26 Things to Do in San Diego

what's up guys today we're talking about San Diego which is one of the most requested things I've seen in the comments section I'm going to show you 23 things to do there and give you three food recommendations at the end let's do it my first recommendation is the museums at Balboa Park Balboa Park is a place where you can take multiple days to explore the dozen or so museums located on the property I recommend spending a half day there and checking out some of the ones that you're most interested in a few of my favorites of the Museum of Man the San Diego Air & Space Museum the Natural History Museum and the train museum but honestly you can't go wrong just walking around the area checking out the organ pavilion going to the Botanical Gardens it's a great place to spend a few hours in San Diego number two is something you've certainly heard of before and that's the San Diego Zoo the San Diego Zoo is located in the Balboa Park area and it's one of the best news I've ever been to the zoo is massive with tons of different animals you can see ranging from polar bears and elephants to meerkats and flamingos if you have young kids this is of course a great spot to bring them but even if you don't I still find a ton of things to enjoy at the zoo every time I go stop number three is the unconditional surrender statue in the USS Midway located right on the water in downtown San Diego the USS Midway has been a really popular attraction for decades this large aircraft carrier takes hours to fully explore and there's a ton of cool stuff to see as well as great views of downtown San Diego when you get to the top right next to it though is the unconditional surrender statue which is free to visit is made from the famous picture of the sailor kissing the woman on victory over Japan day in Times Square in 1945 this statue is about 40 feet tall and it's a great place for photography also right next to his an area dedicated to Bob Hope which plays some of his speeches he gave to the military and has a lot of bronze figurines that you can check out stop number four is to head over to old town San Diego which is one of the oldest spots in the entire city old town San Diego is a great place to park and walk around for a few hours there's lots to explore some of my favorite spots is the train museum the El Campo Cemetery which has a lot of historic grave sites from the 1800s the Whaley House which is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in all of America and Old Town itself which is a collection of museums shops places to eat and a big old pavilion that you can walk around in I always find something new there to see every time I go number five is the Maritime Museum in downtown San Diego the Maritime Museum is much like the one you would see in San Francisco which is a collection of old ships that you can walk onto and explore this museum has six or eight ships of the Star of India an old pirate looking ship being one of the most popular this ship sailed around the world 21 times and is one of the oldest sailing ships still in existence today I also love checking out the submarine but there's some tight spaces so if you're not a fan of those you might want to stay out of this one number six is Belmont Park Belmont Park is located right on the beach in the Mission Beach area of San Diego and it has a fun amusement park area for families this area was built in the early 1900s and the roller coaster itself was built in around the 1920s while I haven't ridden the roller coaster myself I do love walking around the area grabbing something to eat and play in some of the carnival games be sure to check it out if you have a family in your exploring San Diego stop number seven is Cabrillo National Monument run by the National Park Service cambree o national monument is located out on the peninsula which looks back on downtown San Diego this area houses a historic lighthouse which you can walk into when it's open a statue of Cabrillo himself and a tidepool area which is located along in the cliffs it's a great place to walk around and it provides a lot of things to see when the tide is stop number eight is a Sunset Cliffs area of San Diego located right above Cabrillo National Monument this stretch of a half dozen miles is a beautiful place in San Diego one of my favorites to watch the sunset back walking along the cliff shows you the erosion of the water and provides tons of beautiful vistas for you to see during your walk if you happen to be there during a super low tide like a negative to tide you can walk out to the Sunset Cliffs see cave which is an awesome place to experience as well but only go there if it's a low negative tide stop number nine is the Liberty public market Liberty public market is much like Oxbow market in Napa which is a large building with lots of small spaces for different restaurants shops and breweries I like walking through there having some oysters trying some cheese and finding new beers to check out is also where one of stone breweries locations are at so if you're a fan of the IPAs that they make it's a great place to check them out stop number 10 is the beaches of San Diego but specifically Pacific Beach area honestly one of the best things to do in San Diego's to head down to one of the beaches San Diego has great weather year-round and so you can often find people just relaxing and join the water surfing checking out all the San Diego beaches have to offer I really like going to