Search Holidays
San Diego
Sun, surf and sand make San Diego the epitome of a Southern California beach city, with year round sunshine and a beautiful white sand beaches that stretch on for miles and miles. The city is also home to easygoing inhabitants, and a wide variety of world-class family attractions that draws tourists, long-time vacationers and would-be residents to 'America's finest city'.
Despite San Diego's population continually increasing and the city being the second largest in California, it still offers a small town ambience, un-congested highways and low pollution levels. In 1769 a Spanish missionary by the name of Father Junipero Serra established a Catholic mission and fortified settlement in what was later to become San Diego; it was the first permanent European settlement on the West Coast of the United States. It remained a village backwater until, with the bombing of Pearl Harbour during World War II, the US Naval Fleet Headquarters was relocated to San Diego Bay and the booming of wartime activity transformed it into a thriving city.
A colourful collection of communities and neighbourhoods make up the city of San Diego. It has award-winning restaurants, trendy shopping districts, attractions such as the world-renowned San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld, and a dynamic downtown district that includes the city's historic Gaslamp Quarter. There are numerous indications of its Mexican and Spanish heritage: in the architecture, the typical Mexican cuisine, and the strong links with the town of Tijuana just across the Mexican border.
San Diego is home to the biggest cultural urban park in the US and it is a city rich in culture and art, with enchanting gardens and intricate Spanish architecture, the Balboa Park alone contains fifteen museums, theatres and art galleries. More than 70 miles (113km) of beaches around the city offer superb surfing and beach activities and provide the perfect introduction to this accessible and laid-back city.
Balboa Park
Balboa Park in San Diego is home to one of the largest groups of museums in the United States, with a majority of them contained in Spanish Mexican buildings. The park is also home to the internationally famous Old Globe Theatre and a further eighty-five International Culture Organisations, art galleries and Performing Arts theatres. The park also houses the world-renowned San Diego Zoo with more than 800 species in spacious re-created natural habitats. The oldest and most famous of the 15 museums is the Reuben H Fleet Science Centre with a big screen Omnimax Theatre and virtual reality simulator that transports visitors to outer space. Other museums cover a wide range of interests, including cars and motorbikes, anthropology, various forms of art, and natural history. The Spanish Village Art Centre provides a traditional ancient village setting for viewing sculpture, painting, glassblowing and pottery performed by crafts people in classic tiled-roofed studios. The park has numerous features and facilities including golf courses, hiking and cycling trails, promenades, extensive landscaped gardens and horticultural treasures, a Japanese Friendship Garden, fountains and restaurants, a pavilion for Sunday afternoon concerts and the world's largest outdoor organ.
San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is famous worldwide for it conservation efforts and is one of the cities largest attractions; offering and enlightened management program, natural animal environments and most notably its success in breeding endangered species in captivity for reintegration into their natural habitats (together with the Wild Animal Park north of the city). It is the only zoo to have successfully bred Chinese giant pandas in captivity. The zoo houses more than 4,000 mammals, birds and reptiles. Many rare and endangered animals roam simulated natural habitats, while tourists follow walkways and bridges, passing waterfalls, tropical forests, sandy plateaus, arctic tundra, and bird aviaries. The 100-acre (40-hectare) park can be explored on foot, on narrated open-air trams, hop-on-and-off buses, or above the ground on the aerial Skyfari tram or hot air balloon. One of the highlights is the Tiger River Asian rainforest with animal enclosures situated along misty trails enhanced by waterfalls and exotic plants. It features tigers, pythons, tapirs and crocodiles. Other highlights include the Gorilla Tropics, Sun Bear Forest, polar bears in a simulated freezer, and the Ituri Forest Exhibit that features African buffaloes, monkeys and hippos. There is also a Children's Zoo where small animals such as bunnies, goats and sheep can be petted, and the nursery where the latest arrivals are looked after. An outdoor amphitheatre has daily sea lion and other animal shows
SeaWorld
Situated on the beautiful shores of Mission Bay, SeaWorld is one of San Diego's most popular attractions and home to a resident killer whale called Shamu. SeaWorld is a leader in marine conservation and plays an important role in rescuing and rehabilitating animals found beached along the West Coast. It is also one of the world's largest marine entertainment parks and is a source of education as well as family recreation. The park is best known for its work with killer whales (Orcas) and dolphins, and the Dolphin Interaction Program provides the experience of feeding, stroking and wading with bottlenose dolphins (requiring advance booking and an additional fee). SeaWorld's favourite attractions are its arena shows that run throughout the day, highlighting the behaviours and talents of trained marine mammals such as sea lions, walruses, otters, dolphins and killer whales. Most of the exhibits are walk-through marine environments like the Penguin Encounter that passes through a glass-enclosed Antarctica with remarkable emperor penguins sliding over glaciers into the icy water. The walk-through glass tube that passes through the Shark House affords frightening face-to-face encounters. Adventure rides include the Shipwreck Rapids ride with its turbulent rivers and underground canyons, the exhilarating Journey to Atlantis and the virtual-reality trip to the world of beluga whales, polar bears and walruses of the Wild Arctic. During summer peak hours the shows and more popular exhibits can be very crowded with long queues.
