momplaygroup

We will be in California for two weeks and start our trip in San Diego. I have 3 kids (twin girls 9, a boy 10 1/2) We have the following planned but I'd like your recommendations on which beach in San Diego area we should go to:

Sat. July 5 drive from LAX to San Diego (tickets were just way cheaper to do this), rest, check into hotel and maybe go to beach in evening.

Sun. July 6- Go to San Diego Zoo; walk around Balboa Park (these are in the same place right?) in the evening go to the beach

Monday, July 7- Go to Sea World

Tuesday, July 8- Go to Animal Wild Park

Wednesday, July 9- Go to La Jolla; go to the beach

Is the above reasonable? I don't want to cram too much things to allow room for resting and flexibility. Anything in San Diego that I missed? Which beach should we plan to go to? Thanks in advance!

tchoiniere

I would recommend going up to Cabrillo Monument at Point Loma and driving around Coronado Island.

Make sure to go to La Jolla Cove on Wed before going to the beach.

SD Zoo is part of Balboa Park. Your itinerary definitely sounds doable. I would get to the zoo as it opens on a weekend to avoid the crowds.

Seaport Village may be worth a stop as there are a bunch of shops right near downtown.

Where are you staying?

momplaygroup

Thanks! On July 5 and 6 we're staying at the Crown Plaza (only b/c we want to use our holiday inn points Then we have no idea! Any suggestions! TIA!

tchoiniere

Look at the hotels on Shelter Island - generally a good price with a great view - the Bay Club, Humphrey's. There is also a Best Western out there. I have stayed at the other 2 quite a bit and really enjoy them. Its also a great location for your itinerary.

lvk

I think you should schedule the beach day on the third day. Choose the two parks that you want to see the most on the first two days.

Honestly, standing in those lines for 3 days in a row is not fun for you or your kids. On day 4, you can all decide whether you want to go to the 3rd park or not. (Don't be surprised if the kids vote no.) The parks will all will be very crowded and hot during that week.

Barney18

If you are getting in early at LAX and drive down to SD, you might want to stop off at either Laguna Beach (about half way down)or Leggoland (just north of La Jolla.)

itsv

July is very busy in Sd so you want to get those reservations asap. I would also try the Paradise Point resort, very kid friendly (on site beach, 3 pools and mini golf and you could walk to sea world.

For beaches, my kids' favorites are La Jolla Shores, they have a parking lot and the waves are good for kids. You could grab a bite at Jeff's burgers, The cheese shop or primi Piatti. I would also go to the beach in Del Mar-I think it is called pumphouse park. There is a playground there and the trains go by which excites the kids. Another favorite is the beach in Coronado near the Hotel Del. You might also want to arrange surf lessons for the kids for a new experience. I always hire OB surf shop for my out of town guests. Also you could rent bikes either in Mission Beach or Coronado for another experience.

As suggested, I would break up the seaworld, zoo, wild animal park days so that the beach fell in the middle. I really wouldn't walk around Balboa Park in the evening, instead you could do nighttime zoo which is fun and interesting. With Sea World, see if your kids want to stay late for the fireworks at 9:50 p.m. You could do a little sea world in the morning, go back for swimming or beach, then return to sea world at night. For the Wild Animal Park, be aware that it is very hot out there so check out the weather forcasts to see which day will be the coolest and go that day. Also since it is about 40 minutes away from SD, you might want to hit it when you have to return to LAX (assuming you have a late flight) since it would be more on your way.

I agree that a visit to Cabrillo and the tidepools is fun for kids, Also check out the MIdway museum and taking a ferry from downtown to Coronado.

momplaygroup

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! Now I'm having a hard time figuring out which neighborhood we should search for a hotel in. My husband wants something with a nice view/neighborhood, near the beach. Any suggestions?

Heavens

We love the Crown Point in Hotel Circle, if that is the one you are referring to. It has the best pool in San Diego, imo. Or one of the best, hows that. It is centrally located and staff there is very nice. All rooms have balconies, which becomes a second room almost, hanging out there, reading, sipping coffee or wine in the evening. We always request an upper level floor facing the pool, facing south. Big rooms. Paradise Point is also a great hotel for families. If you want to be on the beach, Catamaran. But Mission Beach/Pacific Beach will be very busy in July, especially over the 4th weekend. Incredible traffic.

Doing all the parks is too much. Lots of walking at all of them. I would skip Wild Animal Park. It will be hot and the animals don't come out of their dens if it is hot. They cluster in the shade. Who can blame them. The zoo is fun, but go in the morning when it is cool. Balboa Park could almost be another day, it has a very cool science museum with an Imax. Also natural history museum, art museum and other sights to see. The archetecture in the park is amazing. I love the arborateum, or however that is spelled. The Prado restaurant is there and I've heard it is wonderful.

Sea World at night is supposed to be a fun time. If you stay on the beach, try and catch the fireworks at night from sea world. It is fun. Ask your concierge about the time and where to see.

Point Loma is a great place to visit. The Lighthouse and tidepools, fun times. Point Loma Seafoods is there, one of our favorite places to eat, cheap and good seafood, sitting out by the marina on picnic tables.

A new place in Point Loma is Liberty Station. Supposed to be quite a new destination area with shops and restaurants. They also have a brand new Courtyard there that we want to check out.

