Suggestions for a trip to San Diego?

[Xithras]

My wifes been pretty stressed lately, so I suggested that we take a few days off and do a vacation somewhere in another month or two. She liked the idea, but doesn't want to be gone more than 2-3 days. Looking at a map, we realized that the only major west coast city we've never visited is San Diego. I understand that the weather in SD is pretty nice in January, so we thought it might be time to correct that oversight :)

What are the must see sights in San Diego for adults? I find lots of references on the web to the zoo and theme parks, but I really want to find something more "grown up" to occupy a few days I'm there. I'm not talking clubs (though I will happily take suggestions for those), but sights and places that are a bit more tranquil. What are the must-sees? Also, my wife has been wanting to do some art shopping for the house. Are there any good studio areas in SD?

Finally, she expressed an interest in maybe driving across the border one day to visit Tijuana "just because". Is there actually anything to do there?

[Hubris Heaver]

1. the art museums

are really good. Balboa part and Museum of Contemporary art in La Jolla. Many galleries in La Jolla, Encinitas, etc. We actually have some very good artists here...but like anywhere theres many more lame for every good one.
Also my favorite classical music group ( The Hutchins Consort) has a concert Jan 13 at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla. That was shameless self promotion, btw.

The gaslamp is where most of the "club" action is.

I've worked on and off in Tijuana for years. I avoid it like the plague if I can. ONce in a while something great is going on there...but the border crossing ( the busiest in the world, btw) is a drag.

I hope you enjoy your trip

[lazarus]

2. First

contact all of us so we can have a get-together. :hi:

I'd avoid Tijuana as far as driving over. It's tough, and you may lose your car. Haele and I went once, and likely won't go again.

Balboa Park is fantastic. Lots of museums, a Japanese tea garden, etc.

For dining, we have lots of different cuisine. I highly recommend Croce's in the Gaslamp, and Oki Ton Japanese Bistro for sushi.

I'll have Haele respond when she gets home in a couple of hours, she knows a lot more about the arts and stuff here than I do. But I can also say you need to hit Ocean Beach and have a couple of fish tacos, or you haven't been to San Diego. :-)

[cascadiance]

3. Also keep in mind if you are coming down in January...

and are contemplating going to Tijuana, that I think it is starting the beginning of the year that they are going to enforce having passports to come back into the country where they currently don't. That might cause some added delays, especially in January if that's when they first start up with that. If you haven't got a passport, you might want to get one now.

I'm actually trying to beat the new "ID'd" passports soon too and getting it expedited, but am trying to locate my old passport/gift certificate someplace to do so at the moment.

Perhaps a good game of golf at Torrey Pines in La Jolla and a visit to the aquarium there?

If you do get inclined to go to the zoo, you might go to the wild animal park up in North County which is kind of a more unique experience if you're already burnt out on other types of zoos.

[silverweb]

5. You scared the hell out of me.

I'd heard about the passport requirement coming up, but not as soon as this January. Fortunately, it's not going into effect until January 2008.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

I go down every three months for my meds and went into full panic mode there for a minute. Whew!!

[cascadiance]

7. I think this was the earlier plan...

Just like they wanted "embedded ID" passports to be fully deployed earlier this year. Looks like they've put this off for now. It looks like air travel will be started in 2007 though.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2225.html

----

...

When will the Travel Initiative be implemented?

In the proposed implementation plan, which is subject to a period of initial public comment, the Initiative will be rolled out in phases, providing as much advance notice as possible to the affected public to enable them to meet the terms of the new guidelines. The proposed timeline will be as follows:

December 31, 2006 – Requirement applied to all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.
December 31, 2007 – Requirement extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel.

I thought there was an additional phase to be implemented on December 31, 2005. Is this a change?

In April 2005, the Departments of State (DOS) and Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed plan to be implemented in three phases beginning on December 31, 2005 for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. After further review and considering the delay in publishing the public notice in the Federal Register, DOS and DHS recognized that implementing the December 31, 2005, phase would be problematic for travelers during the upcoming winter tourism season. This change will simplify the implementation and provide a longer lead-time for travelers to come into compliance with the requirements.

[bananas]

4. Tranquil adult hot-spots?

Pacific Beach is the most popular beach. Lots of sand, long boardwalk, lots of bars and restaurants.
La Jolla and Encinitas have lots of galleries.
You could go see the seals at La Jolla Cove, they have taken over.
Mt. Soledad has a nice view - you can see almost all of San Diego.
Gas Lamp has lots of galleries, bars and restaurants - take a ride on a Pedicab.
Balboa Park is very sedate, lots of trees, lawns, museums, and the Old Globe Theatre where you can watch a play.
You can park by the border and walk across, there are lots of shops.
The local paper is http://www.union-trib.com

[haele]

6. A couple thoughts...

If you want to go across the border and enjoy Mexico, try some of the other towns - the San Diego Museum of Railroading in Campo has a very popular day trip via antique steam engine (or perhaps their 1940's diesel) to Tecate, where you can go brewery sampling and shopping without a lot of the Tijuana hassle. Tecate is famous for pottery and some fabrics. And I do think they have at least two zebra donkeys for the tourists to take photos at...

