STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

kenzie · Chanel

San Diego!

Hermes

no suggestions, but have a great time!

sydney · Kate Spade

kenzie wrote:
We're going to San Diego for vacation in March. Any good ideas of things to do and see? FYIW, we like to act like locals when on vacation and try to avoid overly touristy things (but I do want to go to the San Diego Zoo).

Hotel recs welcome, too. TIA!

Hit or miss weather in March - can be beautiful or a little rainy and slightly cools (think grey and mid-60s) so pack layers. Sea World is actually really fun, if you like that kind of thing.

Coronado island (not really an island) is nice and the hotel Del Corodano is famous from the movie, Some Like it Hot - fun little day trip.    Close to downtown. Also close to downtown is "Old Town" which is a Mexican flavored tourist destination - great margaritas, though.

Up the coast, La Jolla is really nice - posh little shopping areas, hotels and restarants.

San Diego is mainly a large beach city, and when the weather is good, no better place to hang out then the beach. Could could probably book early and find a little place right on the water. Hit local little bars and nightlife. Go for a walk or run on the sand.

Downtown has a fun night life scene with a large Marriott, Hyatt and a new W hotel, with heated sand on the top floor bar. You could stay in that area and drive up the coat line for beaches. Large mall downtown and 10 minute drive to Mission Valley where there are several larger malls.

Or stay in Pacific Beach (twenty something crowds) or La Jolla (thirty somethings) or as north as Carlsbad - all good beaches and good places to visit or stay.  Just south of Pacific Beach is also Mission Beach - roller coaster, parks, beaches and parks.

HTH

kenzie · Chanel

Thanks, sydney! We'll probably stay near the beach and hopefully, we'll have good weather. Anything is better than the single-digit temps here, though.

I was thinking about Sea World, so we might do that. Thanks for your suggestions!

gingembre1 · Kate Spade

Restaurant recs:

George's at the Cove (for a really nice dinner)

Brockton Villa - for delicious brunch / breakfast

Kona's - great ENORMOUS breakfasts for around $6 in Pacific Beach. Right on the boardwalk/beach.

Extraordinary Desserts - Can't be missed. Best desserts ever.

The Cheeseshop - About a block from the La Jolla Shores beach. Great sandwich shop with vintage candies and delicious homemade cookies.

Mr. Sushi - Best. Sushi. Ever. You must order Special # 18. It's off the secret menu. Trust me.

Places to go / See:

Del Mar - especially the beaches. The water here is perfect.

La Jolla - Walking around Prospect Street and the Cove is great for people watching. There's nice kayaking in the cove as well, and you may see dolphins while you're out there.

Pacific Beach - fun if you enjoy beach bums and college kids. Very laid back vibe.

Downtown SD - Nice for a night out on the town. The bar on top of the W is reeeeaaally nice.

ViViDogWear · Kate Spade

I also second Sea World and loved the Wild Animal Park more than the Zoo.

Gas Lamp District is fun at night - everyone club hopping and bar crawling.

The Ivy was really nice, caviar tacos and the best risotto + the rooftop club has a great view!

La Jolla is also really fun and nice for strolling around on Sunday.

relrel · Marc Jacobs

sydney wrote:

kenzie wrote:
We're going to San Diego for vacation in March. Any good ideas of things to do and see? FYIW, we like to act like locals when on vacation and try to avoid overly touristy things (but I do want to go to the San Diego Zoo).

Hotel recs welcome, too. TIA!

Hit or miss weather in March - can be beautiful or a little rainy and slightly cools (think grey and mid-60s) so pack layers.

Mmmm, mid-60s weather. That sounds marvelous, actually! Something tells me that my idea of layers right now isn't quite what Sydney meant by layers!

I guess you decided to splurge on the cheap tickets, huh, Kenzie! Have fun! But remember to come back...you can't quite move to CA yet!

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

We stayed at the Omni in SD in 2005. It was nice, and the location was good.

Balboa Park is really pleasant.

Torrey Pines has wonderful views and trails.

It's in the gaslamp, but it's still fun--a cigar shoppe called Cuban Cigar Factory. We sat outside and shared a cigar. Good people watching.

I second a day-trip to La Jolla. Very pretty. If you want a spectacular dinner, I highly recommend the Nine-Ten in La Jolla.

