Hi,
I'm going to La Jolla later this month for a wedding and am making it a mini vacation. How does the following itinerary sound?
Day 1 (Thursday) arrive 2 pm. Check out Old Town en route to La Jolla. Attend rehearsal dinner in LJ and then later in the evening head to Gaslamp District for salsa dancing at Sevilla.
Day 2 (Friday) head to zoo first thing. Explore Balboa park afterwards until time to return to LJ to get ready for the 5 pm wedding.
Day 3 (Saturday) breakfast with the wedding party and then head to Coronado to see hotel and explore beach/town. Afterwards, head to Cabrillo National Monument/Point Loma lighthouse.
Day 4 (Sunday) La Jolla day. Explore LJ beaches, wander, relax
Day 5 (Monday) fly home

Day 1 is not ideal. Assuming you are in your rental car within an hour by 3, then if you spend 2 hrs in Old Town, this puts you on the highway during rush hour to get to La Jolla. It will be slow moving. I would probably skip Old Town at this time. Go to your hotel from the airport. Heading back alter in the evening to Gaslamp would work.

Even Day 2, I would just do the zoo. Its a good 5 hrs for the zoo. You would have some time afterwards but not much without hitting rush hour back to LJ

Are you in the wedding party? If so, you probably won't get much time on Friday to explore Balboa Park and the zoo if the wedding is at five. The last wedding we went to wanted all the girls there at noon for a 5pm wedding...hair, dressing, photos, etc took a long time!

On Saturday, you'd be better off to go to the lighthouse first, then head to Coronado. The lighthouse closes early; Coronado doesn't!

Just to note...heading from downtown/zoo/Old Town towards La Jolla in the afternoon will be going against traffic. I used to work in Balboa Park, and heading home north at 5:00pm was a breeze because traffic was going the other way. But I do agree with tchoiniere on Day 1, you probably won't have time to stop at Old Town and make it to La Jolla in time for the rehearsal dinner. Even though you won't hit much traffic, finding parking can take forever and will add to your time.

But you could fit in Old Town on Day 3. Head to Coronado in the morning. Hit Pt Loma in the afternoon. And if there's time, head to Old Town for dinner. It'll be a busy day, but doable.

For day 2, factor in half an hour to get from zoo to La Jolla. So if it takes you an hour to get ready for a 5pm wedding, I would leave the zoo at 3pm. That's plenty of time to see the zoo and walk through Balbo Park (but without seeing any museums).

Thanks for the comments. And as to the question about being in the wedding party, I am not.

For parking in La Jolla, I probably will leave the car at the hotel for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. Both locations are about 1/2 mile from my hotel and it sounds like walking the distance will beat driving around looking for parking as for both spots it's just street parking.

When checking out LJ, don't miss the sea lions at the beach. They own one spot in particular and there are usually a couple dozen lying around. Also, might I suggest at least a couple of hours in Del Mar? Very quaint little village just north of LJ.

Good luck!

Pappy,
I am definitely planning on seeing the sea lions. That was one of the first things I got excited about when I started doing research. I will have to research Del Mar. Thanks for the suggestion.

If the wedding is in La Jolla, I would stay there, as much as possible. It's beautiful there. I would go to the Zoo, but I would skip old town. When you're in La jolla, try and have a drink at the restaurant "nine ten" great food! Also when sightseeing in Lajolla, try going to Bird rock, the waves are really pretty there. The same day you go to the Zoo I would go to Coronado, it's down that way, this way when you come back to Lajolla you can stay in Lajolla. If you're looking for more ideas in San Diego try here for your research: http://sandiego.nyctourist.com You're going to love La jolla! Have fun!!! Enjoy the beautiful weather there.

Thanks Travelattorney.

I don't know what kind of wedding, but I might switch day 2 and 4. The zoo is a lot of walking - optimally one would need 2 days. So I'd save my energy for the wedding and wander the beaches and relax on the day of the wedding, and then spend all of day 4 at the zoo. Just a thought.

Thanks Austin. I was thinking of that switch actually, although not because of any concerns about being tired, but more for the purpose of fully enjoying the zoo and Balboa park without having to watch the clock.