San Diego for Spring Break? Any ideas?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I’m thinking about taking my 3 teenagers to San Diego for spring break this year. For the first time, it will just be me and the kids (husband can’t get away). I’ve never been to San Diego before, so I would love your help!</p>

<ul>
<li>Is San Diego a good spot for vacation? Safety? Plenty to do?</li>
<li>We’d likely spend a day at the beach, but are not big water sports people.</li>
<li>We’d rather avoid very crowded places (like Disneyland). We’ll be going the week of March 15th.</li>
<li>I will rent a car but hopefully the traffic isn’t as bad as someplace like L.A.</li>
</ul>

<p>Any advice on hotels, attractions, etc. would be great. Or, if there is another location other than San Diego that you would like to suggest, please do so. We are coming from the Midwest so our options are pretty open, but I know I have to get on the plans for our trip pretty quick! I need a break from this awful winter we’ve had :)</p>

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<p>San Diego is terrific. You don’t want to miss the San Diego Zoo…it is spectacular. Get a passport to Balboa park. It’s actually admittance to, I think, twelve different “museum” types of venues that range from American Art to Air Museum to Trains. Honestly there is something there for everyone. </p>

<p>Drive out to Coronado. The Hotel Del is there and it is well worth seeing. It has been the sight of some historical events, movie shootings, and many famous folks have stayed there. It’s beautiful and a nice thing to do for an afternoon.</p>

<p>The old hmm…was it an air force base has been transformed into a nice area of mixed shops, housing and businesses. DD says it’s fun to go there for a walk. She went jogging there too so there must be some kind of park area with paths.</p>

<p>Honestly, we’ve been there for three vacations each a week long and we could go back and still find plenty to do. </p>

<p>OH…take a tram to Tijuana for the day…another adventure.</p>

3

<p>Lots to do. Traffic isn’t as bad as LA at all…San Diego Zoo is wonderful as Thumper pointed out. Lots of great restaurants etc in the old Gaslamp district.
You will find a lot of information on trip advisor. I’m sure a couple of our SD Dads will post soon too.</p>

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<p>When you fly into SD try to sit on the left side of the airplane if you can. You get a very nice view as you approach the landing. You see San Diego Bay spread out before you with the graceful curve of the Coronado bridge. You can see the aircraft carriers and other Navy ships in port below. As you fly past downtown you get below the level of the office towers and hotels and get the illusion that your plane is threading its way through them. It is actually going around them on the eastern edge of downtown. It’s a scenic approach.</p>

<p>I’ll post my things to do, see, and eat recommendations later. I have to dig out that old post.</p>

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<p>Ah coureur, you didn’t warn her about the landing in SD. The pilots fly over some buildings and then land on a dime. It’s interesting to say the least.
Scenic is one word for it. :)</p>

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<p>Ah yes…flying into San Diego. We always seem to be the last flight to land there (the airport has no landings or take offs in the late night until morning). We have landed there several times with the gates all shut down. It’s the strangest thing because it feels like the airport is closed.</p>

<p>BUT don’t let that dampen your enthusiasm for the trip. San Diego is a terrific place for a vacation. OH…do rent a car. We drove out to a darling little mountain town called Jullian which is the apple capital of the area. There are places that have the most terrific apple pie I’ve ever eaten. </p>

<p>We also drove out to the desert to a park…I can’t remember the name of it…but it was a beautiful drive and interesting park building/museum.</p>

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<p>Yes, the planes must clear the tall Laurel Street parking structure and then immediately plant themselves on the runway. They seem to do it okay time after time though.</p>

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<p>San Diego is Calfornia’s second-largest city. Many people assume San Francisco is second since it is so famous. But San Franciso is actually only 4th-largest. San Diego is also California’s oldest city. Juan Cabrillo was the first European here. He sailed into San Diego bay in 1542, only 50 years after the first voyage of Columbus. </p>

