All right, I’ve already got the Zoo, Wild Animal Kingdom Park, and Sea World on the itinerary.
What else is fun to do? Good places to explore? Great places to eat?
~~There’s some oyster or seafood bar/restaurant at the
northern part of the bay that’s supposed to be the bomb…
I never went there but I did go to the zoo (which isn’t all
that) and sea world… If I had it to do over again, I’d go
the the historical spots…
There’s an amusement park about half an hour outside of San Diego in a town called Anaheim. Disney-something…
George’s on the Cove in La Jolla is a real good restaurant. We wandered in for lunch, which was really really good and reasonably priced ($5-$7 for a sammidge). It wasn’t until later that we discovered that the place is a five-star reservation-only hob-nob kind of place during the dinner hours. Highly recommended.
La Jolla and Coronado are nice for spending an afternoon in the shops. You can make a dinner reservation at the Hotel Del Coronado, but be sure to ask for a table in the Crown Room.
LA is close enough for sightseeing, but why would you want to see LA if you can see San Diego instead? Also, if you’ve never been to Mexico, this would be a good time for a trip. I would recommend you go with someone who has been before and knows their way around, though.
I didn’t get to go to Old Town (the historical section), but everyone who has recommends it.
Legoland - good for young kids (Carlsbad - about 30 miles north of downtown SD)
Mission Bay Park - you can rollerblade/bike/walk/run on the various paths along the bay or the beach
San Diego Mission - historic mission from Father Junipero Serra’s time (Mission Valley area, central SD)
Star of India - oldest sailing tall ship (or something like that) which is parked at the harbor (downtown)
Seaport Village - little complex of shops & restaurants at the harbor (downtown)
Places to eat - there are lots of places in downtown La Jolla if you want fine dining (never tried many, but reputations are good). The Gaslamp district downtown also has some good restaurants and nightlife. Hillcrest is also a place to check for restaurants, including La Vache & Co. (French casual food, pretty good)
If you want a little day trip on the side, make the drive out to Julian, which is eastish from San Diego, probably an hour away. Make sure you have a piece of apple pie, which is what they are renowned for. Depending on the way you choose to get there, when you pass through Santa Ynez, there’s a place called Dudley’s Bakery that is rumored to have great breads.
Solana Beach has a little section of nightlife & antique shops on Cedros Avenue. There’s a club called the Belly Up Tavern that has great local shows, and an occasional well known band perform at night. If you get a chance to see Dread Zeppelin (don’t know if they’re performing lately or not), I highly recommend them. They are an absolute RIOT.
That’s all for now off the top of my head. But any time you can get to any of the beaches and just cruise around the little beach towns is good. Ooh! If you’re looking for a quirky beach town, check out Ocean Beach (near Point Loma & Sea World), which has some night clubs and some quirky little restaurants, too. Great people watching there, and there’s a pier there, too.
Go to Croces in the gaslamp district. Great food and music for every taste. Make sure you have reservations though.
Also Balboa Park is a wonderful day trip if you like museums and beautiful arcitecture. They have a big organ too!
There’s also a nighttime trolly tour of the city that takes you to haunted houses and graveyards. Kind of interesting if you’re into it.
If you’re into old-master painting, you should go to the Timken Gallery in Baboa Park. The Timken is a jewel of a small gallery, and their exhibits are first rate. I haven’t been there in years, so I can’t be more specific, but I recall seeing a number of Italian high-Renaissance works, plus the only painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder west of the Mississippi. All in all, it was with joyous astonishment that I stumbled on this small museum one day while I was attending college in San Diego.
Fraid not…its in Orange County and is about a 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive if the traffic is good (when is it ever good?). And remember, you do not get admission to California Adventure with your DisneyLand admission, so think about tacking on another 40 bucks per person if you want to see both.
As to San Diego
Gaslamp Quarter great bars, great eats, great dancing. Croces is highly recommended by me as well. I would suggest Buddha Bar and Bistro for some fantastic Thai lettuce wraps and Kobe steak. Dress nice, very classy joint.
**Coronado Island ** take the ferry over at night. The Del Coronado is fun and the history behind it is cool. Try and spend the night in one of the haunted rooms.
DO go and make reservations for the Prince of Wales at the hotel and even request to watch the chef prepare your food (they let you). Apparently the Lobster omelette is to die for.
Also go and walk in the old neighborhoods and marvel at the old homes on the Island. Beautiful and quite calming.
How about a visit to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps?
Or perhaps a day at The Delmar racetrack?
There’s also The maritime museum. Or visit a few wineries. There’s also a Children’s Museum of San Diego, an aerospace museum, a surf museum, a firehouse museum, a railroad museum… heck here’s a bunch of interesting sounding museums.
I keep thinking there’s an observatory or planetarium in SD too, but for the life of me I can’t find it. It’s a great town and have fun!
What about the happiest place on earth - Tijuana!
South of the border… down Mexico way…
You may already know this, but at the Wild Animal Park you can go on “photo safaris.” They’re expensive, but you get up close to the animals and you see more of them than on some actual safaris.
I’ll second the Hotel Del Coronado…
Dicks Last Resort in the Gas Lamp district
The uhmm… adult entertainment scene is pretty good in San Diego… not exactly family oriented on that one though.
