I’m thinking about loading the husband and kids in the car and driving out to San Diego for a fun day at the beach. I’ve only been to San Diego once, and that was during the winter.
The girls are 5 and 11 and have never been in the ocean at all. I grew up in NJ and have never been in the Pacific Ocean.
We’ll be heading out early from Phoenix to hopefully get there mid-morning. We’re trying to keep things on the thrifty side, also. I was toying with the idea of driving back the same day to save on hotel costs.
I heard that Ocean Beach is pretty family friendly. How say you?
My favorite beach is La Jolla Shores. Parking can be tough sometimes–there’s a big lot right there, but it fills up pretty quickly, and you end up having to drive around looking for a spot on the street. Parking is much easier a bit further north at Torrey Pines, but it will cost you $8 to for a spot in the State Park Lot.
Make sure you and your kids are aware of stingrays at any San Diego beach. If you do the shuffle, you shouldn’t have any trouble.
First, I wouldn’t plan on driving back that same day. That is a LOT of driving for one day. If you don’t, I think the kids would get stir crazy. There are a lot of reasonable places to stay (but not necessarily close to the beach).
To me, going to the beach is pretty cheap - pack a lunch (or pick up sandwiches) and the rest is free.
I would HIGHLY recommend the beach on Coronado Island. Parking would be among the houses, so there may be some walking, but the parking would be free. The beach tends to be less crowded, is very clean (some of the nicest sand), and is a pretty wide beach. You can walk over to the Hotel Del to look around (can be expensive to buy/eat anything there, but looking is free).
On the main drag just before the hotel is a little shopping area and you can pick up some sandwiches there.
I don’t know OB so well, but Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and La Jolla shores can all get pretty crowded on the weekend. But getting to any of them early is your best bet.
If you want the “boardwalk” (cement) experience, then Mission Beach and Pacific Beach are the places. There are some rides for the kids at Mission Beach, and there are lots of bars and places to eat.
It depends on what you’re looking for. When people come to visit, I tend to take them to Coronado.
I also vote for Coronado. I’ve done the “beach day” day there many times with the family. Our kids love it. Not very crowded and great beach. We usually setup near the Hotel Del Coronado for convenience reasons. We like to end the day with a nice meal at Miguel’s Cocina virutally across the street from the hotel. Great Mexican food for relatively good prices.
Now I feel lilke a trip back to San Diego. Have fun, it is one of my favorite places.
Also, when dealing with beaches in NJ, I would wear shoes (old falling apart sneakers) in the water. Will we be laughed at if we do this? If there are stingrays about, I don’t think I’ll really care about the aesthetics.
Are there lots of jellyfish? I’ve seen many on the NJ shores.
My husband is silently paranoid about sharks. Is there anything I can say to ease his mind?
California doesn’t have any private beaches that I know of. I don’t think they’re legal. I agree with Coronado as a good destination. Sneakers in the water will make you look funny, but better safe than sorry. I don’t think stingrays are a huge danger though. I’ve never even seen one near the coast. Shark attacks are far too rare to be taken as a rational threat, so no rational arguments are going to help there.
La Jolla Shores is also a good option, and for not too much money, you can go on a guided kayak tour through the sea caves. I’m not sure what the age limit is. The 11 year-old would be fine, but I’m not sure about the 5 year-old.
Have fun at the beach! When you go back home, please take someone with you!
All the beaches in San Diego are great. I kind of preferred the more North County beaches myself. It’s pretty easy to take a stroll up the 101 from there if you get bored of beaching it.
When I had friends and family visit, I used to take them to La Jolla to see the seals, then head up to Del Mar for lunch at Poseidon (great beach front restaurant that doesn’t run any more than $15/adult at lunch), do some beaching in Del Mar, then around 6pm head up the 101 for some window shopping/hippie staring.
As mentioned, no. And you don’t even need to be a guest to go into the hotel and/or restaurant. “Some Like It Hot” was filmed there and there are a lot of interesting pictures of the cast, etc. on the walls as I recall.
Don’t even fantasize about driving back the same day. You’re driving through empty desert most of the way. It is far too easy to doze off while driving the remote areas between El Centro/Yuma and Yuma/Phoenix. Find an inexpensive motel in the suburbs.
Yes, this is the Coronado I’m referring to. No, it is not a private beach for the hotel. You are free to walk along the beach in front of the hotel, and as mentioned, even go into the hotel. The hotel is wide open to the public.
I’ve yet to encounter any jellyfish (other than really small ones). I am a scuba diver, and though I’ve never been off the beach at Coronado, I have dove off San Diego quite a bit.
Stingrays are something to be concerned about, and wearing shoes won’t really help you all that much. The “shuffle” refers to shuffling your feet as you wade out. Stingrays are bottom dwellers, and will even bury themselves in the sand. The danger is in stepping down onto them - this may cause them to sting you (put yourself in their place - how would you feel ?). So by shuffling, you are not only not stepping down, but you will also alert them to get out of your way (which they will do). The reason shoes may not help is because the stinger can whip around up to your shins.
As to your husband and sharks, there are plenty of sharks in the waters off San Diego - mostly small, harmless ones. To ease his mind you could tell him A) don’t go in the water, B) the chances of him being attacked by a shark are far less than him getting in an accident on the drive out from AZ, and C) the beach past the hotel is (?) used by Navy Seals for training, and I’ve yet to hear of any shark attacks on those guys.
My husband is an odd guy. I think I’ll mention option C to him and hope for the best. He really isn’t big on the ocean, as things like Trunko are out there. Like I said, he’s an odd guy.
Ocean Beach is a fun neighborhood, but the swimming isn’t very good–it’s more of a surfer’s beach. There are some small tidepools near the pier if you happen to be there at the right time. There are also lots of funky little restaurants and shops, and on Wed. afternoons there is a street fair/farmer’s market set up on Newport Ave. near the beach.
I agree that Coronado would probably be your best bet. It’s usually less crowded than some of the other places.
We only rarely seem to get jellyfish and I haven’t heard of any stingray encounters and very few shark attacks. Occasionally there is an attack on a surfer, but they swim much farther out than you would.
We have seen sea lions and dolphins off the beach at Coronado, especially late in the afternoon.
You don’t even need to be a guest to park at the hotel (though obviously, this will cost a little; still, sometimes a better option than lugging everything around since the street parking nearby is touch-and-go).