Check at this site -
http://www.sdrm.org/
- for the train schedule. I think they usually run two saturdays a month. The route to get there is also on the way to Tecate, so if you can't catch the train to Tecate and might want to just take the two/three hour back country rail trip, which is pretty nice by itself.

The San Diego Maritime Museum is also very nice. The "California" goes out for a harbor sail almost every weekend, and since the Star of India (the oldest still active tall ship on the west coast) has been refurb'd, she goes out to sail a couple times a year - and you might be able to catch the cruise. The tour of the Star is cool; if you catch it when the school kids have their sleepover and "seamanship training", you can watch them learn how a 19th century sailing crew lived. You can also tour the USS Midway (which I helped decommission ten years ago!)

http://www.sdmaritime.com/index.asp

Of course, there's always San Diego Old Town. It is actually a state park, but there's lots of shops and restaurants as well as some of the museums and house tours. The Estulio house and the Whaley house tours are must sees. The Seely stable has a blacksmith that comes in twice a week to demonstrate a period smithy, and from what I understand, they also have a cooper and a carpenter that come in and show period wheel and wagon making.
http://gothere.com/sandiego/oldtown.htm

Balboa Park has not only the zoo, but many museums (modern, multi-cultural, natural, technical/scientific and local), art exhibits, artisan's workshops, and art venues. If the San Diego Art museum is a bit pricey on top of the other museums in the park, the Timkin Art Museum is free, and has a great collection of Russian screens and baroque art. Many of the art workshops will have jewelry and other crafts that you will fight tourists for in Mexico. It's a great walk about that can take you most of a day to see everything.

http://www.balboapark.org/

Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, and Pacific Beach are very much throw-back sorts of places, very reminiscent of the height of the surfer culture. Sea World is sort of a half Disneyworld, half aquarium. Frankly, if you really want to see an aquarium, check out the Scripps Aquarium in La Jolla, and the Mission Beach Boardwalk, while a bit crowded and hard to get to, has more of a arcade/amusement park feel.
There's a nice botanical garden up I-5 around Encinitas, Quail Botanical Garden. Point Loma has the Cabrillo monument.

The Gaslamp Quarter downtown has lots of little restaurants, a few "hole in the wall historical sites" and shops, and of course - lots of clubs. It's great for people watching.

The Del Mar racetrack is only open for "events" during the winter; home expo events, gun shows, gem shows, computer shows, etc...

There's at least four Indian Casinos in easy distance - Viejas, Barona, Sycuan, and Pala. (yes, I know there are a lot more of them around, but these are the closest I know about that are large) All of them are also concert venues - you might want to check their websites.

If you still want to go to Tijuana, the best thing to do is to drive to a trolley "park and ride", take the trolley the rest of the way down, and walk across the border to the cab station. If you drive your own car, you will be required to purchase Mexican Insurance - and most US rental car companies don't allow you to drive across the border.
Stay on the Avenue de la Revolucion for the most part; there are a few blocks that are well traveled on either side of the Avenue in the central/western portion of the Avenue, but don't stray too far off. The Cultural Center is nice.
I don't know what the going rate for the Cab Drivers are, but most of the ones you pick up at the border cab stand run the same rates.

Good Luck

Haele

[Oerdin]

8. I like wine so...

A trip to the Temcula wine country is always fun plus since you're already going south of the border why not try out Baja's up and coming wine region in the Guadalupe Valley? It is only 65 miles south of the border and many of the big international wine vintners have set up wineries there. January is also a great time to visit Anza-Berrigo Desert State Park to see the wild flowers plus if you enjoy world class dinning then San Diego has more then its fair share. Water sports (deep sea fishing, sailing, surfing, swimming, jet skiing, etc...) are always popular as are the city's numerous museums (they have the largest collection of museums west of the Mississippi) while hot air balloon or hang gliding are also popular attractions.

The nightlife scene in the Gas Lamp district is top notch while Balboa Park is one of America's great urban parks. Sun bathing on the beach (I like Del Mar best) is always popular while things like Sea World or the Zoo are fun for even the most downer adult. Catch a bull fight in Tijuana's Arena del Toros, eat some of the best tacos ever from vendors with push carts, and buy dodgy Mexican handy crafts in TJ. Go camping in one of the region's numerous state parks or just visit places like Cabrillo National Monument, the USS Midway, and Torrey Pine's State Park or shop til you drop at the numerous malls and boutiques. There are boat loads of things to do and it just depends what interests you.