You’re probably not going to want to go to Mexico right now with all the security concerns. I’ve been told that the average border wait is five hours. Ech. You could call and check with the San Diego Visitor info people: http://www.sandiego.org/visitorcenter.asp regarding what kind of a hassle it is if you want to just take the trolley down to San Ysidro and walk over. That shouldn’t take too long, but it’s getting back which is the concern. And if you’re going to go to Baja, you should go down to Puerto Nuevo. MMMmmmm, lobsters and beer…
Are you a nudist? You might want to slide down a La Jolla cliff to Black’s Beach where it’s not exactly legal but the lifeguards don’t give tickets. (Obviously whether you’ll want to go depends on when (what season) you go) It can be pretty fun, naked horseshoes, nude volleyball, and various other amusing activities. After all, being from Hawaii, you probably won’t be impressed by the beaches of San Diego themselves. It’s amusing to watch the cliff dwelling squirrels ogle the naked people, even though you know they’re just checking you out for the edible kind of nuts. Anyway, if you want to go, it’s on 2800 Torrey Pines Rd in La Jolla and you park in the Glider Port lot.
You’ll definitely need to go to Balboa Park (where the Zoo is). You’ll probably need a day for the Zoo and a day for the rest of the park. Two years ago, when I lived there, Tuesdays would be free museums day, certain museums free on the first Tuesday, others on the next, and so on. Getting in free can be a relief when you’re on vacation, y’know? …all those little expenses just pile up on the Visa.
Definitely bundle up and take the Coronado ferry, it’s a great deal. Park in Coronado, take the ferry, and walk to the Hyatt (the flat head screwdriver shaped building). You can have drinks at the top of the Hyatt and have a great view of the city and beyond. I like riding the ferry early in the morning, myself, but not much is open then.
If you do end up wanting to go north, you could always take the ferry from Coronado, walk to the Amtrak train station–a really cute little rail station.
Have breakfast at the Coronado Inn & Bistro (on Orange Ave & just past Fifth). Orange is the main avenue of Coronado, if you just turn left at the first light you get to after the bridge that’s Orange.
If you bring a dog, check out Coronado’s dog beach, right by the naval air strip. That’s a cool place to watch the sunset, the surfers, and the S-3s anyway.
There’s a good climbing gym on Miramar Rd, Vertical Limit.
Ooh, ooh, rent bikes and ride around Mission Bay (or Coronado, but MB has a longer more eclectically populated trail).
There’s a ton of stuff to do in San Diego, but I’d better stop here because I’m getting homesick.
Well, I live in Oceanside which is about 45 minutes away from San Diego…all we really have is the house from Top Gun and what used to be the longest pier on the West Coast of America (I think North and South.)
But I used to go to high school in San Diego, and, being largely broke with nothing but a public transportation pass, I got to know a few places down there.
I definitely recommend the Gaslamp for basically anything. Just go and browse and see if there’s anything your interested in there. Horton Plaza is right there if you like malls at all. If you are looking for a good park, I recommend the park right across from the Convention Center. It is officially called so-and-so Children’s Park or something of the sort. In my circles we call it Mario Land for its uniform grassy hills and shrubs. There is a large pool (that you aren’t aloud it go in, but crazy teenagers can wade around in.) Little fountain things shoot up and there are blocks that lead you through them if you want to risk your neck jumping from block to block. Its pretty fun to picnic out in the middle.
I didn’t do much back then, I guess, but I had tons of fun at that park.
In my opinion (and I take my food very seriously), the best place to eat in San Diego is a little place called “Brian’s”. It was the last place I dined out at before I moved out of the state.
1451 Washington St.
Esprix’s house?
I assume all you bastards will be showing up for the San DiegDopefest when we have it - RIGHT?
I thought so.
Mostly everything I’d recommend has already been posted. There’s also horseback riding and a couple of bay and ocean cruises. Go shopping in Hillcrest. Go to the museums in Balboa Park. And for God’s sake, go to Disneyland! 
Esprix
Tijuana, definitely. Take a bus tour out of San Diego - the wait isn’t lengthy for known tour companies when going over the border, particularly when the same passengers crossed the border into Mexico several hours earlier. Tour buses have their own lanes; the cost is around $40.
It’s just fun and funky; something different. The buses usually just drop you off and pick you up at a designated time and place. The locals are fun and will try to sell you anything and everything. Bargain for half price at least, or start at 1/3rd price and work up to half if necessary. Good seedy bars, great beer.
After San Francisco, San Diego is my favorite west coast city (Vancouver and Seattle running neck and neck for third).
All the beaches are cool, La Jolla, Del Mar, Cardiff, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach (PB), Ocean Beach (OB). You probably want to avoid Imperial Beach (IB) or south.
As others have said, Coronado is great and the Hotel Del is very cool. Expensive though.
Some have suggested Tiquana, and it is a place to go to see something different, but I wouldn’t really call it a tourist destination. Expect to see a lot of poverty, have someone in your party get their pocket picked or have to bribe a cop, stand a good chance of puking or pooping water. I’m not exagerating when I say that I’ve never been in Tiquana where something bad didn’t happen. It’s not all bad; I’ve been dozens of times, but it ain’t high class, and it ain’t Mexico really either.
If you want a flavor of Mexico and don’t want to drive too far, try Tacate. There’s a bakery near the border that has great stuff.
Julian is a quiet small town out east that’s fun to wander in.
Hillcrest is good to see artsy stuff. If you’re into neighborhood bars, stop in to the Alibi and tell Jake that Bill said howdy.