15 Hours in SanDiego,California
 

Arrive in SanDiego Feb.14 at 2 PM and leave next morning at 9 AM. 2 couples age 45 and early 60's. Low key country folks. Any ideas welcome. What about guided tours of the area?

Will you have a car? Where are you staying? What interest do you have?? You really only have a short time on arrival day since you leave pretty early the next day. 15 hours less sleeping time and perhaps time to get to airport - leaves with not much time.

This is a helpful guide to help start planning:

http://localwally.com/attractions-essential.html

Also, check the Destination tab above for San Diego.

I'm taking. "leap of faith" here and assuming you are arriving by air and then taking a cruise? Are you staying down by the water?

I'd plan to tour the Midway (if military history interests you at all), wander around the Gaslamp Quarter (restaurants, bars, shopping, not sightseeing, so if the weather is good, do this for dinner and the evening), and take a taxi to either Balboa Park (beautiful park with historical buildings, museums) or over to Coronado Island (quintessial beach town, with the fabulous Hotel Del Coronado as its main attraction - where "Some Like It Hot" was filmed) -- both of those while not walking distance are quite close to the airport/Bayfront area where I'm guessing you'll be.

I'm taking another "leap of faith" and guessing that to be 19 hours.

Indeed I would definitely have dinner in the Gaslamp area, and definitely make an attempt to see the ocean beaches.

If the zoo is of interest at all, the San Diego Zoo becomes a top priority.

It might help to know where you're from, as the ocean would be less enticing to someone who lived on Oahu's north shore, than it would to someone from Kansas.

Anyway, with such little time, you don't need a long list. Just hit the ground running.

Another possibility is the Trolly to Old Town. But the Gaslamp, Midway and Balboa Park (zoo, museums, etc) are good choices as well.

Sorry about the bad math.
19 hours less sleep
Stay near airport
Can rent a car
From Nova Scotia,Canada on seashore.
Thanks all.
Warrsher

Since your staying near the airport you need to make a quick visit to Cabrillo National Monument. The view of the city is wonderful from here. http://www.nps.gov/cabr/index.htm Going to Coronado is fun and you can rent those 4-6 person bikes by the Hotel Del Coronado and cruise around the island for an hour and look at the beautiful ocean and houses. If you like Mexican Food eat at a resturant called Miguel's their free chips and cheese dip is great.

Great suggestions above. It really all depends on your interests, but driving over the bridge to Coronado is a trip itself, and the venerable Hotel Del has a small little hall display/museum in the basement.

Old town is fairly close to the airport - (as is Little Italy with plenty of cute places) - and also fun to watch from the street where you can see the ladies make tortillas - at the Old Town Mexican Cafe.

The USS Midway tour is amazing, and next door - the Fish Market has as fresh of a catch as you will find, and in Balboa Park, the Aerospace museum is a special treat, as is the car museum next to it, and the Natural History Museum is also very interesting.

San Diego is your 19 hour oyster. :)

Geez, were I from Nova Scotia, maybe I'd just stay there... although San Diego should be much warmer than Halifax in February (and California surely has no equivalent to Ecum Secum).

I think I WOULD definitely rent a car... and be thankful that the airport is more central-ish in San Diego than an airport tends to be in many spots.

Definitely schedule dinner in the Gaslamp district, and use the car to drive to various spots along the coast (even though you know coastal scenery).

CONSIDER the San Diego Zoo... at least look into it as a significant possibility, because it is among the best around.

Most of San Diego is pleasant, and it doesn't tend to have the fearful neighborhoods known to L.A.

I really think you'll get a great sense of the place for merely driving around, and you can't get tooooooooo lost there what with water on the west, Mexico on the south, and less-populated areas to the east. The sun will likely be out more often than not, so it will probably be somewhat easy to tell in which direction you're traveling.

Don't commit to too many activities ahead of time, and then just let yourself get a feel for the place upon arrival.

If all other things were equal, I'd take a free trip to Nova Scotia before I'd take a free trip to San Diego... but there is nothing wrong with San Diego even so.