My wife won a vacation package at work, and we’re thinking of using it to go to San Diego. We’re looking for early December, week long visit, and are trying to put together a package to include the Zoo and Sea World, maybe taking a day trip to LA/Hollywood, and the beach. We’ll have a 7 year old with us, so we’ll need to keep it family friendly.
We figure with what she’s won, we can get airfare, a hotel, and Zoo passes. We’ll rely on public transportation and maybe rent a car to go to LA.
Any other thoughts, suggestions, advice, insider tips? We’re from the east coast, and will probably never have a reason to visit California, otherwise. We’ll have some spending money, but we’re looking to keep our expenses (dinner, souvenirs, bus fare, car rental, etc) to under about $800-1000 for the week. Do-able?
I’ve been to San Diego in December. You might not have optimum beach weather at that time of year. My experience was mid 50s to mid 60s with cool winds. Of course you might get lucky.
The Zoo is a must see.
Coronado island has some nice beaches and the Del hotel is a landmark from many movies, Some Like it Hot, for example.
There’s a Six Flags amusement park within a couple of hours drive. Can’t remember exactly where.
Disney Land isn’t out of the question if you’re heading to LA anyway.
The gas lamp district has some quaint restaurants, Croce’s for example.
It may be fairly cool at that time of year. Nice for touring, but not so nice for swimming. The beaches at Coronodo are nice. La Jolla and Torrey Pines also have good beaches.
You should be aware that the heart of L.A. can be a 3 or 4 hour drive, depending on traffic.
The Zoo is pretty cheap, but Sea World can be expensive. Some hotels give you deals on those, though. There’s lots of other stuff to do around the Zoo, as well. It’s located right in Balboa Park, which has nice museums, gardens, and other fun stuff.
Public transportation is okay in the downtown area, but not so much elsewhere
I recommend against trying to use public transportation. Southern California worships the car. You will have to severely limit your itinerary, or expect to spend all day waiting for buses and making transfers to get anywhere. You’ll be much better off renting a car.
As for things to see, I highly recommend the Wild Animal Park, kind of a sister to the San Diego Zoo. The animals there are not in enclosures - or rather, they put all the animals into one of about five geographically distinct enclosures, e.g. “Africa” and “Asia”. You ride a monorail, and get to see whole herds of antelope on the same hill as rhinos and giraffes.
Depending on what you want to see in L.A. you might be able to manage it without renting a car. If you want to see things downtown and in Hollywood, you can do all that by Amtrak and subway. Olvera Street would certainly be family friendly, and it’s worth going there just to eat at La Golondrina. On the other hand, if you want to go to Santa Monica and the other beach areas, you absolutely need a car. But, as has already been pointed out, December is decidedly not the beach season. Our ocean water here is cold anyway since it comes down along the coast from Alaska, and the only people you will see in the water in December are surfers in wetsuits.
In general I wouldn’t recommend coming up to L.A. for the day; it would be too much hassle and you wouldn’t have time to see much. On the other hand, the Amtrak ride from SD is itself kind of fun, and if your seven-year-old has never been on an intercity train trip s/he would probably get a thrill out of it. You wouldn’t have that much time in L.A., but getting there would be fun. Make sure you get seats on the ocean side.
The Balboa Park museums are great, and all within walking distance of one another (and there’s a free trolley around them if the walk seems like too much), and every day one or two of them are free (they rotate by day of the week). I’ve been to the Aviation museum the Model Railroad Museum and the Children’s Museum and they’re great.
The museums policy has changed. They are only free on Tuesdays, and they rotate which ones during the month. You can find out which ones will be free on which Tuesday on the Balboa Park website.
Find a hotel near the beach. Will be a bit pricier, and the water may be too cold for much swimming, but the 7 year old will have a blast just playing in the sand. Also part of the San Diego experience is being able to enjoy the Pacific (will still get nice sunsets,etc.).
Definitely rent a car. If you roll it in with your package, you should be able to get a good deal. Getting to the theme parks and attractions will be that much easier. Sad to say, the public transportation is really lacking down here.
Zoo is a must (and it will be a full day). 7 year old will eat it up. It’s a big zoo and takes a good amount of time to visit.
Normally I’d recommend the Wild Animal Park (even over the zoo), but my experience with 7 year olds is that the tram ride is too “restrictive”. So I’d pass on this. Do the zoo instead.
Seaworld (also a full day). Not my favorite place ($$), but the 7 year old will enjoy it. Also part of the SD experience.
Legoland (I have never been). I think the 7 year old will love this. From what I hear it is geared for that age group. A short drive up the coast.
LA/Hollywood. Why ruin your visit ? Given a week, I would not bother with the hassle of dealing with (work week) traffic and such with a trip up there.
Tijuana. Again, why ruin your visit. Definitely pass. Grungy, smelly, 1,000’s of little shops selling the same stuff. Unless you’re 18 and want to get drunk, there is no real appeal.
Hotel Del Coronado. Just a cool hotel to visit and walk around. Beautiful beach. If you can time it, the Sunday brunch is the best meal you’ll have all week (you need to make reservations in advance, though).
Disneyland (Anaheim - outer LA). The only reason you might consider a day trip to LA would be to take the 7 year old to Disneyland. This would be a very full day, but if you’ve never been, or been with a child, would be a great trip.
