3 Days in San Diego plan?

[Alien]

1. Saturday - Old Town and wonder around, citi tour + US Warship Museum
2. Sunday – Zoo & Balboa Park
3. Some of the beach/walking urban areas on Monday + Seaworld

First timers travelling 2 boys 7 and 10, two adult males - DH and his american friend and poor me which won't get shopping time



What do you think about my plan, too much? Anything a must do that I have missed? I am trying to convince the rest of the group to cut our Disney stay for extra day at San Diego but for now - we only have 3 days.

[Alien]

Also tips on parking and transport in general. Arriving on day 1 where should we park near old town for the day and how much we should expect to pay?

[Melbatb]

I have no idea but looking forward to hearing the replies as we are going at Christmas!

[tinytots]

Following with interest as we also have three days there in August ( first time)

[Aims]

Hi Alien Those look like some busy days, but I believe they're all doable with good planning. Luckily, all of the places on your list are within short drives from each other. Here's my little bit of input as a San Diegan. First, I see that you'll be out here in just ten days, so you'll be here during the busy summer season. I'm already seeing crowds building at the tourist sights, so my #1 tip for you would be to get an early start each of those days- especially since you'll be in San Diego on a weekend too. Beaches...everywhere...will get busy by noon and in some of those places (especially the beaches) parking is limited.

Old Town has several small parking lots located around the park. They are all free to park at, but none of the lots are very large so they fill up quickly. If you get to Old Town between 9-10 am, you'll have a better chance at getting a parking spot more easily. I would suggest taking the Old Town trolley tour first thing in the morning...they start as early as 9 am...and not getting off at any of the stops to save yourself some time. The tour takes about two hours if you just stay onboard for the whole duration. Afterwards, you can take a little walk around Old Town, maybe have lunch at one of the Mexican restaurants and then head over to the USS Midway museum downtown. The Midway is massive and needs at least two hours min to see properly, so I would suggest arriving there no later than 2-3 pm because the Midway closes at 5 pm. There is a large public parking lot on the pier alongside the Midway, and it's pay parking. It starts at $5 for an hour and goes up to a max of $10 for up to 12 hours of parking.

I would suggest starting at the zoo first thing in the morning. They open at 9 am. It's huge and there is a lot to see. The zoo has it's own large parking lot and it's free. You could even leave your car parked at the zoo afterwards and take a walk into Balboa Park from there to look around a bit. Balboa Park does have a few parking lots scattered around, and it's free to park there, but most lots are on the small side and on a summer weekend, by the time you leave the zoo, those lots will all be full. I would suggest leaving the zoo by 3 pm so you'll still have plenty of daylight time to see Balboa Park- or a little earlier if you might go to a museum. Go here to get a map of Balboa Park, it's pretty large and sprawling: balboapark/plan/maps-directions

For the Sea World/beach day, I recommend going to the beach first. Mission Beach is the closest beach to Sea World and has a wide boardwalk that runs the length of the beach with bars, cafes and shops along the way. Since beach parking is limited and becomes more difficult to get as the afternoon comes on, try to arrive before 10 am- the earlier the better, I can't stress that enough. There is a large, free lot by the Belmont Park amusement park on the corners of Mission Blvd and West Mission Bay Drive. You can also try for street parking if you can find it, but be sure to look for any posted parking signs for restrictions etc. After the beach, you can drive to Sea World in just minutes. Since they have summer hours now, they are open later and you could plan to arrive in the early afternoon. Parking at Sea World costs $17.

Hope all of this helps and you have a great time on your holiday! Let me know if I can help answer any other questions.

[tocpe321]

This is really great information for us too. Thanks Amy.

[Aims]

Originally Posted by tocpe321

This is really great information for us too. Thanks Amy.

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You're welcome! Not that long now for you either!

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by Aims

You're welcome! Not that long now for you either!

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Yay!

[Alien]

May be we should just forget about seaworld and the museum and enjoy the beaches and be able to stop/explore few of the stops on the trolley.

You are super helpful aims, thanks so much for your help!

[Alien]

What are the best stops from the old town trolley tour to hop off on?


If we want to spend hour to explore, which one of the first group would you choose.

Cruise Ship Terminal/USS Midway - not interested in the museum
Seaport Village
Marriott Marina/Convention Center
Horton Plaza
Gaslamp Quarter
Hilton Bayfront
Little Italy


We plan to spend some time in both
Coronado/Mc P's Irish Pub and Grill
Old Town State Park

Balboa Park and Zoo planned another day