San Diego Travel Answers

You should look at a youth hostel. Either the Banana Bungalow or the HI San Diego Downtown, both of which are in the Downtown area. Failing that, the Dolphin Motel is fantastic and runs about55 per night on the weekdays outside of the summer. It is definitely not walking distance to the tourist sites in San Diego, but it's on a couple of bus lines that will take you to them.

You'll have better luck in San Diego than LA. Firstly, it is much smaller. You can't walk all over but they have an excellent bus and light rail system so you can take a bus or train to a neighborhood and then walk around. You got a great suggestion above for your hotel so I won't address that. Check San Diego on the VT Travel Pages because there is a lot of information here. You can click on the name of anyone who answers your questions and that takes you to their Home Page on Virtual Tourist. Then you can check their Travel Pages for the information you want.

Check out the Hostel in Dowuntown (gaslamp) district. From there you can see all that is worth seeing.

There are two youth hostels downtown in the Gaslamp Quarter. Hostelling International and USA Hostels. You can read more about them on my San Diego page under Hotel Reviews. These are both placed in the most vibrant section of the city which is very fun, day or night and walkable. You don't mention your age, so I'll tell you that in California you must be 21 to buy or drink alcoholic beverages and stores, restaurants and bars are especially vigilant checking ID's of youthful looking people. However, though it is the best place to stay if you are looking for exciting nightlife, it is not the only place where you might want to go in the city. As mentioned, the bus and Trolley system, though not as good as in Paris, it is useful and should help get you where you want to go. Although the Youth Hostels are less expensive per bed, since there are two of you, it might be worth your while to check out the hotels/motels in or near the city that are not so expensive. As Colin mentioned the Dolphin Motel offers a room at a nice price as do a few others and the price is per room, not per person as a hostel is. I've listed many options on my San Diego and National City pages if you are interested. The main thing is that if you choose a place that is not in the center of the city, make sure it will be near a bus stop or Trolley station and that way you will be able to get around easy enough. Also, you might look at my Imperial Beach, Ocean Beach, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach pages for ideas. These are beach communities in San Diego and I've tired to include lower priced accommodations in these areas too. They are all serviced by the bus system so you can get around when you want. Just keep in mind that bus and the Trolley systems don't run much later than midnight. Your trip sounds like a lot of fun!