Budget Travel is a sequence dedicated to cheap journey concepts and proposals primarily based on my first hand expertise. Last week, I loved three implausible days in San Diego, California.
Trip Itinerary
We rented a automotive at LAX and drove all the way down to San Diego stopping at Del Mar, CA for lunch (about half-hour north of Downtown San Diego).
After having fun with an informal, cheap meal, with a spectacular ocean view at Pacifica Breeze Café, we strolled by means of the small village retailers and boutiques the place I picked up a couple of, enjoyable Christmas presents.
On our approach again to the automotive, we noticed a small park atop the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We sat and watched because the surfers took on the waves and the solar set over the Pacific.
After ending the drive into downtown San Diego, we checked into the Best Western Seven Seas – snagged a deal on Hotwire.com
Wound up being an ideal location (10 minutes from all the pieces) and a greater deal than something I may discover on airbn’b.
Read more: How to Visit San Diego on a Budget
That night time we determined to take a look at the Gaslamp District for dinner.
Essentially, it’s only a road with quite a lot of overpriced eating places on it. Though rated as a high attraction in San Diego, I’d say you possibly can in all probability skip it. Not to say, parking was a nightmare, we wound up having to spend $12 simply to park for 2 hours. Not value it.
The following morning we woke as much as unusually blustery climate. Our Whale Watching Cruise, which I discovered on Groupon, was cancelled as a consequence of tough circumstances 🙁 After a little bit of forwards and backwards I used to be in a position to get the Groupon
Instead, we took the ferry to Coronado Island.
For some purpose, the ferry drop off is on the alternative facet of all the pieces else on the island. Everything else, being the sights we deliberate to go to.
Maybe hire a motorcycle for the day so you will get round simpler? You can take the bikes on the ferry. We saved cash by strolling, however we additionally wasted quite a lot of time getting into circles and getting misplaced (not within the great way).
After lastly navigating to the primary road, Orange Ave, we picked up lunch at Leroy’s Kitchen and Lounge.
Read more: San Diego on a Budget
Then went on to go to the famed Coronado Hotel and Beach, each of which had been fairly stunning and simple to get pleasure from with out spending any cash.
Once the rain set in, we ran again to the opposite facet of the island to catch our ferry. From the boat we loved skyline views of downtown San Diego and a glimpse of the numerous naval ships and ports.
By this level the rain was actually coming down so we raced by means of the Embarcadero (the downtown waterfront walkway). Though, in case you had rented a motorcycle for the day, that may be one other good route.
For dinner, we used a fast yelp search and located a beautiful restaurant in Mission Hills referred to as The Red Door – an ideal spot for a pleasant/splurge meal.
While entrees ran about $20 every, we didn’t need to pay for parking within the space, in order that helped. Not solely was the restaurant itself charming, however the contemporary, farm-to-desk type meals was value each penny. I like when a splurge is worth it!
We began out our closing day in San Diego with a visit to Balboa Park, dwelling of many museums, the Old Globe Theatre, and the San Diego Zoo. While all of these require admission, we loved the park with out spending a dime – strolling the grounds, which included a rose and cactus backyard, a number of open artwork/sculpture exhibitions, and a small botanical backyard.
We then visited Torrey Pines State Park, my favourite a part of the journey.
Read more: 23 Epic Weekend Getaways from San Diego (Fun Mini Road Trips!)
After parking alongside highway/seaside at no cost, we walked into the park, following the primary highway to the highest of the hill, then wound our approach again all the way down to the seaside by means of the cliffs, by way of the Beach Trail. In my opinion, this can be a MUST DO for anybody visiting the world. Seriously, DO IT!
We adopted our hike with my second favourite a part of the journey, sundown at Scripps Park in La Jolla. Sea lions had been all over the place! I even noticed a couple of swimming alongside some courageous swimmers within the cove.
Rather than braving the waters of the Pacific in December, I caught to the rocks, exploring tide swimming pools and trying to find extra wildlife alongside the shoreline.
After a beautiful afternoon on the water, we went into the village of La Jolla for comfortable hour/dinner, having fun with some drink specials at José’s whereas searching over the ocean.
(*3*)La Jolla can also be dwelling to a number of artwork galleries and boutique-like retailers which can be nice for window-buying, although perhaps not precise buying (it’s a “bougie” city).
For our final night, I used to be in a position to rating some $25, “under 30” tickets, to see “Sideshow” at La Jolla Playhouse, a nationally acknowledged regional theatre minutes from Downtown San Diego.
Lessons Learned
- Almost all of our daytime actions had been free as we caught to public, out of doors points of interest, which had been completely fulfilling, even in December. I looked for coupons and reductions on all the pieces else, which labored fairly properly, regardless of the Whale Watch being canceled.
- While our resort wasn’t tremendous fancy, it was extremely handy to each place we visited and included all of the issues we wanted- did I point out we went to the new tub twice?
- Parking downtown alongside the waterfront is tough. We wound up paying for a storage twice. I might advocate knocking out all of your downtown/waterfront points of interest in at some point so that you solely need to cope with it as soon as. Though we didn’t need to pay for parking at our resort, so it evened out okay.
- We did a little bit of grocery buying at first of our journey so we saved on breakfast each morning by “eating in” and on alcohol by bringing our personal to get pleasure from in that resort sizzling tub. Between comfortable hours and lunch specials, we did effectively on the meals entrance. I used to be pleased with our splurge on the Red Door, however like I mentioned, I may’ve skipped the overpriced eating places within the Gaslamp District.
Overall, I had a beautiful time in San Diego; I feel I’m really somewhat bit in love.
Have you ever been to San Diego? What are your should dos? Any insider financial savings ideas?
Read more Cheap places to travel from san diego – Indochina Airlines
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