best things to do in san diego

The Best Parks and Attractions in San Diego

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Are you wondering what are the attractions in San Diego? The city has so many to choose from. There are theme parks with activities for all ages, beautiful beaches, and quaint neighborhoods. In addition to the recommendations that we have already provided to help you decide when to visit San Diego, here are some tips on how to discover the many places of interest and things to do in San Diego.

Things to Do in San Diego: Top 5 Parks

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Let’s start with the parks, some of the main attractions of San Diego.

Balboa Park

Address: 1549 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101

Balboa Park is the crown jewel of San Diego. This huge green lung in the heart of the city is a gathering place for its inhabitants and a must-see destination for all those who are in San Diego even for a couple of days. Here you can admire the works of the great masters at the San Diego Museum of Art and the Museum of Photographic Arts, meet sports stars, visit the San Diego Natural History Museum or simply enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Guided tour

Click on the link below and you will find information about a tour of Balboa Park provided by a local guide.

Guided walking tours of Balboa Park

SeaWorld

Address: 500 Sea World Dr, San Diego, CA 92109

Considered to be the best water park in all of California, SeaWorld San Diego brings the ocean to you. You can interact with many aquatic animals and enjoy the acrobatic performances of killer whales, dolphins, sharks, and penguins. But that’s not all! SeaWorld is an amusement park in its own right. There is no shortage of water rides and other rides for a day full of excitement right on the ocean.

Tickets

There are multiple kinds of tickets to SeaWorld and some include transportation or admission to other parks. You can find all the details by clicking on the link below.

SeaWorld San Diego Tickets

San Diego Zoo

Address: 2920 Zoo Dr, San Diego, CA 92101

When choosing what are the best places to visit in San Diego, going to the San Diego Zoo is absolutely a must. It is the largest zoo in the world with over 40 hectares of lush facilities and areas with different climate zones and habitats that allow animals to roam in environments similar to their natural habitats. The San Diego Zoo is located within Balboa Park and is one of the most family-friendly places in San Diego. Don’t underestimate the size of the zoo. It is large, and it will take you at least half a day to see it all!

Tickets

You may choose from the different options for tickets to the San Diego Zoo: Cumulative, single, tickets with transportation included, and special offers.

Tickets to the San Diego Zoo

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Address: 15500 San Pasqual Valley Rd, Escondido, CA 92027

This giant 730-acre park, previously known as Wild Animal Park, is located about 40 minutes north of San Diego. It is a wildlife reserve where many exotic animals live in the wild. It gives visitors a glimpse of the wildlife of Africa and Asia where they can experience the thrill of having face-to-face encounters with cheetahs, giraffes, lions, and okapi. There are numerous opportunities to connect with animals. The areas of the park include Lion Camp, the Heart of Africa, Elephant Valley, Savanna Cool Zone, and many others. Click on the link below and you will find detailed descriptions of the park’s activities.

Tickets

As we always say, it is better to buy tickets online in order to avoid lines at the ticket office and to get a better price. Below you will find all the options available for admission to the park.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park Tickets

Legoland

Address: 1 Legoland Dr, Carlsbad, CA 92008

The newest amusement park in the San Diego area is Legoland, located north of Carlsbad. It is an amusement park dedicated to the popular interactive toy that every child in the world knows. Legoland hass plenty of rides and fun for children and pre-teens. But even adults will be amazed by the fascinating and impressive reproductions of famous cities made with Lego.

Tickets

Click on the link below and you will find the LEGOLAND® California 1-Day Ticket, which includes the e-ticket and passes to skip lines.

Tickets for Legoland

Final tip to save money
If you plan to visit Legoland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, or even Universal Studios in Los Angeles, you should consider purchasing the Go California Explorer Pass.

San Diego’s Neighborhoods

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The city boasts some characteristic neighborhoods that you must explore during your visit. Here are some of the main ones:

