Relocating from Europe- which area in San Diego would be best for us? (Del Mar: neighborhoods)

[thefriendlyghost]

My fiance and I are relocating from Europe to San Diego in October and we'd really appreciate any suggestions on which areas might be the best for us.

We're both in our early 30s and don't have children. Ideally, we'd like to live in an area with nearby cafes, restaurants, shops and bars. We'd like an area with a bit of buzz about it and where we won't just feel stuck in the suburbs. However, we're not looking to live amongst the 18-23yr old college crowd either.

We'd also like to live within 10 minutes of a beach if possible. Someone has suggested Mission Beach, Del Mar, Ocean Beach, or Pacific Beach. What are the main differences in these areas? Also, would anyone recommend living downtown?

Any suggestions or advice you can give us would be very appreciated!

[sav858]

Someone started a great thread about SD neighborhoods, so this will give you a quick overview of each area in SD: //www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...reater-sd.html

I'd probably avoid Mission Beach, lots of USD students there. And I would only look into NORTH Pacific Beach near Turquoise St, the closer to Garnett Ave you are the more young and rowdier it gets. North PB or the Birdrock area of La Jolla would be good options for cafes, restaurants, bars, and shops and being close to the beach. Also check out downtown La Jolla, fairly expensive but it has a great downtown. OB is another good place to look, not quite the young, party crowd as PB but also very funky, hippy, and somewhat gritty; lots of tatoo and hippie types.

Downtown is also a great place for young professional in their 30's to live but it's nit close to the beach, if you can do w/o the beach then look into Little Italy or other areas in and around downtown.