We also ate a nice dinner at Piatti (Italian) in La Jolla. It was nice.

sydney · Kate Spade

Hit or miss weather in March - can be beautiful or a little rainy and slightly cools (think grey and mid-60s) so pack layers.

Mmmm, mid-60s weather. That sounds marvelous, actually! Something tells me that my idea of layers right now isn't quite what Sydney meant by layers!

I guess you decided to splurge on the cheap tickets, huh, Kenzie! Have fun! But remember to come back...you can't quite move to CA yet!

lol - you'd probably be right! It's been upper 80's for the past two weeks and we're now in a cold spell at 68. My layers tend to be light weight sweaters and jackets!

How could I forget about Del Mar! I knew I was missing another cool beach city

-- Edited by sydney at 16:59, 2009-01-22

jj · Kate Spade

I love SD. Here are my rec's:

The Keating Hotel - my husband surprised me on our anniversary with a stay here and it's a fab, modern, hip boutique hotel. It's in the gas lamp area so walking distance to restaurants and the marina.

Estancia hotel in La Jolla - it's reasonably priced in v. expensive LJ, and it's lovely. Feather beds with duvets, beautiful grounds and pool. Because it's not on the ocean, the pool is protected and warm for lounging. It's also next to Torrey Pines, which is stunning. We did a great hike one day along the ocean bluffs.

I have always wanted to stay here, but haven't been able to yet:

http://www.manzanitacottages.com/tour_cottages.htm

Hillcrest neighborhood for local flavor. Sit outside at a cafe for lunch and check out the local boutiques.

I also like Pacific Beach and Del Mar. There are tons of young people in PB and it's very SoCal. Del Mar is the most adorable beach town.

kenzie · Chanel

relrel wrote:

sydney wrote:

kenzie wrote:
We're going to San Diego for vacation in March. Any good ideas of things to do and see? FYIW, we like to act like locals when on vacation and try to avoid overly touristy things (but I do want to go to the San Diego Zoo).

Hotel recs welcome, too. TIA!

Hit or miss weather in March - can be beautiful or a little rainy and slightly cools (think grey and mid-60s) so pack layers.

Mmmm, mid-60s weather. That sounds marvelous, actually! Something tells me that my idea of layers right now isn't quite what Sydney meant by layers!

I guess you decided to splurge on the cheap tickets, huh, Kenzie! Have fun! But remember to come back...you can't quite move to CA yet!

It will be tough to come back, but we can at least scope out neighborhoods. I'm trying to sway the bf to SoCal. Right now, he's all about San Francisco, which would be fabulous, too, but not quite as fabulous (for me) as SoCal.

jettie · Kate Spade

You've got lots of good suggestions to keep you busy!

Restuarants - I second the George's in La Jolla rec. If you can, schedule dinner around sunset, its got an amazing view if you sit up top. I also like C level/Island Prime for great food and a killer sunset. Definitely check out Hillcrest, there are lots of cute shops and nice restaurants. And sushi! There are sushi joints on every corner it seems. I'm still working on a favorite though.

Bars/Nightlife - One of my fav places in dowtown San Diego is the J Bar. Its on J St on the top floor of a hotel (can't remember the name of the hotel though). Wine Steals in Hillcrest is great for happy hour (wine and cheese plates). PB definitely has lots of bars to keep you busy. as mentioned before, its definitely a younger crowd. If you make it to Little Italy, get a drink at the Waterfront. Its sort of a dive but I like it a lot (prob cause its in my 'hood).

For hotels, when I used to travel to SD on business we'd always stay at Humprey's (its on shelter island). Its got a polyensian vibe. Its not a super trendy hotel but its got a really nice atmosphere (its not the typical marriot, hilton, etc). During the summer they have concerts and you can hear them from your room...not sure how early in the season they start though.

I really like Balboa Park and of course all of the beach towns. Take a hike at Torrey Pines if you get the chance. The zoo, like others have mentioned.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!!

kenzie · Chanel

Thanks, jettie. I'm going to have to print this thread out so I have an easy reference guide!

NCshopper · Hermes

I also second Extraordinary Desserts. I ate there of Christmas and the food was great. You've gotten some great recs for food in La Jolla but I'll also add The Cottage to the mix--good brunch-y type place.