  • Gaslamp Quarter: the charming historic district (it was the original part of San Diego) is characterized by the typical gas lamps (which give this area its name) and a series of late-nineteenth-century buildings (such as the Louis Bank of Commerce) that give the district a distinct character. As you walk through the streets of the Gaslamp District you’ll pass cafés, art galleries, boutiques, and antique shops.
  • Old Town: there is no better place other than Presidio Hill, in the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to come into contact with San Diego’s Spanish roots. As we told you in our article about the Spanish missions in California, it was in 1769 that the Spanish built the first of the El Camino Real missions in this location. Besides the mission, there are also some historic houses. I recommend that you visit the well-preserved Casa de Estudillo, where you can also see the blacksmith’s shop, the stables, a school, and a printing shop.
  • Marina / Embarcadero: San Diego is on the ocean and its coastal district is obviously one of the most interesting. Its most photographed spot in Embarcadero is the Unconditional Surrender Statue. it is a gigantic statue that immortalizes the famous kiss between the sailor and the girl dressed like a nurse. The USS Midway Museum, the fresh fish market, and the Seaport Village shopping area are some of the other main points of interest in this area.
  • Little Italy: just like in other American cities, what distinguishes the Italian neighborhood from the surrounding areas is its restaurants. India Street and the streets that intersect it are full of bars and restaurants serving Italian food and are the reason why the locals crowd this district.

If you want to read our tips on how to optimize travel within the city, you can have a look at our article dedicated to how to get around San Diego.

Food tips
If you’re in San Diego but don’t know which restaurant to choose, check out our article on where to eat in San Diego. We hope you like reading the article and enjoy your meal!

San Diego’s Beaches

San Diego’s long beaches are rightfully considered the best beaches in California. You’ll find them in Coronado, La Jolla, the Mission Bay area, the coast of North County, South Bay, and Point Loma Peninsula. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll find time to explore all of these areas during your visit. If you’re short on time, focus directly on these two beaches that will not leave you disappointed:

  • La Jolla Cove: A small inlet with crystal clear waters protected as a nature reserve. La Jolla (the jewel) is one of the most elegant areas of San Diego and is full of boutiques, restaurants, and clubs where you can stroll and shop.
  • Coronado Beach: A beautiful beach that is one mile long characterized by almost subtropical vegetation, a temperate climate, and the famous Hotel del Coronado, which makes this place unique.

For a more complete overview, you can read our guide to San Diego’s beaches.

Places to Visit along the Coast of San Diego

The coast of San Diego County has more to offer than just beaches. This rugged coastline on the Pacific Ocean is full of cliffs, viewpoints, and a few other little surprises awaiting visitors. If you’re heading from San Diego to Los Angeles or vice versa, or even if you’re heading downtown to spend a day on the beach without looking for beach life, you’ll have several options to choose from.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

best things to do in San Diego

At the northern end of San Diego County, you will find Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, a natural park that covers 2.3 sq. miles that was named after the rare subspecies of pine that grows almost exclusively here. Enclosed by the ocean on one side and a lagoon on the other, the park stretches over a tall steep cliff and is full of trails that you can take to go hiking in the pine forests and among the bushes that cover the sand dunes.

To visit the natural reserve, it is necessary to respect specific rules, since it is a protected area. For instance, pets are not allowed, it is prohibited to use drones, and it is compulsory to stay on the trails in order not to damage the vegetation. To protect wild animals, it is forbidden to bring food inside the area. In fact, there are no trash cans. The only exception is the area of the beach, where it is not only possible to eat and go fishing, but there are also designated areas for grilling.

The lagoon area is a great place for birdwatching because it is a favorite destination for migratory birds. Inside the park, you can find animals such as red lynxes, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, and coyotes. But the real reason why it is worth visiting the park is the views you can get from the numerous observation points on the different trails. From these cliffs, you can see the large grey whales during the migration period. Make sure you wear sneakers to walk on the network of trails that cross the park and go down below the cliff to the beach. The most popular spot is Flat Rock. It is adjacent to the beach and is easy to climb at low tide.

This and other information can be found at the visitor center, which also houses a small museum about the area’s habitat. The reserve is open all year from 7:15 am to sunset (which can vary between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm depending on the time of year), while the visitor center is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in the summer and from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in the winter. On weekends and holidays, and on Fridays in the summer, there are two free tours per day that leave from the visitor center at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. There are two possibilities to access the park by car:

  • South Beach parking. In the high season (from Spring Break to the end of September), it costs $15 from Monday to Thursday and $20-25 from Friday to Sunday. During the low season, it costs $12 from Monday to Thursday and $15 from Friday to Sunday.
  • North Beach parking. In the high season (from Spring Break to the end of September), it costs $10 from Monday to Thursday and $15 from Friday to Sunday. During the low season, it costs $10.

