.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Fred’s in Old Town. Usually pretty busy.
Crack Shack (unsure of address). The firecracker chicken sandwich is the best I have ever had. Fries are cooked in duck fat.
The Mission for breakfast. Agree on Balboa Park, Midway, etc.
Be prepared for a huge homeless population. It can be a shock if not ready for it.
You can easily see inside Petco park, and there is a cool Tony Gwynn statue.
There is also an Arlington style cemetery on the point, which loops around the harbor. Also some old machine gun nests, etc., from WWII at Ft. Rosencranz.
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery - Google Search

 

[chugg21]

I am meeting my sister in San Diego for 4-5 days right before Christmas and was seeing what recommendations any of y'all might have on here.

staying at an AirBnB by Ocean/Mission Beach.

Any recommendations are welcome - food/drink, views, museums/attractions, etc.

Sadly will miss the bowl game by a few days.

Thank you!

Lived in SD for a few years. Ocean Beach and Mission Beach are decent but Pacific Beach is much nicer and you'll definitely want to hang out around there more. In OB there are some classic spots, the fish tacos with a view over the water at South Beach Bar & Grille are a definite. I still try to stop there when we go back to visit friends. OB Noodlehouse is pretty awesome and a California Burrito at Nico's is life changing.

There are great breweries everywhere so that's kind of a more what style do you like type of thing. Can make a whole day out of it by going up to Miramar.

Little Italy is decent but fairly small and not really worth the effort.

Gaslamp district downtown is kind of crap. It's alright to do once I suppose but it's the same as any central tourist bar district in a big city. If you're 18-25 then it's great because the attractiveness of the females is as high as anywhere in the country. Otherwise it's not worth dealing with all the stuff that ties into tourist trap, club type areas.

The ferry from downtown over to Coronado is worthwhile. It's incredible for sunrise if you're an early person but then there isn't a whole lot to do over there at sunrise besides grab a coffee and then come back.

If you enjoy a little adventure, I definitely did love a day trip down to Tijuana. Can either drive down to the San Ysidro border from downtown in like 20 mins or take the trolley which only costs like $2.50. If you go during the afternoon to grab a few beers at the breweries in Plaza Fiesta and some tacos at Tacos El Franc and then come back over the border before night time, it's completely safe and a wonderful time. I miss being able to do that as much or more than anything else besides the weather.

 

[chugg21]

PS, If you do take a TJ day trip. Do not drive over the border. Its a minimum of 2 hour car backup at that border at basically all times. You can walk from the trolley or park at the outlet mall and just take the pedestrian bridge over. Its seriously a fun experience though would definitely want to be with a few other people and at least one or two who have a clue how to go about it.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

PS, If you do take a TJ day trip. Do not drive over the border. Its a minimum of 2 hour car backup at that border at basically all times. You can walk from the trolley or park at the outlet mall and just take the pedestrian bridge over. Its seriously a fun experience though would definitely want to be with a few other people and at least one or two who have a clue how to go about it.

Totally agree. Easy walk.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Food recommendations (may not be current as I don’t go downtown/south of UTC):
Las Cuatros Milpas for authentic Mexican (cash only).
Animae ($$$ Michelin star)
Sushi Tadakoro ($$$ Michelin star) in Old Town
Sugar and Scribe for brunch in La Jolla
Prince Pizza in Downtown (NY pie from my old stomping grounds)
Cowboy Star for slab of steak in Downtown
insideOut in North Park

 

[chugg21]

Food recommendations (may not be current as I don’t go downtown/south of UTC):
Las Cuatros Milpas for authentic Mexican (cash only).
Animae ($$$ Michelin star)
Sushi Tadakoro ($$$ Michelin star) in Old Town
Sugar and Scribe for brunch in La Jolla
Prince Pizza in Downtown (NY pie from my old stomping grounds)
Cowboy Star for slab of steak in Downtown.
Urban Mos in North Park

Lived a block over from Cowboy Star. Hadn't thought of it in like 8 years, Loved that place.

 

[dan7800]

Lived in SD for a few years. Ocean Beach and Mission Beach are decent but Pacific Beach is much nicer and you'll definitely want to hang out around there more. In OB there are some classic spots, the fish tacos with a view over the water at South Beach Bar & Grille are a definite. I still try to stop there when we go back to visit friends. OB Noodlehouse is pretty awesome and a California Burrito at Nico's is life changing.

