San Diego Girls Weekend Recs

[jwright]

Hi!

I’m looking for advice on a girls trip to San Diego in mid September. Four college friends in our forties, coming from all over the country looking for relaxation at beach and/or pool maybe spa , good restaurants and drinks, light shopping and sightseeing.

None of us have visited before (at least not for a meaningful amount of time). The advice I’ve gotten so far is to stay in one of the north areas (la jolla , del mar or solana beach). Will we regret not staying closer to downtown?

Any specific recs for hotels, dining, things to do etc?

[flymetothemoon]

San Diegan here (albeit a transplant on the east coast now). No, you aren't missing anything staying more north. For the experience you want, are you looking for more boutique hotels on the waterfront or a resort with the ability to drive a short way to the beach and other places?

For a super fancy resort, I recommend the Grand Del Mar in Carmel Valley (akin to the Hotel Del or the RB Inn). For boutique hotels - anything in Del Mar, LA Jolla, or Solana Beach are generally nice and good.

[jwright]

Jul 8, 2024 8:58:38 GMT -5 flymetothemoon said:

San Diegan here (albeit a transplant on the east coast now). No, you aren't missing anything staying more north. For the experience you want, are you looking for more boutique hotels on the waterfront or a resort with the ability to drive a short way to the beach and other places?

For a super fancy resort, I recommend the Grand Del Mar in Carmel Valley (akin to the Hotel Del or the RB Inn). For boutique hotels - anything in Del Mar, LA Jolla, or Solana Beach are generally nice and good.

I think we’d like to stay on or within walking distance to the beach if possible. I have bookmarked L’Auberge Del Mar as a fave. La Valencia in La Jolla looks even better looks good but it is about 50% more.

It looks like nothing available at Grand Del Mar (if that’s the Fairmont).

[sdlaura]

I live in San Diego (Encinitas). Auberge is really nice, but Del Mar is a very old town in terms of resident ages. There won’t be young and fun places to go out. I like the grand Del Mar, but it’s far from the beach. I think if you’re ok with the price point, the Alila Marea is your best bet. My girlfriends and I do annual girls trips and prefer to rent a condo or house for space and then still go to a hotel for a spa day (most hotels here have day passes through resortpass.com). But I’m also biased toward Encinitas.

Unless you plan to go clubbing or only want to dine at high end steak houses, I don’t think you’ll miss out by not being downtown.

Let me know if you do end up in my area and I’ll give you more recs!

[EvieEthelGarland]

I'm a SD native, but gone for 20 years now. When I go back, I'm usually only in Del Mar/Solana/Encinitas. Maybe brunch in La Jolla. Since this is your first time, Coronado might be nice. The town is cute and the beach is beautiful. My friends love the Loews resort on the strand, but there's not much else nearby out there.

I'd avoid Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, and Pacific Beach.

[1confused1]

Paradise Point is a fantastic resort that has three pools, restaurants on site and a spa. I know someone said below to avoid Mission Bay, but this place is beautiful.

paradisepoint.com/ppc-best-available-rate/?rt=google%7Ccpc%7CPDP05-Paradise-Point-Brand-Geo-Targeted-15564-29066%7Cparadise%20point%20resort%20%26%20spa&NCK=8774229436&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnK60BhA9EiwAmpHZw-3mvweNDuts6z5N_YTbTmpD53Ff8kO45oxUFO97FP9zQ27PC1CRNBoCAVcQAvD_BwE

[sdlaura]

I agree with EvieEthelGarland that Coronado could be a good choice. The Hotel Del is right on the beach. I've actually done a girls staycation there when I had first moved here. It's a huge resort though and some of the rooms are a little more dated than a new/more boutique hotel like the Alila Marea, and you'll be dealing with more families with kids. I have four kids, but prefer not to have many around while on girls trips

[sent]

Jul 8, 2024 12:07:09 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

Paradise Point is a fantastic resort that has three pools, restaurants on site and a spa. I know someone said below to avoid Mission Bay, but this place is beautiful.

paradisepoint.com/ppc-best-available-rate/?rt=google%7Ccpc%7CPDP05-Paradise-Point-Brand-Geo-Targeted-15564-29066%7Cparadise%20point%20resort%20%26%20spa&NCK=8774229436&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnK60BhA9EiwAmpHZw-3mvweNDuts6z5N_YTbTmpD53Ff8kO45oxUFO97FP9zQ27PC1CRNBoCAVcQAvD_BwE

I've been to a conference at Paradise Point right before COVID. It was beautiful! It was so nice that I couldn't afford to stay there so I rented a car and stayed in a Four Points hotel about 15 minutes away. 

[sicilygirl]

I’m here to give my usual stance in support of staying in central San Diego over North County. 😂

At the very least, check out The Lafayette Hotel. It’s been recently remodeled and has several amazing restaurants and bars on the property. It’s not a resort but is in a very fun part of the city and close to tons of incredible restaurants, the Zoo (a surprisingly good choice for girls’ trips because you can lazily stroll around the beautiful grounds and see all the animals while sipping on wine or a cocktail in near-perfect weather), Balboa Park, and a lot more. In central San Diego, you’d also be close to several beaches, the bay, and Sunset Cliffs.

