<p>After we move S1 to college next month, we’re hoping to mitigate S2’s miseries (and ours) with a trip to Legoland. Anybody have a favorite place to stay in San Diego?</p>
<p>We’d love waterfront if possible. And I think we need to be in SD itself, so that visiting Certain Family Members (who are already miffed that we don’t plan to stay with them) is easy to do.</p>
<p>The big hotels in Seaport Village are convenient and nice- there is a Marriott and a Hyatt, plus some others. You are right on the waterfront with a path that goes for miles. You can walk to downtown and the Gaslight District. Cheaper are the hotels on Harbor Island which are also waterfront. They are very decent- change names a lot so I’m not sure what they currently are called. I know there is a big Sheraton which is at the entrance to Harbor Island but a block off the waterfront.</p>
<p>There are lots of nice areas to stay. In addition to the big tower hotels on the bay mentioned by MOWC, there are - </p>
<p>You could try the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island which is beachfront and very nice as well as historic and in a beautiful area but not inexpensive. </p>
<p>La Jolla is very nice and puts you somewhat closer to Legoland than downtown. There are some hotels that are beachfront (like the La Jolla Shores Hotel) and you’ll be within walking distance of all the restaurants and shops of downtown La Jolla as well as La Jolla Cove.</p>
<p>There are some nice hotels in the Mission Bay area that are waterfront to Mission Bay - Paradise Point hotel (feels like Hawaii - very lush), Hilton at Mission Bay, Catamaran resort, Bahia Resort.</p>
<p>Further north from La Jolla is Del Mar which has the hotel L’Auberge right across the street from the beach including a grassy beachfront park area as well as other hotels.</p>
<p>Sort of between La Jolla and Del Mar in the general UCSD area is the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines on the Torrey Pines golf course and also the Estancia hotel.</p>
<p>A bit further north you could stay in Carlsbad itself within a mile of Legoland at the Hilton Garden Inn.</p>
<p>There are of course, lots of others in all these locations including less expensive ones that are still less than a mile from the beach. If you have more of an idea of the type of hotel (big high rise, smaller low rise, resort, simple), cost (high, medium, low), and area (downtownish, Mission Bay, La Jolla, Del Mar, Carlsbad, etc.) I might be able to help further.</p>
<p>Most of our stays in San Diego have been for volleyball tournaments and meeting up with family who are on a boat. For the tournaments we have stayed in an assortment of run of the mill motels on Hotel Circle. Yrs ago we stayed at Humphreys Half Moon Resort on Shelter Island. It has been almost 12 yrs but I remember it having a nice pool and lawn area with shuffleboard and ping pong. It is on a Marina if if you like to look at boats. We have also stayed at the Sheraton Marina Hotel. It is a high rise and not our style but it is also on a nice marina. Both Humpreys and the Sheraton don’t have a beach. Many, many yrs ago when we just had one child we stayed at Vacation Village on Mission Bay. I think it is now called Paradise Point. I think this is the place Kate stayed at in Jon and Kate plus 8.</p>
<p>Thanks, MOWC, mom60, and ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad. </p>
<p>Since you asked: Medium to high cost (rack rate, anyway) is fine, though the Del and Torrey Pines and such are probably over the top for us. And we’re not so fixed on types; a place with character could work, but so could a high-rise. I think we’d steer clear of the very trendy/young ones - a regular Westin would be a better choice than a W, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>I really don’t know the area very well at all. Mission Bay would probably be our first choice. We don’t have to have beachfront; a nice Bay view would be wonderful. And as I mentioned, we need to be able to get back and forth to the Home of the Relatives very easily (they’re in San Diego). S2 is a 7-year-old, and H doesn’t like the decor at the Catamaran, for whatever help that is. :D</p>
<p>(mom60, Paradise Point might be a good pick if they’ll give us a deal.)</p>
<p>I would check on the Del before you rule it out. Sometimes there are special rates. My daughter and son in law stayed there in October as a wedding present from my father and stepmother who live in La Jolla. (I might add that H and I were in the guest apartment at the retirement community in La Jolla with a bunch of old people while D and SIL were at the Del…). The rates weren’t horrible, and the beauty of the place was worth it (we got to go visit and have a drink).</p>
<p>I fairly recently walked all around most of the hotels on Mission Bay. It made me feel like I was on vacation!</p>
<p>Paradise Point is very nice and has a real tropical resorty feel to it without being over the top and is not terribly expensive. It’s low-rise with the rooms being more like bungalows. It has several pools and a lagoon and is waterfront to Mission Bay. It’s very close to Sea World, close to Mission Beach which has a small beachfront amusement park along with lots of restaurants, nightspots, beach (ocean), and one can rent small sailboats on Mission Bay as well as swim in some areas that are lifeguarded. The zoo isn’t far away either.
