San Diego Resources and Links

[Aims]

Originally Posted by fatblokeflorida

Hi Aims, Thanks for the reply which is very helpful as usual. I think we are edging towards the Mission Beach area but hope you don't mind if we come back with more questions as your advice is great and definitely appreciated

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You're welcome! No, I don't mind at all- ask as many questions as you need to.

[tocpe321]

Hi Amy.

Had a nice time at USS Midway. The views from the flight deck are excellent.

We then drove to Coronado and had a nice time by the beach.

Finally a visit to the Gaslamp Quarter, ate at the Spaghetti Factory and got a couple of souvenirs in a gift shop.

Thanks again.

[Aims]

Originally Posted by tocpe321

Hi Amy.

Had a nice time at USS Midway. The views from the flight deck are excellent.

We then drove to Coronado and had a nice time by the beach.

Finally a visit to the Gaslamp Quarter, ate at the Spaghetti Factory and got a couple of souvenirs in a gift shop.

Thanks again.

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That sounds like a great way to spend the last day of your holiday. It was a pleasure discussing your visit with you these last few months. Have a safe trip home tomorrow!

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by Aims

That sounds like a great way to spend the last day of your holiday. It was a pleasure discussing your visit with you these last few months. Have a safe trip home tomorrow!

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Thanks Amy.

You're a great ambassador for your hometown.

[SmileysPeople]

HI Amy,
I am planning a family trip for next year and have discovered your thread which is so amazingly helpful!

We are a family of 4 with 2 teenage boys and we are planning probably 4 nights in SD. We will probably be there when comicon is on in July and my youngest (14yrs) would LOVE to be able to go to this. We won't have a car while in SD (we are flying in and find it more relaxing not having to drive in the city). I have looked at your hotel recommendations and love the look of Island Palms.

So my questions are:

1) Does the location of this hotel allow for use of public transport/uber to get everywhere we would want to go, or should we consider downtown?
2) Will hotels get very booked up for comicon and should I plan to book asap?
3) Does comicon make the whole city very busy?

Thank you for any help or advice you can offer on this.
Claire x.

[Aims]

Originally Posted by SmileysPeople

HI Amy,
I am planning a family trip for next year and have discovered your thread which is so amazingly helpful!

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Hi, Claire! Thank you for the kind words about the thread.

Shelter Island is a lovely location and right across the road from the airport, so it's convenient if you're flying in and out of that airport. It doesn't have much in the way of public transportation options- there are two bus routes that serve Shelter Island, but neither goes into downtown. Route 84 will take you to the Cabrillo National Monument/Point Loma Lighthouse. Route 28 will take you to the Old Town Transit Center, where you could take the city's MTS red trolley into downtown- you would take the green line towards 12th & Imperial and get off at the Convention Center stop for Comic Con. You can also get off at the Gaslamp Quarter and Seaport Village on the same green line. Here is info on that bus route 28 from Shelter Island to Old Town Transit Center: sdmts/schedules-real...8#section-main The bus stop is not in front of the Island Palms, so you would need to walk a few blocks to get there.

Of course, there is also the option of taking a taxi or Uber into downtown. Shelter Island is about a 15 minute drive from the Convention Center. You could stay at a hotel downtown and be within walking distance of all the action, but hotels will more expensive there than anywhere else, especially during Comic Con when they jack up the prices for that weekend. In general, the further away from downtown you stay, the more hotel prices go down...but during Comic Con, even the cheaper hotels will go up a lot. There is a huge demand for rooms that weekend because it does draw a very large crowd.

San Diego's public transportation is very limited- it works best downtown, but if you wanted to visit anywhere outside of downtown like the Zoo, Sea World, the beaches etc, there aren't many options and a car becomes the most convenient way to get around. There are some bus routes that will go to these places, but with all the transfers it could take you over an hour to get there. Again, Uber and taxis can get you there, but not sure how much the costs will be for that. The Zoo is about 8 miles from Shelter Island, Sea World and Mission Beach is about 6 miles away, and Old Town about 5 miles...so not a bad distance, but I've never taken Uber or taxis here, so I don't have an idea of how much it might cost you. If you wanted to visit Old Town State Park, you could also take bus route 28 to the Old Town Transit Center and walk into the park from there, too.

Comic Con has released the dates for next year: July 19-22nd. I would recommend getting your hotel booked as soon as you are decided on your travel dates. Start checking all the hotels you may be interested in for when they have July available for booking, do your comparisons, then book as soon as you're ready. Comic Con is huge here, any available room in or near the city will get snapped up as it gets closer to next year.

And to answer your last question- yes, it will make the city and the attractions much busier that week than the usual summer busy, because a lot of Comic Con visitors will often stay on a little longer to see San Diego.

