Top 5 things to do in San Diego
 

I'll be in San Diego next month with wife and 2 teenage kids. I've got a list of things to do there.

Can anyone suggest 5 things I MUST do when I'm there?

I loved visiting The Midway aircraft carrier.
If I were a teenager I would find it interesting, and it's great exercise.

Below are a couple of lists. I'd pretty much follow them, as I have in the past.

http://travel.usnews.com/San_Diego_CA/Things_To_Do/

http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/cas...-san-diego.htm

I'd also recommend visiting the Hotel Del Coronado and strolling on the beach.

1. The zoo!

2. A Padres game.

3. Sea World

4. Old Town San Diego

5. La Jolla for seal beach, hang-gliding and Scripps Oceanarium.

We may each have a different top 5. Here are mine:

1. Kayaking La Jolla shores and seeing the sea life there.

2. Walk around the gaslamp area downtown.

3. zoo or wild animal park.

4. Hiking Torrey Pines state park

5. Coastal drive stopping to explore all the lovely towns dotting hwy 101: Del mar, to solana beach, to Cardiff, to Encinitas, to Carlsbad. You might catch a farmer's market along the way.

Seal Tour (amphibious sea craft) tour of the waterfront and SD Big Bay (Harbor)

Balboa Park Air and Space Museum and/or Model Railroad Museum, and the general museums area of the Park

We spent two days in Balboa Park, and thought several of the museums were quite good.

Didn't visit the zoo--we're of the "seen one, seen 'em all" mindset about zoos. Only go when we have small children to entertain.

The Midway tour was fascinating--I think we spent about 4 hours there.

Also enjoyed a boat tour of the harbor.

My top 5:

The Midway tour; the best part was listening to a WWII vet tell his story about storming the beaches at Normandy.

The zoo

Balboa Park~LOVE the Science Museum!

Old Town for fantastic Mexican food.

Little Italy for fantastic Italian food.

PatrickH:

Things to do: http://sandiego.org

1) Walk on the beach
2) Walk out on the pier Ocean Beach
3) Eat a fish taco

Enjoy beautiful San Diego.

Sandy

PatrickH:

4) Old Town trolley Tours of San Diego - 2 hours or hop on &
off good for first time visitor
5) Cabrillo national Monument

Do you have your hotel sorted?

Sandy

USS Midway. My wife even liked it!! Kids would like the flight simulators.

My Top 5
1) Padres Game
2) Drive the coast from Del Mar through la Jolla back to San Diego - including Cabrillo National Monument
3) Midway Aircraft Carrier
4) Zoo / Wild Animal Park - 2 different experiences
5) Harbor Tour - definitely go out on the water.

where are you staying. if you are staying around pacific/mission beach...plan one day of nothing so your teenagers and get away from the folks and enjoy the beach/boardwalk area with the crowd. plenty of places to rent roller blades/bikes etc. don't "over plan". sea world is one of my favorites and the midway museum is cool which could be done while you are exploring downtown. sunset cliffs is an awesome place to go for picnic dinner and watch the sunset and enjoy watching the waves crashing...about an hour before high tide is best.

one more thing that would be memorable...go hang gliding from the torry pines glidder port after a walk through the torry pines state park.

If price is an issue seriously consider skipping the zoo and Sea World.

I would recommend Torrey Pines, the Midway, La Jolla seals, Birch Aquarium, Coronado Island Ferry or a Harbor tour.

If you decide to Zoo and or Sea World then drop Birch.

My "kids were 18 and 20 when we went last November
1. Legoland
2. Seaworld
3. GoCar tour
4. Zoo
5. Kayaking the caves in La Jolla

I thought that we would just go for a short visit to Legoland since the kids have wanted to see it since they were little but we stayed the whole day - if they like to do hands on activities and look at amazing life size lego creations you will love it. We had a go card and everything was included - great option if you want to do Seaworld and Legoland.
For great burgers - Hodad's and for pizza - Fillippi's.

I'd put kayaking in Mission Bay in my top 5. ( less adventurous that kayaking in the ocean but good calm fun with nice beaches to explore).

Bookmarking.