San Diego Trip Planning Guide

[Gill635]

Finally have booked my San Diego trip after years of wanting to visit (literal years, I was a huge Top Gun fan as a kid ha ha)

We’ve 5 nights there at the end of a road trip, and are staying at Humphrey’s Half Moon Bay on Shelter Island.

Love the look of the place, and the fact there’s entertainment on of an evening if we want to partake.

Just about getting our bearings as to where everything else is, and what exactly we want to do - apart from relax ha ha.

I’m so excited!

[Aims]

Originally Posted by Gill635

Finally have booked my San Diego trip after years of wanting to visit (literal years, I was a huge Top Gun fan as a kid ha ha)

We’ve 5 nights there at the end of a road trip, and are staying at Humphrey’s Half Moon Bay on Shelter Island.

Love the look of the place, and the fact there’s entertainment on of an evening if we want to partake.

Just about getting our bearings as to where everything else is, and what exactly we want to do - apart from relax ha ha.

I’m so excited!

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I’m so excited for you, too! 👏😃 I’m glad you are finally getting your chance to visit. I have talked to a lot of people who first became interested in coming to San Diego because of Top Gun. It’s been good advertising! LOL

I am sure you will enjoy your visit, there really is a little bit of everything here to do. Please let me know if there are any questions I can help answer as you start planning.

[Gill635]

Originally Posted by Aims

I’m so excited for you, too! 👏😃 I’m glad you are finally getting your chance to visit. I have talked to a lot of people who first became interested in coming to San Diego because of Top Gun. It’s been good advertising! LOL

I am sure you will enjoy your visit, there really is a little bit of everything here to do. Please let me know if there are any questions I can help answer as you start planning.

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Aw thank you so much Amy!

You’ve put so much work into this part of the forum, it’s very much appreciated.

I’ve made a list on this thread of places so far - almost all food to be honest ha ha.

I’m sure I’ll have questions once my guidebook comes and I’ve poked through it.

I’m not as scheduled as a lot of Dibbers, we’ll sometimes decide what we’re doing the day before. Looks like I may need a bit more planning for this one though, as I don’t want to miss out!

[Aims]

Originally Posted by Gill635

Aw thank you so much Amy!

You’ve put so much work into this part of the forum, it’s very much appreciated.

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Well, thank you for saying that That means a lot to hear. Enjoy looking through your guidebook! I love that the food planning has already started- sounds like me LOL

[landandword17]

Hi!

We will arrive in San Diego for labor day weekend. I’m pleasantly surprised that hotel costs are low and still falling, have cancelled and rebooked a lower rate twice now. San Francisco prices the last 2 years have me wanting to do a happy dance for getting a decent hotel for under £100 💃🏻

My question is what can we expect crowd wise in the city. We’re there Aug 30-Sept 4. Last year we were in Santa Barbara and it was jammed on the Sunday and Monday morning and at about 3pm on the Monday the town cleared out and Tuesday was a ghost town by comparison. Can we expect similar in San Diego? In that case would we be better leaving the zoo for Tuesday/Wednesday? Or maybe going to the night time zoo or is that as crowded as the day? How about a day trip to Coronado, any day when it might be less crowded?

I was down in London over the weekend and picked up my San Diego guidebook so I’m in major planning mode now. We had a very short 1 night stopover last time as part of a road trip and knew we’d have to come back. The Hawaii portion of this trip is sucking up most of the funds so we won’t have a car this time and we’ll be staying downtown/Marina area and leaving on the train to LA.

Would you recommend a trip to La Jolla with the relatively short time we have? It’s hard to get my head around planning because it’s seems like a small city but also spread out at the same time if you know what I mean. Finally our hotel offers a shuttle from the airport if you call them but not sure it’s worth the faff. Are Ubers allowed to pick up outside the terminal, we get in from Maui at 7:30pm so thinking it should be an easy hop at that hour. In the event that my phone isn’t cooperating (I’m still under contract and can’t buy a US sim) is there a taxi rank outside the terminal?

Thanks a lot!

[Aims]

Hi landandword! Lots of good questions there For the main question, it will be busy in the city over Labor Day weekend depending on where you are. Beaches will be crowded that weekend, and popular tourist attractions like the Zoo and Sea World will be the busiest places to visit. Nighttime Zoo will be busy that weekend, too. Schools are back in session the day after Labor Day though, so I would hold off on the Zoo until the Tuesday- or even Wednesday is better. Downtown in the city center where you are staying will also be busy that weekend, as there are some special events that happen downtown at that time- I know there is a fireworks show on the bay on the 31st. I would suggest making dinner reservations ahead for restaurants downtown over Labor Day weekend. Once Labor Day has passed, things will quiet down more.