[Oerdin]

9. Do you like beer?

Also if you like beer then three of the world's top 10 rated beer breweries are located in the San Diego area. The place has become a huge beer lover's destination with places like Pizza Port in Solana Beach, Alesmith Brewing Company, and Stone Brewing Company featuring high on any beer lover's list.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/24/pf/goodlife/best_beer/

[Oerdin]

10. Spas

Maybe you and the lady friend are in the mood for some pampering; if so then there are numerous resort spas in San Diego including the Golden Door Spa in north county. The Golden Door normally takes first or second place in world wide spa shoot outs and it is widely seen as one of the world's best spas. Of course prices aren't cheap and you pay for the world class care but realize that Kings, Presidents, and Hollywood stars routinely stop by for a weekend. Also where are you thinking about staying? The Hotel Del Coronado is an expensive but unique Victorian landmark which offers nearly a mile of private white sand beachs, top chiefs, and one of a kind architecture. The Hotel Del (as we locals call it) has hosted every President since Truman and has a storied history (King Edward VIII met Wallis Simpson, who he later abdicated the British thrown to marry, there. The hotel was the first building west of the Missiissippi to be wired for electric lights and it was done by Thomas Edison himself since Edison was the only man who knew how to do it. Lots of movies like Monroe's famous "Some like it hot" were filmed there). There are other excellent hotels in the City but the Hotel Del Coronado is where to go if you want a truly special and unique vacation.

The Golden Door's website.
http://spas.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.goldendoor.com/

The Hotel Del Coronado's website.
http://www.hoteldel.com/

[cascadiance]

14. Hotel Coronado is so good, Dubya didn't want to be interrupted there...

while hurricane Katrina was pounding New Orleans too...

[Howardx]

13. pizza port!

good call!

[Sapphocrat]

11. Black's Beach.

I don't think it's been mentioned yet (hey, it's late, and I'm foggy...). Google "Black's Beach", X. It's within spitting distance of San Diego proper, and offers one of the best (and most romantic) tidepool areas in the entire state. Bring a camera. (Just dress warmly -- the air can be cold -- and wear very sturdy shoes; the rocks are slippery as all hell, and it hurts when you land. I know.)

Tijuana: If you haven't been, GO! What's "to do" is shopping, shopping, shopping! The bars and restaurants are well worth the visit alone, too, but do NOT order uncooked veg of any sort, lest you invite the wrath of Montezuma. Seriously. (More about that in a sec.)

Stop and TALK to people. You will learn a lot. Just about everybody speaks English (especially the young folks). And when you're met just across the border by some 8-year-old playing the guitar for spare change, by all means, toss him a buck or two. (You WILL be mobbed, but it's up to you to shake off all the other kids, or "spread the wealth," as it moves you.)

BUT DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS THE BORDER! Trust me, mate! Your U.S. auto insurance will NOT cover your trip, and Tijuana traffic is insane. LEAVE YOUR CAR in Chula Vista or -- what's the last border town, Calexico? -- on the U.S. side, and WALK across the border.

Even if nothing happens to your car, you still stand a high chance of your car being searched when you come back into the U.S. Even if you have no contrabando, who wants to go through that hassle?

Carry NOTHING but U.S. cash and ONE I.D. (preferably U.S. passport). DO NOT put your wallet/I.D. in your pants. Leave your wallet behind, and put both your I.D. and all your cash in a shirt pocket you can BUTTON.

Your credit cards are useless, and if you get ripped off, the worst that will happen is that you're out some greenbacks, and you'll have to get a replacement passport/driver's license.

Call me paranoid, but I've done the Tijuana day trip many, many times. It is TOTALLY worth going, but you need to approach it with extreme caution. That's not bagging on our southern neighbors; it's just that you're walking into an area where you've got desperate, starving people, and the occasional rip-off artist just salivating over the arrival of the next stupid, overly-trusting Americans.

Tijuana is fun, and cool, and people are generally very nice -- but you've got always got that one element that can screw up an otherwise wonderful day trip.

Mm, don't wear shorts -- you or your wife. And tell your wife that red shoes will mark her as a prostitute. Honest.

