Vacation In Ca

[trickpony]

I'm taking the Family to San Diego for a week in January - can anyone suggest a good hotel to stay at that's near the Zoo, SeaWorld and the fashion Mall??

Thanks

[Scooter]

I never stayed in San Diego, but I would highly suggest staying anywhere north of downtown SD. The closer you get to TJ, the higher the crime rate.

If you got small kids, don't forget Lego Land.

[jkrispies]

If you have CostCo's up in Canada (and a membership), check with their ticket folks or go online. They sell a pretty good package ticket that gives you a discount on (as I recall...) the zoo, Disneyland, and one other place... which might be Sea World.

[D.Hayden]

North of town, on I-8, there's a slew of them.

Between I-5 and 163.

I've stayed at a couple of them, no bad experiences, the Double Tree seems to have been renamed.

I've stayed there for work, not sure about kid friendly, never noticed.

Very little traffic, close to Sea World, and easy into the zoo, closer to the Wild Animal Park (maybe 30 miles?), close to the Jack Murphy stadium, close to old town (tourist trap, but very good tex mex - Casa de Bandini, or Casa de Pico - great margaretas), also there's a big shopping mall not too far at 165/I-8

[ChuckS]

TP,

If cost is not an issue, the Hotel Del Coronado is a must. It's a 115 year old wood structure that has hosted many famous people, is haunted and was used for the movie "Some Like It Hot". Excellent beach*. Since I live only 90 miles from there, the only hotels I have stayed at are around the harbor (Shelter Island and Harbor Island) on business trips to the Navy. They are a nice taste of the sea port side of SD but they are not necessarily close to the attractions you want. The USS Midway is on static display there. Stuff around La Jolla should be nice. Excellent sea shore there.

+1 on the Mexican food in Old Town.

And if you want to get in trouble with the family, there are USPSA matches at Pala on the second and fourth Saturday and at Lemon Grove on the first Saturday and third Sunday

LdF Website

I have forwarded your question to a guy who lives in Carlsbad, just north of SD. I will post his answer when I get it.

Enjoy your stay!

Chuck

* The water temp seems to be right around 60F today. Not real warm...

Edited December 14, 2005 by ChuckS

[MVZ]

I've been staying in San Diego the last 7 months on bussiness

staying sat the Hampton Inn right off the 163 freeway. 5 min to fassion valley. 10 min to the zoo and marine world. 15 min to downtown (Gas Lamp ) Hotel staff is very friendly,goodsize rooms, extremely clean, reasonable price Their phone # 858-292-1482

MVZ

[ChuckS]

Here is the response I got from my friend in Carlsbad:

The Zoo, Sea World and Fashion Valley Mall are no more that 8 miles apart -- so as long as you stay between downtown SD on the south, State HWY 163 on the east and Sea World in the north you very close to all the places. Next is what you are willing to pay.

"Hotel Circle" area between State HWY 163 and I-5 has the best "value" hotels. Here there are motel 6 to Hiltons.

http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&lr=&q=mi...&sa=X&oi=localr

This is away from the water. The dubble tree in Hazard Center may be a good place -- very close to Fashion Valley mall. Also a trolly stop.

http://www.google.com/local?q=category%3A+...947459948252628

Fashion Valley Mall is in back of the "Town and Country" hotel in Hotel Circle. Also a trolly stop. Older hotel -- but sometimes good deals.

http://www.towncountry.com/

Hotel cost are base on what going on in town on an give day. Worth checking some of the high-end hotels if things are slow sometime good very rates. Suggest Mission Bay, Shelter Island, Downtown SD but not Harbor Island.

[diehli]

Make sure you hit the Wild Animal Park. Further away from downtown (up in Escondido), but if you're doing Sea World and the Zoo, you have to see the WAP.

[George]

+1 on the Coronado being a beautiful place, but it's not cheap. It's on an island called Coronado and the area is really nice.

Here is a good list of San Diego atttractions:

Attractions

Oldtown/Gaslamp district is a great place to find good mexican food. San Diego is also the place for fish tacos. Look for a Rubio's.

Gaslamp District

Old Town Mexican Cafe

The Kansas City Barbecue on Market street (just up the road from oldtown) is a great joint. A scene from TopGun was filmed there and the BBQ is TopNotch.

Balboa Park and the Zoo are a must for the kids along with Seaworld.

The northern side of town is definitely a better neighborhood.

It's been about 8 years since I have been there, but it is a great town to visit IMHO. Just stay out of the deckhand bars near the fishing harbor ;-)

[trickpony]

AWESOME!!! Great info. Thank you all for the great replies and I'll definately be looking into a match if I can make it happen

I'm looking forward to some great Mexican food and introducing my Son to Shamu. It should be a great trip.

Thank you all again.

[chuckbradley]

Two years ago we stayed in Oceanside. Its about half way between LA and Sandiego. It was about perfect as far as location for all the things to do in Southern Califonia. The best thing is we got a unit that was right on the beach and it wasnt that bad pricewise. 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit for 1200.00 a week(that was then and during October).

Here is the web page if interested. You can do an interent search and find other units for rent through other sources.

http://www.on-the-sand.com/

Here is the web page of the unit we stayed in.

http://www.on-the-sand.com/picsd17.html

Edited December 15, 2005 by chuckbradley

[HI5-O]

Not a local in San Diego but visited last year. Found out from a hotel worker who also works for: www.sandiegoconcierge.com about good hotel rates. Check it out, nothing to lose.

Have fun

barry