3 Day Itinerary for Exploring San Diego
San Diego, California is one of those cities that I feel often gets overlooked by its neighbors to the north, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Indeed, even though I lived in San Fran and have visited California countless times, it took me years to finally get to San Diego. And now I wonder how I never made it here before! It’s a beautiful city with nature built right in.
So here’s my three day itinerary for San Diego!
Day One: Balboa Park
Balboa Park may be one of the most popular things to do in San Diego and for good reason! The urban park encompasses more than 1,200 acres and you could easily spend your entire trip in this one location.
One thing you can’t miss in Balboa Park is the San Diego Zoo. The world renowned zoo has over 3,500 animals covering over 800 species. The zoo also has a sister safari park, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which is located about 45 minutes away.
I would also highly recommend going to the Japanese Friendship Garden! Despite there being a small entrance fee, the gardens are so beautiful and peaceful. I enjoyed walking around the gardens and then grabbing a drink in the gift shop, sitting on a bench and spending some time journaling.
If you’re looking for a little more activity, try hiking the Switzer Canyon Trail! The trail will pop you out in the South Park area of San Diego, which is a perfect spot to grab a bite to eat or a cup of coffee.
To add a little culture to your trip, visit one of Balboa Park’s 17 museums or check out one of the numerous plays that happen throughout the park. You can also check out the world’s largest pipe organ, the Spreckels Organ, which contains 5,000 pipes ranging in size from the length of a pencil to 32 feet. The pipe organ was gifted to the people of San Diego in 1915 and is still playing over 100 years later. There’s a free concert on Sundays at 2:00p.m. year round and a Monday evening concert during the summer. The Spreckels Organ Pavilion is a great place for photos, especially during the golden hour.
Day Two: Rent a bike and explore Coronado
Coronado is a resort city located in the San Diego Bay. Despite being a resort city, the beaches here are wonderful! If you are traveling with a dog, or simply need a dog fix while traveling, Coronado Dog Beach is fantastic. This off-leash dog beach butts up against the North Island Naval Air Station, which is cool because you can also watch military planes take off and land. My water hating dog loved exploring the beach and even went into the ocean a couple times of her own accord.
There’s also tons of beautiful houses located in the area and I loved walking around with a friend and imagining which house we would live in if we were billionaires.
The Coronado Brewing Company has the best pizza and beer. We had the Meat Lovers and California Flatbreads, which I still dream about. I also highly recommend the Spanglish Fries. After all the walking on the beach and bike riding around the island, you deserve the extra carbs!
Day Three: Time to get out of the city
San Diego is well known for the nature surrounding the city. Within a 30 minute drive you have a plethora of options to choose from. If you’re up for a little drive Joshua Tree National Park is about two and a half hours away. But if you’re looking for something closer, try out Viejas Mountain trail. I recommend a morning hike, with plans to finish before noon, because it can get HOT in San Diego, even during the winter months.
The Viejas Mountain trail is semi-steep and I would say it’s an intermediate hike which takes about three hours to do, including lots of stops for photos. The summit has great views of the city looking out towards the San Diego Bay. It can be a bit windy on this hike, so make sure you bring a windbreaker with you!
After your hike, grab a change of clothes and a quick shower and explore the South Park neighborhood. I loved the lavender latte from Communal Coffee. They also have a cute shop attached to the food truck style coffee cart where you can get some local gifts, or even something for yourself.
Take your coffee to go and explore the shops in this area. I know I can’t resist an independent bookstore and The Book Catapult did not disappoint. As usual, I came out with a few extra reads, but how can you walk into a bookstore and NOT purchase something?
By now you’ve probably worked up quite the appetite! There’s plenty of restaurants in the area to choose from, but I loved Station Tavern. Plenty of outdoor seating and their Red Margarita and Tiki Train are quite dangerous! If you have one of those I would highly recommend walking or grabbing an Lyft home. I would also highly recommend their garlic fries if you love garlic and don’t plan to kiss anyone that night. As my friend stated “Oh, you’re gonna scare all the vampires away tonight.” Which suited me just fine since, ya know, there’s still a pandemic and kissing strangers isn’t on the top of my list at the moment. *Sigh* maybe one day we’ll be back to recklessly kissing strangers at a bar. (What am I saying, as a complete introvert I didn’t do that even before COVID).
San Diego was such a treat and I can’t wait to go back there one day soon. Have you ever been to San Diego? What you’d think of it? Let me know below!