Oh, and about Montezuma's Revenge: Seriously, don't drink the water. It's not an old wives' tale. Trust me. No uncooked veg, no fresh fruit, and no water that isn't bottled in the U.S. Stick to bottled beer or Coke. You have been warned. :)

[Oerdin]

12. LOL

Black's Beach is a nuddist beach so how would he "dress warmly"? :lol:

BTW TJ isn't as unsafe as some people claim. I'm an average looking white boy and I've never been hassled or riped off. The city is a major tourist town and the local authorities know that keeping the tourists coming means they need to keep their city safe. All of the tourist areas are well patrolled by police and are as safe as most American cities. Also you can drive in Mexico as long as you buy Mexican auto insurence (it costs like $10 a day for tourists) and Highway 1 is a very nice modern toll road which will take you down the Pacific coast to the beach cities or to the Guadalupe Valley wine country.

It's worth the trip since it's only an hour's drive and you get to see more of what the real Mexico is like instead of just the aped up tourist trap that is TJ.

[Sapphocrat]

15. LOL

It's not a nudist beach where the tidepools are, silly!

[Oerdin]

16. If you want tidepools

The Point Loma is the place to go. Blacks is nice since it is typically uncrowded but Cabrillo National Monument (where European explores first set foot in Califoria) has the largest and most extensive plus its bluffs offer some of the best views in the city. There is also a wonderful 19th century light house, lots of perserved open spaces, and Fort Rosecrans historic area is literally next door with it's Army gun emplacements which were used to guard the harbor against foreign invasion as recently as WW2.

[bananas]

18. boiled coffee, cruise to mexico

Boiled coffee is safe, you can order it at most restaurants. Don't drink regular coffee, the water doesn't get hot enough to kill the germs.

Do not use ice - it is made with tap water. No ice in mized drinks, don't add ice to your bottled soda or boiled coffee. Wine is safe, of course. Don't get a salad, it was probably rinsed in tap water. Cooked food only.

There are also day cruises to Mexico, they take you to TJ or Ensenada for sight-seeing and shopping.

[Oerdin]

19. LOL

You folks are stuck in a time warp from 30 years ago. The tap water system in TJ is still not great but EVERY WHERE they now use purified water. How many repeat tourists do you think they'd get if they poisoned their customers?

[bridgit]

17. the hillcrest district, balboa park...

http://genesis.sannet.gov/infospc/templates/cd3/com_hillcrest.jsp

http://www.balboapark.org

[maveric]

20. Ocean Beach. Its like a time warp back to 1969.

Many eateries and shops. OB also sports the longest ocean pier on the west coast. There's also a cool Head Shop there called "The Black".
Also:
Balboa Park/museums
The Embarcadero
Mission Trails Park
Zoo
Mission Bay Park
Hodads (Best burgers in the US.In Ocean Beach)
USS Midway Museum
La Jolla Shores
The Gaslamp District

To name a few cool spots.

[rinsd]

22. Shhhhhhh........

I hate tourists in OB....send 'em to PB!

To the OP, I am only kidding. If you are looking for a low key good time, OB is one of the best places to go.

[Zorro]

21. Start with Point Loma

Get a good view of the entire city.

Old Town is a nice place to spend a couple of hours wandering around, although it's gone downhill a lot since the city commissioners in their wisdom awarded the concession to an out-of-state group over the woman who built the area up from scratch.

Scripps aquarium in La Jolla is an interesting place.

I like driving the back country and heading up to Mt. Palomar to take a look at the observatory. It's beautiful up there.

I drive across the border all the time -- your State Farm insurance is good for 60 miles inland. Don't know about rental cars in any detail, but it's my recollection that it's a no-no to drive a rental across the border. Nevertheless, a trip to TJ is enjoyable -- and in particular, Mercado de los Artisanas is the place to go to get things about half the price (or less) than what you'll pay on Avenida de la Revolucion. It's fun to listen to the spiel of the sidewalk hawkers ("more junk for your money here, senor", "best junk in town in my store", "gift for your wife, your girlfriend, your neighbor's wife" etc. etc. always is amusing).

And Balboa Park and the museums (especially the car museum) is a nice way to spend an afternoon.

[slackmaster]

23. The deserts are exceptionally nice in the winter

I can recommend a good spot or two to match your interests if you want to talk about it.

And you should take a couple of hours to meet ME for a beer at my favorite bar: Sparky's, the oldest beer and wine bar in San Diego.

http://www.broadwaypub.com

Please IM me if you are interested.

[Oerdin]

24. Hmmm...

Hoegaarden on tap. That's a rare find especially in a place that also sells Pabst Blue Ribbon. :lol:

Thumbs up for Hoegaarden though.

[slackmaster]

26. They have 1664 on tap too

And some local brews.

[SHRED]

25. Don't forget Cardiff/Encinitas/Leucadia!

I live on the North County Coast.
The beaches can be nice that time of year.

:)

[Oerdin]

27. The best beaches...

Are in the extreme north or south parts of the county. Well, Coronado is also excellent but most people don't go there since so much of it is either private or owned by the military.