If you don’t have the time or interest to go for a walk and only want to plan a quick stop, my advice is not to enter the state park. Instead, opt for a solution that does not require you to pay for parking. At the southern end of the reserve, you will find the Torrey Pines Gliderport. The starting and landing base for hang-gliders and paragliders overlooks a steep cliff and is a great spot to admire Black’s Beach below. In addition to a large free parking lot, you will find an observation platform and, if you are lucky, you will take memorable photos of the colorful wings of the paragliders flying along the coast.

La Jolla

San Diego sights

Earlier, we mentioned that La Jolla was one of the best locations to spend a day at the beach, but this is not the only reason to go to this coastal city north of San Diego. The small city is one of the best places in the county to take pleasant walks both among the shops in the inland streets and along the oceanfront.

But the crown jewel of La Jolla is the ocean it overlooks. Seals and sea lions spend their days basking in the sun on the rocks near the shore. The smell is not that pleasant, but seeing these animals up close is certainly more impressive when they are in their natural environment than, for example, in SeaWorld San Diego. Seagulls and pelicans make noise on the cliffs, while under the surface of the water, divers find their paradise, a real underwater natural park.

Although the whole promenade offers a beautiful view of the natural pools created by the sea in the rocks, make sure you go to La Jolla Cave – not to be confused with La Jolla Cove, which is the beach – a natural cave overlooking the sea. In order to see the cave from above, just take the Coast Walk Trail.

Sunset Cliffs

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Going down the coast, you can reach Mission Beach, a lagoon famous for being the location of Sea World. Once you pass it, you start skirting the long peninsula that separates the center of San Diego from the ocean. After passing the wide but not so famous beach called Ocean Beach, you will come across one of the best places to watch the sunset in San Diego.

The name Sunset Cliffs given to these cliffs is no accident. The location and setting formed by yellow rocks, which take on different shades of orange at sunset, make it one of the most romantic places in the surroundings. If time allows, I highly recommend that you come here at sunset, and if you are lucky, you may be able to sit on the stone bench overlooking the sea, but sitting on the cliff still offers a great view.

Cabrillo National Monument

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At the end of the peninsula you can reach the Cabrillo National Monument, the only national monument in San Diego County. But what is it, or rather, who is Cabrillo? Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was a person as unknown and mysterious as the waters he crossed. It’s not even clear if he was Spanish or Portuguese (he is also known as João Rodrigues Cabrilho). The only thing that is certain is that he was the first European to set foot on what is now the Pacific coast of the United States. Fifty years after Columbus landed in America, Cabrillo set sail from the city of Navidad – in what is in present-day Mexico – sailing north in search of the mythical connection between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean that was then believed to exist somewhere north of the continent. On September 28, 1542, Cabrillo’s army entered a bay that the conqueror described as “An excellent closed port”. Today, San Diego is located on that bay.

The white statue of Cabrillo stands out against the background of the ocean just a few steps from the visitor center. Besides the monument, this seemingly small park has something else to offer all year round. In the warmer months, walk along the paths that lead to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, passing also by the small building that houses a small exhibition on military artillery, all the way to the cliff, where the natural pools in the rock house with abundant marine life. Fall and winter, on the other hand, are the right seasons to see migrations. During the autumn months, numerous migratory birds stop here and rest on the cliffs of the peninsula before leaving for their destinations. In the winter, the big grey whales migrate. From here it is not uncommon to see the whales surface to breathe as they swim by.

The entrance to the park is possible every day from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Attention: it is located inside the Point Loma Naval Base and the access times indicated are enforced. Under no circumstances is it allowed to enter the park at night. The ticket is $20 per vehicle – or $15 for motorcycles, $10 for cyclists or pedestrians – but it is included on the national parks annual pass.

Tips for Finding Accommodations

To choose the area or neighborhood where to stay overnight, I recommend you read our tips on where to stay in San Diego and, if your plane lands in the city, I remind you, as always, that booking the cumulative flight + hotel package often allows you to save considerably compared to buying plane and hotel separately. Check the prices on this page.


Our Tip:
Looking for accommodations for your trip from California to other parts of the Southwest? Read our guide that contains reviews of hotels and strategic tips for finding accommodations near major attractions: Where to Stay: Our Tips for the SouthWest Area

Warning: Operating hours can change and closures for extraordinary events can occur, so we strongly suggest to check the venues official websites.

andrea cuminatto
Andrea Cuminatto

Journalist and traveler. I love seeing new places, but more than anything, I love to meet those who live there.

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