Okay, I've had this 5 night trip to LA planned for months. 2 nights in Santa Monica and 3 nites in Laguna Beach. So hubby comes to the dinner table last night and announces that since we're going to be in California, he's going to do a deposition while we're out there. So I ask, what part of LA? He replies San Diego! So, I guess he could certainly go to San Diego for the day from Laguna, or we could skip Laguna and do 2 nights Santa Monica, 2 nights San Diego, then stay near SNA the last night before our morning flight out.

If we did stay in San Diego, the parts of town seem so confusing. How about some one sentence descriptions of La Jolla, Mission Beach, Shelter Island, Old Town, Coronado. We're 2 adults in our 40's and two teens ages 15 & 17. We'd definately want on or near the beach and the girls mainly want to look cool and shop---not like power shopping, but like browse shopping. Thanks and I'm sorry I've asked so many questions on this trip (I'm glad there's no limit)!!!

I'll give a stab at the neighborhood descriptions--just one person's perception (I've lived here ten years):

La Jolla--upscale housing, dining and shopping, breathtaking coastline, lots of money there.

Mission Beach--young, hip, fun, lots of surf shops, less expensive than La Jolla but you'll see beach bums/homeless people.


Shelter Island--pretty boring, relatively far from the freeway, marina and fishing boat oriented.

Old Town--NOT near the beach, but fun and festive, shopping mostly old town themed, depending on which hotel, you may be right on the freeway.

Coronado--elegant, sophisticated, historic, beautiful, great dining options, unlimited shopping, expensive.

Another you didn't list is the downtown/Gaslamp area. If you're careful with location (I like near Seaport Village), you'd have a convenient base in a safe, fun area with unlimited entertainment options.

I guess that your girls would be bored on Shelter Island or Old Town. I'd say Mission Beach (funky) vs. Coronado/La Jolla (more sophisticated) vs downtown (has some of everything).

Laguna Beach is about 60-90 minutes from downtown SD, depending on traffic, if that helps with your planning.

Hopefully some other SoCal posters will give you another perspective!

Take a deep breath Sbr />
First, you could keep your plans as is & let hubby take the newish train from LA to San Diego. I think it takes about 2 hrs each way. Except I think I read somewhere that the train schedule makes it easy to do that FROM SD to LA but not the other way. Anyway, check that out.

I went to SD for the first time recently & LOVED it. So in my book you could easily trade SD for either of your other locations.

La Jolla is an upscale not really "suburb" of SD because it's so close. It's on the beach-lots of shops, restaurants & galleries. I'm not sure any of the La Jolla hotels are on a swimming beach (but the water's cold anyway-the surfers wear wetsuits). The 2 "best" hotels there are the Parisi & Valencia.

Coronado is an island just over a bridge from downtown SD. If you can afford the Hotel Del Coronado, that's where I would stay. Big, famous, historic, easy access to "downtown" Coronado AND downtown SD.

I never got to Mission Beach or Shelter Island. Old Town is part of downtown SD. Del Mar might be another option. I think where you stay really depends on what you want to do & whether hubby will take the car. If he takes the car & you just want to shop that day, I'd stay in La Jolla. It's like a village where you can walk anywhere.

I think that Mission Beach would be an excellent choice. We stayed downtown, but if (when) I go back, I think I will choose Mission Beach. I liked the funky, fun atmosphere. Coronado Island was nice too. That would probably be my second choice.

San Diego is really easy to drive around in, so it wont be difficult to get from wherever you stay to wherever else you want to go.

I dearly love Laguna Beach, and I work in Santa Monica, and I love San Diego. Oh, the decisions!

Personally, I'd do the first three nights in SD, the next two nights in Laguna and save LA for another trip. This still only scratches the surface for SD-- a great city to visit and, if you have the money, not a bad place to live.

Laguna's a much smaller community, so hotel choices are more limited. And, unfortunately, the good choices in LB are expensive. So what else is new?

In San Diego, Mission Beach would probably suit your girls best. La Jolla is wonderful for you and your husband, sans kids, kicking back for a weekend of class and California lifestyle. But with the girls, Mission Beach.

RE: Shopping, one neighborhood not mentioned so far that has a funky edge in its boutiques is Hillcrest. Worth a coupla hours of strolling, then late lunch at Corvette Diner. (FYI: Hillcrest is the epicenter of gay and lesbian culture in San Diego, if that matters to you. All those upscale furniture shops and bistros...!)

