calif dreamin
 

My adult daughters and me are vac in calif in July. Questions about San Diego.. We plan to be there 3 days. Is it possible to get around on the old town trolley or will they be too slow and crowded? 1 day at Zoo. places to eat there? or around there? 2nd day on trolley to Coronado, Gaslamp Quarter Little Italy Old Town. 3rd day we will rent car to go to Mission Beach ...Any other beach suggested? then on to La Jolla then we will cont north on PCH to Aneheim or La not sure which to go to !st any help with itinerary would be appreciated. Also is it possible to get nice hotel for 150 or so and any suggeestions on that?

Check other posts about San Diego under California. The trolley is usually not that crowded and moves along pretty well - but it doesn't run to Coronado. For that - take a ferry from the Embarcadero. It only takes about 20? minutes to make the crossing and you get a great view.

You can have lunch at the zoo but for dinner - suggest Casa Guadalajara in Old Town, or the Fish Market - next to the USS Midway, or one of the many restaurants in Little Italy - or downtown in the Gaslamp, or in Coronado.

Mission Beach if fine but really love The Cove in La Jolla.

And for $150 you should have a number of decent choices - just google away.

For three days in San Diego, IMHO, you're better off just renting a car rather than going by trolley everywhere. It'll save you a lot more time, which is a much more important to you. Between trolley fares for three people and cost of a car rental, you're probably not saving that much. San Diego is not that difficult to drive and parking is not impossible to find.

There is confusion in this thread concerning the Old Town Trolley and the San Diego Trolley. The former is a hop on-hop off sightseeing bus that takes you on a circuit around to the major tourist sites, including Coronado. As such, it's not a good choice for getting from where you are to a specific destination.

The San Diego Trolley is San Diego's light rail system. It has several branches that serve different areas of the city. But, as Tomsd said, it doesn't go to Coronado.

I suggest you take the Old Town Trolley the first day to see the tourist places you mentioned, and maybe more. The second day drive to the Zoo. Third day to the beach.

I'm from the LA area and have had no problems driving in San Diego.

I'm from a small, two-stoplight town in Northern CA and had no problems driving in San Diego. :) If you rent a car, check to see if your hotel includes free parking or how much they charge per night.

I was in San Diego Last week and ate at Mimmos in Little Italy. Our original destination was Buon Appetito (my parents had eaten there previously and liked it), but as we walked by Mimmos, their special of spinach ravioli was calling to us. We were not disappointed.

At the zoo, we ate at the San Diego Zoo Sandwich company. It really wasn't too much more expensive than Subway, and the sandwiches were surprisingly good.

My favorite in Old Town is the Old Town Mexican Cafe~LOVE their carnitas!!

< then on to La Jolla then we will cont north on PCH to Aneheim or La not sure which to go to !st any help with itinerary would be appreciated. Also is it possible to get nice hotel for 150 or so and any suggeestions on that?>

From your other post, it appears that you are a party of 3 and that one is leaving after 7 days but two of you are continuing on to San Francisco. If the girl leaving is flying out of LAX, go to Anaheim first, or you are doubling back.

I assume that if you are interested in Anaheim, it is to spend a day at Disneyland/California Adventure. I love Disney, but if you have gone to Disneyworld in the past, you may also want to consider other amusement parks in Southern California including Knotts Berry Farm (very close to Anaheim) but also Universal Studios in Burbank and Six Flags up in Valencia, just north of Los Angeles. If you pick either of the latter instead, you don't need to stop in Anaheim.

If you go with Anaheim, you can find a decent hotel across the street from Disneyland within your pricepoint. There are several. We have had good luck at the Howard Johnson but check TripAdvisor or Disney chat boards for reviews on all of them.

As to actual travel routes, you mention that you want to take PCH Hwy 1 from San Diego to Anaheim. I don't believe you can take it all the way up. Part of the way you must take I-5 through Camp Pendleton. I think you can go over to Pacific Coast Highway somewhere around Laguna Beach. Hopefully a local can advise you as to the best option there.

Was just going to mention the same about PCH. It's not really worth following just to get to the 1-5. Better to just hop on 1-5 the whole way for a much easier drive and not to waste time.

5alive and sheri_lp are correct. You can't take PCH all the way from San Diego to Anaheim due to Camp Pendleton. I would just stick to I-5 out of San Diego. If you really felt like you wanted to see some of the beach areas in Orange County, you could exit I-5 at Dana Point and drive the coast through Dana Point, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. You could then pick up the 55 Freeway in Newport and go north to meet I-5 again and on to Anaheim.

The area around Laguna and Newport is nice but I will caution you in the summer the beach traffic can be extememly heavy. I see clients in both cities but I try to avoid PCH in the summer. If you don't mind slow going and want to stop off and have lunch along the way, Laguna Beach is a good place to stop. You could also do Laguna Beach and instead of driving through Newport (which can also have bad traffic), take Laguna Canyon Rd CA-133 back to the 405 or 5.