San Diego Travel Forum

Hi everyone!

2 friends and I are planning a trip to SD in late June and we're very excited about going! we were thinking about staying there between 10 and 15 days. Is this too long?? Are we going to get bored after 5 days? We thought about this destination because there seems to be plenty to do: city, beach, mountains, Mexique, LA not too far... so we'd have time to rest, do sightseeing, shopping etc... We really just want to enjoy everyday life and discover a new city.

We won't have a car coz none of us has a driving license yet but we don't mind taking buses/train to go out of SD for a day or so.

Thanks for your help!

If you include LA in your plans then you definitely will not get bored. But base yourselves in San Diego, and I would look at renting a house, possibly on the beach, so that you can be more comfortable and save a bit of money since you're there for so long.
You may want to look at taking a cruise to Ensenada (if you can afford that). Tijuana is kind of sketchy with all of the drug stuff going on there right now.
San Diego actually has a fairly good and far-reaching public transportation system. You can get to some really random, rural areas by bus, and they have an express train (The Coaster) and a trolley/light rail system. Including the bus allows you to get almost anywhere that you would want to visit.
You can take an Amtrak train up to LA. However, you'd likely have to do an overnight up there. Otherwise, you won't have any time to do anything.
You may also want to look at taking a bus up to Las Vegas. I don't like Vegas, but a lot of people seem to love it.

You didn't say how old you and your friends are. It may make a difference, depending upon what you expect to do while here. The legal drinking age is 21 years, so if you are under that age most of the nightlife, say in the Gaslamp Quarter, will not be available to you. Of course there are places such as restaurants that offer musical entertainment, but maybe not the style of music that's interesting to your age group. There are a few venues in town offering concerts, Coors Ampitheatre and The House of Blues are two, but the tickets can be pretty high as they usually offer big named talent.

Since you mentioned sightseeing, shopping, city, beach mountains, Mexico and LA as your interests, there may be plenty to keep you busy while here for ten or fifteen days.

Our public transportation--bus and trolley--is okay and you should be able to get to most places you'd like to go to, but it is not as effecient as in some cities, like London or Paris, which means, especially, that it's time consuming.

as Bocmaxima says <<You may want to look at taking a cruise to Ensenada (if you can afford that). Tijuana is kind of sketchy with all of the drug stuff going on there right now. >>

This is a good suggestion - I really would stay away from the Tijuana border area. Things are getting out of control along the borders. Farther inland, such as Ensenada, should be much safer.

Thank you all for your answers! We're 22 so there shouldn't be any problem with going out at night in bars and clubs.

Taking the cruise to Ensenada is a great idea, do you know about how much it is? Thanx for the tip about avoiding Tijuana anyway! We wouldnt want to be charged for drug fellony or something by mistake!

We prefer staying in a hostel instead of renting a house because it's still cheaper, but mostly because we can meet people there, and there are many activities organized by the hostel (HI or USA Hostels) which is great!

Las Vegas is kind of far from San Diego and some of us have already been there in the past. ;) But if we have time we might take the Amtrak train up north LA, near Santa Barbara.

Ive heard about the desert near SD, are they some tours organized over there with the Tourism Center or so? Is it safe to go there?

Going to Santa Barbara is a great idea. But that's definitely an overnight trip. It would take almost the entire day to get there by train.
The desert east of San Diego is kind of cool, but there's not really a way to get out there without your own vehicle. The only way I can think to do it is to take the bus to Yuma, where you would see the Imperial Dunes along the way, but you wouldn't be able to get out. I've seen tour buses at Desert Tower a few times, but I don't know where they're coming from or going to.

>>>We prefer staying in a hostel instead of renting a house because it's still cheaper,

You might try the Hostel International in Ocean Beach. It is located a block or so from the beach and in the midst of Newport Avenue, which is the main street for restaurants and bars in that area. You can take a look at my Ocean Beach page. Also in Pacific Beach there is a Youth Hostel that seems pretty popular.

>>>Ive heard about the desert near SD, are they some tours organized over there with the Tourism Center or so? Is it safe to go there?

I don't know about tours that are organized for a visit to the desert, as I drive there. There should be something. The Anza-Borrego Desert is a protected Park, you might look at their website for info about tours. The desert is safe enough if you have plenty of water with you. The problem is that the desert in June is a really hot and in some ways, a miserable place to be, but lots of people love it. I have written a bit about Anza-Borrego on my Ocotillo page.

I think that there is a tour of Anza-Borrego, offered in Julian, which is an old mining town in the mountains that is pretty popular. Anza-Borrego is just on the east side of the mountain from Julian.

Yes lmkluque I have seen your pages already! Even if the Ocean Side hostel seems very nice I think we prefer being VERY central ie choose the HI-Downtown.

Anza-Borrego Desert seems awesome! We definitely have to go there!! On their website I saw there are some ranger-guided tours organized through winter and spring (question is: in summer as well?). We'll have to check once in SD at the Visitor Information Center. Same for Julian that seems great with its apple pies! :B Thanx for the tip (on your page)!

About Desert Tower I'm sure there are some buses somewhere in SD that can drive us there! We'll get some information at the Visitor Center as well I guess...

>>>We'll have to check once in SD at the Visitor Information Center.

Also, in Old Town, up in Heritage Park, there is a Parks Ranger Information Station in one of the old buildings there and you might find great information there too.

Great! We'll def go there!! thanks a lot for the tip!