<p>Places to Stay</p>

<ol>
<li>The Hotel Del Coronado (called “The Hotel Del” by the locals) which is on Coronado Island (actually a peninsula). It’s a fabulous old hotel and supposedly the largest wooden structure in the US. Several movies have been filmed there.</li>
<li>The Grand Colonial Hotel. 910 Prospect Street in La Jolla. An old hotel in downtown La Jolla that has been completely refurbished up to modern standards. Great location next to the beach and great ocean views. Terrific gourmet restaurant on the premises. Good location for touring and shopping in trendy downtown La Jolla.<br></li>
<li>Beyond that there is the usual selection of Hyatts, Marriotts, etc and of course the vacation motels too.</li>
</ol>

<p>Places to Eat</p>

<p>Italian
Lorna’s – My favorite place. 3945 Governor. Moderately priced. It’s a caf</p>

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<p>San Diego has… Coronado (Hotel Del, as mentioned… you see the bridge when you fly in. You can take a ferry to Coronado instead of driving the apparently scary bridge!), Downtown (Horton Plaza mall is beautiful), the USS Midway, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Legoland (more suited for younger kids, but it’s fascinating anyway), Old Town, La Jolla shores and La Jolla coves (my favorite beach), Torrey Pines (hiking and a beach, but can be foggy), Pacific Beach (and many more beaches), Mt. Soledad (amazing panoramic view - you can see Mexico, the beach, all the lovely freeways, haha), Cabrillo Monument, Balboa Park (my favorite place in San Diego*)… and much more! haha</p>

<p>Balboa Park is beautiful. It has a huge organ pavillion, ponds/fountains, gardens, architecture, museums, The Butterfly Garden where I like to eat a sack lunch (The Zoro Garden), the Prado restaurant, Reuben H. Fleet science center (has Imax dome theatre and awesome science educational… center!), The Old Globe theatre and of course it’s right next to the Zoo so those can be done in the same day. It’s a must! You can also eat a sack lunch at the park right near by. There’s also a rose garden across the street and a cultural center but I haven’t been there since I was young, so I don’t know if it’s just open to students or what.</p>

<p>You must eat some In-N-Out if you haven’t already! They’re all over. (I recommend a Double-Double with onions. Check their website for “hidden menu items” or order a mixed shake, like chocolate and vanilla. Also… dip your fries in a shake! Classic.) In regards to flights, I’ve never had a problem with landing. The view coming in is beautiful to see though! There are also special Southern California packs/tickets to see the Zoo, Sea world, etc, even Disneyland and other attractions in the LA area. I wouldn’t really recommend taking a dip into Mexico though (Tijuana isn’t worth it… lots of traffic… just… no! ha). There’s plenty to do in San Diego alone and I know I haven’t seen it all even living here for 17 years. :)</p>

<p>There may be a sports event or convention at the convention center when you’re here. Check those out–they’re in Downtown. Taking the trolley isn’t a must, but there are several (Old Town, Balboa Park, etc) that can be useful. I’m afraid I don’t know much though.</p>

<p>And that’s my view as a teenager living here^ Have fun!</p>

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<p>Go to LA. You’ll be hero to your kids.
Let the teens plan where they want to go in LA- Malibu, Hollywood, Westwood, Melrose, Universal Studios, Citywalk, Rodeo Drive, taping of a live TV show, the OC for Disneyland, anywhere they want-plus you can stay out late. LA at night is great
You can do a campus crawl while there in SoCal-UCLA, Caltech, USC, Pepperdine, HMudd, blah,blah, blah
If you are afraid to drive, get a GPS and let one of the teens drive.
IMHO, SD is boring for teens.
It is still too cold for the beach in March.</p>

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<p>I don’t know if the whales will still be migrating as late as spring break…</p>

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<p>Last year we did a whale watch at spring break time in San Diego. It was truly wonderful, not for the whales as much (although we did see some of those) but for the hundreds and hundreds of dolphins! I have never seen anything like it, they were everywhere surrounding the boat. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Even the jaded teenagers were impressed ;-)</p>

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<p>San Diego’s a great place for a vacation and IMO a much more enjoyable destination than LA (sorry Batllo) depending on what one is interested in.</p>

