Spencer and I visited San Diego last week and had the best time so I thought I’d put together a San Diego travel guide! I hadn’t visited San Diego in over 5 years, and was surprised by how nice it was! It was definitely different to what I had remembered, and I am so glad we visited. Here is my San Diego travel guide.
San Diego Travel Guide
There is a lot to see and do in San Diego! We spent three nights in San Diego and four nights in Coronado on our vacation. This San Diego travel guide will not include Coronado, I will cover that in a separate guide.
Where to Stay:
View of Petco Park from Hilton San Diego Bayfront
We stayed at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront and loved it! It was on the water and very close to walk to Petco Park and the Gaslamp Quarter. It has easy access to the trolley line, and had a great pool as well. Our room had a view of the water, and we could also see downtown as well.
Other places I would recommend staying:
I would recommend staying in the Gaslamp Quarter if possible! There are so many restaurants and bars in the Gaslamp Quarter and it is such a fun area. We also really liked Little Italy, and there a lot of dining options there as well. If you’re wanting to be near a beach La Jolla is a beautiful area, and so is Coronado!
Where to Eat:
Ghiradelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop
Food: 10/10 Price: $$
If you like chocolate then Ghiradelli is chocolate heaven. I had the frozen hot cocoa and it was amazing! It was a little pricy for a drink, costing $9, but in my opinion it was totally worth it because it was so delicious and really filling.
Food: 10/10 Price: $
Samburgers is so freakin’ good! This restaurant is by Sam the Cooking Guy from Youtube. I had a salmon teryiaki bacon burger and it was amazing. You pick the style of burger you want, which is the toppings and sauces, then you pick the protein, and they all looked so good. I had a side of bacon ranch potato salad which I loved! There are two locations, one in Seaport Village, and the other in Little Italy. We went to the Little Italy location.
Food: 6/10 Price: $$
Cafe Coyote is a fun Mexican restaurant to visit in Old Town San Diego. The atmosphere was so fun and the service was so quick. The food was pretty average, and was pretty averagely priced for Mexican food. The margaritas were big but they didn’t taste super strong. I went to Casa De Reyes last time I was in San Diego and would recommend that over Cafe Coyote for Mexican in Old Town!
Food: 9/10 Price: $$
If you’re looking for good fish tacos, head to the Fish Shop! The tacos were so good and it had a lot of outdoor seating available too.
What to Do:
Visit La Jolla
You can’t miss La Jolla! The coastline is so pretty and it is so fun to see the seals and sea lions. Definitely check out the Children’s Pool and make sure to explore the shops and restaurants in the village.
Visit Pacific Beach
Pacific Beach is only a few miles from La Jolla but it has a completely different vibe! It has a great boardwalk with restaurants and bars, and a pier that you can walk along and fish on.
San Diego Zoo
This is one of the best things to do on my San Diego travel guide. It is such a great zoo, and there are so many animals to see! I loved the monkeys and the elephants. Sadly, they don’t have the pandas anymore, but it is still worth visiting! Make sure you wear comfortable shoes as you will be doing a lot of walking!
Explore the Gaslamp Quarter
You can’t miss the Gaslamp Quarter when visiting San Diego! So many fun bars and restaurants to drink and eat at, and it was really nice just to walk around too.
Visit Fashion Valley
We didn’t make it to Fashion Valley Mall, but I still added it to my San Diego travel guide as I loved it the last time I visited! It’s a really nice mall with lots of great stores and restaurants.
See a Padres Game
This was one of my favorite things we did in San Diego, and a must on any San Diego travel guide! We loved seeing the Padres play, Petco Park is such a fun stadium, had so many great dining options, and had a great atmosphere.
Explore Little Italy
If you like Italian food then Little Italy is a must! It had such a cool vibe and had so many restaurants to choose from! We ate at the Little Italy Food Hall, and it had some great food options.
Visit Old Town
Old Town San Diego is a historic area, and is the oldest neighborhood in San Diego! It has great Mexican restaurants, and is really cool to wander around and explore. They have ghost tours which looked so cool but we didn’t get to do one.
Go to Seaport Village
Seaport Village was so cute! It’s on the waterfront, and has a lot of cute stores and restaurants to eat at. It has a lighthouse that was just the cutest, and we really enjoyed walking around there.
Getting Around:
We found San Diego pretty easy to get around. The trolley runs pretty frequently, and can easily take you to Seaport Village, Little Italy, Old Town, Fashion Valley, the Gaslamp Quarter & Petco Park. We personally didn’t use the trolley all that much, as we walked most places within downtown San Diego. We also used Uber and Lyft, and didn’t find them to be too expensive. It would have taken us hours to get to La Jolla, the zoo or Pacific Beach by public transportation, so we were happy to spend $10 – $25 for a car.
I hope you enjoyed my San Diego travel guide! I really loved putting this San Diego travel guide together, and if you have any other questions about San Diego, please feel free to reach out to me. As always, thanks for reading!
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