There are great breweries everywhere so that's kind of a more what style do you like type of thing. Can make a whole day out of it by going up to Miramar.

Little Italy is decent but fairly small and not really worth the effort.

Gaslamp district downtown is kind of crap. It's alright to do once I suppose but it's the same as any central tourist bar district in a big city. If you're 18-25 then it's great because the attractiveness of the females is as high as anywhere in the country. Otherwise it's not worth dealing with all the stuff that ties into tourist trap, club type areas.

The ferry from downtown over to Coronado is worthwhile. It's incredible for sunrise if you're an early person but then there isn't a whole lot to do over there at sunrise besides grab a coffee and then come back.

If you enjoy a little adventure, I definitely did love a day trip down to Tijuana. Can either drive down to the San Ysidro border from downtown in like 20 mins or take the trolley which only costs like $2.50. If you go during the afternoon to grab a few beers at the breweries in Plaza Fiesta and some tacos at Tacos El Franc and then come back over the border before night time, it's completely safe and a wonderful time. I miss being able to do that as much or more than anything else besides the weather.

I remember people trying to sell open packets of shredded cheese on the train. What an adventure that was.

 

[ROCcuse]

Damn it, I had a nice "short" tomcat style write up to post about my trip here, but it got cleared out from browser updates I guess.

The Airbnb I stayed at was a block from The Mission, that Tuttle mentioned above.
Fantastic breakfast spot.
A lot of other good places right there as well - La Perlita, Better Buzz Coffee, Molly's.

To keep it short this time,
It was a laid back trip where we were able to sleep in and get each day started by 10 with breakfast.
Highlights were the Zoo one day, renting bikes and going up to La Jolla and seeing all the surfers, pelicans, sea lions/seals, etc.
renting a skateboard to go around Mission and Pacific Beach to do regular errand shizz and check out some shops and restaurants, and then starting down at Sunset Cliffs and walking up to Ocean Beach, culminating in a show at Winston's, where a Grateful Dead cover band - Electric Waste Band is the house band on Mon nights.

Just like San Francisco, a place I could easily spend 2-3 weeks in just to try to see everything I wanted to.

Thanks again for all of the recommendations, hope you had a great holiday season and ephh UConn to you all.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Damn it, I had a nice "short" tomcat style write up to post about my trip here, but it got cleared out from browser updates I guess.

The Airbnb I stayed at was a block from The Mission, that Tuttle mentioned above.
Fantastic breakfast spot.
A lot of other good places right there as well - La Perlita, Better Buzz Coffee, Molly's.

To keep it short this time,
It was a laid back trip where we were able to sleep in and get each day started by 10 with breakfast.
Highlights were the Zoo one day, renting bikes and going up to La Jolla and seeing all the surfers, pelicans, sea lions/seals, etc.
renting a skateboard to go around Mission and Pacific Beach to do regular errand shizz and check out some shops and restaurants, and then starting down at Sunset Cliffs and walking up to Ocean Beach, culminating in a show at Winston's, where a Grateful Dead cover band - Electric Waste Band is always the house band on Mon nights.

Just like San Francisco, a place I could easily spend 2-3 weeks in just to try to see everything I wanted to.

View attachment 248684

Thanks again for all of the recommendations, hope you had a great holiday season and ephh UConn to you all.

Glad to see you went to the Zoo. I definitely put it on my list after watching Joan Embrey all those years on Johnny Carson. But I guess not everyone is a Zoo person. But I enjoyed it.

La Jolla is pretty cool as well. We went up to where they launch the hang gliders. That was great to watch. And then like you said, all sea lions. We had also gone to Oceanside and they were having a professional surfing event going on. That was great as well.

San Diego is a cool vibe. But once I checked it off, I don't have a desire to go back. Personally, I like the Cape better or the beaches and vibe in Florida. But I can see the allure of San Diego for a lot of people.

 

[dan7800]

San Diego is a cool vibe. But once I checked it off, I don't have a desire to go back. Personally, I like the Cape better or the beaches and vibe in Florida. But I can see the allure of San Diego for a lot of people.

+1