Vacationing in San Diego this week! (Corona, Carlsbad: rental car, rental, hotel)

[kelb]

We arrive this Sunday, June 8 for a full week's stay at Pacific Terrace Hotel. We picked the hotel because it is on the beach, and also #1 rated on tripadvisor.com.
Please tell us the one thing we should not miss in terms of things to do, restaurants to hit, whatever. We will have a rental car and lots of time, so are considering day trips to LA and out to the desert.
If you are kind enough to make a recommendation, be very specific...we do not know the area at all...this is our first exploratory trip.
Thanks!

[mewzikguy]

Hey Guys Welcome
- Ride the wooden Coaster at Mission Beach, walk down the boardwalk
- Drive up to Cabrillo Monument, great view of the city/ bay
- Walk thru Balboa Park, Botanical garden, Rose Garden
- Walk around the Gaslamp downtown at night, eat at Blue Point Coastal Cuisine, Confidential, Quarter Kitchen, or Currant (at the Sophia Hotel on Broadway)
- Walk around La Jolla Cove at sunset
- Sunday brunch at House of Blues downtown
This will get you started - -Have Fun

[tande1n5]

First things first... as a aviation nut, I have to tell you that if you're flying in, try your hardest to get a window seat on the left side for the ride in. If you can't, crane your neck to the left side for the approach. Just do it.

I'd only do the desert if you're desert lovers... I think the Sonoran desert is horribly ugly, but that's just me... certainly nothing like the beautiful red rock desert of the four corners region.

There's so much to see in both SD and LA that you might be left feeling like you missed a lot of stuff if you decide to do both. A day trip to LA might be fun, but it might leave you feeling like you missed out on a lot of stuff.

Within SD
-Walk around downtown La Jolla, then go to the cove and enjoy the ocean.
-Find a mountain on a clear day (Mt. Helix or Soledad perhaps) and enjoy the great views. You'll be able to see ocean, mountain and desert all in one shot.
-Balboa park is a must see. Tuesdays have free museum day at at least one of the museums. They're on a rotation of exactly which museum it is.
-Head to the Gaslamp one evening, have a drink and have dinner
-SD Zoo is world class. I hate zoos, but I love the SD zoo
-Sea World is pretty fun too if you want to do a theme park
-Head to Coronado, and enjoy the Hotel Del Coronado, relive the opening of "Anchorman" when you cross the bridge
-I should qualify this one with the price of gas, but if you want to do a scenic drive, I love to head up to Carlsbad and take the Pacific Coast Highway 101 back down. It goes through all the downtowns of the beach cities (which are in of themselves worth seeing) and you'll get great ocean views as well. It has some great places to stop and stroll around (Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar) as well as some beaches to stop at
-If you golf, there are some great courses all over
-I would have usually suggested a day trip to Tijuana and people may also, but I should warn you that recently, there's been a lot of gang violence/kidnappings down there, and most San Diegans are being advised not to go.

Make sure to let us know how your trip goes. I always like hearing when people have a nice vacation here in San Diego.

[asitshouldbe]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

First things first... as a aviation nut, I have to tell you that if you're flying in, try your hardest to get a window seat on the left side for the ride in. If you can't, crane your neck to the left side for the approach. Just do it.

I'd only do the desert if you're desert lovers... I think the Sonoran desert is horribly ugly, but that's just me... certainly nothing like the beautiful red rock desert of the four corners region.

There's so much to see in both SD and LA that you might be left feeling like you missed a lot of stuff if you decide to do both. A day trip to LA might be fun, but it might leave you feeling like you missed out on a lot of stuff.

Within SD
-Walk around downtown La Jolla, then go to the cove and enjoy the ocean.
-Find a mountain on a clear day (Mt. Helix or Soledad perhaps) and enjoy the great views. You'll be able to see ocean, mountain and desert all in one shot.
-Balboa park is a must see. Tuesdays have free museum day at at least one of the museums. They're on a rotation of exactly which museum it is.
-Head to the Gaslamp one evening, have a drink and have dinner
-SD Zoo is world class. I hate zoos, but I love the SD zoo
-Sea World is pretty fun too if you want to do a theme park
-Head to Coronado, and enjoy the Hotel Del Coronado, relive the opening of "Anchorman" when you cross the bridge
-I should qualify this one with the price of gas, but if you want to do a scenic drive, I love to head up to Carlsbad and take the Pacific Coast Highway 101 back down. It goes through all the downtowns of the beach cities (which are in of themselves worth seeing) and you'll get great ocean views as well. It has some great places to stop and stroll around (Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar) as well as some beaches to stop at
-If you golf, there are some great courses all over
-I would have usually suggested a day trip to Tijuana and people may also, but I should warn you that recently, there's been a lot of gang violence/kidnappings down there, and most San Diegans are being advised not to go.

Make sure to let us know how your trip goes. I always like hearing when people have a nice vacation here in San Diego.

Thanks for the Tijuana warning, we are also soon to be in San Diego. We are coming out June 16 - July 2, we were planning a shopping trip into Tijuana, but not if they are having those problems.

[kelb]

We just returned from SD this morning, and managed to do almost everything listed on the above posts. The result was our best vacation ever. Do not miss the zoo, Balboa Park, and the Cabrillo Monument.
We highly recommend dining at Croce's in the Gaslamp...superb food, great atmosphere inside and out, and good live jazz that starts promptly at 8 PM.
Did we mention the weather?? Grin.