Where Does A San Diego Tour Guide Bring His Visiting Family?
Updated: Sep 11
I had family in town from the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast, half of them had never been to San Diego before. As an expert on having fun in San Diego, I couldn’t wait to show them around.
But we had just ONE DAY for sightseeing.
How would you show as much of the best San Diego has to offer in 10 hours or less? Here’s how I did it, and I’d be honored if you stole my itinerary.
First,
La Jolla Cove
Unskippable.
Yes, it’s touristy. And it’s touristy because it’s one of the coolest, most beautiful places on planet earth. While Way To Go San Diego doesn’t currently offer any experiences in La Jolla (except potentially through step-on guiding!), I’ve been able to bring tour groups here when freelancing for other awesome companies in this space.
La Jolla Cove is an incredible mix of polished architecture and rugged, untouched cliff faces. But of course the most exciting part is seeing the seals and sea lions that come to lounge, swim, spar, and bark, right up on the beach.
They smell awful.
But it’s a worthy price to pay for a glimpse of natural marine wildlife. There’s nothing like the sense of wonder that people get, even stoic adults, when they see the seals and sea lions up close.
I put La Jolla Cove as our first stop not just to start our day with a bang, but to take up part of our morning in hopes that the marine layer would burn off. The marine layer is common from late spring to early summer (hence the classic adage, “May gray and June gloom”) and forms from cooler, more moist air (read: cloudy) getting trapped under warmer air. So mornings are overcast, but it burns off as the sun comes overhead. Scenic viewpoints are best visited later in the day.
So we spent a little more time around sea level, on our way back to the car we had to hit the:
La Jolla Coast Walk Trail
This is an easy, mostly flat trail that takes you along the coast for even more beautiful views. Look west for nature, like cliffs and caves (and kayakers venturing in to them) and the ocean as far as the eye can see. Turn east and you’ll see some of the fanciest homes in all of San Diego. This invites the game of guessing prices and seeing who’s closest on Zillow!
Once we got back to the car we drove up, and up, and up to…
Mt. Soledad.
This one is often overlooked by visitors, at least compared to La Jolla Cove, yet it might be my favorite view point anywhere in San Diego.
Unlike a lot of other incredible things to see in San Diego, Mt. Soledad always, mercifully, has available parking.
The memorial itself is a sight to behold. Over 6,000 and counting plaques honor veterans, living and deceased, ranging from recent years to the Revolutionary War. (Rather than a photo, the Revolutionary War one is a drawing. Figures). Sometimes there are docents there, friendly and knowledgable, who are always eager to guide you around and share their favorite stories behind the individuals honored there.
The U.S. military and San Diego are closely intertwined, and that’s captured visually when you look at the memorial with all of San Diego sprawled out underneath it.
Then it was lunchtime and I couldn’t wait to show them…
Liberty Public Market in Liberty Station
Liberty Public Market makes for a perfect lunch stop for a lot of reasons.
It’s just cool. With it’s industrial chic aesthetic and warm lighting, it belongs among the ranks of Redding Terminal in Philadelphia or Chelsea Market in New York. I would argue it’s even cooler, but I suppose I’m a little bias.
It’s historic, and ties into San Diego’s Navy history. Liberty station was a Navy barracks from the 1920s to 1990s, but in 2001 began being converted into a shopping and dining destination. It still oozes history.
There’s a lot of different options, over 35 vendors, so when you’re in a big group where everyone has different dietary restrictions and preferences, everyone can still get what they want.
Rested and refueled, we were ready to tackle:
Cabrillo National Monument
Of course learning about Juan Cabrillo himself, the monument’s namesake, is a good place to start. There’s a statue in his honor, which, interestingly, is based on nothing. We don’t have any record of what Cabrillo actually looked like. We’re not even sure if he was Spanish or Portuguese, but we know he was the first European to set foot in San Diego.
There’s exhibits for the history nerds such as myself, but really the most awe-inspiring part is the spectacular view of San Diego. With Coronado in the foreground, our downtown skyline behind it, and even Tijuana if you look far south enough. (By now that stubborn marine layer had mostly burned off, though my family still had to take my word for it that Tijuana was somewhere in the fog).
Within the national park we stopped by:
The Old Point Loma Lighthouse
It certainly looks like something out of the east coat, but it’s very much a San Diego icon. Despite how much San Diego has developed since the mid-1850s when the lighthouse was built, you can’t help but feel a bit of the isolation when you step inside. So far removed from everything else, early San Diego had a tough time finding lighthouse keepers that wanted that level of solitude.
