<p>We will be in San Diego for one night in April to look at SDSU. I have been looking for a hotel but can’t seem to figure out the best location, etc. Everytime I think I’ve found one, someone on tripadvisor has bashed it for one reason or another. Anybody have experience with San Diego they can share? I read that if you stay in Old Town you can take the trolley to SDSU and it’s easier than parking there.
I would appreciate any advice- Thanks!</p>
<p>We love staying on Coronado Island and making it more fun…try looking for a bed and breakfast on Coronado island. a little bit of a drive by , but you can walk thru the Hotel del Coronado…and enjoy the restaurant and sites.</p>
<p>Hotel Circle in San Diego has tons of the standard chains…and very central</p>
<p>While I’ve never been to SD, I can tell you that you can’t go wrong with a Holiday Inn or a Best Western. I’m sure they have both out there.</p>
<p>If you go to SD and the Padres are in town, catch a game at Petco Park. Judging by how it looks on TV and by what I’ve heard from fellow fans, it’s a great ballpark.</p>
<p>Welcome to San Diego. In April the weather should be nice, because here the weather is almost always nice.</p>
<p>If you will have a car to get around town with and aren’t on a tight budget, I’d recommend The Grand Colonial Hotel, 910 Prospect street in La Jolla. It’s a great old hotel that has been restored and upgraded to modern standards. It has gorgeous ocean views and is a 1 minute walk to the beach. It has a terrific gourmet restaurant on the premises and is located right in the heart of downtown La Jolla.</p>
<p>It’s much closer to UCSD than to SDSU, but that’s why you have a car.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas - I’ll check them all out.</p>
<p>coureur - that place looks beautiful. If she decides to go to SDSU I can definitely see myself staying there when I visit. </p>
<p>For this visit she told me that she would rather stay somewhere that will give her an idea of what student life would be like. Perhaps downtown where they might go on the weekend? I don’t really know where the students hang out so I am clueless, and I posted this question on the SDSU forum a while ago and didn’t really get any ideas.
We will definitely check out the beaches when we are there, but I’m not too sure what else students do…Thanks for your help so far everyone!</p>
<p>PA:</p>
<p>The hotels in ‘hotel circle’ along I-8 in mission valley are very close to SDSU but they’re not on the beach and you’d have to go elsewhere to see sights although everything (SDSU, beaches, Sea World, Old Town, zoo, downtown, mission bay) is pretty close. Old town is also close to SDSU, has a few hotels, and has many great Mexican restaurants within walking distance of a hotel in that area. </p>
<p>You could also stay downtown along San Diego bay (many very large hotels like Hyatt, Marriott, etc.) and it’s adjacent to Seaport Village (shopping/dining on the bay), close to the Gaslamp district (many restaurants/nightspots), and still close to all of the attractions I mentioned above. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how many students hang out downtown unless the over 21 ones head to the Gaslamp area. Many students will hit the beaches for surfing and boogie boarding. Many over 21 like the Pacific Beach and Mission Beach areas. </p>
<p>If it were me and I had an extra couple of days, I’d prefer to stay closer to the beach (but I like the beach). Coronado’s nice as is La Jolla but there are also many places in between. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if I might be able to give you any more info.</p>
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<p>In that case she should take the trolley down to Tijuana where the drinking age is 18 and get totally blitzed. 
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<p>Except at the rock clubs, I don’t see very many college kids in downtown San Diego. Seems like downtown it’s mostly business people and convention goers eating at the expensive restaurants in the Gaslamp District.</p>
<p>Yikes! Don’t think I want her going to Tijuana so we’ll have to think of some alternatives. LOL
I guess I thought there would be some local areas where the students hang out, but I guess most stay on campus or go to the beach?
We’ve been to the zoo several times so we will probably skip that, grab a bite in Old Town and have a look around and then maybe hit the beach. It sounds like Pacific Beach is popular with the college crowd. Does that sound right?
