Looking for San Diego Vacation Suggestions

All depends on what your family likes to do:

San Diego Zoo
W. Animal Park
La Jolla Beach
Sea World
LEGO Land
Old Town San Diego (lots of good food)
Griffith Observatory
Coronado Island - this is a GREAT little island - you can walk around and see so much!
USS Midway - this is a GREAT day trip! Walking through the USS Midway
A baseball game - since you'll be there in July!
Point Loma (more beach) and you can see the birds!

Los Angeles
Disneyland
beaches
Hollywood Blvd
knotts berry farm

I hope you have $5K squirreled away for the admissions - if not - look to Groupon and other sites that will give you discounts on admissions. The "free" stuff is the beach - and the San Diego beaches are fantastic

We were stationed in Los Angeles. We frequently went to San Diego.

We love outdoor stuff. We get a military discount so that saved a LOT of money.

San Diego Zoo
Sea World (they now have roller coasters)
Griffith Observatory
The beaches!! I love San Diego and Los Angeles beaches!!
Coronado Island!! I hope you stay at the Hotel de Coronado and take the Old Town Trolley over!!
The USS Midway, being a military family, we loved doing this and learning about the ship and it's history. There are a few docents left who actually served on the ship!
My boys outgrew LEGOLAND but it's still a fun visit.

In Los Angeles
The Queen Mary
Disneyland
The Pier on Santa Monica beach, it has a ferris wheel
Balboa has the restaurant Ruby's at the end, good food and great views!

so much to do and see. What does your family like? There are museums in Los Angeles the Getty Center
California Science center

There is so much you can do! I recommend figuring out what you want to do before booking a hotel. For example, if you book a hotel in the city of San Diego, you’ll find the drive to LA rather far. A place like Carlsbad may be an easier option. However, if you find most activities are downtown then that is a great area to stay in.
Many many activities to list: The zoo, Sea World, Wild Animal Park, LEGOLAND, Disneyland, Balboa Park, Mission Bay, etc. There are many things to do but it is a tad difficult to direct because I don’t know your taste. Some people rather stay at the beach while others want to constantly sight see. Hope you have a wonderful trip!

We visited there when my daughter was 17 son 13. My daughter did a surf school and loved it. They provided all gear including the wet suit. We took them to the San Diego Zoo and to the spaghetti factory near the pier. We rented a house rather than stay in hotels and were able to get a nice place for a lot less than a hotel.

My son and husband are gear heads so they went to Chip Foose’s shop and had a blast. Huntington Beach is beautiful.

La Jolla is fun and there are kayaking tours of caves. We didn’t do that but explored the area. The smell is a bit rough (sea lions and seals are smelly creatures) but stunningly beautiful area.

One of my most favorite things we did was tide pools. It is a lot of fun to explore the different tide pools. Be sure to check the tide times. It’s a great way to spend time.

Have fun!!

Definitely the Zoo!!! We also went on a whale excursion trip that was fun, didn't see any whales but did see TONS of dolphins. If you go to LA check out Griffith Observatory.

There are so many fantastic things to do in San Diego. I was there in October with my boys. Things we loved:
- We rented kayaks at Mission Bay from Mission Bay Aquatic Center and spent the morning kayaking in the bay. We packed lunch, ate there (there are picnic tables), and then walked 3 blocks over (very easy walk from the aquatic center) to Mission Beach on the ocean for the afternoon.
- We spent a day at Sea World - which now has a few fun amusement park rides (roller coaster, log flume) in addition to the dolphin, orca, and other shows.
- We spent a full day on Coronado Island. We drove over and parked, then rented a 4-person golf cart to drive around the entire island. Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach there. We were body surfing and there was a pod of dolphins in the waves with us!! It was incredible.
- We spent a morning at La Jolla Coves. We parked at the north end where the sea lions are and walked down to Children's Cove at the south end where the seals are. We thought about going to the Birch Aquarium there, but the kids were more interested in going to the beach, so we went back to Coronado instead.

We stayed at the Marriott by the marina. It was beautiful, but I don't know how it compares to other places - my husband was there for work so we didn't have the option to stay anywhere else. The great thing about that area is that it is right next to the gas lamp district. There are lots of good restaurant choices within walking distance of the marina.

Have fun!

- USS Midway for sure
- Watch "Top Gun" before you go and then eat at Kansas City Barbecue from the movie
- La Jolla beach to see the seals and check out the tidepools