Hilton Hotel San Diego sailboats

Hilton San Diego Resort

Shown in the photo above are sailboats guests can rent. Are you looking for something to do in San Diego? The kid-friendly Mission Bay not only include a resort hotel that’s custom made for kids (Hilton Resort), but daytime activities such as the green park with lots of playground fun for youngsters. Families love to come on weekends and sit on the grassy hills that provide vantage points to watch your kids–and the bay where there’s ample recreation. Most any day you will notice  people exercising along the walk / jog / bike path. There are great restrooms, too. Mission Bay is a manmade oceanfront aquatic park with miles of sandy beaches, bike paths and playgrounds.

Just down the road is SeaWorld, well worth half a day t a full day’s entertainment. Shows, water rides, shopping, dining and simply watching are some of the more popular diversions perfect for all ages. For kid-themed vacations, you definitely won’t want to miss Legoland for the youngsters, or San Dieogo Zoo. Along with the exciting zoo and small train ride that circles on a track outside the park, be sure to check out Wild Animal Park.

• Legoland Tickets (buy one day, get one day free limited offer)

• Sea World Tickets

• San Diego Zoo

• Old Town Trolley

  - I recommend this one. The staff are are always nice.

Outdoor sports include surfing, bicycling if you rent a bike or bring your own and ride along the beach paths at Pacific Beach. Within the city limits is Torrey Pines State Reserve, with high bluffs overlooking the Pacific. The Glider Port is a launch pad based on those bluffs. Beginners can take the training course and get the breeze beneath their wings in a tandem ride provided on your first trip out.

Of course, the numero uno sports activities in San Diego are game watching. There are two ball parks hosting San Diego’s baseball and football teams. You can stay at the Hard Rock Hotel or over at the towering Hilton on the Bay and walk on over to Petco Park.

San Diego is a city on the run. There’s so much to see and do, you really can’t get board. From taking a guided tour cruise on the water, a city cruise on the Old Town Trolley, or exploring on foot, now’s a great time to get your feet wet, both figuratively speaking and in real time.

Old Town San Diego Courtyard

San Diego’s Courtyard Old Town features a freeway close location that many like. When you get 20 opinions about something, one thing is certain. Not all will agree on most anything. That is true of the Courtyard San Diego Old Town. Having stayed there many times, we do like the location. The hotel features Old Town dining and shops just a few minutes walk away. It’s very convenient in that account.  Only a five to ten minute drive from SeaWorld, and very close to Balboa Park and San Diego Zoo, the Courtyard does a fair amount of business and offers nice little perks.

Some of the strong points include an incredibly friendly staff, clean rooms, and location, location. Located right off Interstate 5 Freeway, you have easy freeway access to most every attraction in the city. If you prefer not to drive or want to split up from your family or friends, you can hop aboard the Old Town Trolley, which requires a ticket, and enjoy not only getting a scenic ride around the the hotspots of San Diego, but also getting off at the trolley’s strategic stops where it circles around and picks you up in Old Town, downtown and Balboa Park next to the San Diego Zoo.

Hotel tip: Request rooms away from the freeway. The constant drone of noise on one side of the hotel is counter-productive to sleep, which is why they provide ear plugs next to your bed, presumably.

Sea World penguins

One of the most compelling reas0ns that people flock to see San Diego is the variety of attractions ranging from boat tours and rides to city tours and theme park attractions.

The top theme parks in San Diego County are SeaWorld San Diego, Legoland California, San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Belmont Park. Among these popular attractions are seasonal events, rotating shows, world-class exhibits and rides, restaurants and collections of amazing animals.

Other types of attractions in San Diego include museums. The best collection of museums on the West Coast can be found in Balboa Park. In addition to focus on the sciences, there’s Old Town, which is an historic place comprised of a collection of buildings dating back over 100 year.  One of the most haunted houses (Whaley) is located here.

Attractions such as boat tours range from bay excursions, fishing trips out in the ocean, ferry boat rides, tours of a several types of ships, cruise ships docked in port, gondola rides at Coronado Bay, and kayak rentals.

Museums, botanical gardens such as Quail Botanic Garden in Encinitas, and Del Mar, home to the annual fair, a drive-through holiday lights show, and thoroughbred racing all provide sports, flowers, arts and crafts that are entertaining throughout the seasons.

San Diego Zoo

San Diego Zoo Admission Price

San Diego Zoo, 2920 Zoo Drive, San Diego, CA 92101

San Diego Zoo is one of San Diego’s favorite attractions. Known for its treatment and care of its animals, birds and other creatures, the zoo is recognized nationally for its quality accommodations for the animals that reside and find permanent homes in San Diego. In addition to some unique exhibits that have received much press attention, such as the Giant Pandas from China, the zoo’s expansive grounds, great marketing and products, fantastic weather and enjoyable setting, make this a destination attraction you want to return to time and again.

Among the zoo’s many attributes Continue Reading

San Diego Zoo flamingos

San Diego Zoo flamingos are brilliantly colored in shades of hot pink, salmon and peach. They maintain their brilliance thanks to the foods they are supplied.  Their pink or reddish color comes from the rich sources of carotenoid pigments like from carrots. Their primary sources of these carotenoid pigments are algae and small crustaceans. There are flamingos at both the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park (the sister zoo owned and operated by the same not-for-profit organization). At the Wild Animal Park on that bus tour I recall the guide saying that many zoos cut corners and don’t feed their flamingos the carotenoid diets which are more expensive, thus their flamingos may not seem as bright and rich in color as you’ll see at these two zoos.

When I visited San Diego and the zoo for the very first time, I was amazed by the flamingo display and when I returned to Kansas to finish up my college degree, I sat in class remembering those beautiful birds, Continue Reading

San Diego Zoo Bus

When visiting the San Diego Zoo, in addition to just wandering around and looking at exhibits there are a lot of things to do at the zoo. First, there’s a guided bus tour that orients you to the set-up of the place.

If you want to get around the expansive zoo and return to the places you like the best, then here’s what you need:

Zoo package with the tour bus

While you will have great looks from the side of the bus you are on, you may miss some things. The good news is that you can always come back to your favorite exhibits and animals and spend more time there.

The tours run over half an hour (they say 35 minutes in their literature and my ride was around 4o minutes). Like everything else, people first in line go running up the steps to the top deck of the double decker bus. While you may not see everything, the tour bus covers most the territory. Some of the exhibits you have to see on foot.The polar bears are one example of an exhibit that allows you to get close and personal on eye level, looking through the tank where they swim.

You also get access to the express buses that are more like shuttles. They go between many stops at the zoo. There are also bus tours for groups of 20 or moe offered in other languages, mostly Spanish and French.

San Diego Zoo

Zoo Admission Prices

San Diego, Calif.–San Diego Zoo features many exciting exhibits. We sell theme park tickets to SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park. In addtion to the very popular Giant Panda section of the zoo, the polar bears are especially fun to watch, and generally much more lively than the panda bears. The polar bears love diving into the water and swimming. They love sitting on big rock perches in the San Diego sunshine, and they like to chomp on huge bones.

When you go on vacation in San Diego, Continue Reading