Pacific Beach because the pier there is a great place for sunset photography plus if you're looking for unique experience you can actually book a room on the pier itself you can drive your car out on the pier and actually stay on the Pacific Beach pier which is a unique thing to do in San Diego stop number 11 is the Torrey Pine State National Reserve when you're thinking about hiking in San Diego it doesn't get better than Torrey Pines Torrey Pines is a great state park to explore as there's miles of hiking trails that take you along the rugged cliffs down to the beach itself one of my favorite spots is the razor point overlook which has a dramatic sandstone gorged at you look out over also this is a great place for sunset is you get amazing views over the coastline and the water itself stop number 12 is to spend some exploring the small coastal town of La Jolla La Jolla is one of my favorite places in the San Diego area as there's so much to do for adventurers and for foodies a few of the highlights there for me is going over to children's pool which is where all the seals hang out and you can walk pretty close to them and going kayaking in La Jolla Cove which if the weather is right you can even kayak into a sea cave there also during August and September most years leopard sharks come down into the cove you can actually snorkel 15 yards off the shore and be seen sharks below you which is a pretty unreal experience to have in Southern California stop number 13 is heading over to UCSD to see the Stuart art collection the University of California San Diego is a massive campus in the northern part of the city near La Jolla and the Torrey Pines area they have a lot of large-scale outdoor art installations that you can walk around to I think there's about 18 of them and it's a great place to spend two or three hours checking them all out my favorite is falling star which is a house that looks like it's teetering on the edge of the engineering building the large rock bear and the library which is named after dr. Seuss who created Cat in the Hat you need a few hours to see everything but it's a great place for urban exploration in the city number 14 is to head over to Mission San Diego Mission San Diego is one of the 21 Spanish california missions and it's one of the better ones along the missions trail it's a great place to see the history of the area including the beautiful gardens the old bell tower and the chapel I recommend about an hour just walking around and checking it all out stop 15 is the Seaport Village area of San Diego this is a super touristy spot that's busy on the weekends and lots of families go to for restaurants and shopping but it's a beautiful area to explore and to walk along the water my favorite place in Seaport Village though is the bar that's located at the top of the Hyatt it's on the 40th floor I believe and it's a great place to get an awesome view of the city the Seaport Village is also a fun spot to visit during Christmas as they often have poinsettia trees and lots of other decorations that you can check out stop number 15 is the historic Gaslamp area of Sandy gasps laughs has a great restaurant and bar scene and thousands of people descend on it every weekend if you want to go to a unique bar head to the top of the Marriott which has a bar that overlooks gas lamp or go to the Noland which is another rooftop bar that's not as high up but it's a beautiful place to grab a drink if you don't want to visit the bars though there's lots of shopping there's a gr deli which is a fun spot to get a sundae and there's great food options with one of my favorites being seersucker which is an awesome spot for an upscale dinner in Gaslamp stop 17 is the San Diego Library this famous library looks kind of like an egg from different parts of the city and people didn't really love it when I first opened however it's a beautiful place of architecture to explore in downtown San Diego I recommend taking the elevator all the way to the top which lets you see that egg shape that I was describing earlier and has great views of the city in the Coronado Bridge there's a rare books area up here so if you're into unique old historical books it's a great place to check out and there's tons of awesome views for photography number 18 is the Grant Hill Park this small area of grass is not a huge destination is there isn't a lot to do there other than a small playground but it's a great area to get a view of the Coronado Bridge which is one of the most popular photography spots in San Diego I love coming up here with my zoom lens near sunset as you can get a great view of all the cars going along with the bridge number 19 is actually driving over the Coronado Bridge and going into Coronado itself Coronado is a great small town located right on the water in San Diego it has the famous Hotel del Coronado which sits right on the beach and during Christmas time they actually have an ice skating rink near the beach plus it has Moo Creamery which is a great place for ice cream a few breweries and a great bike path that lets you take a bike all around the island also be sure to stop at the tidelands Park which gives you great views of downtown San Diego and lets you walk under the Coronado Bridge stop number 20 is Harper's topiary garden and the Spruce Street suspension bridge these two shortstops are right next to each other near the San Diego Airport and both of them are fun quick spots to see Harper's topiary garden is a collection of manicured