| SAN DIEGO / PALM SPRINGS HOTEL RESERVATIONS I've never used this web site, but it does pull up hotels with good locations and good prices. A good place to start if you don't know the area. |
| SAN DIEGO |
| AIRPORT CITY BUS runs from airport and downtown in about 12 minutes. This is the only public mass transit to/from airport. |
| ATTRACTIONS |
| MEDIA/CULTURE |
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| San Diego...picturesque Pacific seaside city with perhaps the nicest weather in the U.S. Mostly sunny, mild weather from July-October; however the beach areas will often have morning fog that will clear by lunchtime. Otherwise, it's ideal weather. November through March is "rainy" season. There may not be any rain at all, or it may rain for weeks and weeks. And when it rains in Southern California, it pours. May "gray" and June "gloom" means mostly overcast days during those two months, but rarely accompanied by rain. Actually it's great weather, except for the lack of sunny blue skies, which results in cool and damp days at the ocean. |
| SECURITY: Mostly safe city by American standards. Secure your belongings; thieves go for the easy targets. Watch your purse/wallet in urban areas such as the Gaslamp District/Downtown. Car prowls are most common. Lock your car, and never leave belongings in the passenger compartment while parked, not even a jacket (street vagrants will break into cars for jackets, especially when the weather cools.). Put them in the trunk BEFORE you get to the place you are parking, so car prowlers don't see you putting valuables in the trunk before leaving your car unattended. At the beach, NEVER leave valuables unattended. Heck, take the risk and leave your blanket and towels if the whole family wants to take a stroll on the beach; just take your keys, wallet, purse, camera, etc. If a place doesn't feel safe, it probably isn't. But most areas will feel fine! If you take the above precautions, you're in good shape. |
| TRANSPORTATION LINKS |
| Other online hotel options: Travelocity, Expedia, Hotels, Orbitz, etc, and hotel chain websites. |
| For a central location, consider Mission Valley/Hotel Circle for an abundance of midpriced hotels/motels, including many of the major chains. It's close to downtown, Balboa Park/San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Coronado. Downside: will tend to be quite close to the freeway (this can be hard to avoid in SoCal) and no convenient access to mass transit. Motel 6, Super 8, Days Inn, Quality, Holiday, Red Lion, Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott...they're all here. Downtown will cost lots more, and parking will be costly. Many hotels won't have pools. You will be near mass transit, the Gaslamp District, with restaurants and nitelife, the ballpark, the convention center, the harbor, cruise ships, and no doubt a few derelicts. If these don't interest you, there are better places to stay. The Radisson near the bay/downtown is a full service hotel and moderately priced (for downtown) under $150. Old Town, Mission Bay and the beach areas...Point Loma, Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach: small and cheap hotels are available, but probably not very family-friendly. Name brand hotels in this area are either expensive or the location is lacking. ..hotels may claim to be in Point Loma but are actually in the Midway/Sports Arena area that has its share of strip malls, strip clubs and tattoo parlors. Old Town Comfort Inn's windows are steps from the freeway (still it's a great location,) the Pacific Beach Comfort Inn is near the freeway, gas stations and a dirty bookstore. (On the bright side, it's near SoCal's great fast food chain "In-N-Out Burger.") Central suburban areas...Kearney Mesa, Clairemont and vicinity have unspectacular chain motels that will do in a pinch. However, consider the North County suburbs first: Encinitas, Carlsbad on the coast/Interstate 5 on the way to Legoland...or Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos, Rancho Bernardo on the inland Interstate 15 for a more inviting atmosphere. You'll be more distant from the city and beaches but closer to a tiring day of fun at San Diego Wild Animal Park in Escondido. Way too distant areas: Vista, San Marcos, Fallbrook & Escondido to the north. La Mesa & El Cajon to the east, and National City, Chla Vista and San Ysidro to the south. You'll spend a lot of time driving to reach anyplace fun from these areas. |
| HOTELS |
| LA JOLLA is the most elite of San Diego beach towns. It will be costly to find a hotel here. Still, the additional dollars may be justified if you are walking distance to the beaches there, as opposed to driving to and from the beach in your swimsuits. Outlying areas will piggyback on the La Jolla name. However, the whole area is quite nice, and is full of mid-range hotels in a convenient location within a short drive of La Jolla Village and beaches, and Torrey Pines State Beach just to the north. |