San Diego with Mom advice

Hi,

I am traveling to San Diego with my mom in april (22 -29th) (from Buffalo, NY). Neither of us have ever been to San Diego before.

We are mainly interested in scenic tours, staying close to the beach, gambling, etc. I do plan on taking her to sea world, zoo, casino?

Here is a a very skeletal itenarary';

22nd night - arrive in San Diego (around 9:30PM)

check into hotel (any suggestions for hotels close to scenic area(relatively quiet) on or close to the beach? I read other posts and people have suggested the Pacific Beach/La Jolla area.

Budget is NOT MORE than $150. Doesn%26#39;t need to be fancy as long as it is in a nice location and doesn%26#39;t charge for parking!?

23rd- do a day tour of San Diego (any suggestions), maybe a cruise tour for the evening?

stay at same hotel

24th, do a tour of Los Angeles/Hollywood from San Diego and come back and stay at the same hotel (any suggestions for tours?)

25th, Drive to Santa Barbara, spend the day there and night in Santa Barbara

26th- Drive to Palm Springs, CA, spend the day and night there.

27th, Spend the day in Palm Springs or surrounding area (any suggestions for parks/places to visit?), drive back to San Diego, Checkin to hotel somplace close to downtown/airport,sea world?

28th, spend time in Sea World, do some shopping, (any outlet malls ?) spend night at same hotel in San Diego

29th, fly back

29th

San Diego with Mom advice

WOW, OK that is a bit to much for me. If you really need to do all that, which is a lot for 5 days here is just my suggestion.

Day One 22 arrive, check into hotel. Agree Pacific Beach or Mission Beach would be a good area.

Day 2/23d. Do Balboa Park and the Zoo. It is a jewel of the city and not to be missed. Drive down to Harbor and do a Harbor Cruise in afternoon. Have dinner some place on the Harbor/downtown/Harbor Island.

Day 3/24th Check out of hotel. Go to La Jolla early. See Cove and the Village have lunch, shop. Drive to Palm Springs. It should take 2 hours. Check into hotel. Sight see, dinner.

Day 4/25th play golf or shop, that is about all there is to Palm Springs. Check out of hotel drive to LA, about 2 hours. Check into hotel have dinner.

Day 5/26th LA. Drive around, Go to Hollywood get a tour bus spend the day.

Day 6/27th check out of LA and drive back to San Diego, about 2 hours. Go Coast Road and stop in Laguna Beach. Stop at Carlsbad outlet mall and Fashion Valley Mall on way down. Go and stay in Coronado for the night.

Day 7/28th. Do SeaWorld.

29th fly home.

Sorry no way I could fit Santa Barbara into that.

San Diego with Mom advice

All of the places you mentioned visiting are at least 2 hours apart from each other(more with traffic).

You CAN do what you have mentioned. You will get to have a feel for each place you visit and have time to eat and relax at night so it can be done. But many on here will tell you that you will be driving in your car 3 hours per day and that that is not any way to spend a vacation. LOL. But some people like to be on the road and explore new areas each day so I say do it if that is what you want.

The only real strainer in your itinerary I see is trying to drive to LA(2 hours away from SD without traffic) do a tour in LA and then drive back to SD all in one day. It is definately possible but will be a FULL day. I have driven to LA for the day many times and then driven back to SD at the end of the day.

You can post on the LA forum about the hop-on hop-off bus tours in LA.

www.kayak.com is good for doing a multi-website search of hotel rates in each city.

www.yelp.com/sandiego , www.yelp.com/orangecounty ,and www.yelp.com/losangeles have many reviews for hotels, restaurants, attractions, casinos, and shopping in each area.

I will try to give you more suggestions soon after you firm up your plans a bit more. You will also get suggestions from others to help you.

I agree that you have made a plan with lots of driving.

For ME it would not be a plan I would enjoy!!

It is at least 2hrs each way to LA and then another 2+hrs.north of LA to Santa Barbara sooo to go to LA and back to SanDiego and THEN up to Santa Barbara makes NO sense.

I disagree with Norgetroll about what there is to do in Palm Springs. You can take the tram up to the top of the mt. and go from desert to forest and back.

You can take a desert jeep tour. YOu can visit the Desert Museum or the outdoor sculpture gardens in nearby Palm Desert and you can go to the Thursday night street fair in Palm Springs too. You can also go to the Palm Springs Follies which is an old fashioned variety show but the unique thing is that all the performers,including the chorus line, are folks in their 70s and 80s . You wouldn%26#39;t believe how gorgeous they are!!!!

Palm Springs is about a 2 hr drive from San Diego and then 2hrs. to LA so you could easily make a circle from SD to PS to LA and back to SD.

I think the prob is that you are just trying to see too many places in a short amount of time.

In SanDiego I suggest you take the hop on hop off tour on a bus made to look like an old fashioned trolley.

See: www.trolleytours.com

I am not sure of hotel prices for your dates but you can try the Ocean Park Inn, the Diamondhead Inn,the Surferbeach Hotel,to see.

You might also try a discount site like:

www.hotwire.com where they don%26#39;t tell you the name of the hotel until you pay but the prices are cheaper than normal. IF the motels I mentioned charge for parking , you can usually just find street parking in those places. I wonder if you will have much time so relax at the beach though,with your schedule.

There are outlet malls on the way to Palm Springs. Here in our county there is one on the USA side of the border with Mexico about 30min. south of downtown and in our suburb of Carlsbad which is about 40 min. north of downtown.

