San Diego/La Jolla?
 

Hi, everyone - we're going to be taking a trip to San Diego. We've been there once before and loved it, went to Coronado, did a fun whale watching trip, and went to the Children's Pool. Looking for some new activities for this trip. Would love to know what your favorite thing to do is and also your favorite beach? Anything that's a don't miss? Thanks for any guidance you can give me!

Favorite beaches are Pacific Beach, Coronado Island and if in La Jolla, La Jolla Shores.

Check out maitai tom's report.
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...alboa-park.cfm

I loved Balboa Park (maitai Tom does a great job of picturing and describing it ) and I enjoyed visiting the Lodge at Torrey Pines and having lunch outside. George's Cove in La Jolla for a meal with great view. Brockton Villa for breakfast is fun.

Thanks, Happy - we loved Coronado. It would be fun to check out some other beaches. It's such a gorgeous area.

Gwen, thanks for that link. I will definitely read it. We did the trolley tour on our last trip, so we got to see Balboa Park, but not really explore it, did not make it to the zoo either.

That was a great read - Balboa Park looks like it has tons to do. I love anything to do with plants and gardening, so maybe I can trade my husband a trip to the Japanese Garden and the Botanical Building for some time at the Hall of Champions. I would really like to climb the tower too, and maybe enjoy lunch at Prado. Is it hard to find parking within the park? Where do you think the best place to park is?

We found this helpful on our 1st trip - http://www.localwally.com

mclaurie, thanks for that info. Torrey Pines looks really beautiful. I think someone had told me that there's hiking there, do you recall that? George's looks like a great place to dine. And Brockton Villa too - I love anything with a view of the water. They look fantastic.

Debit, that looks great - always nice to have insider tips from a local. Thank you!

I've also read that Cody's and The Cottage are good places to eat and wanted to check those out on our last trip, but we ran out of time. What do you guys think of those?

Torrey Pines has several easy, short trails. We did Guy Fleming and the overlooks are beautiful looking straight down at the beach. Spring wildflowers were abundant there, too.

Here's one site with info or just google Torrey Pines States Reserve. http://www.modernhiker.com/2014/04/0...tural-reserve/

Also enjoyed eating at George's both times we were there.

Hey volcanogirl - what time of the year are you coming and where are you planning on staying?

I love San Diego... without a doubt one of my favorite cities in the world. Love that our daughter is in school there so it encourages more visits :).

Georges is a favorite (the roof top dining ) and Brockton Villa is great too (for dinner as well!) -

The midway is an interesting thing to visit : http://www.midway.org/

The San diego zoo is worth a visit - I grew up going there and was so disappointed when I went to other zoos and they didn't hold up to what I thought a zoo was!

Balboa park is lovely -

A padre game in the summer is a blast - Petco Park is an amazing baseball park - check and see if there are any concerts too while you are there playing there... it is a great place to go even if you are not an avid baseball fan (JMO) :)

Hi volcano girl. Welcome to SD.
Cody's and The Cottage in LA Jolla are both excellent. The Cottage serves til about 3.00 Monday thru F. Then they serve dinner too on the weekends. Double check with Cody's on times.

George's at the Cove is nice but make sure you ask for the upper deck and have reservations. You want to get there early if you are going for dinner so the sun is still out and you can enjoy the view.

Check out maitaitoms trip report on San Diego it's great.

Clousie, thank you - that is really helpful. I love the look of hiking at Torrey Pines. I am down for anything with a great view. Does anyone know if there are hang gliders there? Someone from SD told me you can go watch people hang gliding, but I can't remember the spot.

Momdd, we're coming soon - in April. Hopefully the weather will be nice then, but it seems like the weather is always great there! I definitely want to go to a Padres game. My husband loves sports, so that is definitely on my list. I hadn't thought of the Midway; I will check out that link - thank you. I think the zoo and Balboa Park are definitely on our to do list this trip. The zoo is in Balboa Park - is that right? We're staying in a couple of different spots - I know one of them is a Kimpton. We stayed on Coronado last time we were there - wow, that was nice!

So how do you get around Balboa Park? Do you just park your car and then walk or is there a free trolley or something? It seems enormous with so much to do. Is it hard to find parking or are there big lots?

We did a segway tour on Coronado Island and loved it! It was our first time on segways and it was the perfect place to do it.

I "think" this was the company we used:

http://www.segwayofcoronado.com/

Hi, nana - thanks for all the good restaurant tips and info. It looks like most of the places I want to try are in La Jolla. I also have my eye on Juniper and Ivy since I'm a Top Chef fan.

I've eaten at Juniper and Ivy and it's very good. It is about 20 min by car south of Las Jolla in Little Italy.

I think the owner of Harringbone Restaurant also in LA Jolla on Herschel Ave may have been a Top Chef as well.

This is probably what you heard about. https://www.flytorrey.com

I don't really remember seeing hang gliders from Torrey Pines.

Glad to hear J&I is good, nana; I think Herringbone is a Brian Malarkey spot. We ate at his Seersucker restaurant the last time we were in town.

