San Diego Area Beach Vacation?

[amcleod]

My organization's annual meeting is in San Diego in August. I want to tack on a vacation to the end of it (we live in Washington DC). My thought is to bring the DH and DS (he'll be 26 months at the time) and stay in the city proper for a day or two, and then head to the beach. Anyone have a suggestion for which beach to go to? I am thinking we'd rent a house or condo in walking distance of the beach. I know nothing about the beaches in California! I do want to stay relatively close to SD since that's where we'll be flying out of.

Thanks in advance!

[jabelt]

My personal recommendation is Coronado Island. It's a quaint little town with great beaches. I actually vacationed there when I only lived 15 miles away.

[RecipeGirl]

I agree... Coronado would be nice. We personally always go to the beach in Del Mar. You'll pay premium to stay in either of those places, but if cost isn't much of an issue then go for it.

When I got married, our whole family rented a large house in South Mission beach on the bay side. That was really nice, but you wouldn't want to stay anywhere else in Mission Beach... some colorful characters are around. It's interesting people watching anyway, and you can rent bikes and roller blades and ride all over the bay and ocean side boardwalks.

The Carlsbad area is another consideration. They have nice beaches up there too- a little North of SD.

[Puppylove]

With a little one I'd go for Mission Bay, you'll be able to take the child into any of the restaurants or stores w/o getting looks from people when they fuss! Del Mar is a nice grown up place, and while Coronado is nice you'll have to cross the bridge to get back and forth between the city to Cor., the airport to Cor., any attractions (i.e. Seaworld / Zoo / Wild Animal Park) and Cor. Mission Bay is close to Sea World and Downtown. I have a friend with a vacation rental in mission bay, I can ask her how much if you want? Downtown might also be nice, we have a lovely downtown and perhaps those hotels will be more inclined to offer shuttle service to major attractions?

[amcleod]

Thanks so much! I've actually stayed at the Loews Coronado before and it is lovely over there. I was thinking of going elsewhere b/c of the whole bridge thing. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

I am staying downtown for my convention and will be there for eight nights, so I will be ready to relocate San Diego IS lovely indeed, but I will be ready to ride the waves!

Puppylove, I would love to hear how much your friend's place rents for. Is it walking distance to the ocean? That's my one big criteria.

thanks again all!

[Puppylove]

I emailed her to see if it isn't already booked out, could you pm me your email address and I'll forward you whatever she sends me? The house is actually right in between the bay and the beach, one block in either direction. And just a few blocks to mission bay pier, it has games and a roller coaster (not that your little one could go on it, but maybe DH!), cotton candy, all that fun stuff. Do you know what you'll want to do while you're here? Sea World would be great at that age, so would the Zoo, but my personal favorite is the Wild Animal Park. We also have Legoland here! You know, just thinking about it - S.D. has several time shares, you might be able to get a watch-our-presentation-stay-for-a-discounted-rate deal. There is one in carlsbad right near legoland called Grand Pacific Palisades and it is pretty near to the beach I believe.

[blazedog]

Since you are going to have a car, you really aren't going to be limited to a beach in San Diego since all of the beaches from LA to San Diego are at most a 2 hour drive absent horrendous traffic.

Each beach has its own personality -- My favorite is Laguna Beach because it combines the beach with an artistic community as it was originally settled by a lot of bohemians so it retains that character. The center contains nice shops, galleries, interesting restaurants as well as the beach of course.

During August there is an on-going craft fair, art festival as well as the Pageant of the Masters which should definitely be seen if possible -- People posing as famous works of art. I took some kids to the craft thing but they were slightly older -- there were some fun hands on stuff your son is probably too young to appreciate it -- however, I also found when I dealt with young kids that everything was exciting to them -- my niece was just as fascinated by the flowers at a Ralphs shopping center as Disneyland so an outdoor type of thing that is child oriented is fun for both adults and children even if it isn't completely child-centric.

[Barrie]

We did a week in Carlsbad last year and really enjoyed it. We were a 5-minute drive from the commuter train station so we took the train into SD when we went to Sea World and Balboa Park/SD zoo. My DS loved the train! Carlsbad is also home to Legoland, which your DS may enjoy. We spent two days there during our trip and loved it - it is the perfect park for little kids and was never crowded (although we were there in May; August will be a different story altogether!). There is also very good outlet shopping in Carlsbad, including a Crate & Barrel outlet

[MaryH]

We did a week in Carlsbad last year and really enjoyed it. We were a 5-minute drive from the commuter train station so we took the train into SD when we went to Sea World and Balboa Park/SD zoo. My DS loved the train! Carlsbad is also home to Legoland, which your DS may enjoy. We spent two days there during our trip and loved it - it is the perfect park for little kids and was never crowded (although we were there in May; August will be a different story altogether!). There is also very good outlet shopping in Carlsbad, including a Crate & Barrel outlet

There is also a Sur La Table (the ONLY one in the entire county.)

[Puppylove]

The San Diego County Sur La Table is in Encinitas at a shooping center called The Forum (one of my favorite shopping centers). I don't remember a Sur being at the carlsbad outlet and I was there quite a few times this summer. I could be wrong - but stores go in and out of that outlet soooo fast, we could both be right!

[RecipeGirl]

The San Diego County Sur La Table is in Encinitas at a shooping center called The Forum (one of my favorite shopping centers). I don't remember a Sur being at the carlsbad outlet and I was there quite a few times this summer. I could be wrong - but stores go in and out of that outlet soooo fast, we could both be right!

I was just at Sur La Table yesterday (at the Forum)...I believe you're right- that's the only one we have.