San Diego Accomodations

[tiffany123]

DH and I are making our first visit to Disneyland later this year and will also be spending 4 nights in San Diego. Plan to visit the zoo and Sea World as well as other city highlights. Have never been to San Diego. We will be renting a car and would like suggestions for a nice place to stay. Along or near the coast would be nice but not mandatory. Thank you!

 

[New To Mom]

I stayed at the Marriott which was close to the water. I cant remember the exact name but its the one with the convention center. Very close to the Gaslamp district. There was even a water taxi that we took to Corondo.
I was there for a conference so I didn't get to see a ton of San Diego, but loved the area I was in. I also thought the hotel staff was awesome considering that there were thousands of us females at the conference. It is kind of pricey though, I think our discounted rate was under $200.

 

[KCmike]

The ultimate experience would be the Hotel Del Coronado. Located right on the Pacific Ocean. Expensive but worth every penny. This is an iconic hotel that nearly every President has stayed at, Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like it Hot, and other famous people have lodged there. It is also one of the main influences on how the Grand Floridian was built at WDW.


Hotel Del's Glory by KC MikeD, on Flickr



Views of the Hotel Del from Coronado Beach by KC MikeD, on Flickr

 

[New To Mom]

I think I visited and it was very nice. I also think I had the best shrimp quesadilla ever lol.

 

[SA mom]

Another historic hotel is the Grande Colonial in La Jolla. It is a very different experience than the Hotel Del. The Grande Colonial is more of a boutique hotel. It is much smaller and the service is amazing. By the end of our 3 night stay the whole staff knew our names and treated us with exceptional kindness.

Hotel Del is amazing but I was surprised at how dark it was inside. Grande Colonial is airy and bright with light.

The valets at the Grande Colonial even offered to take my 81-year-old mother to the ocean side and back in their gold cart.

 

[KCmike]

Hotel Del is amazing but I was surprised at how dark it was inside.

I was surprised as well but its just the lobby that's really dark. But after all it is an all wooden structure built over 126 years ago.

 

[halfmonkey]

DH and I are making our first visit to Disneyland later this year and will also be spending 4 nights in San Diego. Plan to visit the zoo and Sea World as well as other city highlights. Have never been to San Diego. We will be renting a car and would like suggestions for a nice place to stay. Along or near the coast would be nice but not mandatory. Thank you!

I'll try and offer some suggestions/options but your request of being along or near the coast is a little vague. Please keep in mind that San Diego has a lot of beach communities. Seeing that you'll be visiting the Zoo and Sea World, I'll keep my suggestions around downtown SD.

Also, your definition of nice isn't qualified so nice can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

So Mission Valley has an area called hotel circle, which as the name inplies, is a bunch of different hotels in a relatively small area. It's convenient and it's close to the zoo, sea world, fashion valley mall (largest mall in SD), the airport, downtown, mission bay, and old town. They have many different choices of hotels and motels so have a look.

There is also the Hilton by Mission Bay which is in a really nice area as it's kind of secluded in Mission Bay and in the same general area. It's about five minutes from sea world and hotel circle.

Of course, the Hotel Del Coronado is a famous place where Presidents have previously stayed. The beach is beautiful but keep in mind that it is on it's little island and is secluded from "mainland" San Diego. You will need to cross the Coronado Bridge to get to anywhere as there's not much sightseeing to do on Coronado Island.

If you're looking for some really nice areas to stay at, check out La Jolla and Del Mar. These areas are venturing further north than where Hotel Circle is but they are more of an upscale area. Figure about 20 minutes or so depending on traffic from Hotel Circle.

If you have any specific questions of have narrowed down a hotel or two, feel free to ask if you have any questions that you would like answered and I'll do my best to help with your questions.