Anniversary/B-day trip to San Diego

[bonnielynn]

in May.. I had planned to stay at the Omni..

Can anyone suggest things to do. We will have a 10 yr old with us (getting off the Disney Cruise and driving to San Diego). I am thinking the Zoo and balboa park... we are only there for 2 days. Would love a suggest for a nice restaurant (family friendly) for my husband's 40th..

Also is the Omni centrally located enough?

Thanks ;)

[Monkey Monkey]

The zoo and Balboa Park can be a 1 or 2 day commitment depending on how thoroughly you want to explore them. SeaWorld is a lot of fun for all ages as well.

A good option is the Old Town Trolley Tour, which takes you to Coronado, Horton Plaza in downtown, Seaport Village, Balboa Park, the zoo, and Old Town. You can pick up the tour at any of the designated stops and get off and on at any/all of them, all day. http://www.trolleytours.com/San-Diego/

It's not the smoothest ride, and isn't very cheap, but it's a very informative way to see many of the sights of San Diego without battling traffic on your own.

The Omni is in downtown, which is close enough to Balboa Park but you will have to deal with downtown traffic.

I don't know offhand of any family-friendly restaurants downtown, but there are many in Old Town, and Buster's Beach House in Seaport Village is a great place to eat.

HTH! Have fun!

[bonnielynn]

Should we choose another location to stay?

[Monkey Monkey]

I personally wouldn't stay downtown unless I was planning to go to some clubs in the Gaslamp District or had business to do there.

I would probably stay closer to the beach and really get my money's worth. :)

[bonnielynn]

Any suggestions on which beach and a hotel? We are only here for 2 nights... would we be doing alot of our time driving? I hear traffic is really heavy. Plus its May.. isn't there a May fog happening around that time?:confused3

[ScooterL]

May Gray, we call it...along the coast it's cloudy and overcast and gloomy most (and sometimes all) of the day. It doesn't rain - it's just really gray. If you luck out and get a sunny day the beach is nice - but the water will be COLD!!! So I'm not sure that staying near the beach is really worth it at that time of year.

I'm assuming you will have a car, and if so, beach, Balboa Park, Old Town, etc. really aren't far from downtown - in most cases it's just a few miles.

[bonnielynn]

Yeah.. I think I am sticking with the Omni.. got it for only $139 a night.. so you can't beat that... ;) We will have a car.. and I figure we will just catch some sights... Thanks for all the information!

[juliana_sd]

The Omni is right next to Petco Park - I'm guessing with tat rate, the Padres won't be in town, but if they are you might as well go to the game because traffic will be nuts getting in and out of there. As far as restaurants, there's a neat one called the Strip Club (not THAT kind of strip club!) where you cook your own steaks at your table. It's unique :) Some people don't want to risk ruining a perfectly good steak though! It's walking distance from your hotel. But that area of downtown is mostly clubs/bars and not very family friendly. A little further up there's a Hard Rock Cafe. One of my favorite restaurants is in Horton Plaza (a mall/shopping center in the middle of downtown) - Napa Valley Grille. It's definitely "California-style" food but it's a classy place.