There are great restaurants downtown in the Gaslamp district. But they’re more young-adult/adult oriented (not so much family).
Take a drive out to the desert. If you’re not planning on being here again for a while, seeing the desert (Anza Borrego) might be interesting. Only a couple hour drive. You can go through Julian, and that’s a cool little town to check out (bring your coats, though).
Old Town San Diego. Lots of shops and stuff.
Seaport Village. Real touristy shops here. But if you need to get some souvenirs, this would be a good place.
That’s about all I can think of for now. Hope this helps.
My wife found the Go San Diego card website. I’m liking the three day itinerary #4 package.
Day 1
LEGOLAND
Day 2
San Diego Wild Animal Park
San Diego Harbor
Excursion
Day 3
San Diego Zoo
Reuben H. Fleet Science
Center including IMAX
Thoughts?
We can take one of the other two or three days to go to Seaworld.
Is the whale watching worth it? I’ve been on one in Cape Cod, but it was a long time ago. All I really remember was being cold and the excursion being long. I did see a few whales though.
I don’t think either of us have any desire to go to TJ.
We’re planning a trip to Disneyworld for next year, so Disneyland would sort of steal that thunder.
I think it’ll be the wrong season for whale-watching. I’ve only been a couple of times, but my memory says Feb-April. You need to catch them during their migration.
Some sort of “sailing” is a good idea, though, if you can swing it. I don’t know what’s available to tourists.
I also wouldn’t bother with iMAX. It’s fun, but just about every city has one of those now; why go all the way across the country for it?
I second pretty much everything on cormac’s list. (I lived there as well for about ten years.) I especially like the idea of checking out the desert for an afternoon. Pretty much the character of San Diego is in its beaches and in the desert.
Other smaller places to check out: the Point Loma lighthouse is a great dramatic seascape on nice days. Ditto the Torrey Pines State Reserve. La Jolla and Del Mar are nice neighborhoods to wander around - although the Hotel Del gives you a lot of the same fun flavor.
Oh! I just thought of something definitely worth looking into: hot air ballooning. You’ll see them on the horizon all weekend. I never did it, but a friend said it was an all-day excursion for about a hundred bucks a person. (Well, that might be steep for a family on a budget. Ah well.)
Most of the Science Center is made up of hands-on demos and experiments that kids can try. My kids have always enjoyed it when they go there on field trips and such.
Another fairly cool thing to do is the Maritime Museum exhibits. They include a couple of tall ships–the Star of India and, currently, the Surprise, which was used in Master and Commander. There is also the aircraft carrier Midway, but that is run by a separate outfit. All of this is in the same general area as the Harbor Excursion tours.
I haven’t been whale watching, but I’ve heard good things about it. It may be somewhat seasonal, though. IIRC, this time of year is when they are most likely to be passing by.
Good idea on Disneyworld. I haven’t been to California Adventure, but Disneyworld has more to do. I’d plan on staying overnight if I did go - it is quite a drive, usually tons of traffic, and round trip with Disneyland is way too much.
The package sounds pretty good to me. Does this involve transportation also?
I’ve been on a harbor cruise in San Diego, and wasn’t too impressed. The one in Santa Barbara was much nicer.
We took our kids to Sea World when they were seven, and they loved it. If your kid likes airplanes, I’d second the Aviation Museum. There are mostly planes to look at, so you can take as long or as short as you want. I liked it.
As for hotels, not only is it sometimes cold in December, it also sometimes rains. I was there the first week of January and it rained a lot one day. I stayed in the GasLamp district once, and quite enjoyed it, though I didn’t have a car to worry about, and it wasn’t quite so clubby back then as it is now.
The hotel Del is great to visit, but I was arranging a meeting in San Diego, and got their price list. I’m used to absurd hotel prices, but they took the cake.
I would swap Sea World for the Wild Animal Park on Day 2. For starters, you’re looking at almost an hour drive (traffic forgiving) each direction to/fro the Wild Animal Park.
Also the zoo and the science center may be a bit much for the 7 year old. The zoo is big, and will take some time. There are also some shows to catch, so I would plan on a full day.
As to whale watching, December is “in season”, but it is a little early. I would also not recommend it - especially if you’re going to bring the 7 year old. Once boredom sets in, there’s no where to go. And even if you don’t get sea-sick, someone (perhaps many) on the boat will, and that can get pretty unpleasant.
However, to satisfy the marine biologist interest, I’d suggest the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. The 7 year old will enjoy it.
I really can’t add anything, but as a follow-up on the Timken gallery: I think it is the only museum in Balboa Park that has free admission every day it’s open . (See the link for details.)
There is one other building in the Park that is also always free admission when open, (the Botanical building - lots of exotic plants) but I’m not certain it qualifies as a “museum”.
Anyone here been to Children’s Pool and Seals, near La Jolla? Worthwhile? December ok for this?
This info is great, so far. Thanks.
What beach would you recommend? We went to Bermuda and they had a seven beaches thing, which sucked hind titty. We’d rather not do that again, if possible.
(Wife, just now: “I don’t know if a week’s gonna be enough!”)
Given a week, I would not bother with the hassle of dealing with (work week) traffic and such with a trip up there.