We’re visiting for the first time later in the year. Wondering about areas, restaurant suggestions, etc.
It depends on the time of year for activities. Some activities are only up to Labor Day.
We have a warm Indian summer to the first week of October.
Holiday activities for Oct Nov are different, as far as weather and whale watching.
North County and coastline have different activities.
Central San Diego County has the Zoo, Sea World, Petco Stadium, Old Town, Trolley access, OB, PB, Mission Bay, La Jolla. North County starts at Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Leucadia, Carlsbad, Oceanside.
Depends on when and where you plan to stay and go.
Races in Del Mar (August), seals & sea lions at La Jolla cove, Coronado Island & the Hotel Del, Balboa Park. Segway tours or biking along the coast. Many, many good hiking opportunities.
We have an excellent theater community, tons of good restaurants. Make sure to have a fish taco & a carne asada burrito and some local craft beer. There’s the Gaslamp District downtown with bars, restaurants, lots of nightlife.
If you can provide more specifics about where you’ll stay & what activities you like, we can point you in the right direction.
We will be staying at Tower23. Hubble wants to surf and we like the look of the modern boutique hotel. However, I’m concerned about the area. Is it nice, fun?
contact coralbrook and Marilyn- both are from SD and are on this thread
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19517600#Comment_19517600
Tower 23 looks like it’s in Pacific Beach (known as PB locally). Definitely a fun area - a bit funky with a surfer/party vibe. You’re close to La Jolla, which is the opposite - very wealthy, upscale. Both will have gorgeous beaches & scenery.
The zoo is expensive but totally worth the cost.
I’d rather stay in La Jolla because I want upscale. However, the beachfront hotels that we would want to stay at are out of our price range…plus DH wants a great Beach for surfing. Looks like La Jolla has coves, might not be as good, I don’t know. We will be with friends, none of us has ever been. I guess we can drive into La Jolka for an afternoon of shopping.
Yeah, La Jolla is going to be pricey. I’m not a surfer, so I don’t know the best surfing beaches in detail, but I know there are some popular ones a bit to the North in the Solana Beach/Cardiff area (Swami’s is a well-known one). These areas are probably a bit more affordable for hotels, but are still pretty upscale and really beautiful little beach communities with lots of walkable shoreline & cute cafe’s.
You are in a great area for surfing. We always stayed at the Pacific Terrace about 4 blocks or so north of you. If you go to the trip advisor site and look up San Diego, things to do, it will list a couple of pages of activities. We love the zoo, Balboa park, local theater companies, La Jolla, Point Loma, Cabrillo monument, Coronado, Old Town, Scrips Aquarium, Mission San Diego de Alcala, Torrey Pines, Belmont Park, you can rent kayaks in La Jolla, Black’s Beach, (a nude beach), tide pools near La Jolla cove. Oh, I miss San Diego!
I would live to stay at Pacific Terrace, it’s about $100 more a night, though. But that would be my first pick. How did you like the area .
Tower 23 in PB is really noisy.
If you want to stay on the coast for decent costs, you need to go to the north beaches.
Del Mar can be pricey, but has less people and good surf.
Swami’s in Encinitas.
Windandsea Beach in La Jolla.
Cardiff Reef in Encinitas.
Have your husband check Surfline surf report daily to check the sets for the beaches he’s interested in surfing.
http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/del-mar-southern-california_4783/
Water temp currently is at 59-61 degrees with air temps at 65. Surf is at 2-3+ feet.
Everything Depends on the time of year.
Hi - just got back from Petco Park where we watched the White Sox trounce the Padres in the last pre-season game. My first visit to the very lovely ballpark. Then we had New Haven style pizza a block away, and finally drove home past the Convention Center, Seaport Village, USS Midway, and the Westerdam as it gets ready to sail out to Hawaii and the South Pacific for 30 days. I told DH to just drop me at the ship and I’d see him in a month. :))
Tower 23 is in a young, fun area but not a surfing beach right there. It is a big kite surfing area. Beaches are divided into different zones for either swimming or surfing. There is surfing at the south end of Mission Beach, just north of the breakwater. If your husband is a serious surfer he might find the entire stretch of Pacific and Mission Beach too tame. Ocean Beach near the pier and on down along Sunset Cliffs is filled with surfers all the time and I think probably has the best surf within the city of San Diego, which includes La Jolla. Are you going to be here in the summer? Serious surfers wear wet suits most of the year and definitely other than summer; the ocean water can be cold. If any of you are interested in hang gliding, head up to GliderPort just north of La Jolla.
