Honeymoon in San Diego Help on the area

peanutty2

Hi!

I posted in the honeymoon section but they replied I might have better luck with you guys who live there!  We're considering going for 4 days and the place we would be staying is in downtown san diego.  how is public transportation???  Is it easy to get around??  Or should we rent a car?    They charge a 30$ per night fee to have a car (there's no garage, i think they park it and get it for you).  The main things we want to do are go to the zoo, coronado island, and la jolla (and i have one more day - open to suggestions/beaches!).  i found a site that gave me taxi estimate costs and it added up to a decent amount (100$ round trip to la jolla!).  but are there busses or something we could use to get to the beaches?

random thought just came to me... what is parking like if we rent the car but just park it ourselves?  is street parking free (and available)?

SJBNJB

Hey there!

I'd rent a car if I were coming here....there are buses, but they aren't as easy to use as some big cities, in my opinion....I think you'd use a lot of valueable time trying to figure them out...There is alway street parking, but that doesn't always mean you'll find a great spot downtown....and downtown and Coronado are metered parking.....not a huge deal, but good to know, and many spots in La Jolla have a two hour parking limit, which means you have to move your car.

When you do the zoo, take time to do Balboa Park too....same area....won't need to repark.....In my opinion, worth the time if you're already there.  Also both are close to downtown, as it Coronado. 

Another nice option is the Old Town Trolley tours...http://www.trolleytours.com/san-diego/. The drive around and have many places they stop and you can get off, and then catch another trollley  when you're done.  They go to Coronado, Balboa Park and the Zoo, Seaport Village, and other places.  You could do that for two days, and maybe fit in a few more sites than if you were driving yourself.  For the La Jolla day you could rent a car as I personally think a bus might be a hassle, but others might know more. 

If you are staying downtown, then the Gaslamp has tons of retaurants and shopping, and is totally walkable.

La Jolla is a great all day thing....walk the beaches, see the seals, grab some sandwhiches at Girard Gourmet and head down the hill to the grassy area overlooking the ocean, poke around the shops and galleries and pick one of the many restaurants for dinner, watch the sunset.  If you can manage to go on a Sunday you don't have to worry about the parking time limits.

Have tons of fun!

peanutty2

oh that is all so helpful!!! thank you so much!!!  and great tip to do la jolla on sunday!

sunflour42

Definitely rent a car.  San Diego is sadly not navigable without wheels. 

I second the suggestion for Balboa Park.  It's wonderful! As far as parking... I'd just let the hotel handle it.  You could save maybe $10 by parking it yourself, but you'd have quite a walk.