plants in lots of different shapes animals and other objects it's private property so just observe it as you drive by but it's a fun place for a quick 5-minute stop about five minutes away from there is the Spruce Street suspension bridge versus a historic bridge in downtown San Diego you can park your car walk out on this historic footbridge from 1912 which connects to San Diego neighborhoods it's usually pretty popular with lots of people walking around and experiencing it but it's a fun five to ten minute stop in the city stop 21 is the North Park neighborhood of San Diego over the last decade North Park has really come into his own as a popular almost hipster destination in San Diego with lots of great food breweries and other things to explore by far though most of the people come to the food which is eclectic unique and awesome some of my favorite spots are city tacos Hammond's gourmet ice cream where you can get an ice-cream flight Lucha Libre is fun has a big old wrestling rink and urban solace for their bluegrass brunch every Sunday which is a blast also there's lots of great street art in North Park and it's a fun area to walk around as you never know it's gonna be around the next bend stop 22 is the san diego breweries san diego is quickly becoming one of the top beer destinations and entire united states and there's hundreds of breweries for you to try while you're in the city some of the most popular are stone which has a Liberty station in Escondido location balance point which is in Little Italy Hale Smith mission brewery so many to name your fan of the west coast IPAs you'll find a lot to like in the San Diego area my last recommendation before we talk about food is to visit Petco Park Petco Park is where the Padres play and it's a great baseball stadium in the middle of San Diego during game days is electric to be anywhere near including the park outside is everybody's just enjoying the San Diego weather and cheering on their favorite when the Padres are in town though it's fun to take a Petco Park tour which takes about an hour and a half shows you the dugout the locker room and a lot of the areas you don't normally see when you go to a game they use the stadium for other things as well during the offseason though so you may go and not be able to see the field and all of its beauty if there's a motocross event or something like that if you don't have a chance to take a tour or go to the game you walk around the outside area where they have the Hall of Fame and some historic statues in the park alright so as promised I'm gonna show you three spots in the city to have a food adventure as well the first is tacos el gordo tacos El Gordo is a Tijuana transplant that makes authentic Mexican tacos right in San Diego it's an incredibly popular restaurant so expect to wait 30 to 45 minutes just to get your tacos there's different lines depending on the taco that you want but you'll see that the largest lines are for the help hot store tacos that's by far my favorite there and I'll easily wait in the 45-minute line each time I go just to have some of those tacos food recommendation number two is donut bar in downtown San Diego if you followed my blog then you know that one of my favorite things to find his new donut shops when I first found donut bar five years ago I fell in love with the unique creations that they have each and every day they've now ballooned to multiple locations around the state but going to the location in downtown San Diego's still my favorite as there's tons of people waiting in line every morning to have their doughnuts the one I recommend getting specifically is the creme brulee donut which is much like the creme brûlée dessert and the top cracks when you bite into it but there are tons of different Donuts including unique ones each day so you can try something different as well my last food recommendation is the carnitas snack shack in the North Park area of San Diego this is another spot that has multiple locations in San Diego as it's become a popular destination because of their great food the location in North Park is the original one though and it's really fun because it is an old shack with a walk-up window that you order at after ordering you walk back into the open area with tables and chairs and market lights for a truly San Diego experi to eat your food I recommend any of the pork base sandwiches here obviously as it is carnitas snack shack and don't forget to grab some fries and a drink as they have craft sodas and it's a lot of fun to try them all that's it my 26 recommendations for things to do in San Diego be sure to let me know what I left off in the comments and if you have suggestions for future lists leave those in the comments as well for more information on spots all over California go to California through my lens comm we'll see you guys next week

Channel: California Through My Lens

Views: 1,041,118

Rating: 4.9161749 out of 5

Keywords: San Diego, beaches, breweries, la jolla, ucsd, petco park, san diego zoo, gaslamp, north park, uss midway, unconditional surrender, Things to do in san diego, san diegos top spots, old town san diego, sunset cliffs, mission san diego, coronado, san diego travel guide, what to do in san diego, san diego attractions, gaslamp quarter, san diego travel, balboa park, places to visit in san diego, free things to do in san diego, san diego city guide, visit san diego

Id: ALKJ19Kk5z0

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 14 2018