Did you look at the Catamaran Resort? It’s one of the top places recommended for people who want to stay right by the beach; it’s on Mission Bay and a block from the ocean.
Hopefully you will have a car and the hotel provides parking because (1) you’ll need a car to get anywhere else and (2) street parking can be very scarce in that neighborhood.
So very many restaurants so you’ll have to narrow down your preferences, or if there’s something special you’re looking for. There’s a nice lunch place right on the boardwalk a few blocks south of your hotel called World Famous. There also a build-your-own-ice cream sandwich place called The Baked Bear right behind the hotel. Those are the only places I’ve eaten at in the immediate vicinity of your hotel. Other recommendations will depend on where else you plan to go.
La Jolla is charming and scenic but also expensive and crowded. If you drive up the coast from Pacific Beach to La Jolla you will pass endless scenic spots and some beaches; Windandsea Beach is stunning (it’s my avatar). Top places I would recommend in addition to La Jolla are Cabrillo National Monument (my favorite view in all of San Diego), the USS Midway tour on the waterfront, Coronado, and Balboa Park including the zoo and the park itself is lovely to walk around and filled with museums and gardens. So many more wonderful things to do! Please feel free to PM with any questions.
Will you have a car he can fit his board in? There are many fun breaks from Imperial Beach to North County and beyond. Depends on what he’s looking for. Some are for experienced surfers and very territorial (Windansea in La Jolla comes to mind). Others, such as La Jolla Shores, are more beginner-friendly. Where you are staying, just north of Crystal Pier, is a fairly popular break. You see lots of long boarders and some tandems… and sometimes the tandem partner is a dog!
This may be a bad summer for rip currents because El Niño storms tend to dig holes off shore that create bad rips. Lifeguards are happy to point out problematic areas. My son likes to surf in areas with rip currents because it makes paddling out easier. But he’s been surfing since he was little and knows what he’s doing. I got caught in one near where you’re staying years ago (after an El Niño winter). It was scary and I’m a strong swimmer. Then again, this winter wasn’t as bad as anticipated so it may not be an issue after all.
My only experience at T23 was eating at the restaurant (nice buy pricey). It is a cute boutique hotel and I think it has parking under the building which is good as that is a popular/crowded bar area for young adults at night. You’re right on the beach, which is great. You step out the door to a boardwalk that goes for miles where you’ll see an eclectic mix of locals, tourists and offbeat beach characters.
As for eating… Casual: Kono’s (within steps of T23) for breakfast and Oscar’s Mexican Seafood for lunch – expect lines at both – but they’re worth it! The best sushi in town is on Mission Bay Drive at Sushi Ota. Don’t be put off on its strip mall location, and be warned that it’s not inexpensive. So many more great places. What do you enjoy eating and do you want some splurges?
Pacific Beach is a fun laid back place to surf. The “name” breaks like Swami’s and Sunset Cliffs are super crowded and Sunset Cliffs is known for being highly “localized” meaning that the local surfers are aggressive toward out-of-towners.
Petco Park is a great baseball park, very fun. There are quite a few restaurants in San Diego that have been featured in Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, including one of our favorites, Hodads, in Ocean Beach. It is a burger place with great shakes.
I do so love those Hodad shakes and the fries are pretty fine also. If you’re a Top Chef fan, Richard Blais has a very nice restaurant, Juniper & Ivy, where you can order a bunch of small plates at reasonable prices.
Love Hodad’s!
Such great suggestions. I’m not a surfer, so don’t know the lingo. He longboards. He has been 3 times to Tamarindo surf school for a week each time, he’s only surfed there and Santa Cruz, CA a couple times. I don’t know what he would be classified at, probably intermediate.
So, now I’m confused if Pacifjc Beach is the place to surf or not. He thought it was, not sure what he read, we will be going the end of summer, early fall…still great weather.
I know we want a hotel right on the beach, oceanfront view…he really loves that, plus the boutique feel of the hotel. I want the ocean view also, but in area where there is shopping and restaurants within walking distance. Would prefer somewhere like La Jolla it sounds, but having issues finding a h
Hotel that meets our criteria.
We will have a car to visit other sites. @Marilyn …I will resesrch the other parts of the coastline, too!
Thanks all
Pacific Beach is the perfect place for someone at his experience level to surf.