Calling @coralbrook and @Marian and anyone else with knowledge of that area.
We have an opportunity to go to Carlsbad in early April and stay in a 1 br place a block from the beach for roughly $500 for a week. (I’m sure there are other fees - I think the place is called Carlsbad In Beach Resort.
OR, we could go at the end of May and use timeshare time at a place called the Inn at Balboa or something close to that.
We like to hike and do active things, and enjoy good food. It’s just my husband and me, and we won’t be going to ay of the amusement parks. We already did our beach trip for this year (went to Grand Cayman).
Any advice? I will need to make a decision today, or risk losing them both.
I live in north county San Diego, so I know Carlsbad pretty well and much of San Diego too. The Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort.is in a very nice area very near the beach. I’ve never stayed in the facility itself since I live here, so I can’t comment on the actual hotel. I can’t figure out which place the “Inn at Balboa” is. I can’t find one with exactly that name. It could be a hotel near Balboa Park in San Diego, or one on or near Balboa Avenue. Or I guess it could even be something near Balboa Island up in Orange County.
You will likely need a car no matter where you stay in San Diego County, so you can have access to hiking trails or whatever you want. In May you have a greater risk of getting stuck under the May Gray/June Gloom overcast than in April.
So given those uncertainties about the Balboa place and about the weather, I’d probably go with the Carlsbad place.
You can go anywhere from Carlsbad with a rental car. But May will be better in term of weather and fun (more people, more activities).
It seriously depends on what you most want to do. If you just want nature type stuff and are willing to drive places, then Carlsbad would be OK. But it’s a bit of a drive to downtown San Diego - 40 minutes not during rush hour - so if you want to enjoy the restaurants etc you’re much better off closer to downtown. Also if you want active options like biking, kayaking, etc., you’re also better off closer in than Carlsbad. Ditto going places like Cabrillo Monument, Coronado, and such. Torrey Pines State Reserve - great for hiking and views - is in between but closer to downtown.
Not sure where the Inn at Balboa is? There’s a Balboa Inn in Newport Beach which is not San Diego County but Orange County. Can you give us a more definite location? It’s hard to give advice without knowing the other option. If it’s anywhere close to Balboa Park, that’s great for both the park itself and the restaurants in the area.
Also the later in the season, the warmer the weather. It still won’t be ocean swimming weather either way, and certainly nothing like Seven Mile Beach!
Thanks everyone. It’s called Inn At the Park, near Balboa Park.
That’s a very nice location, right next to the park and walking distance into the park plus tons of great restaurants. Also a short Uber/Lyft ride to Little Italy. It sounds like the Carlsbad place is designed primarily for a beach vacation, and Inn at the Park for a city vacation. Both will require driving to get to hiking (although there are some nice options by and in Balboa Park, including the Seven Bridges hike). But Carlsbad will require much longer drives in general.
I live on Point Loma and love the proximity to the beach and city.
Inn At the Park is in a more urban area than the place in Carlsbad, which is in a very beachy location. Inn At the Park as its name suggests is very near Balboa Park, which is good. There is a lot to do in Balboa Park. However, it’s on the opposite side of the park from the main area with the zoo and all the museums. But I think you could still walk across the park to get to the action area without too much trouble.
Inn at the Park is a 20 minute walk down the west side of the park and over to the museums, check the map. Very convenient. Then another 10-15 minutes to the zoo, but it doesn’t sound like OP wants to do that. Very lovely to just stroll around El Prado and all the gardens, easily doable from that location.
Also Balboa Park is a short 15-20 min drive to several popular beaches. Living in San Diego my whole life I’ve never viewed Carlsbad as a place for someone to visit. Nothing bad about Carlsbad but it’s a 40 min drive in the middle of the night (no traffic) during the day it’s a much longer drive.
Carlsbad is great if you just want beach.
The inn at the park will give you: zoo, museums, seven bridges hike, 5 min to Little Italy for food & shopping and 5 min to downtown for food, 15 min to Coronado, 15-20 to Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach.
20 min to La Jolla.
All of the above have plenty of walking/hiking.
Thanks everyone. Very helpful. Pretty sure I will go with the San Diego place (or wait and hope for another similar plac to come up.).
How is Shelter Island for getting around to the more urban and hiking places?
Shelter Island is really nice and has great views of the downtown, but has a limited number of restaurants in walking distance. It’s a laid back quiet location. For driving, not too bad but further to the highways than the Balboa Park location. It very convenient for Cabrillo National Monument, and not too far from Liberty Station with a variety of good dining choices. I live five minutes away; I think it’s fairly easy to get to downtown and Coronado, or up to Mission and Pacific Beaches. And Ocean Beach, a hippie surfer town with some fun places to eat and a great Wednesday evening farmers market.
Thanks again for all the advice. I was able to delay decision about San Diego until tomorrow and gave up the Carlsbad place. The airfare seems to be going way up given the Boeing fiasco, and the week I currently have overlaps with Memorial Day, so airfare is higher than normal. (It seems to have gone up over a hundred bucks in the last couple of days - we are coming from the east coast).
The only flight prices I track are from Seattle where DS lives, and they haven’t changed. But Memorial Day is a tough one for sure for airfare prices. Hope you can make it and feel free to PM me with any specific questions!
I’m a little late but my vote would be In at the Park. There may be some exhibitions or vents at Balboa Park that interest you. Short drive, bus or taxi/Uber to the downtown waterfront for lovely walks and an evening meal along the harbor.
Make sure you have parking available at inn at the park because parking can be limited in the area.
Extraordinary Desserts just down the street. A must!!
OP here
- I’m still trying to decide if I want to go badly enough to spend the money, we are doing some house stuff, and we already have a couple of other trips planned. But I’ve definitely decided we are staying IN San Diego when we go.
Off topic a bit. But Balboa Island in Newport Beach is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. Would love to live there.