5 Best Things to do in La Jolla - San Diego, CA Travel Guide
The second part of our California vacation brought us to San Diego. We ate tons of burritos, saw the sea lions & seals, and watched the sun set every night! We stayed in the La Jolla neighborhood, which was amazing!
Where’s the best place to stay in san diego? Is La Jolla a good place to stay? What is special about La Jolla?
San Diego is an incredible city with many different neighborhoods, so it was hard to pick where we wanted to stay when it came time to book our Airbnb! We ended up choosing the neighborhood of La Jolla, and I’m so glad we did. La Jolla is super walkable to great dining and coffee, as well as the ocean (where you can find the Sea Lions & Seals)! After driving around to different parts of San Diego throughout the week, I’m so glad we chose La Jolla, and I think it’s the best place you can stay in San Diego for a number of reasons.
1) It’s quiet. La Jolla is a mostly high-end residential neighborhood, so there are not an overwhelming amount of tourists, which makes it a super relaxing place to spend time.
2) Amazing walkable coffee and dining! Just because it’s quiet, doesn’t mean there isn’t amazing food right around the block. We walked to The Taco Stand, Parakeet Cafe, and Marisi and many more!
3) The Sea Lions & Seals! La Jolla Cove is a hangout for hundreds of Sea Lions & Seals. They like to nap in the sun on the rocks next to the ocean, and it’s so cool that you can get that close to such a unique group of animals!
4) Beautiful neighborhoods & plant life! If you aren’t aware, San Diego has the most perfect weather. It’s almost always 75 degree’s, and so every type of plant THRIVES.
Where should you stay in La Jolla?
Jason found the best Airbnb in La Jolla Village. It’s a 1920’s beach hut that has been renovated and modernized with 9+ skylights, a modern kitchen & bathroom, and an incredible view of the ocean! It was so cute and cozy and gives all of the beach cottage feels :)
what to pack for San Diego, CA
San Diego has literally the best weather pretty much year round. We went in October and it was a high of 75 degrees during the day and got down to around 65 degrees at night/early morning. I would recommend packing tanks or short sleeved tops, and bringing some light layers like a cardigan or sweatshirt! You probably wont need a heavy jacket or coat unless your visiting in the winter. Bring some sandals for walking along the beach, and a swimsuit just in case you’re there for one of the warmer days. The ocean is quite chilly, but it’s refreshing during a hotter day! Pack both jeans and shorts too - you’ll be comfy in both!
My Favorite Outfits From The Week!
My Favorite Places We Ate!
Coffee: Better Buzz, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Dark Horse Coffee Roasters, James Coffee
Burritos/Tacos: El Indio, Roberto’s, Don Tommy, The Taco Stand, Bird Rock, Cafe Coyote
Additional places we ate: Juniper & Ivy, Parakeet Cafe, Marisi, Sidecar Doughnuts, Isola Pizza Bar
My Favorite Things We Did!
Simply Being by the water
I think being by the ocean was the best part of our trip to San Diego! Our Airbnb was basically right on the water, so we spent every morning reading or running by the ocean, and also every night watching the sunset. It feels kinda obvious but the perfect weather and the ocean are the best things about visiting San Diego :)
2. The San Diego ZOO - is the san diego zoo worth the price?
Okay I thought this too… $65 for one adult ticket into a zoo? Sounds steep (in my opinion. Although truthfully I havent been to a zoo as an adult so maybe this isn’t far off from most zoos lol). The San Diego Zoo isn’t your average zoo. This thing is HUGE & incredibly laid out with tons of different exhibits and lots of fun things besides just seeing animals for kids to do. Even though we don’t have kids we LOVED every moment at the zoo. We literally spent all day there & saw all there was to see. We took the double decker bus ride (35 mins round trip) to see the full layout of the zoo and to see where we wanted to start. It really is a large zoo, so I would highly recommend doing this first & grading a map or downloading their app so you can see when they do presentations too! We walked every inch of that zoo and by the end of it our legs were so tire, so bring sneakers. We ended our time at the zoo on the Skyfari which takes you back near the zoo entrance. I would highly recommend seeing the San Diego Zoo! It really is worth the price of admission, and it’s something fun to do all day :)
3. Eating of course!
This kind of goes without saying, but eating our way through a new city is how we like to travel lol. You could probably tell from my vlog and instagram that we really enjoyed trying out new resultants. San Diego is the spot for all things authentic Mexican food! We were in heaven trying all of the tacos and burritos it had to offer & we didn’t even scratch the surface. There are truly endless places, and all of them look so good! I wish we were there longer because I would have loved to have tried some more spots.
4. The Seals & Sea Lions!
Maybe it’s just because we don’t have them in Nashville (lol), but I really enjoyed walking to go see the seals & sea lions! They were right by our Airbnb, so I was able to spot them just about every time we walked along the water. They are actually really used to humans and don’t mind being near people. You’ll find them sunbathing on the warm rocks during the day! They don’t smell the best, so you probably wont linger looking at them for long but they are cute nonetheless. You might even see a couple of seal pups in the group!
Honestly they’re just really entertaining to watch :)
5. Thrifitng/antiquing & Shopping in San Diego
The area has some really great thrift/antique shops - especially Little Italy! I would recommend going there if you’re looking for great shopping (outside of your usual name brand stores)
La Jolla has some really nice stores like Lululemon, Ralph Lauren, Benefit Cosmetics,etc. The area also has some designer consignment shops as well!
