San diego

[Aims]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

I could easily base a fortnight around San Diego as there is simply so much to see and do. After 5 days, we felt that we had planned far too short a stay and with hindsight would have aimed at.. 10!

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There you have it, Jo! Another vote that 10 days would be perfectly fine in San Diego. I have friends from England who came out to visit for two weeks, and aside from a two day jaunt to Vegas, they spent more than 10 days in San Diego and were able to fill up the time with things to do- and that included two or three beach days too.

[jo williams]

Thanks guys I think 10 days it will be, not until next year is September a good time.

[Aims]

Originally Posted by jo williams

Thanks guys I think 10 days it will be, not until next year is September a good time.

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Yes, September is a nice time to visit. If you arrive around the middle to end of the month, kids are back in school and the summer crowds have gone. It also stays pretty warm in September.

[liz-paul]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

As with all of the above really, and you are in very safe hands with the awesomely helpful 'Aims'. Last Easter, we stayed in an Airbnb on Mission Beach. That was a mistake, but not a huge one and on a future visit (there will be one), I would suggest that the centre of the City around Seaport is absolutely wonderful. I do not generally like cities, but fell in love with this one.

I could easily base a fortnight around San Diego as there is simply so much to see and do. After 5 days, we felt that we had planned far too short a stay and with hindsight would have aimed at.. 10!

My trip report 'California N to South at Easter hopefully covers those 5 days reasonably well and you will find that we did a few things that were outside of the usual tourist 'must do's'.

Balboa park was under explored by us.
Leathernecks museum was not visited.
Coronado beach was not visited.
Oceanside needed more time.
La Jolla likewise.

Must do's
Zoo.
Kansas city bar and grill (Topgun bar)
USS Midway
Horse riding in the sea (see trip report)
Harbour cruises (both)
Whale watching cruise (if you have never done one)


Dammit! I gotta go back! The most wonderful modern city in the world that I have yet visited.

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Couple of questions for you: what did you like about Oceanside/what would you do there?

We have a whale watching trip booked, is it worth doing a harbour cruise as well? We have about 4/5 days.

Thx

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by liz-paul

Couple of questions for you: what did you like about Oceanside/what would you do there?

We have a whale watching trip booked, is it worth doing a harbour cruise as well? We have about 4/5 days.

Thx

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Oceanside was where we picked up our Gosandiego cards and we had never even heard of it. We drove in and went to the tourist agency place and couldn’t even see the beach.
There were some lovely ladies in there that asked if we were taking a look, asked if we knew that Kelly McGillis house from ‘Topgun was there and said it was worth seeing. We drove down and saw this and the pier a little further on. We went on the pier and looked back at an under developed beach area. People were friendly and the place just had a nice feel about it. I don’t think that a UK guest would seek to stay there for a week or anything. The place just had a nice feel. The lovely weather also helped!

You will find a few images of it on my trip report ‘California N to South at Easter’. Some places just catch your imagination and for us, this was one. I wish that we had picked up our tickets, stayed the afternoon on the beach and then stayed a night before moving on to San Diego.

We Whale watched a few day earlier at Monterey. If we had not, then a Whale watch was part of our Gosandiego card. We were in San Diego for 5 days and had insufficient time for a second one. Just south of San Diego is the inlet where Grey Whales gather and give birth (Sea of Cortez in Mexico). I believe that the Whale trip just goes straight out to see whilst if you look on google, San Diego harbour is in fact a huge sheltered place with a relatively narrow entrance. Think Pompey on a larger scale and much prettier.

The Harbour cruises are really good. They leave from right next to USS Midway. So you can park there on the wharf for the day and do both. The N one goes.. North and you get to see the Submarine area, Airport, civilian operations, North Island. The same boat then becomes the boat for S
The S. one goes.. South. It goes under the Coronado bridge towards Mexico and you see the US Pacific fleet. It is huge.
The boat is large and pleasant with a truly excellent commentary and some brilliant photo opportunities. we were told that we could only do one or other of N or S per day on our paperwork, but when we mentioned this to boat staff after our S trip, they simply said 'Well don't get off then if you want the other half'. It gives you ideas of things that you might want to do and like in most ports, provides excellent photo ops. These trips are again part of the Gosandiego ticket. Again, they are covered (with photos on my trip report.

Hoping this helps you. There is simply so much to do in San Diego.

[liz-paul]

That's great thanks for your answer 😁

[marypoppins38]

I would definitely say that 10 days is perfect. We have done 8 days previously (at the Marriott Marquis near Seaport Village... recommended by Amy!). It was the best holiday we have ever had. Fantastic weather, lovely city and wonderful people. We are planning on 14 days for our 50th birthdays in a couple of years and can't wait. There is so much to see and do, I know we can fill 14 days easily.

[grant_w]

We had 6 nights there and could easily have had more
We went to the Zoo, Safari Park, Sea World, USS Midway and had a 1920s biplane flight. Also went to the ice hockey one evening

[Colette-S]

We did a month in California last summer and my only regret is that we didn't spend longer in San Diego. I seriously underestimated how good it was and how much we would like it. We spent an afternoon in Coranado and could have happily done a few days there alone.

[jo williams]

Thankyou everyone 10 nights it is then,