San Diego (along with its bay) is a city with universal appeal. It offers a comfortable climate and laid-back style. Its natural harbour has a rich military heritage. The colossal aircraft carrier USS Midway speaks to this, and stands as the mother of all museum ships.
San Diego’s easy-going culture and miles of beach may awaken the sun child in you. Think back to those family vacations to the beach because Coronado and La Jolla have two of the best family beaches in the whole country.
Set just north of the border, the city has a Mexican influence that spreads to its delectable cuisine, and there’s a deluge of culture at the museums, monuments and theatres of Balboa Park.
Regardless of whether you’re traveling with a loved one, your kids or on your own, plan to enjoy these sun-drenched locations in San Diego. This list contains the most popular and most fun things to do on your trip to the southern tip of California.
1. Chill Out in La Jolla
La Jolla (Spanish for “the Jewel”), is San Diego’s most upscale beach town and its location on the cliffs overlooking the ocean certainly makes it a gem of a place to visit.
Shopping is only one of the pleasures to experience in this beautiful city. There are restaurants that offer lovely ocean views and delectable fish and mexican cuisine.
Water attractions, sports and activities are abundant at the beach. You will have a multitude of choices to enjoy the water like kayaking, tide pool-hopping, surfing, biking, or running along the beach.
An absolute favorite is to take a long, leisurely walk on the beach. There’s nothing quite so beautiful as walking during sunrise or sunset. The peacefulness and beauty are almost intoxicating. Don’t miss the experience of La Jolla beach…it’s not considered a favorite for nothin’.
2. Explore Balboa Park
Initially built for temporary use during the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, Balboa Park became the city’s most-loved park. It boasts buildings beautiful enough to be considered attractions in of themselves. If you’re a photographer, you’ll feel like you are in a wonderland. Families and individuals of all ages and interests can likely find something to enjoy at Balboa Park – a 1,200-acre urban park which boasts 15 museums in refined Spanish style buildings, live shows, eight gardens, and the San Diego zoo. You can take a walk, ride a bike, see a Shakespearean play, ride a carousel, or visit the zoo.
There are beautiful gardens surrounding the park, planted with more than 350 plant species hand-selected at the turn of the 20th century by the botanist Kate Sessions who is considered the “Mother of Balboa Park”.
The Botanical House is also part of Balboa Park and is among the largest lath buildings in the world. It contains over 2,100 individual plants and is fronted by a pond with annual displays of lilies and lotuses.
Balboa Park is truly an unofficial world wonder and to take it in fully, you would need to spend several days inside the park. You won’t experience a more relaxing and awe-inspiring place than this.
3. Coronado Island
Coronado Island isn’t really an “island”… but a peninsula. This fact doesn’t get in the way of the name most people use for it. Whatever you call it, it’s a narrow strip of land between the San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean, barely a few blocks wide.
What Coronado lacks in size it makes up for in fun. It draws a lot of tourists, and you may be wondering why. It’s home to a Naval Air Station and the U. S. Navy SEALS center, but it’s not the military that attracts tourists. It’s not Frank Baum’s Oz House, Wallis Simpson’s home or the Coronado Island Museum, either. It’s not even the famous Hotel del Coronado.
Most people go to Coronado for the white, sandy beaches that are considered some of the top beaches in the United States. Visitors also like Coronado Island for its quiet, laid-back simplicity and for its beautiful views of the San Diego skyline. Visitors can stroll along the beach, stop at the Hotel Del Coronado for an ice cream cone or a drink in their bar or hang out downtown.
Bonus: if you hate breathing in someone else’s smoke: the entire city of Coronado — including its streets, alleys, sidewalks and parking lots — is smoke-free.
4. San Diego Zoo Safari Park
If you believe as I do that seeing animals locked in small cages is sad, you’ll be delighted to visit San Diego Safari Park. This park offers a different kind of animal adventure – a safari-like experience. Lots of large animals live in the same big, open areas here; but predators are kept away from prey. Otherwise animals exist much as they would in their natural habitat.
Out in the semi-arid environment of the San Pasqual Valley, you may wonder if you’ve stumbled into a real African savanna. With 1,800 acres to explore, you can take the train and truck caravan rides through vast landscapes of the African Plains and Asian Savanna to view wildebeest, springboks, gazelles, giraffes, antelopes, rhinos and many more.
