Our accomodations at the Westgate were lovely. The hotel staff is extremely helpful and courteous, they fulfilled all of our expectations. The only complaint would be the lounge. It is very small and the muscians were very loud. The lounge was not conducive to quiet conversation.

San Diego has a plethora of great restaurants. Our favorite for casual dining was The Fish House. Reservations are a must and be ready for a bustling event...albeit the food was really good.

We ended our visit to the area on Coronado Island. What a treat to stroll the neighborhoods just to admire the diverse home styles. Loews Coronado Resort was fantastic! The hotel lobby was so inviting and comfortable. We enjoyed the indoor/outdoor fireplace seating area until the wee hours; and the wait staff anticipated every request with respectful courtesy. The food on property was much better than we had expected.

We always enjoy San Diego and look forward to our next visit.

We had a full week in San Diego. Best places: Le Jolla beach and seeing seals and sea lions plus lunch at Ocean View on the top.

Little Italy and Fillipi's restaurant. An old style storefront with red,white table cloths. Excellent portions and not expensive.

Del Coronado hotel - eat at Sweetwater at sundown. Just a fantastic place plus wide beach.

Best breakfast Richard Martin's on corner of Front st. Fabulous baked huge pancakes.

Old Town - Coyote Mexican restaurant, really authentic food and delicious.

Nice walking around Seaport village, especially on the pennisula at night during fire works on the bay.

See the zoo. Go early and start with the bus if you are going to do it. Long lines later in the day. Can feed Giraffes for $5..

SD definitely place I'd move to.

This year I made my first trip to California. We chose to go to San Diego based on advice from friends that it is easy to get around and much to do.

Here are some of my notes about visiting San Diego. Pick your hotel based on your interests, how much time you are spending there, and whether willing to drive to eat dinner each night. We stayed in Mission Valley as it was centrally located, tons of eating places nearby, and wanted something economical with a pool but didn't plan to spend much time there. We stayed at the La Quinta Mission Valley which is a nice chain hotel, decent but small pool and very friendly staff. The rooms at the back of the hotel are quietest but satelitte and internet coverage is a bit spotty at times.

We rented a car since wanted to just explore on our own and found it very easy to get around though hwy exit signs came up a bit fast and you do quite a bit of u-turns. Driver's were mostly friendly and traffic wasn't bad at all compared to Denver.

Our recommendations for attractions - the San Diego Zoo, which is amazing, and should take at least 5 hours if not the whole day. The layout of the zoo, in particular the primates exhibits and aviaries is really beautiful - a thick jungle at times and even a tree-house kind of design with walkways up in the air. Walking through it goes from thick and lush to desert with the hoofed mammals and lots of interesting and weird looking cactus and such. A

The Midway Tour - which is self-guided using a pre-recorded tape/headphones is the most informative tour I have ever experienced. It was amazing walking around the ship and being able to see so many different areas plus you hear both historical and statistical information as well as more personal accounts of everything from sleeping conditions to the food served. Staff provides additional tour information as well as takes groups up to the control tower area.

Harbour Tour, [--], was a 2 hours ferry boat ride up and down the San Diego Harbour with guide. Our guide knew EVERYTHING from San Diego history to exactly what type of sailboat was going by, names/concepts of every hotel/restaurant along the harbour, and to random birds that flew by. It was comfortable and very scenic and was an easy and fairly economical way to learn about San Diego and especially see and learn about the navy and see all of the warships.

Also, Balboa Park with all of the museums was great though we ran out of time to actual go inside all of them. The beaches we went to was Mission Beach which is great for being active and La Jolla Beach which was great for scenery and exploring - very weird looking compared to the beaches I have seen in Texas and Florida. Where we were walked was kind of south of town and walking up to the lifeguard station and seals area. It was not a swimming beach but could see the seals, and lots of tidepools, crabs, birds etc. SeaWorld was fun but we could have skipped that and chosen something else since it was just the two of us, no kids. Definately great if you have kids but for the price, wasn't completely worth it to us as adults. The mall in downtown, Horton Plaza, is fantastic. It is an outdoor mall with several levels with a funky and cool style.

There is a ton to do in San Diego but for a long weekend and especially a first trip, this is a good introduction to the city. We also just drove around and explored a bunch of the different areas. No real restaurant recommendations - we liked every place we tried - and there are so many choices, it's really a matter of personal preference.

At any rate, can't wait til our next chance to explore California!

My husband and I and our 2 teens just came back from our first trip to San Diego. Wow-we were very disappointed in the amount of people in this city. Being from Chicago, we know traffic and crowds but werer not prepared for this in San Diego. Maybe if we had gone during a more quiet time but we wanted to be able to swim in the ocean and could only get time off during the first week in August.
We were not able to park anywhere. All lots and side streets were full. Not one parking garage anywhere we went except for our hotel and even that was a problem getting a spot at night!!
Everything is spread out and you have to drive to get to all areas. Buses ran very seldom. The day we tried to get a go card to hop on and off their shuttles-booked up for the 2 days. It would take us 30-40 minutes bumper to bumper to go just 5 miles by car and then when we got their, no parking. When we attempted to stay off the interstate and take the side streets it was a nightmare. The same road can have up to 3 different names across town. Roads also split with very little warning. We found ourselves continually lost and after 2 days gave up on sightseeing and stayed nearby our hotel, The Ocean Park Inn(see our review) in the Pacific Beach/Mission Beach area. We also had a terrible time trying to eat dinner. Even with reservations waits were 1-2 hours. It cost a lot of money for this trip and we were very disappointed.
No fun San Diego.