Lego Land is good for little kids, your kids are too old, imo. The Del Mar race track will be open maybe at that time? You'll have to check out the dates, but that is a fun half day (starts at 2, I think), even with kids. Have late lunch, walk around, place a few bets. It is usually cool and breezy there and a nice place to spend some time.

You didn't mention my favorite place in San Diego in the summer, Petco Park. If there is a game on, you must go. It is the best place to be, sitting in the shade, in the park, watching the game, eating a hot dog, watching the crowd. Pure American fun.

Have fun. You really don't have to "do" all the time in San Diego. It is a fun place to just hang out and chill. The beach is fun, the people are nice, the pace is mellow, most of the time (and if you don't count the freeways).

itsv

Momplaygroup,

You want to be located near the attractions you want to visit and with you coming in July most everything in La Jolla or Coronado is probablly already booked. As someone mentioned, there are new hotels in Liberty Station in Point Loma. You could get a view of the bay and boats. We have put up relatives in Homewood Suites in Liberty Station and it was very nice. Plus you could walk to some places for lunch. You could also try the hotels on Shelter Island and Harbor Island. Seriously you should book now, a few years ago with had a contracting disaster at our house in SD and had to live in hotels in july for 3 weeks. We became nomadic because we had to move around every 2 days since most places were booked already. Also July 5 will be incrediblly busy on the freeway coming down from LAX, you have the fair in del mar that you have to drive through and all the vacation travelers. Just be prepared.

momplaygroup

Thanks, Heavens! I think you all have convinced me to do Sea World and the Zoo and just see how things go to decide if we want to do the Animal Park or not. I'm trying not to be too rigid with this planning since my husband is very spontaneous and if I plan every single day, every single hour, he gets quite annoyed ;-)

momplaygroup

What about Del Mar or Mission Valley/Old Town? Downtown or Harbor Island? I see a lot of hotels still available in these areas?

Snowflake25

My DH and I were in San Diego for the 3rd time this past winter. I would recommend going to Old Town and getting on the Trolley tour your first day. You can get off and back on and it stops at many of the places you mentioned. You can also get discounted tickets for the zoo etc when you get your trolley tickets. We arrived early and so got on one of the first trolley tours. We enjoyed a walk along the harbour and checked out Seaport Village then got back on for the tour of the downtown area and then over to Coronado Island. We spent some time walking on the beach and then took the trolley to the zoo and spend most of the afternoon. The tour gave us a good intro to the city and the next day we went back to some of the places we wanted to spend more time at. Our kids were 5 and 7 the first time we went to San Diego and they enjoyed Old Town. When we took them back as teenagers Old Town was again a favorite stop for us.

tinabina

I agree with everyone. Skip the Wild Animal Park...hot and far. Just a quick footnote on the SD zoo, especially for first timers. Try and have a plan of sorts, the zoo is big and hilly. My kids favorites were always the Sea Lion Show, the skyride over to the polar bears and skyride back. Skip the Hoof Mesa area, unless your kids love many types of African deer. Take the bus tour early so you can get a feel for the size of the zoo. We always let each person(kids too ofcourse) pick 2or3 animals or areas of special interest and map out the best route. I know this might sound a little rigid, but it will really reduce the "whine" factor. I always wish the zoo would hand out maps with various walking routes based on time/age and animal interests. Maybe I should do that....MMMM I will put it on my list. Have fun! Oh and Balboa park is mostly museums, my kids alway enjoyed the carousel and IMAX theatre the most out of the offerings.

tinabina

La Jolla Shores is a nice beach. The tidepools are fun at Cabrillo, check the tide schedule in the paper or on the internet for lowest tide times. The cove is pretty and you may see the seals before they are "removed",but it is more of a looking beach than a hanging out beach. My advice for the zoo also applies to Sea World...grab a map and plot out a route, kids love the Harbor climbing/playing area. Oh and a big PS. The beach is cold at night, so don't plan on swimming and bring sweat shirts!!

Heavens

On weekends Balboa Park has many people there to see the archetecture, the fountains, the arborateum (inside garden)which is a great place to take pictures and the ponds.

They often have street vendors on the weekends selling shaved ice and various other things. Sometimes they have puppet shows and magicians...it is a fun place when the weather is nice.

There are about ten (or more) museums there. The Rueben H. Fleet is the science museum with the Imax and would interest children of all ages. Good gift shop too. There is also a fine restaurant there, the Prado. It is a lovely place to spend a few hours. We always take our out of town guests there to chill and walk around.

sebinah

We have found it best to be at the parks a few minutes before opening in the morning. It is cooler, less crowded, and the staff is not tired yet. Same for the freeways.

Heavens

Momplaygroup, where did you decide to stay? Do you need more help with this?

eschule

I do not live in SD but have been there a few times. I think your 7/6 day is overloaded. The Zoo is a workout in and of itself and the Park is huge. You MAY be able to do both (skimming a lot of stuff) but you will be exhausted. Expecting to get beach time in after both of those is pushing it.

Thw WAP will be very hot (literally 20 degree temperature increase from the coast) and as others mentioned you may want to skip. If you do go, you will probably want to go to the beach after that (or a pool) and will have time that day. We lasted 2 hours last August.

Also recommend checking out a Padres game if they're in town. Very cool stadium.

momplaygroup

Thanks everyone! We are staying at Marriott at Coronado. We've decided to just have an open mind and see how things go in San Diego. My husband (and to a lesser degree myself) are more get there and then decide people rather than planning out every detail of our travel. We leave Saturday. I'll report back! Thanks everyone again you guys are awesome