Old Town is a state park; it's designed to give visitors a taste of the early Mexican and California settler days. Most kids would find it interesting, I think, and adults would enjoy the Margaritas at Casa de Bandini restaurant. There's a lot to see in Old Town and vicinity, including some nice shops. For browse shopping, Horton Plaza is pretty good.

My girls ages 16 & 13 went to San Diego last summer and LOVED it. We're in our 40's too. They said their favorite places were:

1.*** La Jolla- watching the surfing guys in their wet suits getting ready to go out. Teens hang out at the park & play tag football, frisbee, etc. Also, the view is INCREDIBLE. Great for photos. They also liked seeing all the seals on the beach at seal rock. (They liked watching the boys more). We liked the breathtaking views.

2. Mission Beach- a teen hangout with a boardwalk that runs parallel to the beach for bike riding, skating,etc. Great to go at sunset & get a photo. This is a teen magnet. Not at the top of my list but IT WAS FOR THEM!

3. Horton's Plaza- all the teen stores they like to shop. not bad for an outdoor plaza and quick dining.

4. University of Calif. @ San Diego (U.C.S.D.) to buy college sweatshirts

5. Hang gliding-near Torrey Pines Golf & U.C.S.D. We saw a guy on his lunch hour throw on his parasail or parachute, jump off a cliff and sail across the ocean with his dress clothes on! How cool is that?

6. Seaside Village- Neat to see and great to walk. There is an inexp. and pretty good pizza joint on the water.

Old Town- they didn't like but we did.
(good mexican food) too old fogey for them

Coronado- they didn't like but we did (more parents and couples-(very sophisticated)
Tijuana- they hated all the aggressive street vendors that were trying to lure them into their stores!

They loved San Diego and would move to the West Coast in a second! Good luck on your trip!

Wow, thanks for all your replies. rjw, I might try to sell your idea about San Diego and Laguna. Sounds more relaxing than LA. Actually, if it had been up to me, this would have been just a trip to San Diego since I've heard such wonderful things.

J Correa, where or specifically what hotel would you stay at on Mission Beach. It doesn't look like there are alot of well known names on Mission Beach so if you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

To Julesvern, your description makes La Jolla sound much more fun than I envisioned. I guess everyone was saying upscale, from which I deduced stuffy. I love nice things and beautiful hotels, but I HATE places that are snooty and/or expensive just for the sake of being exclusionary. Does that make any sense?

One thing that occured to me is that if Hubbby took the car for a day, if we stayed on Coronado, it looks like we could get to the passenger ferry and thereby downtown, etc. without a car. That may be appealing. I'm still trying to get him to pin down a date for the depo. Thanks again for everyone's replies!

I didn't find La Jolla snooty or stuffy. It's pretty laid back. I agree if you were without a car, Coronado wouldn't be bad, nor would La Jolla. There's a sightseeing tram for about $24/person that goes all around San Diego (sort of a hop on hop off thing) that you could also use. It makes stops on Coronado, downtown SD, La Jolla, Balboa Park where the zoo & museums are etc.

You could absolutely take the ferry across to downtown from Coronado, one of my favorite activities here, but if you're staying on the other end of the island (at or near the Hotel Del), it's quite a long walk. Cabs are accustomed to that route, if you so choose. Once you get downtown, there are bicycle-drawn carriages that will take you where you want to go, which is much more fun (and cheaper) than a cab. Mission Beach is also very walker-friendly, with easy access to Sea World. A great way to see the city as a whole if you don't have a car is with "Old Town Trolley Tours." A series of buses (nice, open-air buses with informative narration) take you to the best tourist destinations in the city. Buses run every half hour or so, so you only stay as long as you want at each place. I think it's $25 per person.

oldtowntrolley.com

Of course I'm biased because I live here, but I MUCH prefer San Diego to LA.

Sorry for duplicating your post, mclaurie!

I'm sorry I don't have any hotel recommendations for Mission Beach. We stayed in downtown and only spent an afternoon in the Mission Beach and Mission Bay area. You might check out www.tripadvisor.com though. The hotel reviews are pretty comprehensive.

Check out the Bahia Resort. It's on Mission Bay, not Mission Beach, but easy walking distance to the actual ocean.