San Diego

We are now back from our Californian Adventure. The one place that really stood out for me was San Diego. I feel its such an underrated city!

We travelled from Indio through the San Bernadino Forest. It was a nice journey with plenty of scenery. Starting with desert & Cacti, tall tree forests down to the rugged Pacific coastline.

We stayed in the Gaslamp Quarter and it was a great location with plenty of bars and restaurants outside the hotel. We did find it a little noisy in late at night but it was Independence weekend and it didnt stop us from sleeping!

We wandered down to the Sea Port Village along the front and there were many shops & restaurants there too. Whilst here we also visited the USS Midway. Its a historical naval aircraft carrier museum. We spent around 3 hours here but you could easily spend all day. You are given a set of headphones and have lots of locations around where you can listen to interesting facts. The great thing about this was you could chose to listen as an adult or a child. This was great for Charlie as it was short facts that kept him engaged. Charlie was given a tour to complete. He did a great job and at the end he got his own set of wings!

We knew we wanted to visit the beach so took a day out along the coast. First stop was La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya) The views here were breathtaking. The rugged Pacific Coastline was just how I imagined. We also saw lots of Sea Lions playing along the shore line. We travelled back to San Diego along the coast and next stop was Mission Beach. This is a surfers paradise. We also took a stroll through Belmont Park a small amusement park with an old wooden coaster that was built in 1925.

We spent Independence day in the Old town and went down to the Sea Port Village in the evening to watch the fireworks over the Bay of San Diego

San Diego is so close to Mexico it has a real Mexican feel about it with lots of Mexican food available!

We really loved our time in San Diego. We even preferred it to San Francisco! We will head back but will stay longer. 3 nights wasn’t enough time we could have easily spent a week. We would like to have headed to Oceanside. We were recommended to visit Oceanside for a true authentic Pacific Surf city!

San Diego offers a few cruise departures including Carnival Cruises, Holland America, Disney Cruise Line and Celebrity. So dont be put off thinking its better to go from the larger ports of Los Angeles or San Francisco. Give San Diego a go im sure you will not be disappointed.