San Diego travel guide

My first travel guide after quarantine! Can you believe it? I am so excited to get back to more travel writing now that the world is opening up again. I booked this trip to San Diego right after I found out the date of my second vaccine shot. I dutifully scheduled it for two weeks after so that I’d be fully protected, and honestly the joy I felt booking a flight for the first time in over a year was indescribable! I’m sure my fellow travel lovers know what I’m talking about. It was a huge piece of normalcy to come back for me, even if masks and social distancing are still present.

I want to create a consistent format for my travel guides, and I think this is the best way. I’ll be posting a travel itinerary template soon, so that you can take my suggestions and plug them into your own itinerary. I think this works better than making an itinerary for you. Travel should be personal! Only you know what you will enjoy and why you’re traveling, so it’s best left up to you to choose your activities and locations.

San Diego is a city I’ve returned to again and again. It’s where I really fell in love with the ocean and learned how to boogie board. My dad lived there for a couple summers during college, so we would go as a family and always have a true beach vacation. Spending all day in the surf is truly one of my happy places. Then my best friend moved there for college, so I visited her a few times over spring break. This trip was my fifth visit and I’m so glad I made it my first destination after vaccination. All I wanted was to be by the ocean, enjoy time with my bestie, and finally go out for drinks and food surrounded by people again.

Here are all of my favorite places, including beaches, hikes, restaurants, and bars in San Diego. There is a lot to do in this seaside city, plus it’s only two hours from Los Angeles (take the train if you can – the views are beautiful). If you have any questions or additional San Diego recommendations, leave them in the comments below or send me a DM on Instagram! I also wrote a post for Society19, about 10 things you should do in San Diego.

*This post has been updated in January 2023 after two additional trips back to San Diego!

To see

Sunset Cliffs—a great spot to watch the sunset
Little Italy
Coronado Island and the Hotel del Coronado
Sailor Kissing Nurse statue in the harbor
Sea lions and seals at La Jolla Cove
Mount Soledad in La Jolla—go on a clear day

To do

Hike Torrey Pines
Visit a flea market
See the tide pools at Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument
Walk around Balboa Park and visit a museum there, like the San Diego Museum of Art
Visit the USS Midway Museum

Beaches

Pacific Beach
Windansea in La Jolla
Torrey Pines
Swami’s Beach in Encinitas
Mission Beach
Ocean Beach

To eat

Cafes

Communal Coffee—the cutest cafe and flower shop with the best avocado toast and coffee
Pappalecco—great cafe in Little Italy
Frost Me Cafe & Bakery—another Little Italy favorite, this one’s on the main piazza
Better Buzz Coffee—great acai bowls and sandwiches
Everbowl—great acai bowls, multiple locations
Holy Matcha—go if you like matcha and Instagram-worthy spaces