We visited San Diego and La Jolla way back in May for a quick spring getaway. It was my first time to the area and John's as well.
We stayed the first few nights at the Hotel Indigo in the Gas Lamp district. The room was clean, spacious and close to the baseball stadium.
After checking in we grabbed a drink at a small brewery right across the street from the hotel, Half Door Brewing.
The next morning we had breakfast at Richard Walker's Pancake house. The apple pancake was excellent. Lots of apples and some crunchy bits of cinnamon and sugar throughout.
After breakfast we walked around the gas lamp district a bit and then Ubered up to Balboa park.
We spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo.
sky gliders
We met a college friend of John's and his wife at Panama 66 for dinner. It was located on the Balboa Park museum campus and seating was in a nice courtyard.
View from the rooftop bar at the Hotel Indigo, Level 9 rooftop bar
Saturday we had breakfast at the Broken Yolk Cafe.
We went down to the farmer's market in Little Italy and walked around a bit and then grabbed an Uber to the ferry docks and went over to Coronado Island.
beach at Hotel Del Coronado
We rented eBikes and rode around the entire island, which as actually pretty fun. The eBikes made it a tad easier also.
After returning the eBikes we had a late lunch at Coronado Brewing Company. The food was quite good as were the beverages.
Saturday night we went to a baseball game Petco Park. The Padres played the St Louis Cardinals. The stadium was really cool and had a bunch of neat food and drink options.
Our dinner was at the baseball park from Hodad's. We both had cheeseburgers. Pretty decent for stadium food actually.
After the game we went to Fifth and Rose at the Pendry for a couple of drinks. Probably a bit upscale and clubby for us, but they let us in with casual baseball game attire, no issue.
Sunday we had breakfast at Breakfast Republic. The wait was a bit long, but the food was tasty.
After breakfast John went to the airport and picked up a rental car. We did a little discount shopping at TJ Maxx and Marshall's on the way up to La Jolla.
We had lunch at the Public House La Jolla. It was a cute pub with lots of patio seating.
For our last few nights of the trip, we stayed at the La Valencia Hotel, an older hotel that has been in operation since 1926. The room was small, but functional and had excellent views of the ocean. We found it was also centrally located with many dining and shopping options within easy walking distance.
nice private patio with ocean views
We had a couple drinks at George's at the Cove before dinner
La Sala Lounge at the La Valencia
We had a round of drinks at the hotel lounge before dinner also.
Dinner was a t Duke's La Jolla. We were seated on the spacious outdoor patio, but the view was kind of moot by the time we arrived as it was dark outside.
Both fish entrees were quite good and the service was helpful and efficient as well.
Monday morning we had breakfast at Cody's La Jolla. Cute place and it was close to the hotel.
We stopped at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park and walked around a bit. It was touristy and probably not worth the stop, but it was something to do.
We had a sailing tour of the bay scheduled. They called us right before and said they could rebook us for the next day or we could pay for one more ticket and we could still go. So we paid up and had a private sailboat tour.
Lots of sightings of military aircraft and ships as the base it covers a lot of real estate in the bay.
Tour with Sn Diego Sailing Tours, our skipper was Captain Allen. He was very chatty, full of information and happy to answer any questions we had.
After the sailboat tour we stopped at Bali Hai Restaurant for happy hour in the lounge.
The Bali Hai mai tai was incredibly strong and not all that great. The apps were tasty though.
crystal pier hotel and cottages
We stopped at Pacific beach to try and walk on the pier, but no dice. We took the scenic route back to La Jolla and drove up the coast.
La Valencia from down by the walking paths by the water
Sea lions. They are stinky.
We watched the sunset from the lounge at the La Valencia. Certainly an excellent view.
We had dinner on the rooftop patio at George's at the Cove. This was the halibut.
scallops
creme brûlée
Tuesday we drove up to the Lodge at Torrey Pines for breakfast and ate at The Grill.
very pretty golf course right on the ocean
The Lodge at Torrey Pines looked pretty nice
We drove up to Mt Soledad National Veterans Memorial on the way back to the hotel. Interesting view of the whole area.
Pool at the La Valencia, small, but gorgeous setting.
We had lunch at Puesto in La Jolla, just a couple blocks from the hotel. The margaritas and tacos were all excellent.
We had dinner on our last night in La Jolla at Eddie V's Prime Seafood. The smoked old fashioned was excellent.
scallops for John
Korean BBQ Brussels sprouts
filet with blue cheese crust
Godiva cake- someone could not wait for me to take photos...
Wednesday we had breakfast at Brockton Villa, which as right across the street from La Jolla Cove. I should have taken a photo, but the street was under construction so it wasn't exactly pretty and it was a bit noisy.
We had a very fun and relaxing trip to San Diego. There is so much to do in the area and we will certainly need to return again. I kind of wanted to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado, but there was a lot of remodeling and construction happening, so it seemed like La Jolla was the better choice this time. La Jolla was very upscale and had a lot of great dining options. We loved having so many things within walking distance of the La Valencia.