[SmileysPeople]

Thanks Amy.
I'm now wonedring if given that we don't want to drive in SD might it be better for us to stay downtown for ease of use of public transport?

Or in Coronado so that we are already on the beach but can easily access down town?

I don't yet have a good visual map of SD so I'm not sure if I'm judging these things correctly or not.

To give you an idea of how we'll spend our time: Things we'll want to are: Beach day, Bilbao park maybe twice as we are interested in art and museums, maybe the naval base, look around the harbour areas etc.

We don't want to do the zoo or sea world.

We like a relaxed approach mooching about, walking and discovering different areas of the city and having nice meals.

I thought the small town feel of Coronando might suit us, with some day trips for sight seeing and walkabouts into the city using public transport or uber might be a plan?

Downtown might be best for transport but we'd also like that relaxed city by the sea/holiday vibe that we wouldn't get downtown IYSWIM?
Thanks again for any advice given.

[Aims]

Originally Posted by SmileysPeople

Thanks Amy.
I'm now wonedring if given that we don't want to drive in SD might it be better for us to stay downtown for ease of use of public transport?

Or in Coronado so that we are already on the beach but can easily access down town?

I don't yet have a good visual map of SD so I'm not sure if I'm judging these things correctly or not.

To give you an idea of how we'll spend our time: Things we'll want to are: Beach day, Bilbao park maybe twice as we are interested in art and museums, maybe the naval base, look around the harbour areas etc.

We don't want to do the zoo or sea world.

We like a relaxed approach mooching about, walking and discovering different areas of the city and having nice meals.

I thought the small town feel of Coronando might suit us, with some day trips for sight seeing and walkabouts into the city using public transport or uber might be a plan?

Downtown might be best for transport but we'd also like that relaxed city by the sea/holiday vibe that we wouldn't get downtown IYSWIM?
Thanks again for any advice given.

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Hi, Claire I have a better idea of what you want to do now, and based on that, I think Coronado would make a great base. The island does get very busy during the summer months, but it still retains it's small town feel. It's a very compact, walkable town with lots of places to eat close together. You also have a few options for getting into downtown...Uber, as you mentioned...there is a city bus line that goes into downtown from Coronado, route 901: sdmts/sites/default/...hments/901.pdf...and during the summer months, the city also offers a free shuttle bus that just goes around Coronado, route 904: sdmts/sites/default/...hments/904.pdf There is also the Coronado Ferry that goes from the island to the downtown side. It lands at the Broadway pier near the USS Midway museum, and over by the Convention Center. flagshipsd/cruises/coronado-ferry To get to Balboa Park, you could either use Uber, or take a couple of the city buses. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System has a helpful trip planner on their website where you can plug in your starting location and destination, and it will give you all your public transportation routes: https://www.sdmts.com/schedules-real-time/trip-planner

Alternatively, you could also choose to stay downtown and go into Coronado using all the public transportation options I've listed, but you would have a much different vibe staying on the city side- not as much of the relaxed, resort feel that I think you are looking for.

[Disney Wishing]

Hi Aims,

Just got back from our trip and wanted to say thank-you for all your tips. We had a wonderful time in San Diego and i'm jealous you get to live in such a great city. We loved our say at the Hilton Bayfront and had a room with the most amazing view of the bay on the 27th Floor. We loved watching all the various sailboats, ships, ferries and jet skis. La Jolla was stunning, we had a great few hours wandering along the sea front. We also called by Windandsea Beach on the way back from LA Jolla; Beautiful houses near there, maybe if I win the euromillions one day We also ended up spending nearly 9 hours in the Zoo and got to visit the Pandas twice! We also enjoyed the USS Midway and could not get over the size of it. Balbao Park was beautiful and I got to see my first humming bird. We stayed for one of the evening Navy Band concerts which was wonderful, such a great atmosphere. We caught a Padres game one evening, had a fun late afternoon/evening in Old Town and picked up some good bargains at Fashion Valley Mall. The only place I was a little disappointed with was the Hotel Del Coronado. It looked like it needed a good paint and was not how I thought it would be. Probably just as I was expecting it to be a well kept as the Grand Floridian in WDW. Coronado itself though was lovely. So Thank-you once again, we'll definitely be back for another visit.

[Aims]

Wow, that was great to read, Disney Wishing! 😃 Your visit sounded amazing with lots of highs. I'm so happy you had such a wonderful time in San Diego. You certainly covered the area well- and nine hours at the zoo, too! You've got my admiration for that Glad you got to see the pandas more than once. The Hilton Bayfront is such a lovely place and I'm glad you got a room with such an awesome view! I'm just sorry to hear that the Hotel Del didn't meet your expectations.

Thank you for writing up that summary! I love it when people come back and share with me how their visit went.