<p>If the 3 teens are viewing this as a vacation then there’s a good chance they wouldn’t greatly enjoy doing a campus crawl. </p>

<p>coureur and the others already outlined most of the pertinent points but if you have more questions or can tell us more about what appeals to you or the kids we might be able to help out further.</p>

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<p>We visited San Diego about a year ago for the first time. It was OK but IMO a bit bland. If you can get beyond the kitsch, Old Town is a serious introduction to Spanish- and Mexican-era California history, as are the missions. Balboa Park is a gem. There are some stunning ocean vistas on the Coronado Peninsula, up around La Jolla, Torrey Pines, and probably many more places we didn’t get to. Beyond that . . . eh-h. I thought the Gaslamp District was wildly overhyped, restaurants were OK but not particularly worth traveling for, and the thin veneer of urban charm was . . . well, pretty thin. </p>

<p>Visited LA on the same trip. For my money, LA is a far more interesting, diverse, complicated, culturally rich, gastronomically rewarding, and intellectually stimulating city. Maybe it’s just San Diego’s fate to be overshadowed by its larger neighbor to the north.</p>

<p>I will say this: the highlight of our visit to San Diego was a day excursion by bus down to Ensenada. We thought long and hard about this because of warnings about drug cartel violence and H1N1, but our daughters had never been to Mexico and lobbied hard for it, so we decided to chance it. Ensenada’s nothing special but the trip does give you a real taste of Mexico, portions of the trip down the coast are unbelievably beautiful, and the portion just along the Mexican side of the border where literally dozens of people were desperately pacing back and forth in broad daylight looking for their opportunity to climb the wall, dodge the Border Patrol, and make their run for it was mind-blowing. You knew most wouldn’t make it. You knew some would. And you knew that, even with those odds, all calculated it was worth taking the chance. A powerful human drama was being played out there right before our eyes. It made you realize that in some ways San Diego is just the walled-off, comparatively affluent, comparatively privileged, and predominantly Anglo northern half of a much larger binational San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan region. Make of it what you will, but I think you’ll never see San Diego quite the same once you’ve seen it from the Mexican side of The Wall.</p>

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<p>San Diego versus LA - it just comes down to what people like. Obviously I’m biased to SD since I chose to live here but I understand that some people like the big city more.</p>

<p>It’s hard to imagine one couldn’t find an adequate number of restaurants they like in a metro area of over 3 million people. I’m not a gastronome but I don’t see much difference except for some ethnic restaurants which I’m sure LA would have more of but I’m more than satisfied with a choice between Mexican and Italian.</p>

<p>

Traffic isn’t anywhere close to as bad as the LA area (including north of UCLA down to Orange County and east to Riverside) but it does have rush hour(s) traffic on certain corridors at certain times.</p>

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<p>Give us an idea of what you’re looking for in a hotel - </p>

<ul>
<li>hi/mid/low priced</li>
<li>on the beach, on the bay, or just near to them</li>
<li>resort style, big hotel style (i.e. big hyatt or marriot) or motel style (holiday inn express, comfort inn, etc.)</li>
<li>historic or not</li>
<li>closer to downtown or closer to north of the city (La Jolla, Del Mar)</li>
</ul>

