Tips for visiting San Diego

[dmclone]

A few places that I enjoyed

Beer
Modern Times-Multiple locations
Pizza Port-Food and drink
Belching Beaver
Societe
2nd tier
Stone-Multiple Locations
Ballast Point-Multiple locations


Food
Oscar's Mexican
The Taco Stand
Kono's Surf Club-Breakfast
El Indio-I liked the other two Mexican places better but still good
The Mission-Good breakfast but surrounded by a ton of homeless living on the sidewalks
Mitch's Seafood

Sail San Diego-Probably my favorite
Zoo
La Jolla

If you want a day trip, Temecula is an easy drive. We landed in SD early in the morning and drove to Temecula and then at the end of the day returned the car. Took Uber the rest of the time without any issues. The goat and Vine is a good place to eat in Temecula.

If I had to do it again the only thing I would skip is Coronado. Not worth it to me.

 

[Hackgolfin72]

Hodads. Thank me later.

 

[TXCyclones]

Truth. That bar burned down a few years ago and they lost most of their memorabilia. No reason to go now.

I was in there since the fire. It's basically the same as it was before. The piano is original, and Mav's helmet survived (but the plastic cube around it warped). The bras hanging from the ceiling have all been "replaced" since the fire.

 

[cyinne]

Head on down to Tijuana for a donkey show- I hear it's a good show!

 

[nickcyv]

Lots of good stuff already posted.

Hit up Oscars for incredible fish tacos.
Padres, if you get there in time. Great place to see a game.
La Jolla is incredible.
Grab a beer at the Stone beer garden/restaurant.

 

[Doc]

Head on down to Tijuana for a donkey show- I hear it's a good show!

They're really surprisingly inventive and expressive.

 

[SDClone]

Hodads. Thank me later.

Hodads was awesome. Worth waiting in line for.

 

[benman82]

I'm living in San Diego now, and I agree with most of what people have suggested. If you're in San Diego 9/26 (or can spoof the gps on your phone) you can get an uber promotion for $20 up front for a ride pass that gives you $1.99 uber pools anywhere in the city for a month. Parking isn't too hard to find anywhere you go (except night life and downtown), and is mostly free on the streets. I suggest renting a bicycle and cruising down the beach for a while. Tijuana has the home of the original Caesar salad which I think is worth a visit if you do end up in Mexico. My favorite food truck is mexican seafood that's parked at 6090 Friars Rd, San Diego, CA 92108, and I think it's better than any sit down mexican in town. Cowles mountain is a nice 45 minute hike to the top with a good view. Potato chip rock is about 45 minutes out of town, then 1 hour hike to the top and makes for great pictures if you're daring enough to lay on it. San Diego has something around 140 breweries, so there's lots to try. Ocean beach has a farmers market Wednesday's 4-8 and it's nice to grab some food and then hang out by the beach to watch the sun set. Ocean beach is also my favorite place to actually get in the water because the sand is really fine and there's very few rocks. La Jolla cove is cool because there's seals hanging out, but the parking is pretty much always packed. I'm not a fan of point loma because traffic is horrible. There's a lot of really active groups on meetup.com, so if you're looking for any group activity it's a good place to look. If you're into biking definitely rent a bike and go around fiesta island; it's a gorgeous 4 mile loop that doesn't connect to anything so it's low on cars. But even if you don't bike it you should drive through once. Hope you have fun! and feel free to pm me

 

[dcorbatt]

Thanks for all the info so far. It will be my wife and myself making the trip. We were supposed to go on a cruise in the gulf this weekend, but as you all know another storm is coming, so we canceled those plans and opted on going overt to the west side and chose San Diego.

Definitely wanna check out Black's Beach.

 

[mdk2isu]

If you like italian, there's a great little italian restaurant downtown in of all places... Little Italy San Diego..... If you see it from the street, you could walk right by it... Its the ol New York style with a deli in front and a great lil italian restaurant in back...

Its called Filippi's Pizza Grotto... Pizza is thick crust but the sauce is awesome!!!! Lasagna was good - everything was good.....

2nd this. Really good pizza.
Couple other restaurants to consider:
Tom Ham's Lighthouse - Across the street from the airport entrance. Overlooks the bay. Great view of downtown and Coronado Island. Sit outside on the deck.
Kono's Café - Best breakfast burrito I've had. It was massive, we didn't eat lunch the day we had breakfast here we were so full.

 

[IworkwithCyclone500]

Love San Diego!

Leave your credit cards at home, best advice I can give.

 

[SDClone]

We just finished day 3 and one more full day to go. We ate at Mitch's and enjoyed the fish tacos, Filippi's Pizza Grotto, Hodads, a small local fish restaurant right on Mission Bay, and a Mexican restaurant in Old Town. We were not disappoint with any of them.

As for entertainment we spent time in Ocean Beach, La Jolla, a two hour boat tour around the San Diego Bay, Belmont Park, spent time on Mission Beach, rented wave runners, checked out downtown along with Little Italy and Petco Park, checked out many sights along Harbor Drive. The zoo Sea World really arnt high on our list.

Thanks for all the info and ideas, none of them have been disapointing!

 

[CarlHungus]

Bump. Going there over Spring Break. What are some good areas to stay near the beach? Looking for more of a chill beach scene than a big party scene.

 

[Cycsk]

I like to visit Tecate. Easy drive from San Diego.

 

[dirtyninety]

Imperial Beach....don't go.

Check for internet cameras in your airbnb. Check for internet cameras in your hotel room. Check for internet cameras in all public restrooms.

If you're smoking, throw your butts in the clump of brown brushy sticks over there. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang reference....Val Kilmer really made me laugh in that one)

 

[CarlHungus]

Got a place across the street from the ocean in Ocean Beach. For food, I have Hodads, In N' Out, and somewhere to get fish tacos on my list. What other food places are worth checking out?

Also we may drive up to LA for one day; how long of a drive should I expect on a weekday for that?

 

[CarlHungus]

Got a place across the street from the ocean in Ocean Beach. For food, I have Hodads, In N' Out, and somewhere to get fish tacos on my list. What other food places are worth checking out?

Also we may drive up to LA for one day; how long of a drive should I expect on a weekday for that?

Bump

 

[WoodCy]

I used to go to San Diego monthly for work (2000). There was a steak house called "The Butcher Shop." It was like something from a mob movie. On the walls were pictures of Sammy Davis jr, Sinatra and Dean Martin. After paying closern attention I realized that the pictures were taken in the seats the pictures hung over. The steaks and prime rib were great.

One night the had a lounge singer who was in his 60's with his wife. The guy had a permanent, a silky shirt unbuttoned to his belly button, leisure suit pants, lots of chest hair and a big gold chain. He played an electric keyboard with the synthesizer drums in the background. It was just like a Will Farrell skit.100% awesome.

I haven't been there in ages so I can't speak to it today.

 

[HardcoreClone]

Bump. I'm heading to SD in April, any other suggestions for a first-timer? I also posed this in another thread, but anyone golfed at Torrey Pines? Would I be able to get a walk up tee time? Thanks.

 

[Knownothing]

I was stationed there. The zoo is not as fun as everyone makes it out to be.

Go to Coronado island and hang on the beach in front of the hotel del. might get to see a sub surface.

Also pacific beach is awesome.

Midway tour is cool. U might be able to see a Marine corps graduation if something like that is something u would like to do.