Travel Advice - San Diego

[Burrito Brother]

We are planning a family trip to San Diego this summer. While I've been there several times on business I've always had the good fortune of staying in upscale resort properties on Coronado or the Marina. I don't want to pay for two rooms at those prices.

Does anyone have any suggestions on some nice places in the area which would be a little more affordable.

No, Tijuana doesn't count.

[007]

We are planning a family trip to San Diego this summer. While I've been there several times on business I've always had the good fortune of staying in upscale resort properties on Coronado or the Marina. I don't want to pay for two rooms at those prices.

Does anyone have any suggestions on some nice places in the area which would be a little more affordable.

No, Tijuana doesn't count.

there was a great place called the Sea Lodge in LaJolla (it might be called something else now)...

Right along the beach and easy to get to different places...

[Guppy]

MCRD is a splended place to stay.

[ElviswasaBluesFan]

Go over to Benie's and pm Clark Kent/DJ Fone. I hear he lives in San Diego now.

Oh, and expect a 14 page response.

[007]

Here's the place: it's been renamed LaJolla Shores Hotel

http://www.ljshoreshotel.com/

[Burrito Brother]

MCRD is a splended place to stay.

I'm sure it is. Right by the airport too.

[Bleacher Creature]

San Diego sounds so nice right now, especially when it's only 20 degrees outside.

[Guppy]

I'm sure it is. Right by the airport too.

I could not tell you how many jets took off there that I wished I was on when I was at MCRD.

[Blues Fan in TX]

There's a whole slew of hotels just north of downtown in the Mission Valley (along I-8)...I'd check there...pretty cheap, close to downtown, close to the public transit rail line, etc...

[ess eff]

There's a whole slew of hotels just north of downtown in the Mission Valley (along I-8)...I'd check there...pretty cheap, close to downtown, close to the public transit rail line, etc...

Yep. That's a street called Hotel Circle that runs along both sides of I-8 and has all the Holiday Inn/Days Inn class of hotels located all together. You can usually get a pretty good deal. If you write to the San Diego tourism folks -- should be able to find an addy online -- they'll send you a booklet full of coupons.

Our trips there have generally included a couple of days at Sea World, if we can get the two-days-for-the-price-of-one ticket, a visit to either the zoo in Balboa Park or zoo's Wild Animal Park about 25 minutes away near Escondido; the auto museum and air and space museum in Balboa Park (also have a natural history museum and SD sports HOF in the same comples); the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla; a ride on the red trolley down to Tijuana; a visit to the ships open for tours on the harbor; the amusement park at Belmont Park, the beach; and maybe a Padres game.

Don't know the ages of your family, but Legoland is a little farther out of town to the north. Our kids had outgrown that stuff before it opened, so I haven't been there.

For a good family Mexican meal, go to the Casa de Pico in the Bazaar del Mundo in the Old Town neighborhood. Inexpensive food in an outdoor setting with strolling musicians. Expect a wait at peak times.