Need help with San Diego Beach Hotels
 

Planning to spend President's Weekend (3 nights) in San Diego. Not familiar at all with the area. Looking for a beach hotel - one where we can walk out to the beach and rent bikes or walk for miles. Any suggestions on hotel or area we should be looking in? We don't mind being a bit out of San Diego. Like to walk to shops, restaurants, etc. Hoping for something in the $250-$300 per night range. Pool not necessary. Fitness room would be nice. Thanks in advance Fodorites!!

Check out the Catamaran on Mission Bay, when our son lived downtown, we stayed here frequently. Ideal for biking, skating,boating, running around the Bay, easy access to downtown attractions -- Seaworld, Zoo, Coronado Island. 1-2 short block walk to Pacific Beach beach. So from San Diego going north, there's Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach before you enter LaJolla. There are beach hotels in LaJolla but recommend you stay south of downtown or go all the way around to La Jolla Shores, if you choose LaJ. Catamaran is right off the 5, close to airport. I would recommend this place on Mission Bay ahead of a few others located directly on the beach in Pacific Beach, sometimes the crowds at night can be very noisy/young/shaky Great lounge and outdoor areas, contained parking.

Well, the ideal for first visit to San Diego, if you choose not to stay at the Catamaran, is to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado. Historic, memorable place, short hop across the bay with magnificent vista view of downtown. Path along the bay ideal for skating, biking, jogging, lots of restaurants over there. Not sure what the prices would be over Prez Wknd, but you need to go over and see it regardless of where you stay. It's easy to cross over the bay and you're smack downtown for access as I detailed in previous message. We love both hotels. (But now son's granny flat is free!!)

Please read ALL those Del reviews on TripAdvisor and elsewhere before you make that particular decision.

We have stayed at the Del many times. I much prefer the old building, FWIW. It definitely is not what it once was, but it is still very nice. It is very crowded though as many people who are not staying there come to check it out, shop, dine etc so it can get a bit overwhelming.

Another place we have enjoyed our stay is the Bahia on Mission Bay.

The Hotel del Coronado is definitely worth a visit. But, we had dinner there a couple of months ago, right at 5:00pm when the beachside restaurant opened. There were SO MANY loud, Air Force planes flying over, it was really annoying.

A couple of them, we could ignore. But they kept coming. And each one was so loud. We think because it was the end of the day, pilots were flying back to base. But we don't really know if that was the case.

Made us wonder about having a special event, like a wedding, there with all that noise overhead. Not good.

Not Air Force planes, Navy planes and pilots.

I like to stay at the beach towns north of SD, Carlsbad being my favorite but I have not stayed at all of them. Carlsbad has a nice central downtown with restaurants and shops. You can rent bikes , and there lots of places to walk. I rode by bike from Carlsbad State Park into downtown and back. There are 2 train stations there so you can take train into SD and also stops at some of the other beach towns. I even used to train to get to airport, but you do have to change to a bus. Not sure on hotels as I stayed with daughter. Have stayed at the Four Seasons which is lovely but not on the water.

https://carlsbadinn.com/
This is a nice community, very small, walkable, and easy access to Interstate 5 South to go to various San Diego tourist spots like the San Diego Wild Animal Park, then continue south on I-5 to more central San Diego attractions. It is however, about 40 minutes by freeway to downtown San Diego. This hotel is right across the street from the ocean.

https://hoteldel.com/
The Hotel Del Coronado is an historic hotel and again access across the bridge to San Diego tourist spots is convenient. Coronado is a lovely sea-side town, it is easy to bike, walk, play golf in a public course, use public parks & pools, etc.

https://catamaranresort.com/
The Catamaran faces a safe and quiet bay and across the street is the ocean. The Catamaran is in Pacific Beach/Mission Beach which is a lively tourist area - it is closer to tourist attractions such as Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, etc.

https://www.bahiahotel.com/rooms-overview
The Bahia Hotel is just south of the Catamaran technically south of Mission Beach. It is also nice and right on the Bay with lots of activities for kids. It is a couple of blocks from the ocean.It is also very close to Sea World and not too far to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.

There are also a number of other hotels of course in Coronado besides the Hotel Del.
https://www.gloriettabayinn.com/?utm..._campaign=free

You’re right, BarbAnn.

Definitly Navy!!

Thanks for all the great ideas! Going to work on it this weekend!!

We have stayed at Catamaran and the Blue Sea Beach Hotel at Pacific Beach. Blue Sea is part of Pacifica Hotels and has a special going on. They also have a hotel in La Jolla.

https://www.pacificahotels.com/speci...-beach-sale-em

I do not care for the nighttime vibe in Pacific Beach, especially along Garnet. But those two hotels are very nice. But if you stay at either of those in Pac Beach, of course have breakfast on the boardwalk at the "institution" Kono's. Their sister-place, Pipeline, is up in Cardiff where we're at these days at our son's. Nanabee, our kids gave us gift certif dinner to get away from the chaos for Marine Room at LaJ Shores -- never been there, when we come down, always seem to go to Piatti for dinner. Shall we try and get there for the hide tide dinner or something??

I really dislike both Mission Bay, Pacific Beach and am not too crazy about La Jolla either (although south of there around Bird Rock is nice).

I'd actually look in Torrey Pines or Del Mar, for example an Airbnb such as this one in the Seapoint complex where I used to cat-sit for my sister when she was travelling. (The complex has a pool but I never used it) In fact, I just might book it myself for later on in the year... I know there are also a few hotels such as the Best Western or Indigo farther up in Del Mar. Lots of nice eating places in Del Mar.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1931816...out=2019-02-18

Hi alice,
I love Piatti's too. I haven't been to the Marine Room for many years, but if you have a gift certificate to the Marine Room - great! I don't know when you'd be going, but if it is in the winter it is dark around 5:30 ish and I don't know if they have flood lights so you can see the surf or not.

Caroline's is a nice breakfast/lunch place just north of La Jolla Shores near Black's Beach (on Scripps Institute Property). It is really a nice place to enjoy a weekend breakfast. https://carolinesseasidecafe.com/

Pacific Beach & Mission Beach definitely attract a younger, party crowd.

nanabee, that looks like a lovely place. Where can you park? Are the lots there permit only?

It is nice Barbara. Good question. During the weekend you can park in the university parking lot and pay a fee. There might be street parking if you get lucky.

Barbara, one note, be careful to read the small print on the signs, the wording is very confusing.

"The food and view were terrific, thus the rating of 5. The parking lot has a sign with large letters saying something like "Public Parking on Weekends" then goes on with much smaller letters about which spaces you can use, blah, blah and on down the sign says something about the pay station. 4 adults in our car and several other vehicles in the lot didn't read the sign well enough and received parking tickets for $65 each from UCSD, which owns the lot. I'm from a small town where "public parking" means free parking-- obviously I should have known better, and should have read more carefully, but the signage trapped a lot of people that day-- it could have been much better written. The experience ruined a dining experience that would have been fantastic..."