Family of four ages 56, 35, 32 & 26 traveling to San Diego looking for the best hotel to stay at. Any inoformation would be helpful. Thank you

There are a lot of very good hotels in downtown San Diego. Without knowing anything about your criteria for "best hotel" it's impossible to make any serious recommendations. Could you let us know what you want to find in a hotel?

The Manchester Grand Hyatt on San Diego Bay usually gets good reviews as does the Omni which is next to the Padres Petco park. However, as Barbara says it helps to know what constitutes a "good" hotel and also what type of budget you have.

.....and if you will have a car. Parking fees downtown will cost up to $18.00 per night.

Please accept my apology for not being more specific. We are looking for a hotel with nice accomadations three or more stars . Also not far from attractions walking or short cab ride. We will not have a car. I hope this helps. Thank you again.

The Wyndham is nice and well located. From it, you can walk to the Embarcadero, Little Italy, Gaslight District.

It's sort of a typical big, business hotel but the rooms are nice and most of them have a nice view. Also very convenient to the airport, if you're flying. It's cab-ride distance to the convention center and the ballparks.

San Diego is not really a walking city - and cabbing everywhere can get expensive after a while. Not to mentin the pain or organizing them in advance. I would really reco you look into Priceline or Hotwire - since I think renting a car could easily cost less - and be much more convenient.

Sorry - have stayed in numerous hotels in San Diego - and the Hotel del Coronado is the best for a resort type. For a downtown type hotel I would definitely do the Hyatt - it seemed better than the others. Avoid anything near Hotel Circle (mostly tacky and quite inconvenient).

I'd have to disagree that SD isn't walkable. I found it easy to walk around if you stay in a centrally located hotel. Maybe we differ on the definition of "walkable."

No - I thnk I have a pretty good idea of walkable - but from the Hyatt - I don;t think it's really walkable to the zoo, to Sea World, to La Jolla etc.

queenlala

Perhaps you can find some information that will be helpful to you at www.sandiego.org This is the official tourist information site and you can send for a free visitors planning guide. You can search for a hotel by area. Then come back here and ask for opinions.

You would also get some more suggestions if you tell us when you are visiting and your $ budget.

Sandy

Well - you're correct - it does depend on what you think is walkable.

You could walk to the Zoo - I think it;s only about 3 miles each way - but Sea World, La Jolla and a bunch of other stuff seems a little far.

If you want just the immediate downtown area I guess it's walkable - but not a lot of things I think most people would want to see.

I've tried to travel by cabs on a couple of trips and it's very inconvenient. They often don't even have cab lines in front of the major hotels - and it's not like New York where you simply walk to the curb and wave. You have to organize them in advance, they always seem to be late or to get lost or???

So since then - I 've always rented a car. (And I don;t on most business trips - only if I'm forced to - since I prefer just grabbing a cab.)

The two best hotels downtown that are walkable to the Seaport, Petco Park, Gaslamp District, Horton Plaza, and a slew of other things would be the Manchester Grand Hyatt (I've stayed in, fabulous, nicest Hyatt I've experienced) and the Marriott. They are next door to each other and as to which is nicest, flip a coin.

They are both fairly new and very well located.

If I may say my bit about this question. My husand and I are from the UK and have twice been to San Diego and managed fine without a car (although we did rent a car later to tour more of the South West). We're both seniors, keen walkers and adventurous as far as public transportation systems go, especially in the US where they're usually excellent, clean, cheap and reliable. The SD Trolley and the buses from our hotel in Old Town to Downtown, the zoo and Balboa Park were easy and fast. We took the trolley to the SD Mission and to Tijuana, and the Coaster to Oceanside. I think we only once took a taxi (which we hailed in the street) after dinner Downtown last April as it was very cold and we were unsure quite where we were.

I agree about Hotel Circle which is miles from anywhere, but the hotels on the Bay already mentioned, i.e. The Hyatt (beautiful, we could just about afford a glass of wine there) are what I would call fairly central and convenient for all sorts.

However, as I mentioned, we're good walkers and have utilised and enjoyed the US public transport in lots of cities. Where else would we meet all those friendly people and get all sorts of tips about what to do and where to visit. Of course, it could be that we're devout cowards when it comes to driving in big US cities, just until we get acclimatised to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.

San Diego, my favourite US city.

Regards to all.

Well, nytraveler, I guess we came to terms on "walkable" but we're going to differ on your statement that "not a lot of things I think most people would want to see" downtown.

As GoTravel and others have pointed out (and I agree) there is lots to see and do downtown.

queenlala: please come back and give us a few more clues. San Diego is chockablock full of hotels of every kind. I'm researching for an upcoming trip and my mind is boggling, even though I worked in SD for awhile and have been there numerous times.

Please give us an idea of price range, location (by the beach/inland), family-style or big business hotel, etc. etc. As many clues as you can give us.

It is possible to be located where you can take the Trolley and other public transportation to a number of places; however, eventually, you will need a car for some of the other places.

joan-kirsopp: love your attitude when travelling! So open to new experiences!

ttt

What we did was plan our day around the route of the Tourist Trolley. We used it two days to get off Coronado Island and to see the various sites in SD including the Zoo.

We have decided on the Manchester Grand Hyatt. Has anyone stayed there? What are your thoughts