Downtown
The thriving Downtown area of San Diego is compact and is easy to walk around and explore it on holiday in Sand Diego. It encompasses the business district, the historic Gaslamp Quarter, the post-modern Horton Plaza pastel-coloured shopping mall, and the waterfront Embarcadero with boardwalk shops, museums and restaurants. The Gaslamp Quarter was the first commercial district in San Diego and is now a trendy 16-block area of historic buildings and old-fashioned wrought-iron street lamps, antique stores, shopping centres, art galleries, chic coffee houses, restaurants and jazz bars. The Horton Grand is a reconstruction of a 19th-century hotel with Victorian décor and costumes, well worth a peek. San Diego is one of California's most important centres for the performing and visual arts, and its artistic and musical heritage is celebrated annually with the opening of artists' studios and galleries to the public, as well as its numerous Blues and Jazz festivals. Summer evenings are the liveliest time to visit, when people flock to the outdoor tables, bars and clubs and wander the streets. However visits after dark should be confined to the populated, well-lit areas.
The Beaches
The beaches in Southern California are the inspiration for the surfer images of the state, and in San Diego the seaside suburbs are an integral part of the city, with bikini clad people sun bathing on the beautiful beaches, an array of surfers catching waves, many small shops, coffee houses, pavement cafes and restaurants varying in cost and quality available to locals and visitors alike. The 70 miles (113km) of sandy coastline attracts swimmers, sunbathers, surfers, volleyball players and snorkellers. A boardwalk that runs from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach is extremely popular for rollerblading, jogging and cycling. Mission Bay is a playground for waterskiing, sailing and windsurfing, and the surrounding beaches of Mission Beach, Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach are known for their wide stretches of sand as well as for the vibrant nightlife and dining. The northern part of Ocean Beach is known as 'Dog Beach', one of only two beaches in the city that allows dogs. Mission Beach is the most popular with plenty of action, particularly along the Ocean Front Walk that resembles the boardwalk parade of Los Angeles' Venice Beach. To the north, the pretentious seaside suburb of La Jolla is known for its high-priced real estate, expensive shops and excellent restaurants, as well as its beautiful coastline with lovely coves, cliffs, gorgeous beaches and superb surfing. La Jolla Cove has clear waters and the offshore San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park affords brilliant snorkelling and diving, with giant kelp forests and a deep canyon.
Coronado Island
Home to the award winning Silver Strand State Beach and an array of upmarket and luxury resorts, beaches and hotels, the isthmus of Coronado is a holiday paradise, with excellent restaurants, boutiques and the Museums of History and Art. A naval station occupies the western end of the island. The island is of little interest except for the historic Hotel del Coronado around which the community grew. 'The Del' is a much-loved San Diego institution, and a National Historic Landmark dating back to 1888. Its distinctive Victorian turrets, conical towers, balconies and curious architecture have served as a filming location for many years, and a stage for political meetings and social happenings. Its glamorous old-world ambience with polished oak pillars and arched ceilings has hosted guests like Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and a number of presidents. Guided tours are available, or visitors can choose to dine and dance here, stay as a guest or simply wander through the grounds and look at its historic photo gallery. Visible across the bay is Point Loma where a statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo commemorates the landing of the first European in 1542.
Tijuana, Mexico
Tijuana in Mexico is situated on the borders of San Diego and is a loud and lively border town. Its location on the American/Mexican border and proximity to San Diego ensures a steady stream of curious day-trippers and souvenir hunters from up north. Tijuana's notorious 'sin city' image of prostitution and sex shows has now taken a back seat; the sleazy element, the drugs and violence that seems to be the lot of a border town, is still there, but the focus has shifted in an effort to clean the town up a bit, and it has become something of a shopper's delight along with the intense nightlife and non-stop entertainment. This is the place to shop, drink and dance the night away; there are souvenir stalls, numerous duty-free shopping malls and markets selling goods from all over Mexico, and countless bars, restaurants and dance clubs. Tijuana has some traditional attractions as well, including bullfighting and Jai Alai (a Spanish ball court game), but this is not the classic Mexico that stories are made of. Just across the Mexican border, 30 minutes from downtown San Diego, Tijuana is unlike other Mexican cities, but is a worthwhile experience that provides a fascinating contrast between Mexico and the USA.
Transport: Trolley from downtown San Diego or bus 932 from the Santa Fe Railroad Depot in San Diego