Hotel Del Coronado would also be an incredible place to stay. Very resort-like and you can walk to tons of restaurants and shops in Coronado, while still being close to everything I mentioned above.If you want to do La Jolla, I’d recommend La Valencia. Not a big resort, but a beautiful hotel and pool and similar vibe to Coronado where you’ll be able to just walk out the door and have your choice of tons of restaurants and shops.

San Diego (outside of rush hour traffic) is very quick and easy to get around. For example, it’s about 20 minutes to Coronado and La Jolla from The Lafayette. Once you get up to North County, it’s more of a hike to get anywhere in SD itself.

I could help you put together an epic girls’ weekend itinerary, if you’re looking for any specific recommendations. I’ve lived here for 6 years so I have a good perspective of being “local” while still being entranced by the entire city since I still feel very new here. We have tons of visitors and are always planning weekends to keep everyone entertained. For North County recommendations, I’ll leave it to the others!

ETA: I missed the follow-up post about preferring to stay on the water. In that case, The Lafayette wouldn’t be a good choice, but I still think The Del or La Valencia would be perfect (and worth the cost).😍

[EvieEthelGarland]

Paradise Point would be the exception! But it is a bit of a trek to anything else particularly nice.

[dearprudence]

Another vote for North County and September should have beautiful weather. The restaurant scene is phenomenal all along the North Coast.

Oceanside is going to be your harbor for anything boat related - sunset cruises, kayaking (we're doing a moonlight kayak later this month), whale watching but also some great bars and restaurants. The beaches are better south of here though.

Carlsbad has a better/easier access beach and great restaurants. Shopping in the village or at the outlets.

Leucadia/Encinitas/Cardiff/Solana has my favorite beaches, but they're not as easily accessible as Carlsbad - except for South Cardiff, you're looking at stairs/hills from parking to beach. Cute shopping and eating areas.

As mentioned above, Del Mar feels more families or older people. One of my friends loves to stay there with her family because they can easily walk to everything, and you do have nice hotels/ spa facilities. Plus, just inland you have some shopping/eating areas.

La Jolla is fantastic and may suit all your needs. I'm always hesitant to recommend it in the summer, because getting in/out can be a pain, but in September you should miss the summer crowds and you've got great hotels, nice beaches, wonderful restaurants, and for the most part everything is pretty walkable (you may want to drive from the cove to the shores or vice versa, but once you're in either place you won't need to drive all over.

[sakoro]

Jul 8, 2024 12:39:58 GMT -5 sicilygirl said:

I’m here to give my usual stance in support of staying in central San Diego over North County. 😂

At the very least, check out The Lafayette Hotel. It’s been recently remodeled and has several amazing restaurants and bars on the property. It’s not a resort but is in a very fun part of the city and close to tons of incredible restaurants, the Zoo (a surprisingly good choice for girls’ trips because you can lazily stroll around the beautiful grounds and see all the animals while sipping on wine or a cocktail in near-perfect weather), Balboa Park, and a lot more. In central San Diego, you’d also be close to several beaches, the bay, and Sunset Cliffs).😍

I grew up in San Diego and moved back during the pandemic after many years away. My girlfriends came to visit last year and we stayed at the Lafayette Hotel.It has such a cool historic vibe and the pool is definitely a scene! It’s in North Park, close to (in my opinion) the best restaurants. We ate at Pommegrate and Plumeria. We also had English afternoon tea at Shakespeares.

I hear good things about the resorts in North County but have never stayed at any. I think we checked and it was massive sticker shock during the summer months.

Another resort suggestion is Rancho LaPuerta just across the border in Tecate (I’ve been there on a day visit and it is amazing) or wine-tasting in the Guadalupe Valley .

I suppose it depends on whether you want to spend most of your time relaxing at a resort or if you want more of a locals experience.

[hbomdiggity]

Not on the beach, but the La Costa Resort and Aviara Resort offer the pool/spa/golf vibe.

Little Italy has great restaurants, but otherwise I would stay away from downtown. I stayed there recently for work and it was hard to see after living in SD for 10years.

[ellipses84]

I struggle to give recs on hotels and restaurants because people visiting always want ocean front views but the best places are not necessarily on the ocean beaches. It’s definitely a city of distinct neighborhoods that requires a lot of 10-20 minute drives. I’ve lived in central SD and North County. For a relaxing vacation with great beaches, I’d prefer to be further north of downtown, like La Jolla to Carlsbad Village area and there are several towns in between like Del Mar, Encinitas and Solana beach that all have cute downtown main streets, nice beaches and good restaurants (and they’re all a pretty close drive along scenic hwy 101 to each other). Coronado is another great option because it’s feels like a peaceful, adorable small town with gorgeous beaches and bougie restaurants / shops, but it’s just across the bridge from downtown if you want nightlife too. However, Coronado and other southern beaches have been shut down a lot the past year due to water quality and it will be a longer drive to other great beaches. You can still walk along the closed beaches, just no going in the water.

