The city of San Diego is a perfect blend of abundant sunshine, pristine beaches, multicultural flavors, and lively nightlife. Whether you are here as a solo traveler, couples gateway, or with your kids, San Diego is a complete savory package for everyone to have a good time. My trip to San Diego was short and quite interesting. While initially, I had planned for a beach getaway but kept on stumbling at the other local city attractions. In the end, I concluded my trip with a lot of sightseeing, hiking, and city-hopping. So this post is about a handful of ways to rejoice in San Diego sunshine while on a beach break.
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is located right in the San Diego city limits. This place is ideal if you love hiking while enjoying the breathtaking views of Sandstone Canyons overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Reserve has easy, family-friendly trails and more strenuous hikes.
La Jolla
La Jolla, popularly known as San Diego’s Jewel by the Sea is a posh seaside community. The town has beautiful beaches, seaside cliffs, a secluded cove, plenty of restaurants, and retail stores for shopping. What I really loved about this place was walking around the busy shore and watching the lazy seals and sea lions sunbathing on La Jolla shores.
La Jolla Coves is another high point while touring La Jolla Shores. These small deep water bay surrounded by sea cliffs are accessible by kayaking or also on foot by climbing a few stairs when the tides are low. However, extreme caution should be exercised while hiking these sea caves.
Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
As the name says it all, the park has a series of cliffs towards the oceans and is one of the best places in San Diego to watch the sun go down. However, extreme caution should be exercised while walking on the cliffs. The park is free and located in a residential area. Parking is on the streets and usually gets crowded during sunsets hours.
Gaslamp Quarter
Gaslamp Quarter is a historic neighborhood in Downtown San Diego. While there are more than 100 historic buildings from the Victorian era, the modern-day Gas Lamp quarter is an electric mix of both historic and high rise buildings standing side by side. In today’s time, these buildings stand as modern-day chic boutiques, restaurants, cafes, and bars. There are bars, nightclubs, and pubs at every nook and corner of the street. The restaurants here offer a variety of cuisine filled with flavors and casual bite palatable to everyone’s taste.
During the day, wandering around the streets and treating yourself to some retail therapy is highly encouraged to feel the charisma of the Gaslamp Quarter. The night is forever young at Gaslamp Quarter with good music, good food, and good vibes. We found our bar stool at barley mash, a cool sports bar well-known for craft beer, bourbon & flatbread pizzas.
Seaport Village & USS Midway Museum
Seaport Village is spread over 14 acres with San Diego Harbor as its backdrop. This waterfront complex provides spectacular views of the Coronado Bridge, Coronado Island, and a boat sailing the bay. There are more than 50 plus one-of-a-kind shops with different merchandise, plenty of eateries, art galleries, entertainment, and live music happening throughout the day. I was so happy to find a specialty store just for fridge magnets and coffee mugs, both being my kind of collectibles on any trip.
A short walk will lead your way to the USA Midway museum and the world-famous sculpture “Unconditional Surrender”, an American sailor kissing a nurse. The museum and all the sculptures around are absolutely captivating. Even if you are not here for shopping, eating, or for the museum, spending some time at Seaport Village is a great way to soak in beautiful San Diego weather while on a beach break, and it’s quite relaxing.
Old Town
Old Town is a union of history, art, and culture that represents San Diego’s heritage as the first Spanish settlement in California. There are many historic sites and museums around and a good place to know more about it would be Old Town San Diego State Historic Park- http://parks.ca.gov/?page_id=663. Don’t worry if you are not a history buff, once you are in an Old Town, you are in for a colorful adventure.
“Fiesta de Reyes” is an exciting place to pamper your taste bud with authentic Mexican cuisine and margaritas. We had our delicious lunch at Casa de Reyes and walked around the courtyard by the boutique shops. The stores carry a variety of authentic Mexican goodies, handmade jewelry, clothes, and home decor. There is more for shopping lovers at “The Bazar Del Mundo”, a bold and ever colorful collection of handcrafted gifts and treasures from all over the globe. Carry an extra bag for all the souvenirs you will be bringing home with you.
Live entertainment and special events are always going on at “Fiesta de Reyes”. While we were there, we got to witness a unique Mexican tradition, celebrating the day of the dead also known as “Dia de Los Muertos”. The event was so festive and joyful, and certainly an impressive way to remember and honor our loved ones.
San Diego is such a versatile year-round vacation spot that one can easily be overwhelmed by so many things to explore when you are short on time. Hence these are my San Diego snapshot moment while I was on a beach break. How was your vacation to San Diego? Do share your San Diego trip throwback with us.
