my daughter and i are arriving in san diego in august. we want to go to the zoo but then most of our time in la jolla (staying at the colonial grand). is renting a car a must?

IMO, yes it is.

And we just came back from there.

Yes - getting around San Diego and neighboring towns efficiently without a car is close to impossible.

Another "yes."

Another yes. I've been twice and am planning a 3rd trip - had a car both times previously and was glad I did, and will have a car this time as well.

I am big on public transportation and take it quite a bit at home - between public transportation and my bike, I put minimal miles on my car. So I am definitely not tied to a car in general. But in San Diego, things are pretty well spread out and public transportation is limited.

YES!!
Have fun at the Grande Colonial..
Make sure you go and see the seals, snorkel La Jolla Cove and have lunch or early dinner (before sunset) at George's at the Cove on the terrace.. a block from your hotel.
Birch Aquarium in LJ is great too.

thanks so much for your help. i'm sure we will have a great time. mother and daughter trip-daughter is graduating from university of texas with her masters in social work.

I'll go with the majority even though we've never tried the public transit there. For the most part San Diego isn't hard to get around in. You may want to take a spin thru Coronado as well and visit the Hotel Del Coronado.

I was going to go to SD carless once (my mom and I). After much research, I decided against it. This was a few years ago (2003 I think).

Another yes! La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya - hey, I didn't know until I got there!) is a short drive away, but you will be very happy you have a car when you get there. Same with going to the zoo. A car would definitely be useful.

Parking is relatively easy to find in San Diego, although a bit tricky in La Jolla. It was easy to find metered parking at the end of the day, so I never had to park in the hotel's parking lot.

i live in san diego - i didn't know we had public transportation. LOL