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<p>A few to check on - </p>

<ul>
<li><p>Hotel Del Coronado - on beach on Coronado island, historic, resort, expensive
[Hotel</a> del Coronado ? San Diego Resorts & Hotels, California Beach Resort & Spa](<a href=“http://www.hoteldel.com/]Hotel”>http://www.hoteldel.com/)</p></li>
<li><p>Glorietta Bay Inn - across the street from the Hotel Del, easy walk to beach (i.e. across the street), historic, small, not a resort, mansion rooms are unique but more suited for a couple, less expensive
[Glorietta</a> Bay Inn - Coronados best boutique hotel](<a href=“http://www.gloriettabayinn.com/]Glorietta”>http://www.gloriettabayinn.com/)</p></li>
<li><p>Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego Marriott, Hilton Downtown San Diego - all big hi-rise hotels downtown, on the bay, next to the convention center, Seaport Village (shopping/restaurants/noce - on the bay), Gaslamp quarter (restaurants, etc.)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>(heading a bit north from downtown)</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Paradise Point resort - on Mission bay, very resort-ish, lush landscaping, low-rise, feels like ‘vacation’ rather than ‘business trip’
[San</a> Diego Resorts - Paradise Point Resort & Spa on Mission Bay Beach, California CA](<a href=“http://www.paradisepoint.com/]San”>http://www.paradisepoint.com/)</p></li>
<li><p>Hilton San Diego Mission Bay - on Mission bay, resort-ish
[San</a> Diego Resorts - Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa, CA - California](<a href=“http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/SANHIHF-Hilton-San-Diego-Resort-Spa-California/index.do]San”>http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/SANHIHF-Hilton-San-Diego-Resort-Spa-California/index.do)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>(a bit more north in La Jolla)

  • La Jolla Shores Hotel - on the beach at La Jolla, nice beach (but so is Coronado), walking distance to La Jolla cove, areas with seals, downtown La Jolla (shopping, restaurants), very scenic
    [The</a> Official Web site of the La Jolla Shores Hotel located in La Jolla, California - HOME](<a href=“http://www.ljshoreshotel.com/]The”>http://www.ljshoreshotel.com/)</p>

<p>There are lots more hotels of all different types but this’ll give you an idea. </p>

<p>A lot of the tourist attractions in San Diego are relatively close to each other and near downtown, the airport, Mission Bay, Coronado, nice beaches - all within a short distance of each other. La Jolla is only about 15 minutes away up the coast from downtown. You can stay in a nice area such as Coronado, Mission Bay, La Jolla and easily drive where you want to without too much concern for traffic and without driving long distances. A bit further out is the Wild Animal Park, actually a branch of the San Diego Zoo, up by Escondido. Even further is Julian, an old gold mining town in the mountains (it even snows there in the winter), and further east is the Anza Borrego desert state park - the largest state park in the country, if you want to experience the desert (the Palm Canyon hike is nice). The San Diego area is quite varied in terrain from the coast to the foothills, to mountains to the desert and from downtown (not a huge one) to suburbs to rural with some resorty areas mixed in. Most tourists spend most of their time around the areas mentioned - Coronado, Mission Bay, Old Town, Balboa Park including the zoo, Sea World, La Jolla, Del Mar, a trip up to the Wild Animal Park, etc. The Mission Bay/Coronado/La Jolla areas are all pretty central and convenient to these areas. Some people stay in an area called ‘Hotel Circle’ which is along I-8 and also very convenient to the attractions but not quite as nice as a hotel on the beach IMO (but probably less expensive).</p>

<p>Definitely try some Mexican restaurants here.</p>

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<p>For hotels I would add the Omni. Very nice hotel adjacent to Petco park where the Padres play. If there happens to be a game you can walk from the Omni across a bridge directly to the park. I’ve also been able to watch games from my hotel window.</p>

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<p>Me and 3 teens?
I’d be looking for Vacation Rentals by Owners.</p>

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<p>Coureur has hit all the highlights. Personally, if I EVER stay at the Hotel Del (and it IS on my bucket list) it will NOT be with three teenagers. It will be with my husband only!</p>

<p>If you are staying going to San Diego and you want to venture up to LA…it’s not a long drive at all. You easily could do an overnight there also…and if you left early one day and returned late the next, you’d have two full days or so there to browse around. Personally, I would suggest a day trip south to Tijuana but that’s because personally, I’m not very fond of L.A. But that’s me.</p>

<p>Really…don’t miss that drive to Jullian. It shows a side of CA that folks really don’t know about. It’s charming…much like a New England town. </p>

<p>While Old Town is “kitchy”…it used to have two really great Mexican restaurants? Coureur, are they still there?</p>

<p>This thread is making me want to go there again!</p>