The recent Tiger Trail is a walking exhibit where you’ll come within inches of Sumatran tigers, while the Nairobi Village and Gorilla Forest have an aviary. And there are habitats for meerkats, lemurs and the formidable Western Lowland gorilla. The Lion Camp is home to a family of 13 lions, and you’ll see just how fast a cheetah can move at the Cheetah Run at the African Outpost.
The highlight is the safari-style tour, which may be the closest many of us will ever come to seeing these creatures in the wild. Besides that, you’ll find lots of other animals also in natural environments, including a pride of lions. At the Petting Kraal, you can get some hands-on time with the tamest animals.
5. Cabrillo National Monument
Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to visit San Diego. He stepped on shore in 1542 and named the bay San Miguel (this would change to San Diego in 1602). The original heroic statue of Cabrillo was donated by the Portuguese government in 1939, while the current replica has stood since 1988. If you’re interested in retracing Cabrillo’s voyage along the Californian coast, the monument’s visitor center has a movie that will take you through the entire journey.
The west side of San Diego Bay is embraced by a long rocky peninsula that merits a visit for its jagged topography, thrilling history and views you won’t soon forget. Given the peninsula’s setting and protecting the west flank of the harbour, there’s no wonder that there was a military presence going back to the 19th century.
The 77.5-acre Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (1882) is on the grounds of a former coastal artillery station. There are more than 100,000 graves there, and solemn memorials like the USS Bennington Monument, recording an accident in San Diego Bayin 1905 that claimed 66 lives.
If you like whale watching, head to the marina and join an expedition or visit Osprey Point where these master fishers camp over the water waiting for a meal opportunity.
All the activities in San Diego are inspiring and beautiful but one of the best experiences near this monument is the widescreen view of San Diego’s skyline, the harbour, across to Coronado and down to Tijuana.
6. Birch Aquarium
Birth Aquarium is north of San Diego in La Jolla. It’s not as big or as flashy as some others – it’s just filled with exciting exhibits and home to leafy sea dragons and other exotic creatures that look more like something from a child’s book than from the ocean.
This aquarium has an array of habitats, from the brisk waters of the North West to the tropical climates of the Indo-Pacific including a 260,000-litre kelp forest tank, coral reefs and a much-loved loggerhead turtle that was rescued.
At the Tide-Pool Plaza, you and your family can get to know the creatures living in Southern California’s tide pools like starfish, hermit crabs, lobsters and sea cucumbers. There’s something mystical about seahorses and you will have the pleasure of getting up-close-and-personal with these amazing creatures.
Enjoying being so close to this unique sea life is an honor so don’t wait any longer to have this experience. With climate change and the poisoning of the oceans, we don’t know how long they will be with us.
7. The Sunny Jim Cave Store
Tucked away in La Jolla, stands a wood-shingled house that doubles as a retail store and sells beachfront necessities including watercolor paintings, jewelry and snorkel gear. It would be just another of a million coastal boutiques if not for an incredible feature – it has a back entrance that descends into a colorful sea cave which offers one of the state’s most spectacular and hidden views of the ocean.
The Sunny Jim Cave Store has the only entrance to any sea cave in California that you can access via land. The entrance is a narrow and dim tunnel that leads from the store to a staircase made of 145 damp steps that descend directly into the sea cave. The narrow tunnel and cave walls are incredibly colorful due to the natural minerals and the effect the saltwater has on them.
The tunnel linking land to the sea cave was the vision of Gustauf Schultz, a German painter, struggling artist, and mining engineer. He had hoped to retire on the allure of such a rare view of the ocean so in 1902 he hired two laborers to dig a tunnel and they completed the project a year later. Gustauf began charging a few cents for the opportunity to be lowered into the cave via a long rope. The rope has since been replaced with a steep staircase that can be just as treacherous due to dim lighting and ocean water spray. The Sunny Jim Cave Store has become a Historical Landmark in California. It gets its memorable name from L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Wizard of Oz. When he visited, he named it that because the cave mouth reminded him of the profile of a 1920s British cereal cartoon mascot of the same name.
This experience is not recommended for the elderly, the very young, or the impaired but it is a unique experience for those who love adventure. You won’t soon forget it.
References:
Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lemon-grove-mummies
The Crazy Tourist
https://www.thecrazytourist.com/top-25-things-to-do-in-san-diego/
Trip Savvy
https://www.tripsavvy.com/coronado-island-1476121