And, still within the park, we drove down to:
The Point Loma Tide Pools
We missed the best window of time, around low tide, but the tide pools are still a very worthwhile stop. Walking along the cliff faces, seeing the waves crash, there’s not a bad time of day to be here.
Then we were off to:
Coronado
We drove across the over 200 ft tall bridge, which also has one of my favorite views of San Diego from the top.
After a hunt for parking, we set off for the Hotel Del Coronado. Along the way we passed Star Park, and the house where Frank L. Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz, spent his time. People say he was inspired by the Hotel Del for Oz. (I don’t think that’s true, but I see why people think it is).
We walked along the beach to get to the hotel. We looked at the dunes from pedestrian level, where they don’t look like much, then I got to put my tour guide hat on and show them the aerial view where the letters become legible, spelling out “Coronado Beach CA.”
The Hotel Del Coronado really is a marvel. We stepped inside the hotel which made for not only a beautiful visit, but a much-needed bathroom break.
This happened to be Comic-Con weekend, and just outside the hotel my sister saw Robert Downey Jr.!
Visiting Coronado was a game time decision, I couldn’t be sure my family would have energy and enthusiasm after Cabrillo National Monument. I was thrilled they did, but because I wasn’t certain what our evening would look like, I didn’t make a dinner reservation. If I did, it would have been at Garage Buona Forchetta.
It was the historic El Cordova Garage, which first opened elsewhere in 1904, then moved to this spot off Orange Ave. in the 1940s. It operated as an auto repair shop and towing service for over 100 years! While they unfortunately lost the space, Garage Buona Forchetta gives a nod to the history here, keeping old cars and automotive tools in the restaurant space. It’s a great atmosphere that honors the history, plus they have excellent vegan options!
I called and, as expected on a busy Friday, walk-ins weren’t an option. We decided to do take out elsewhere and eat at home, heading back over the Coronado bridge.
After crossing, I couldn’t resist quickly bringing us through:
Chicano Park
This park had to be forced into existence by the Barrio Logan and Logan Heights community.
We admired the spectacular art covering the underpasses, and we were lucky to see some kids using the skatepark!
After a brief visit we went directly to:
Veganic
In a world of great Thai restaurants, Veganic still stands out. I host vegan food tours in North Park and Downtown and while neither route would allow for a stop here, if it could I would try to partner with them in a heartbeat.
On the car ride over, we realized that by the time we put all our orders in over the phone we’d basically be there anyway, so we opted to order in person. After placing the big order, we knew we had at least 20-25 minutes to wait.
Just enough time to rush over to one of my favorite hidden gems:
Spruce St. Suspension bridge
The bridge seems to come out of nowhere, tucked in a quiet residential neighborhood.
We walked across, feeling the bridge bouncing beneath our feet, and when we were walking back to the car I realized we still had a whole 10 minutes…
Balboa Park
I drove my family up and down the main stretch, El Prado. While Balboa Park deserves an entire day in itself, our quick loop in showed off some of the most jaw-dropping architecture in all of San Diego.
Then we picked up the food from Veganic and enjoyed our dinner after a long day out and about!
And that wraps up our day! Not bad for one day, right?
The following morning:
Breakfast Republic
There’s a frustrating thing that happens when a restaurant chain starts to become very successful, they inevitably begin to get a lot of hate online. Open up any comment section on Breakfast Republic and you’re likely to have people spewing venom about a restaurant they once liked but don’t anymore. Smoke coming out of their ears as they rage about pancakes and tater tots. I’ve never really understood it.
I’ve always had good food and good service at Breakfast Republic, and I really appreciate them having awesome vegan options. I’ll happily continue to be a customer and, you can see where this is going, even bring my family here. They graciously accommodated our big group and we all really enjoyed it.
Then, regretfully, we headed to the:
San Diego International Airport
In San Diego, even the drive to the airport is scenic. We have a very central airport, so unlike many cities where there may not be much to see on your drive out, in San Diego you get a view of our skyline. Which, ironically, because of our airport remains short, I made a video about that here.
The SD International Airport is the busiest single runway airport in the country, but it’s a well-oiled machine. While air traffic controllers must get gray hairs early, from a passenger perspective it’s always been a pleasant experience. I felt confident dropping my family off that they’d get home smoothly, and that they had a wonderful time in San Diego.
But no one even left a tip!!!
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