San Diego - car or no car?

[Sneeks85]

Going for 3/4 nights, then plan is to drive to Anaheim then on to Scottsdale to visit family. Car is non negotiable for at least the bulk of the trip. Do we really need it for San Diego though?

Will likely stay either Downtown or Mission beach area - unless any better suggestions! If stay at Mission beach we will get free parking at hotel, but no real easy parking options if we want to drive to visit downtown area? But if we stay downtown we will have to pay parking at hotel, though free parking at mission beach and Balboa Park etc.

If we stay downtown we would consider no car until we leave for Anaheim, but we also want to visit La Jolla and surrounding areas so I really can't decide what to do! Any advice?

Any advice re San Diego in general also welcome! Me, DH and DD9 (or 10 by then!)

[LozSteelers]

We stayed in Mission Beach without a car for 3 days. We got a really good deal on the Old Town Trolley Tour and used that to get about along with Uber and the train for odd journeys. Took us to everywhere we wanted to go including Coronado, was a really good tour. Even if you don't use it to get about while you're there, I'd recommend going on it for one day.

I loved San Diego, one of my favourite places I've visited.

[cornishfrogboy]

We stayed at Mission Beach last time. We had a car and would have struggled without it. When going downtown, we parked on the Wharf next to USS Midway, which I believe was $10.
Parking at the beautiful Balboa Park is free.
Seaworld parking costs.
My wife went Horse Riding on the beach at the Mexico border, whilst we walked it. We needed a car for that.
Premium outlets is out of town.
La Jolla (very nice) is a drive.
Legoland is most certainly a drive.

This October, we are staying downtown in the Springhill Suites, having flown in from Tucson. The airport is near the Hotel, as is Balboa Park, as is the Gaslight Quarter, as is the boat cruises, as is USS Midway. We won’t be having a car on this occasion.

I guess it really is down to what your plans are.

The California trip review link in my signature may be of assistance.

[Melbatb]

We stayed 8 days in San Diego and had a car. To be honest it works have been challenging to do what we did without it- but we had free parking.

I did a trip report (SoCal 2017) in my signature. We loved it there!

[Sneeks85]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

We stayed at Mission Beach last time. We had a car and would have struggled without it. When going downtown, we parked on the Wharf next to USS Midway, which I believe was $10.
Parking at the beautiful Balboa Park is free.
Seaworld parking costs.
My wife went Horse Riding on the beach at the Mexico border, whilst we walked it. We needed a car for that.
Premium outlets is out of town.
La Jolla (very nice) is a drive.
Legoland is most certainly a drive.

This October, we are staying downtown in the Springhill Suites, having flown in from Tucson. The airport is near the Hotel, as is Balboa Park, as is the Gaslight Quarter, as is the boat cruises, as is USS Midway. We won’t be having a car on this occasion.

I guess it really is down to what your plans are.

The California trip review link in my signature may be of assistance.

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Oh Springhill Suites is exactly where we were looking at to stay downtown. Will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it in October! Will take a look at your previous trip report also 👍

Leaning towards possibly staying downtown without a car initially, as the airport is close enough and saves on parking costs etc. We just want to do balboa park, zoo and downtown stuff first couple days anyway. Then pick up the car for our final day and do La Jolla etc then. Whatever we do we'll likely wish we had done the opposite 🤣

[Sneeks85]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

We stayed 8 days in San Diego and had a car. To be honest it works have been challenging to do what we did without it- but we had free parking.

I did a trip report (SoCal 2017) in my signature. We loved it there!

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I wish I had 8 days! So much we want to do but time is limited ☹ Hoping we love it so much we plan a second trip 👍

[Sneeks85]

Originally Posted by LozSteelers

We stayed in Mission Beach without a car for 3 days. We got a really good deal on the Old Town Trolley Tour and used that to get about along with Uber and the train for odd journeys. Took us to everywhere we wanted to go including Coronado, was a really good tour. Even if you don't use it to get about while you're there, I'd recommend going on it for one day.

I loved San Diego, one of my favourite places I've visited.

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I forgot about Coronado! But glad to hear the public transport is good for getting around also.

[Aims]

Hi Sneeks! Speaking as a local, my first response is to say a car is necessary in San Diego. Everyone here relies heavily on cars to get around. Our public transportation is good in some areas like downtown, but doesn’t extend into lots of places where some of the sightseeing spots are.

If you were to stay in Mission Beach, you would definitely need a car. There aren’t any public transportation options from any of the beach area besides one or two city bus lines (which I don’t recommend). To visit downtown from Mission Beach would only be a 20 minute drive. Parking lots downtown do cost to park, but Cornishfrogboy gave a good recommendation for parking at the lot next to the USS Midway museum on Navy Pier. It’s my go-to parking lot whenever I go downtown. The price is the most reasonable I have found so far- usually $10 and that is for up to 12 hours. I have paid $20 on rare occasions but that was on days when special events were going on in the city like baseball games. Still, even $20 is better than what a lot of other lots charge, and the location is great with plenty of places you can walk to from there.

Staying downtown is expensive and hotels charge around $35 and up for parking per day. The upside is that there is a lot going on downtown that you can walk to, including restaurants and bars, so you wouldn’t need to drive all the time. You would need the car to visit sights outside downtown though, such as the Zoo, Sea World, Balboa Park and the beaches. Most parking outside of downtown is free though, except at Sea World. Old Town State Park is only five miles from downtown and parking there is free too, but the city’s red trolley does go from downtown and makes a stop in Old Town, so you could use it to visit the park if you were staying downtown and don’t feel like driving.

Uber is popular here, too- as is Lyft- so those are options for getting around if you are staying in Mission Beach and don’t want to drive downtown and pay parking prices.

Originally Posted by Sneeks85

Leaning towards possibly staying downtown without a car initially, as the airport is close enough and saves on parking costs etc. We just want to do balboa park, zoo and downtown stuff first couple days anyway. Then pick up the car for our final day and do La Jolla etc then.

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Just saw this after I posted the first part of my reply and that is certainly a viable option to stay downtown and just get a car for the last day to do La Jolla, but remember you will need a way to get to Balboa Park and the Zoo as the only public transportation option there is a bus. You could go with Ubers for that. LozSteelers mentioned the Old Town Trolley and that is a fun way to get an overall look at San Diego in a day and see some places you may not have time to get to. You can hop off at any of it's numerous stops and explore before continuing on. It does stop in Balboa Park (where the Zoo is located), so it's convenient for a look around there. The Zoo, of course, would require more time to visit than you could get on the Old Town Trolley tour, so you would need to get back there on a separate day either by car or Uber. The Old Town Trolley does go to Coronado and you can explore the Hotel Del, which I highly recommend.

[KarenG]

We stayed in the Gaslamp district and the car went to the valet when we checked in and didn’t come out again until we left. But, we had a short stay and didn’t venture far. We did walk to Balboa Park from our hotel though.

If we had had a longer stay and went further afield I would have wanted a car for at least part of the stay. We already had one reserved as part of a longer trip and it would have been a faff returning it and rerenting to save paying for valet. Car hire was much cheaper than it is now though.

[megaflyer]

I have never been without a car at my disposal (work gave me a car as essential to go to where I needed to) but in the evenings its easy to walk around the centre etc without one. I most certainly hire one tho as there is so much to see and do that having a car is near essential to do - Uber/Lyft prices seems to have risen plus some of the national monuments have very bad/non existent phone signal to call Uber/Lyft plus I doubt many cars would come out to collect you !

But for orientation do use the trolley bus - its a great way to get to see the city and more plus great fun !