[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>
<p>Another one near there that’s nice but not quite as resorty as Paradise Point is the Hilton Mission Bay -
[Hilton</a> Hotel San Diego California - San Diego Resort - San Diego, CA Hotels](<a href=“http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/SANHIHF-Hilton-San-Diego-Resort-Spa-California/index.do]Hilton”>http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/SANHIHF-Hilton-San-Diego-Resort-Spa-California/index.do)</p>
<p>And there are the others I mentioned as well. Regarding prices - now is the high season so rates will be higher than in October (when the weather here is great). Will you be staying in the summer?</p>
<p>It’s likely to be the first week of September, since we’ll have to get S2 back in time for his own school to start. </p>
<p>How’s the Coronado Island Marriott?</p>
<p>You may also want to check out travelzoo.com. I found a hotel in NYC at a rate that I couldn’t have afforded otherwise.</p>
<p>I walked around the Coronado Marriott as well. It’s on the bay side rather than the ocean side like the Hotel Del but it has great views of downtown. It’s also fairly close to the ferry landing so you could take the ferry to downtown if you wanted. It’s nice but feels more like a typical hotel than something different.</p>
<p>Another big hotel on Coronado Island is the Loews Coronado. It’s nice also but is a bit more isolated than the others being further down the ‘strand’ from the central part of Coronado. </p>
<p>With a 7 y/o I think I’d probably prefer something like Paradise Point to the Marriott but either is good.</p>
<p>September is a good time to visit since the ocean water is warmer (than now) and the crowds thin a bit because of people getting ready to go back to school. There’s a marked difference in crowds even the weekend after labor day.</p>
<p>I quite like the Grand Colonial Hotel in La Jolla. It’s just steps way from the beach and in the middle of the whole downtown La Jolla restaurant and boutique scene:</p>
<p><a href=“http://gclj-px.trvlclick.com/specials-packages/index.cfm[/url]”>http://gclj-px.trvlclick.com/specials-packages/index.cfm</a></p>
<p>It’s a fully-restored and modernized old hotel and has a gourmet restaurant right on the premises.</p>
<p>We have made 2 trips to SD this past year. one was a convention and we stayed at the Grand Hyatt. We had a great view of the harbor - 21st floor - which was super for my DH, because he could watch the aircraft carriers and other navy ships coming in and out of the harbor. If that is of interest, vs just a pretty view of the bay, I would recommend the Hyatt or Marriott because you can get up high enough to really see everything on a given side of the harbor - ask for the view. The next time, we took our DS on a graduation trip to the zoo, and we stayed at the Hard Rock hotel. I would not recommend it for a semi quiet trip for adults, but it is right in the heart of the action and we had a view of Petco Park and went to the home opener.
If you are headed to Legoland, perhaps La Jolla or other spot on the north of the city would be good.
I highly recommend the Wild Animal Park.</p>
<p>My suggestion:
After Legoland, visit those relatives and let the youngun spend the night (or two)while you and spouse go to the Bed and Breakfast Inn at La Jolla.
[The</a> Bed & Breakfast Inn At La Jolla bed and breakfast - La Jolla, California. La Jolla Bed and Breakfast Inns.](<a href=“http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/california-la-jolla-bedbreakfastinnatlajolla.html]The”>http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/california-la-jolla-bedbreakfastinnatlajolla.html)</p>
<p>I love the Lodge at Torrey Pines but that doesn’t sound like a fit for this trip. We have also stayed at the Omni and really liked it. If there is a Padres game on it is a lot of fun to stay at the Omni and walk across the walkway to the game. I also love Paradise Point.</p>
<p>Our favorites for visiting guests are The Catamaran, The Bahia and Paradise point. They are all on Mission Bay. Lots of stuff for kids to do, reasonably priced and fun for all.</p>