La Jolla would be a great place to visit over that weekend...it will be busy there but not to the degree that it will be in San Diego. It's not as easy to get to La Jolla without a car though, but you could always use Uber. Public transportation doesn't have a lot of options going there besides the city buses, which I don't really recommend. If you were to go to La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions, for example, it's about 13 miles from downtown San Diego...not sure how expensive an Uber that would be, but it's worth investigating. Another idea for seeing La Jolla would be through San Diego Trolley Tours. They offer a sightseeing tour of La Jolla, plus some of the other beaches in San Diego. Here is some info on that: trolleytours/san-die...trips-la-jolla


Uber is allowed to pick up outside the airport terminals. Flying in from Hawaii, I'm guessing you will be arriving in terminal 2...if so, after you leave the baggage claim area and go outside, you will cross at the main crosswalk and go to the Transportation Plaza. From there, you will see signs directing you to where the Ride Share pickup location is. If you have to get a taxi instead, you just follow the same directions to the Transportation Plaza and you will see where the taxi stand is.

I can't believe you have been finding dropping prices for hotels for Labor Day weekend- lucky you! I am really surprised by that.

Originally Posted by landandword17

It’s hard to get my head around planning because it’s seems like a small city but also spread out at the same time if you know what I mean.

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Yes, I know exactly what you mean! If you need any help with putting your itinerary together, let me know.

[liz-paul]

Hi Amy, apologies for throwing this on you last minute but do you have any recommendations for eating in San Diego? We're staying at the handlery Hotel on hotel circle. Going to the zoo tomorrow or Sunday. Going to old town at some point and I'm not sure what else yet. Husband is concerned that we're not getting the best out of the food as since we arrived we've eaten in the hotel last night, dunkin this morning and headed to the fashion Valley mall for dinner.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for, although any breakfast recommendations near the hotel or zoo are much appreciated or any nice places for lunch or dinner anywhere I guess... And if you know anything about good gluten Free options I'd be interested to hear 😊 thank you ❤️

[Aims]

Originally Posted by liz-paul

Hi Amy, apologies for throwing this on you last minute but do you have any recommendations for eating in San Diego? We're staying at the handlery Hotel on hotel circle. Going to the zoo tomorrow or Sunday. Going to old town at some point and I'm not sure what else yet. Husband is concerned that we're not getting the best out of the food as since we arrived we've eaten in the hotel last night, dunkin this morning and headed to the fashion Valley mall for dinner.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for, although any breakfast recommendations near the hotel or zoo are much appreciated or any nice places for lunch or dinner anywhere I guess... And if you know anything about good gluten Free options I'd be interested to hear 😊 thank you ❤️

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Hi Liz! Welcome to San Diego How are you enjoying the Handlery Hotel?



I have quite a few favorite breakfast places near Mission Valley I would be glad to recommend. The zoo and Old Town are both close to Mission Valley, so any of these restaurants I mention wouldn't be far from those places too. I'm including links to their websites so you can check out the menus ahead of time.



For breakfast:


Perry's Cafe perryscafesd/
This place has been around since I was a kid and is popular with locals. Very retro, diner vibe (similar to a Denny's). It's in the Old Town area.



Breakfast Republic breakfastrepublic/locations
One of my favorites right now. They have several locations, so look for the address in Mission Valley for the one closest to your hotel. They do offer gluten-free options.


The Mission themissionsd/locations.html
This one is a little different. They have a mix of standard American breakfast foods, but they also have a lot of Mexican items as well. It's a small place, very popular, so I would go early if you want to try it and not have a long wait. They have a good sized gluten-free menu. Close to the zoo, look for the address for the North Park location.



Snooze AM Eatery snoozeeatery/locations/hillcrest/
Also close to the zoo, another popular restaurant with locals. This place is a bit hipster and funky, the menu has some interesting twists on the classics. They do offer a lot of gluten-free options.



For dinner places that are close to Mission Valley:


Stacked stacked/san-diego/
This is a fun spot to eat. You customize your meal from a tablet at the table. They offer all the basics like pizza, sandwiches, salads, burgers etc, in all sorts of variations that you choose. Their website says they are gluten-free friendly.



Cafe Coyote cafecoyoteoldtown/
This is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Old Town, if you want to go for some Mexican food while you are there. They have a gluten-free menu.


P.F. Chang's pfchangs/locations/u...san-diego.html
If you like Chinese food, this is a good chain restaurant by the mall. They have a gluten-free menu- it's not large, but worth checking it out on the website if you are interested.



Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and Grill sammyspizza/Location-Det...mission-valley
This one has a good variety of foods and offer gluten free options. A friend of mine who visited from England and needed gluten-free went here to eat quite a few times and was always happy with the choices she had.



Bully's East bullyseastsd/
This is a long-time local favorite if you want an upscale, steakhouse meal.


And there is always the Cheesecake Factory, which is a favorite of a lot of people. They have one at Fashion Valley mall, which is close to you. locations.thecheesecakefacto...-diego-28.html


I hope these give you a starting point to work from! You will find that most restaurants in San Diego offer gluten-free items, and are willing to make things gluten-free on request. It is a real foodie's town. Have a great time in San Diego! We are getting a little heatwave this weekend- so stay cool!

[liz-paul]

Thanks so much 😍

We had pf changs tonight at fashion Valley and it was very good 😊

The handlery is fine, nothing exciting but it was pretty cheap and ticks most boxes!
Enjoying San diego so far, went to the uss Midway this morning for a couple hours and stayed for 5 hours!

[Aims]

The Midway is incredible 👍 It’s easy to lose a day in there! I still don’t think I’ve covered everything there is to see in it. I’m glad you are enjoying your visit! 😊