Elegant and sunny San Diego is truly a city with something for everyone - it's one of the most popular vacation destinations in the United States. Parents and children alike love San Diego's wide range of fun and family-oriented activities - many of them free - most of them outdoors in the warm sunshine. From the theater to wild animals, San Diego has something for everyone. Here are six things to do in San Diego that every visitor should not miss when visiting our wonderful city.
1. Vibrant, diverse, and endlessly entertaining, the Gaslamp Quarter is where San Diego's colorful past comes alive and exists hand in hand with modern development and commerce in an active urban setting. Covering eighteen blocks of downtown San Diego, "the Gaslamp" offers dozens of specialty shops, boutiques, art galleries, hip restaurants, fun bars and avant-garde playhouses. Here you'll find an architectural mix of hip restaurants and bars inside renovated turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture. Most of the shops keep late hours, so delightful shopping, drinking, and dining can occur virtually simultaneously, making the Quarter one of San Diego's most popular travel destinations.
2. John D. and Adolph Spreckels donated the Spreckels Organ, one of the world's largest outdoor pipe organs, to the City of San Diego in 1914 for the Panama-California Exposition. This unique organ contains 4,530 pipes ranging in length from the size of a pencil to 32 feet and is housed in an ornate vaulted structure with highly embellished gables. Since 1917, San Diego has had a civic organist who performs free weekly Sunday concerts.
3. Star Watch from Balboa Park on the first Wednesday of each month courtesy of the San Diego Astronomy Association who sets up their big telescopes to offer guests a great view of stars, planets and the rings of Saturn in the night sky. One of the greatest thrills for anyone is to view the heavens through a telescope. Have you ever seen Jupiter's moons? How about star clusters? Join them after dark outside the Reuben Fleet Science Center on the first Wednesday of each month.
4. See things you never saw before at The Museum of Contemporary Art in LaJolla featuring an enormous collection of 4,000 works created after 1950. Here you'll find exhibits of all media and genres: painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, video and film. Designed in 1916 by world-famous Irving Gill and originally the home of distinguished philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, the 60,000 square-foot Museum will thrill you with its breathtaking coastal views.
5. Explore the tide pools in Point Loma below Cabrillo National Monument when the tide is out and get up close and personal with flowery anemones, scampering shore crabs, elusive octopus, spongy deadman's fingers and many other cool sea creatures. Located on the western side of Point Loma, these pools lie in the rocky inter-tidal zone and offer a window into the ocean ecosystem. San Diego travel tip: Ranger walks are available during most low tides and a slide program is shown daily at the Cabrillo park visitor center.
6. Sun and Fun. There are more than seventy miles of coastline here in San Diego and the best part is that every one of them are free. They are all great for swimming, surfing, jogging, body surfing, boogie-boarding, reading that mystery novel, people watching, collecting seashells or just chilling.
Where to stay? San Diego has many great accommodations from romantic inns to hotels to bed and breakfasts. Here are two informative websites with useful lodging information: Bed and Breakfasts in Carlsbad CA and Hotels in Del Mar California.
1. Vibrant, diverse, and endlessly entertaining, the Gaslamp Quarter is where San Diego's colorful past comes alive and exists hand in hand with modern development and commerce in an active urban setting. Covering eighteen blocks of downtown San Diego, "the Gaslamp" offers dozens of specialty shops, boutiques, art galleries, hip restaurants, fun bars and avant-garde playhouses. Here you'll find an architectural mix of hip restaurants and bars inside renovated turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture. Most of the shops keep late hours, so delightful shopping, drinking, and dining can occur virtually simultaneously, making the Quarter one of San Diego's most popular travel destinations.
2. John D. and Adolph Spreckels donated the Spreckels Organ, one of the world's largest outdoor pipe organs, to the City of San Diego in 1914 for the Panama-California Exposition. This unique organ contains 4,530 pipes ranging in length from the size of a pencil to 32 feet and is housed in an ornate vaulted structure with highly embellished gables. Since 1917, San Diego has had a civic organist who performs free weekly Sunday concerts.
3. Star Watch from Balboa Park on the first Wednesday of each month courtesy of the San Diego Astronomy Association who sets up their big telescopes to offer guests a great view of stars, planets and the rings of Saturn in the night sky. One of the greatest thrills for anyone is to view the heavens through a telescope. Have you ever seen Jupiter's moons? How about star clusters? Join them after dark outside the Reuben Fleet Science Center on the first Wednesday of each month.
4. See things you never saw before at The Museum of Contemporary Art in LaJolla featuring an enormous collection of 4,000 works created after 1950. Here you'll find exhibits of all media and genres: painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, video and film. Designed in 1916 by world-famous Irving Gill and originally the home of distinguished philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, the 60,000 square-foot Museum will thrill you with its breathtaking coastal views.
5. Explore the tide pools in Point Loma below Cabrillo National Monument when the tide is out and get up close and personal with flowery anemones, scampering shore crabs, elusive octopus, spongy deadman's fingers and many other cool sea creatures. Located on the western side of Point Loma, these pools lie in the rocky inter-tidal zone and offer a window into the ocean ecosystem. San Diego travel tip: Ranger walks are available during most low tides and a slide program is shown daily at the Cabrillo park visitor center.
6. Sun and Fun. There are more than seventy miles of coastline here in San Diego and the best part is that every one of them are free. They are all great for swimming, surfing, jogging, body surfing, boogie-boarding, reading that mystery novel, people watching, collecting seashells or just chilling.
Where to stay? San Diego has many great accommodations from romantic inns to hotels to bed and breakfasts. Here are two informative websites with useful lodging information: Bed and Breakfasts in Carlsbad CA and Hotels in Del Mar California.
About the Author:
W. Terry Hunefeld decided to quit his job 2 years ago as a CEO to pursue his passion of exploring the oceans of the world to observe seabirds and mammals. Hunefeld and his wife own and operate the delightful Inn At Moonlight Beach Bed and Breakfast in the San Diego area. For more information visit: Bed and Breakfasts in San Diego or Encinitas Hotels.
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