There’s something you need to know about San Diego: visit and you’ll want to move; move and you’ll never want to leave. It’s a tough choice to make, but we think it’s worth it for the endless 75 degree and sunny days. Here’s our list of the top 10 things you must do while enjoying the beautiful weather, beaches, and people on the best coast.

Balboa Park

Culture, science, and nature collide right in the middle of the city in the 1,200 acres of Balboa Park, featuring hiking trails, fountains, performing arts venues, lovely gardens, and more than 16 museums. It’s a great place to walk around on a date!

San Diego Zoo

If you like zoos, you’ll love the San Diego zoo and its large, open enclosures. No animals smashed in tiny cages here! The 3,700 animals (of more than 650 species and subspecies) are living their best life. Nestled in Balboa Park, this is one of the best zoos in the country, if not the world. Take the whole day to stroll around the 99 acre property–and be sure to sign up for one of the safaris!

SeaWorld

Sure, we all saw ‘Blackfish,’ but SeaWorld swears that wasn’t an accurate representation of killer whales in captivity. There’s a lot more to the theme park than Shamu (RIP). There’s also a water park, rides, aquatic animal encounters, and really cool shows. Electric Ocean in summer of 2018 features USBA world freestyle Jet Ski champion Mark Gomez doing flips on his lit up stand up jet ski. There’s also a show with trained cats! Trained cats! How did they do that? If you have kids, it’s a great spot to check out.

Gaslamp Quarter

Rooftop pool party, anyone? The Gaslamp is the “premier entertainment district of the West Coast”. Its sixteen and a half historical blocks are packed with entertainment and nightlife in the heart of downtown. This is the place to get a great meal, dance the night away, and/or sing your lungs out to “Sweet Caroline” at the dueling piano bar, The Shout! House.

Pacific Beach

Known as PB by the locals, Pacific Beach is a great ‘hood for everything from surfing to day drinking. The perfect pub crawl includes a stop at PB Cantina, a craft brew on the roof of Pacific Beach AleHouse, and a vodka Red Bull slushie from PB Shore Club. Party all night? Get a little hair of the dog at The Silver Fox Lounge, the dive bar that opens at 6am, with an early morning happy hour until 10am.

Mission Beach

Spanning nearly two miles of oceanfront, Mission Beach is a community built on a sandbar between the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay. Take a rickety ride on the Giant Dipper, the historical wooden roller coaster in Belmont Park, a small amusement park in Mission Beach.

La Jolla

La Jolla, which means “the jewel,” is the ritzy, hilly seaside area of San Diego (read: a great place to meet a spouse). Head to La Jolla Cove to see sea lions sunning themselves on the beach. You can even swim and snorkel with them in the cove.

Coronado Island

Take the ferry from downtown, or drive over the giant bridge to Coronado Island. The island itself is fun to explore, but the iconic, 125-year-old Hotel Del Coronado is the main attraction. The grand 1888 Victorian property is a stupendous place for a beachfront cocktail at sunset and makes the perfect backdrop for some envy-inducing Instagram selfies.

Surfing

Surfing is a lot harder than it looks. It requires a ton of upper body strength. But, you gotta at least try to hang ten–we’re pretty sure they won’t let you out of San Diego unless you do. Hit up Ocean Beach and get a hands-on class from a local instructor. Don’t worry, they’re not going to make fun of you.

Sunset Cliffs Natural Park

Speaking of sunsets, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is the next stop on our tour. This 68-acre regional park extends 1.5 miles along the Point Loma peninsula’s western shoreline in Ocean Beach. Go for the expansive ocean views, cliffs and caves, and cool intertidal area…and obviously the sunsets! On the right day you can see even see dolphins or whales. Could this city be any more amazing?

Far from a sleepy beach town, San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the US and second-largest in California. Which means there is no shortage of fun to be had. So go explore!

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