gaelle

My mother and her best friend (both in their 70s...active as one can be at that age) ) want to spend 5 to 7 days in san diego. They don't drive. Can anyone recommend a hotel that is in a good location and one that offers tours or is located near tour locations.

ksucat

La Jolla is an awesome place to stay with the gorgeous coast line with tons of parks and walking trails..great restaurants and shopping.
Grande Colonial on the higher end..Best Western Inn of LJ on the lower end..both decent hotels.
Coronado is another place with either the Hotel Del or Glorietta Bay.
Gaslamp/Downtown SD..Omni hotel, Manchester Grand Hyatt or Holiday Inn Bayfront for the cheaper of the 3.
Old Town Trolley Tours is excellent for getting an idea of the city.
There is also a seal tour that goes on the bay.
Lots of active seniors here in SD.

www.sandiego.org

boom_boom

La Jolla is a great place, but not close to the center of stuff to do in San Diego, such as Old Town, Gaslamp District, the Midway Museum, etc. I prefer the follwing

Hilton Gaslamp,
Embassy Suites Downtown, Omni or Grand Hyatt are my favorite hotels. All easy distance to the trolly, etc.
You'll need a cab for Balboa Park and the Zoo, but it is worth it.

michele_d

Hi gaelle ,
My son attends SDSU in San Diego and rides the trolley daily. If you don't have your own transportation be sure to stay somewhere near the trolley system. It is very basic and extremely affordable and easy to use. You can find a map easily by looking up San Diego trolley system on the internet. The website is very user friendly. The trolley goes virtually everywhere but not to the Zoo. You will have to take a taxi or bus there.

They will have a great time,
Michele

1JAR

Stay at the Embassey Suites. It is nicely located for flat walkable, pedicabs or short taxi drives to the main tourist sites for downtown San Diego, not far from the airport for taxi drives and best access for the waterfront, Bay, Coronado (can catch a ferry to Coronado waterfront & then taxi to Hotel Del and closest Ocean beaches), Gaslamp and they will belpful to tourists for Old Town tours, which will let you see the most of San Diego on tour without a car...

Contrary to post above, San Diego does not have a good public transit system for tourists. I am sure it is fine for a college student but is very limited with intent more for commuters..pls look at the many other San Diego posts about transportation for tourists. We all say same thing over & over: you really need a car to get around San Diego except the downtown/ Convention Center area..

Barbara

To add one thing to 1JAR's post, a downtown location will also put them a short cab ride away from Balboa Park, which is a lovely area with many museums.

ksucat

the more I read this post the more I am convinced that Gaslamp/Downtown is their best bet and Balboa Park is a lovely place to spend the day with all the great museums.
You can take the water taxi over to Coronado from the Gaslamp which will enable them to cruise over there on a boat..maybe have lunch at the Hotel Del which I'm sure they would enjoy.
Trolley you can take to Old Town from downtown.

www.gaslamp.org
www.sdhe.com

gaelle

thank you so much. this has made the trip much easier to plan