D, that does look fun; we did a Segway tour in San Antonio once and enjoyed it. Coronado is so beautiful.

C, oh so it's paragliding? That looks pretty amazing. Thanks for the link. Now that would be a view!

April is honestly iffy weather wise (it is cold today ... high 50's) I hope it is lovely for you though!

I always just walked through Balboa park ... and yes the zoo is there :) we always enjoyed taking the double decker bus through the zoo http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/content/guided-bus-tour and sitting on top :) it is a great way to relax and get about the zoo.

Yes, the paragliding is on torrey pines...gosh been going on I feel like since I was a little girl and lived in La Jolla..something to see!

If you are in that area and like aquariums http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/

Hi, I also live in SD. I would recommend to go Kayaking in La Jolla Cove. You can find many companies that offer 50% discounts if you look in Groupon/Living Social or other similar sites. We took this tour with some friends that were visiting us from another state and it was awesome. I would also recommend driving north and checking out some of the beaches in SD North County such as Carlsbad, Encinitas.

If you go kayaking, regardless, LaJolla Shores is lovely; if there, do dine at Piatti, it's been there for many years and never disappoints, always delicious. Cottage is another favorite. Bicycle, skate, board around Mission Bay. Also recommend exploring Del Mar (beach in center of town), Cardiff and Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. If you're that far north, continue driving through Leucadia section Fish 101, fresh roadstead, with the best and freshest; then into Carlsbad where you find a nice oceanfront paved walk, either directly on the sand or up along the street, it's about 1 1/2 miles long one-way. This puts you about 45 min. north of downtown SD (via the 5 but PCH is so darn interesting to ride but slow......).

Used to go to Del Mar to cat-sit.

My favorite beach is Torrey Pines, you can hike a loop along the beach and then up into the preserve. And there is often free street parking!

Momdd, yes, I love aquariums. I think I looked at that for our last trip and couldn't fit it in, but I would definitely be interested in going there. I didn't know the zoo has double decker busses - that sounds great, like a lot of fun. How many hours do you think to see the zoo? So it's not always 75 and sunny? :)

ny, we saw kayakers there the last time we went, but we could not figure out where to rent them. I guess we weren't in the right place for the rental shops. Is it a guided tour where someone leads you around or do you go on your own? Are you able to go into any of the caves or see some wildlife? That definitely sounds fun too.

alice - thank you. I'm not familiar with those areas so I'll check them out. Piatti looks very yummy.

m, yes, I think we will definitely go to Torrey Pines. I think it looks gorgeous. I wonder if my husband would want to paraglide - might be a nice surprise for his bday, or he might kill me lol. Free street parking - now you've sold me! Trying to find parking was really hard last trip, especially La Jolla.

I've heard there's a discount card you can buy for San Diego - does anyone have any experience with that? Did you think the savings were worth it?

We bought our tickets to the Padres game - getting excited! The baseball park looks really neat.

Regarding the zoo, what are some don't miss things to see there? Definitely want to see the pandas. It looks so big - I want to make sure we see the highlights! Any favorites?

You can't actually kayak in the LA Jolla Cove but the Cove and LA Jolla Shoes are part of the same "ocean." They are about a mile across from each other as the "sea lions swims." So you have to go to the LA Jolla Shores to rent/join a group for diving, kayaking, viewing the caves or snorkeling. The Shores are outside the village area of La Jolla about a 10 minute drive.

There are tons of shops to chose from just Google kayaking ...

Looking forward to hearing about your adventure.

As far as the San Diego Zoo which is in Balboa Park near downtown you can take a double decker bus which will go all around the zoo and you'll see all the different areas. Specifically ask about the Panda viewing because depending on crowds and if a baby Panda is on view etc there could be long lines. I would recommend always getting to the zoo just as it opens because it gets crowded quickly especially parking. There is a children's zoo as part of the main zoo, if you have young kids, which is fun as well.

If it's running there is a 100 yr old carousel at the south end of the parking lot next to the zoo which is really beautiful and fun no matter what age you are.

If it's running...meaning it's only open certain times of the year.

I definitely want to do the bus tour of the zoo - seems like a great way to get an overview and figure out where things are. I saw that they have a tram too - so the bus and tram are free and included in the ticket price?

Think we will do the USS Midway as well.

Just read something about Bobboi Gelato in La Jolla - that looks pretty good too! My husband want to try Crack Shack since he loves all thing breakfast. Bracero also looks yummy.

Here's the info on the Carousel.

http://www.balboapark.org/in-the-par...-park-carousel

And here's the info on what your ticket covers.

http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/tickets

That's great that they include all of that in the price of the ticket - looking forward to it.

Crack Shack is very expensive and the food is ok. Across the street is Bird Rock Coffee Roasters which is excellent.Bracers is super

Bracero is excellent.

I never plan a long enough trip to eat everywhere I want to!

Do you think the cherry blossoms are in bloom in the Japanese garden or too late for this year? I've always wanted to see them.