Some of the other schools she’s looking at are in small towns, so the students do hang out downtown and I guess we were thinking there would be a neighborhood in San Diego that might cater to their demographic. I like the beach so that’s fine LOL</p>
<p>If this helps, there really aren’t many bad hotels around that whole area, except for a few seedy ones around the airport. </p>
<p>Do you belong to auto club? They have a good rating system that helps weed out the lower end hotels. If you go into their office they will even give you personal help, like a travel agent would. They also have a website.</p>
<p>To get the flavor of SDSU, personally I would just look for the closest decent hotel (meaning well-rated by auto club). From there, all the touristy things are within easy reach. That may mean Hotel Circle…although there may be something closer to SDSU. </p>
<p>If you really want beach, there is a nice hotel right on Mission Bay, probably a little nicer there than Pacific Beach…google Mission Bay hotel (can’t think of the name). It has bay access, water toy rental, walking, biking, rollerblading path around the bay…and you can walk across the street to the beach/boardwalk.</p>
<p>For one night though, if you really want SDSU flavor, I’d stay as close to SDSU as possible.</p>
<p>You will love San Diego! Hope you have a great visit…too bad you can’t stay longer!</p>
<p>bahiahotel.com</p>
<p>thats the hotel on Mission Bay I was trying to think of-- the Bahia Resort</p>
<p>the website gives lots of good info about things to do, links, etc</p>
<p>I haven’t stayed there, but have used it as a base to meet friends and rent a sail boat and have a picnic on the beach…parking may be pricey/limited</p>
<p>a lot of students from the various colleges in the area live in Mission Bay</p>
<p>bahiahotel.com</p>
<p>thats the hotel on Mission Bay I was trying to think of-- the Bahia Resort Hotel</p>
<p>the website gives lots of good info about things to do, links, etc</p>
<p>I haven’t stayed there, but have used it as a base to meet friends and rent a sail boat and have a picnic on the beach…parking may be pricey/limited</p>
<p>a lot of students from the various colleges in the area live in Mission Bay</p>
<p>The hotels on hotel circle are pretty nasty… I wouldn’t stay there. Pacific Beach either. I’m a former San Diegan…We stayed at the Omni in the gaslight area last time, very nice hotel…during baseball season you can take a walkway from the Omni into Petco park. It is convenient to most everything… Lots of restaurants around, you can walk around after dinner, get an ice cream, etc. Can also walk easily to Seaport Village and along the bay.<br>
Coronado is nice but more of a strictly vacation destination, not sure I would stay there if the purpose of your visit is to look at schools. Same with La Jolla, parking, getting in and out is a bit of a hassle.<br>
Another time, I highly recommend the Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla. But it is definitely a high end vacation, romantic getaway place not for this trip.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention, the Bahia is right on Mission Bay but the last time I stayed there, several years ago it needed a renovation. Not sure if that has been done…</p>
<p>ebeee- you and I think alike–
check the Bahia website or call them about the renovation…
we had friends say there a few years back and they had no complaints, and it is a great location with bay on one side and beach on the other</p>
<p>Coronado is beautiful, but noting this is a one night stay, you may want to avoid the Coronadao Bay Bridge traffic in and out</p>
<p>I would stay within range of SDSU and airport, personally</p>
<p>This is great - Thank you San Diego folks!
Right now I have 2 reservations and have to decide which to keep…
They basically cost the same so maybe you can tell me which you think is a better situation.
We have the Bahia which you recommended and also the Surfer Beach Motel in Pacific Beach. The Surfer Beach Motel is directly on the beach with a beach view whereas the Bahia I believe is on the bay with a short walk to the beach?
I know it’s silly to worry so much over one night, but I hate wasting one night somewhere wishing I had done more research as well LOL
I really appreciate your input - I am not familiar with the area at all so please tell me if the other hotel is in a not so desirable area.</p>
<p>hmmm–
just pulled out my Auto Club guidbook and neither of those are AAA approved…sorry</p>
<p>Here are 3 in each area that are AAA approved and approx cost, you may get off season rates on the beach stuff, so look more towards the low end of the range I’m giving:
Pacific Beach:
Beach Haven Inn 59- 185
Ocean Park Inn 199-269
Best Western Blue Sea Lodge 119- 299</p>
<p>Mission Beach
Paradise Point Resort and Spa 159- 495
The Dana 189- 329
Hyatt Regency Islandia 159- 279</p>
<p>all are AAA 3 diamond rated, except the first one which has 1 diamond</p>
<p>I’ve found AAA a good source in the past as they personally inspect and it has to meet certain criteria even to be listed; I’m surprised Bahia wasn’t listed…not sure why or what that means</p>
<p>There are TONS of places to choose from as this is a tourist mecca with all the attractions here</p>
<p>Also, I googled “hotels near SDSU” and pulled up a nice list arranged in order of increasing distance form SDSU, all with links to more info on each place…with your time factor and wanting SDSU flavor this might be worth looking at.</p>
<p>hope that isn’t TMI…we just love our city and want visitors to be happy and as a veteran of several college road trips I know it’s important to have good arrangements! Not silly at all to worry over onenight-- you are coming from far away.</p>
<p>Paradise Point is gorgeous. I have stayed there several times. It is pricey though…</p>
<p>I was about to mention Paradise Point. Although I never stayed there (since I live in SD), my company had its Christmas party there and it was a very nice place. It’s basically on a little island in Mission Bay over on the Mission Beach side. </p>
<p>Any of the hotels in the Mission Bay area would be a very short drive to SDSU and close to most of what San Diego has to offer and IMO would be a nicer location than hotel circle.</p>
<p>Paradise Point is beautiful - but about $100 more than the other options.Ouch - This will be our 6th hotel night in a row so I need to keep the cost below $200.LOL
Both of the ones I mentioned earlier offered AAA discounts , but were not listed in AAA book. Weird.
I Google Earthed both of them and do like the location of Bahia. I can live with a little bit of an outdated room as long as it’s clean and the location is good. My husband likes the idea of being bayside as well. We probably won’t be there much anyway by the time we drive to SDSU and USD…this is the last leg of a whirlwind trip to 6 colleges so we will be exhausted.
Why can’t my daughter just go to school in PA? LOL
Thanks again for your help - if you ever need Pennsylvania trip suggestions let me know!</p>
<p>Try this link for hotels on Mission Bay - </p>
<p><a href=“http://gothere.com/sandiego/MissionBay/Hotels/hotel_directory.htm[/url]”>http://gothere.com/sandiego/MissionBay/Hotels/hotel_directory.htm</a></p>