The airport is very close to downtown and is easy to reach from anywhere in town with a car. Right now I think you have to rethink your driving plan and then we can help you further.

Ok, I think that makes sense. I think I%26#39;ll do the first 2 days in San Diego, drive to Palm Springs, spend 1 night there, drive to Santa Barbara, spend 1 night there, drive to LA, spend one night there and head back to San Diego for the last day and night.

Now I just need to find places to stay at each location!

The brand new 1,500 room San Diego Hilton Bayfront is on the harbor and steps away from the Gaslamp district. Rates are around $139/night for certain dates. The only negative is that this hotel and MANY of the SD hotels charge $15 to $30 Per Night for parking.

Marriott Courtyard at Liberty Station,is one of the few nicer hotels that DO NOT charge for parking. This hotel is brand new and is in a nice central location near the bay. there are a about 4-5 nice inexpensive places to eat within the complex that houses this hotel. Rates here are around $149/night.

Try using the Kayak.com website to do an easy quick extensive hotel rate search for SD and L.A. hotels.

Hello.

As the others have said, that%26#39;s quite an itinerary. If you are set on an LA/Hollywood, Palm Springs tours, I%26#39;d do a continuous drive.

You could do something such as this:

23rd - San Diego - breakfast at Hash House a go-go; to the zoo from 9am to 2pm, then to Point Loma lighthouse/views, and maybe top it off with a visit to the Hotel del on Coronado with an early dinner on Coronado.

Early eve: drive north to LA and (2-3 hours)and stay in the Burbank/Studio City area. You should miss the bulk of the Thursday evening traffic.

24th - (Ideas for the area) tour of Hollywood area; Warner-Bros studio tour; NBC; or drives/visits to Griffith Park and observatory; Gene Autry museum; Hollywood Blvd. walk of stars and Graumans; Mulholland hills drive; trip down Santa Monica/Wilshire to the Santa Monica Pier (on way to Santa Barbara?) with quick stops along the way to the Whiskey a go-go; Capital Records; Hollywood High; Dan Tanas for lunch; The Troubador, Beverly Hills hotel; Beverly Hills sight seeing; and maybe even a drive back on Mulholland drive.

You can also order one of the famous places/stars maps early and plan around it. You could also cut this in 1/2 and do some of it on the day to Santa Barbara too. As an aside, the Warner Bros tour is very good, but must be pre-scheduled - lasts about 2 hours.

25th - drive to Santa Barbara via the above mentioned routes, or to the 1 - up through Malibu and the coast. Spend the day in S.B. and night in Santa Barbara.

26th - Drive to Palm Springs, CA, spend the day and night there. Take the Palm Springs tram to the top of the peak.

27th - Spend the day in Palm Springs - there are some Casino%26#39;s along the way and near Palm Springs. Drive back to San Diego that night, checkin to hotel downtown/airport

28th - spend time at Sea World, or a drive out I-8 to the Viejas Casino and some shopping outlets. (Sea World is expensive and over rated in my opinion). Spend night at same hotel in San Diego

29th - fly back.

You have a very busy whirl wind itinerary, but it is doable with some pre-planning. Remember, freeway traffic in the LA area is bad in the morning and 3:30pm on, so drive the freeways during off hours. But if you%26#39;re already in the area, it should be easy. 2 days in Palm Springs is a lot to me, but if you plan on kicking back and relaxing, it%26#39;s ok.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. That is a big help. I am realizing that doing Santa Barbara on this trip might not be ideal.

So I have cut that out as well.

My plan is:

itenarary

San Diego:

Arrive 9PM 22nd Dec.

Check into hotel

23rd

Do tour of San Diego

trolleytours.com/san-diego/rates-and-reserva…

Stay in San Diego

24th

Go to Zoo/African Safari

Probably not going to do SeaWorld

Drive to LA

Stay in LA (Hollywood Orchid Suites)

1753 Orchid Ave

Hollywood, CA 90028

25th,

Do tour of LA

www.starlinetours.com/los-angeles-tour-25.asp

Stay in LA

26th

Leave LA for Palm Springs

Tram tour, etc. in Palm springs

Stay in Palm Springs

27th

Joshua Tree Park, shopping in Outlet malls

Spend Night in Palm Springs

28th

Leave Palm Springs for San Diego

Think of things to do in San Diego

29th

Fly out of San Diego

Sounds MUCH better to me!!!

As an added question to my post above.

for a hotel in San Diego %26lt;= $150,

any recommendations (something that is relatively close to the beach, quiet. (La Jolla/Pacific Beach) but not on the beach(I have given up on that for the budget). I really want a place that is decent, (nothing extraordinary) but I don%26#39;t want to pay for parking.

Also if I am going to the beach, where would be the best way to park(cheapest) if I can%26#39;t get street parking?

Same for if I want to take the trolley tours, can you suggest where I can park for free within walking distance from any of the stops?

Thanks

First, I%26#39;m glad you have changed your itinerary.

Here are some hotel suggestions.

Porto Vista in Little Italy (great area) has FREE parking. Their rates are approx $140 / ni

choicehotels.com/ires/…

The Little Italy Inn has street parking

http://www.littleitalyhotel.com/index.html

The Comfort Inn only charges $15/ni. I live a couple of blocks from it. Quiet area w/a nice place across the street for Break/Lunch/Dinner/Cocktails.

rodewayinn.com/…

Same neighborhood is Cabrillo Best Western for $10/ni.

bestwesterncalifornia.com/hotels/…