2 days in San Diego

[caitlinsdad]

We may spend two days in San Diego next year on our first West coast trip

If you had two days to spend in San Diego, what would you suggest to see.
Also any suggestions on places to stay

Thanks

Mike

 

[eduk8r26]

There is so much to see, it's hard to narrow it down. The zoo is a great place to spend a day, Sea World, Wild Animal Park, the waterfront area with the ship museums, the Ruben H. Fleet Science Center with Imax theater. It all depends on if you have kids, their ages, interests, etc.

 

[caitlinsdad]

Thanks,
Yes we have one daughter who will be 11 at the time of the trip

 

[endy]

My 10 year old son absolutely loves Sea World. Been going each summer for the past 6 years.
We are going to Disney 3 days in August then down to San Diego for a week.
He also wants to go back to the Chula Vista Nature Center. It's on the bay with some walking trails, exhibits, some hands on. Great place for a relaxing couple of hours. Cheap too but I don't remember how much.
The harbour cruise is great as well. The north one goes past the sea lions.

Balboa Park is stunning tho we haven't done a lot of it.
If you like baseball the Padres may be in town. Another of my son's favorites. We had to check the schedule to make sure we could see a couple games.
Wild Animal Park is on my list to see again this year.

Another favorite is the Birch Aquarium at La Jolla. It's good for a couple hours.

You could do WAP in the morning til it got too hot and then go to Aquarium for afternoon. Bit of a drive. Then a Padres game in the evening.
We like to do everything while we're there so have lots of days where we squeeze in a couple things. Sometimes too much.

Can't help wih places to stay.
Wendy

 

[tmatthews]

we stayed at the best western in mission bay. We did the obvious .... seaworld and zoo!

 

[caitlinsdad]

thank you

 

[sharoncity]

We stayed at the Sheraton Marina and went to Seaworld, Zoo, and Legoland. I highly recommend Seaworld and the Zoo. Legoland your daughter might be a little old for - judgement call on your part. My 9 yr old DS LOVED it, DD 14 was bored. Get to the Zoo early, the animals are more active and there is a lot of walking and hills - better to do before it gets hot. After the zoo, we headed to Balboa Park. That is REALLY beautiful and well worth a visit. We enjoyed some time at the pool one afternoon (especially with it being April and we are from the northeast! ) We ate at Island Prime one night and it was incredible! Highly recommend that restaurant!

Happy planning!

 

[arliepooh68]

what part of the year are you coming out to san diego? Right now we are chilly chilly. . . thought about going to the drive in to see shrek but too chilly, we have may grey and june gloom. . .

definitely recommend sea world . . . my favorite thing about WAP is you can feed the lorikeets, they land on you, it is cool! The zoo is nice too, but my personal favorite is WAP, but it is a drive.

there are so many things to do in san diego. . .. . . there is also the trolley tour, they used to let you get off and back on the same day wherever it stops, not sure if they still do that though, but that is a great way to see the "landmarks".

 

[caitlinsdad]

We will be visiting next year in Aug
Just trying to do some early planning

Thanks for the info

 

[Zoemakes5]

We have 10 & 12 y.o. boys. The two best hits when we were there this spring break were a day at the beach and Sea World. The next favorite for the boys was our harbor cruise and USS Midway trip. DD liked the wild animal park, but DS's were kind of bored by it. The wait for the tram was never ending....1.75 hours, no kidding.
August will be hot hot hot at the W.A.P., just something to consider.

 

[DiRTyBuNNy]

I think it's funny that nobody mentioned that depending on where you are staying at in San Diego you can be at Disneyland in less than 2 hours (I actually made the trip about 3 times a week one summer).

As for things in San Diego i think most covered it with the Zoo (Pandas!), Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Balboa Park, Scripps Aquarium, Padres/Chargers games, Old Town is nice if you like Mexican Food (I can personally recommend Casa De Bandini and the Old Town Mexican Cafe), Tijuana (the Anti-Disneyland hahahaha) and not to mention lots of beaches and shopping.

--Mr. DB

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Well, he asked for things to do IN San Diego as part of a west coast trip.

As far as suggestions go... if you really want a nice place to stay, pick the Hotel del Coronado. On the beach, turn of the century architecture, quite lovely. If you like the harbor and marina area, the Manchester Grand Hyatt or the Marriott Marina or the Sheraton Marina are all very nice and well located. The Hyatt is especially well located next to Seaport Village. If you are more budget-minded, the Holiday INN on the Bay keeps you in the same area at a lower cost.

All of these are close to the downtown gaslamp area. Great place to stroll and have dinner after a day of sightseeing. August will be warm during the day but the evenings should be perfect.

Have a great trip!

 

[we3disneygo]

Hi ! we just got back from our trip we spent 2 days on Coronado......we had so much fun!! it was dd13 , myself, and my mom....walked up and down Orange ave. ate at cute cafe's, they have lovely churches to see and the houses. and we spent most of the day at the beach in front of the Del hotel. we also went to the zoo, seaport village, old town, horton plaza. the shops close early at 8pm. we also toured the Star of India and the other boats nearby. we stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Bay...right across from the Star of India it was great, we had a balcony to watch all the sail boats and big ships come in.....