If you want nightlife, Gaslamp District downtown is more of a clubbing / fancy restaurant scene, Pacific Beach has more beach front bars and restaurants but is known as the college bar scene (and restaurants with patios extend down to Mission Beach where there’s a boardwalk with roller coaster). PB, MB and OB aren’t the best beaches IMO, but I prefer to go out in OB for beach dinner/drinks for the 30+ crowd because it’s close to me and there’s tons of bars and restaurants within 2 blocks. I go to a lot of happy hours and brunches in North Park / Hillcrest and love those neighborhoods too. Little Italy near downtown is great for dinner and Old Town is a touristy old west town with a lot of great Mexican restaurants.

For relaxing resorts, La Costa (Omni) is great in North county but not on the beach. The Grand (Fairmont) is in Del Mar has tons of famous people stay there and is amazing but it’s $$$$ and not near the beach. For central SD not on the beach, The Lafayette and Town & Country were both renovated fairly recently. Both have bars / restaurants on site and I go to both for mom’s night happy hours. T&C location is very central/ touristy and their outdoor bar has fire pits, but not much is close beside the malls and freeways and I’d only stay there if it was way cheaper than everything else and you’re on a budget (but their drinks are $$$). Mission Bay, Shelter Island and Harbor Island have more resorts with decent pools and views / walking paths / fire pits on the bay, like Kona Kai, Bahai, Catamaran, Humphrey’s, Paradise Point, the Dana, etc. but most require driving to the closest ocean beaches like OB and MB. I feel like it’s a choice between great central location with lots of small drives or a boutique hotel in a smaller town which may mean longer drives and not as nice of a pool. I’d personally pick somewhere with a fire pit because me and my friends love to just hang out and chat for hours on girls trips.

Balboa Park is lovely to walk around and is a great place to take photos (lots of museums, gardens and the zoo are there). Nearly every neighborhood has a weekly farmers market with food trucks on a different day of the week. Let us know where you decide to stay and your must do activities and we can recommend great restaurants nearby.

[jwright]

BUMP

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations!

We are just under one month out for our trip and are booked at La Valencia hotel. We also got dinner reservations at Paradisea for Saturday dinner.

Any recommendations for more casual meals? Dinner and brunch? Probably staying mostly in the La Jolla area

[dearprudence]

Love Puesto and/or Piatti's. Very different vibes but both great. I often take out of towners to both.

For casual brunch I'd do The Cottage or Brockton Villa- if you're there on a weekday, Gold Finch.

[sdlaura]

Aug 25, 2024 20:38:58 GMT -5 dearprudence said:

Love Puesto and/or Piatti's. Very different vibes but both great. I often take out of towners to both.

For casual brunch I'd do The Cottage or Brockton Villa- if you're there on a weekday, Gold Finch.

I live in Encinitas and don’t go to La Jolla often, but have always liked Brockton Villa for brunch and recently had a business dinner at Piatti’s and really enjoyed it.

[sakoro]

Aug 25, 2024 20:38:58 GMT -5 dearprudence said:

Love Puesto and/or Piatti's. Very different vibes but both great. I often take out of towners to both.

For casual brunch I'd do The Cottage or Brockton Villa- if you're there on a weekday, Gold Finch.

Second the recommendation for The Cottage.

[ellipses84]

In La Jolla, I usually go to brunch at Cody’s which has second floor patio views of the ocean. I’ve been to Brockton Villa once and wasn’t that impressed but it was a super hot day, the great views of the cove were kind of marred because the area was smelling pretty gross from seals (fishy) and they were doing some loud construction nearby. Everyone raves about it so I’m sure the typical experience is much better!

The Marine Room, especially at high tide, is an experience everyone always talks about, although I’ve never done it.

If you go in the cave store nearby, you can pay a few bucks to go down in the cave to the water (lots of steps).

You can rent kayaks to explore the cove.

For a beach day, I recommend La Jolla shores or going a little further north, to Del Mar, Encinitas, Solana Beach, etc. There’s lots of good casual food options along the way.

[sicilygirl]

Here are some La Jolla food recs:

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry - bakery/coffee shop that also has great pizza
Harry’s Coffee Shop - old school diner
Parakeet Cafe - healthy breakfast/coffee/juices
Sugar & Scribe - breakfast, mimosas, Bloody Mary’s (but not a full bar)
Brockton Villa - for breakfast or lunch with a great view
The Taco Stand or Puesto - tacos, obviously
Isola Pizza Bar - pizza and Italian
Catania - Sicilian cuisine
Queenstown Village - New Zealand cuisine
Duke’s La Jolla - food is good but nothing special, but the views are great
The Whaling Bar - just reopened at La Valencia and is supposed to be great, but I haven’t been yet!
Nine-Ten Restaurant & Bar - fine dining but I recommend the bar even if you don’t want to eat there