There's a lot to do in San Diego--I'd personally recommend driving the 101 from La Jolla through Del Mar, stop in Del Mar for a bite to eat, and continue north through Solana Beach, stopping at Cedros Ave. in Solana Beach for some shopping. Then keep driving north through Cardiff (my hometown!) and see Swami's Beach and the Self Realization Fellowship (they have pretty gardens to walk through). Then I'd hit Lou's Records in Leucadia, which is just a bit further north from there. All of these things are within about a 20 mile drive. It's pretty scenery and would give you a good taste of the local color.

HTH! Have fun!!!

AllieGurl · Marc Jacobs

There is a great restaurant called corks & crepes in Del Mar that is amazzzzzinnng! They have lunch crepes, sweet crepes and incredible soups too, plus awesome wine. The street it is on is full of fun little boutiques and art gallery's and its just a 10 min drive to a really cool shopping area in encinitas that has a bunch of artist co-op type stores. My favorite is called the "leaping lotus", it is a huge industrial building with over 100 different artist stalls with funky handmade jewelry , art etc.

NCshopper · Hermes

^^^ Leaping Lotus is awesome! Definitely one of my favorite stores. It's actually on Cedros in Solana Beach though. There's a great shoe store on that street too and a store called Mistral, which has WONDERFUL bath products, candles, etc. I always go to Mistral whenever I'm in town.

jah · Dooney & Bourke

I actually recommend that you head to Hillcrest - it is a great neighborhood and many of the restaurants up and down the strip are hard to beat.  For Sushi, I recommend Sushi Ono on University Avenue. I also really like a small plate restaurant called Bite. Extraordinary desserts is in the area, so you could do dinner and stop by for dessert.

The Hotel Del has a great brunch and the Coronado beach can't be beat. Balboa park is fun - take a frisbee and a blanket and just hang out in the park.

Downtown, I really like the restaurant Dussini. The food is yummy - particularly the wrapped dates and heirloom tomato salad - mmm. I live a few blocks away, so I eat at this place way too much!

Jakes in DelMar is also good.

In terms of shopping, I second the leaping lotus.  Christies in Mission Hills is great. They have great handbags by M.I.L.K.  If you want outlets, they have a great J. Crew in Las Americas at the Mexican border, but the rest of the shops aren't that great.

Coronado - also recommend Miguels Mexican. Yummy salsa.

Another great restaurant is Island Prime/C-Level. This is a restaurant/bar on Harbor Island (close to the airport). You can eat in a covered area built over the water - the area has a perfect view of the downtown skyline/water/navy destroyers at night.

In terms of the zoo, you may want to consider the wild animal park. IMO, it is better than the zoo.

The one thing I don't recommend is a day trip to Tijuana. The area is very violent right now (it isn't odd to have 10+ people injured in shootings on a weekend day).

In Pacific Beach they have the best dive bar - it is called Cass Street. They have the absolute best Oriental Salad (you get it with Chicken or Tuna). It's famous. Oh, and also Rocky's. It's a burger place.  The line oftentimes goes around the block - but the burger is worth it!

I just noticed most of my post has revolved around food - Oops!

Here are a few things to do -

1 - Hike Torrey Pines.
2 - Kayaking in Torrey.
3 - Windsurf in PB.
4 - Rent bikes and head out on the trails that circle Coronado.

*Edited to add a Little Italy recommendation - Buon Appetito - YUMMY!

A few more dive bar recs - Shakespeares, Aero Club, World Famous, Shore Club.

Let me know if you have any questions!

-- Edited by jah at 23:32, 2009-02-04

sydney · Kate Spade

Jah - Love Jakes and totally agree with Hillcrest! Cute little community I adore!

gossipgirl · Dooney & Bourke

I love going down to SD - love Pacific Beach. I second the Rocky's burger suggestion!

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

I went many years ago and had a great time. I too have heard the Wild Animal Park is better than the zoo but I didn't want to miss out on the pandas so we did the zoo.

Another idea since you said you were going in March is I remember seeing whale watching spots on Point Loma (I think that is the name of the park) and you could just watch the whales migrate. I think the sign said March and October are the best times to stand and watch.