We’re going on vacation in a couple weeks, and we’re considering the San Diego area. The cheapest hotel we found within walking distance of the beach was in Imperial Beach. What’s it like there? Is the swimming good? Is the area nice?
Anyone?
Twenty years ago Imperial Beach was a lower middle class area and not near one of the better Beaches in the area. I left San Diego in 1988, so I can only help you bump this. My out of date experience would be not to stay there with your family.
If it were just you and your wife, I would probably go for it.
Again, my information is very dated and very much subject to change.
Jim
The last time I was in the area, I wasn’t impressed. Too run-down and shabby. If you want a good beach, good swimming and the like in San Diego, you’re going to have to pay for it, I’m afraid. Try something further up the coast…maybe Carlsbad?
Imperial Beach is adjacent to the US/Mexican border and has always had a somewhat lower reputation than all the other beach communities in San Diego County. Recently however, things seem to be on the upswing there.
My loose ranking of beach communities in order of cost would probably be (lowest to highest):
Imperial Beach
Ocean Beach
Oceanside
Pacific Beach
Solana Beach
Encinitas
Carlsbad
La Jolla
Coronado
Imperial Beach has Border Field State Park, which has been called the uglieststate park in the country. In the 1970s, there was no fence there, and you could walk down the beach right into Mexico. The INS in those days relied more on highway checkpoints well inside the U.S. than on a border fence.
Lived in IB in the sixties and seventies. Visited regularly since.
It is a fairly run down area, but no major problem with crime or urban decay that really matter.
It has a really good fishing pier and good surfing beaches although the sewage from Tijuana can make it psychologically and physically less attractive. That said, I swam there regularly when I was young, and have done so on regular returns- no ill effects.
Just to the North is the Silver Strand- an isthmus connecting IB to Coronado. The State Park there is more distant from Tijuana and probably more pleasant for sea water quality.
Border Field State Park is great for bird-watching as is the slough just South of the City (It is now a nature reserve- when I was there it was just a place to drive off road and escape from adults!)
The Beachfront area is good to wander through, drink coffee, eat and relax.
There is nothing else to see in IB, but San Diego is 20-30 minutes away as is Mexico. Hotels are cheaper than elesewhere in SD.
A good place to stay in San Diego on the coast and keep costs down!
I will be returning with my family next year (40th High School Reunion) and hope to be staying at an efficiency on the beach:
http://seacoast-inn-imperial-beach.pacificahost.com/
Do ask if you have any more questions.
I grew up in IB and my parents moved us out of the area as soon as they could afford it. It’s not one of the safer areas, or one of the nicer beaches.
What I would consider doing, if I were you, would be to get a hotel/motel room just anywhere that’s cheap (not necessarily near a beach) and then drive around to different beaches. There are a LOT of nice beaches in San Diego county and you should try to hit more than one. There’s ocean beach, La Jolla shores, Mission Bay, Pacific Beach…Black’s beach (that’s the nude one)…sample more than one.
When I hear people are going to San Diego on vacation I always recommend that they go to Balboa Park. Not a beach, but a very beautiful area.
Thanks, I appreciate the info!
Well, did you go to IB. How was San Diego?
The OP should probably be told that the Tijuana River actually crosses the border and empties into the ocean on the U.S. side, probably right in IB if I’m not mistaken.
On the other hand, if you want to spend any time in Baja at all, IB is probably a good place to stay for reasons of convenience. There are some beautiful places south of Tijuana along the toll road
We did go to San Diego, and stayed on Hotel Circle. We pretty much just laid on the beach in Coronado. It was everything I hoped it could be.
Glad you had a good time.
I will be there (IB) 2008 for my High School 40th re-union. Planning to stay on the beach in IB and just sit on the sand!
When I lived in SD Hotel Circle was just being built- the valley was largely open scrub and the Stadium was just a plan! Coronado seems unchanged after all this time.