San Diego is the oldest European settlement in California and behaves like the newest. It has a Spanish mission from 1769, a park full of 1915 exposition architecture, seventy miles of coast, an international border on its southern edge, and a climate that makes almost everything an outdoor activity.
Here is what to do, arranged by where things actually are, because the city is spread out and the mistake most visitors make is crossing it too often.
Balboa Park
The single best thing in the city, and it is free to walk into. Balboa Park covers a large chunk of central San Diego and holds around seventeen museums, several gardens, a botanical building and the San Diego Zoo.
The architecture is the surprise. Most of the ornate Spanish Colonial Revival buildings along El Prado were built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and were meant to be temporary. They were popular enough that the city kept them, and the plaster fantasy became permanent.
Practical advice: pick two museums, not six. The Museum of Us, the Timken (which is free) and the Fleet Science Center are all good, and the botanical building with its lily pond costs nothing. The zoo is a separate full day.
The coast, north to south
La Jolla
Cliffs, coves and the clearest water in the county. Sea lions and harbour seals haul out on the rocks around the Cove and the Children's Pool, close enough that the city has had to fence parts of it during pupping season. Keep your distance; they are wild animals and the rules are enforced.
The snorkelling in the La Jolla ecological reserve is genuinely good, with leopard sharks in the shallows in late summer, harmless, and the reason people wade out in groups. Torrey Pines State Reserve, just north, has cliff-top trails down to the beach.
Pacific, Mission and Ocean Beach
The classic Southern California beach strip. Mission Beach has a boardwalk and an old wooden roller coaster at Belmont Park. Ocean Beach is scruffier and more independent, with a long pier and a Wednesday farmers' market. Pacific Beach is where the crowd goes.
Coronado
Across the bay, reached by a long curving bridge or a short ferry. The Hotel del Coronado, a vast red-roofed wooden building from 1888, is the landmark; the beach in front of it has flecks of mica in the sand that catch the light. The ferry from downtown is the better arrival.
Point Loma
The peninsula closing the bay, with Cabrillo National Monument at the tip: the old lighthouse, the best view back over the city and harbour, and tide pools on the ocean side at low tide. Grey whales pass on their migration between roughly December and April, and you can sometimes see them from the cliffs.
Downtown and the old town
Old Town San Diego
The site of the first Spanish settlement in California, founded in 1769 alongside the first of the twenty-one California missions. The state historic park preserves adobe buildings and reconstructions, and it is free. It is also unabashedly touristy around the edges; go for the history and the courtyards, and eat elsewhere.
The Gaslamp Quarter
Sixteen blocks of Victorian commercial buildings downtown, now the nightlife district. Good architecture above the bar signs; look up.
USS Midway
An aircraft carrier moored on the waterfront and open as a museum, with the flight deck, the hangar deck and much of the interior accessible. It served for forty-seven years. Whatever you feel about military history, the scale of the thing is worth an hour.
Little Italy
Once a tuna-fishing neighbourhood, now the best eating district in the city, with a large Saturday farmers' market that closes several streets.
What to eat and drink
Two things San Diego genuinely invented or perfected. The fish taco, brought north from Baja California and now made everywhere here. And the California burrito, carne asada, cheese, guacamole and french fries inside the tortilla, which was invented in this city and is exactly as good and as unwise as it sounds.
San Diego County also has more craft breweries than almost any comparable area in the United States, concentrated in North Park, Miramar and downtown. The local style is a hop-forward West Coast IPA, which was largely defined here.
The border
Tijuana is about twenty minutes from downtown by trolley to San Ysidro, and it is a genuine day trip rather than a novelty. Crossing south is quick; crossing back north can take a long time, so check waits before you go and bring your passport. Millions of people cross here every year for work.
The weather, honestly
San Diego's climate is as good as advertised for most of the year, but May and June bring a marine layer that sits over the coast in the mornings and often into the afternoon. Locals call it May Gray and June Gloom. It burns off a few miles inland, so Balboa Park may be sunny while the beach is grey. Plan accordingly rather than being disappointed.
Seeing it on foot
San Diego is a driving city overall, but Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy and the waterfront form a connected stretch that walks well. A city game gives you a route through it with something to solve at each stop, which is a good way to fill a morning without a car.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do I need?
Three or four. One for Balboa Park, one for the northern coast and La Jolla, one for downtown, Coronado and Point Loma, and a fourth for the zoo or Tijuana.
Do I need a car?
For the beaches and La Jolla, effectively yes, or a lot of patience with buses. Downtown, Balboa Park and Old Town are reachable on the trolley and on foot.
When is the best time to visit?
September and October are the warmest and clearest. Spring and early summer bring the marine layer. Winter is mild and quiet, and it is whale season.
Is the water warm enough to swim?
It is colder than people expect, the current comes from the north. Late summer is the warmest, and wetsuits are normal for surfing year-round.
Can I visit Tijuana on a day trip?
Yes, with a passport, and check the northbound border wait before you commit to a return time.
Does San Diego work for a group?
Well, particularly around the park, the waterfront and the breweries. Distances are the thing to plan for. For organised group activities, see what we run for companies and groups.
Plan the day
A shape that works: Balboa Park in the morning while the coast is grey, Little Italy or Old Town for lunch, the waterfront and the Midway in the afternoon, and Ocean Beach or Coronado for sunset. If you want the morning to have a route, here is how our games work, and you can get in touch about organising one. Crossing the border afterwards? Our guide to the most typical things in Mexico City covers the country beyond the border towns.
