San Diego: A guide to vacation rentals

San Diego is served by San Diego International Airport, a busy airport located just north of the city’s downtown. Most flights to and from the airport are domestic, but you can fly nonstop from San Diego to Canada, Japan, Mexico, and parts of western Europe. Heads up: as you land and take off, you’ll be thrillingly close to the downtown’s skyscrapers because of the city’s layout.

The Amtrak Intercity and COASTER commuter trains both make it easy to get to San Diego from other parts of California as far north as Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

Within the city, there are networks of bus lines and trolley lines that can take you to almost any neighborhood you want to visit. Downtown San Diego is highly walkable, but if you’re venturing farther out and don’t want to use public transportation, you’ll want to drive a rental car, take a taxi, or use a rideshare service.

Biking in San Diego is also lovely thanks to its varied terrain, excellent climate, gorgeous ocean views, and top-notch people watching.

Balboa Park was built for the 1915 Panama California Exhibition, and its extraordinary Spanish-style buildings remain largely unchanged. The vast, 1,400-acre grounds include a range of exceptional sights: the celebrated San Diego Zoo, one of the best zoos in the country; the San Diego Museum of Art; the Museum of Natural History; the Museum of Man; botanical gardens; lily ponds; and more. You could easily spend multiple days exploring all of Balboa Park’s treasures.

Along San Diego’s waterfront, you can learn about the city’s impressive naval history at the USS Midway Museum, a decommissioned aircraft carrier with historic aircraft and exhibits galore. (You can even test your pilot skills in the museum’s flight simulator.)

San Diego’s Old Town is the site of the indigenous village that preceded European settlement, and it’s designed to bring visitors back in time to an earlier period in the city’s history, before California was part of the U.S.

San Diego’s waterfront Little Italy neighborhood is one of the city’s culinary hotspots. You can absolutely get great Italian food here. But the food scene has evolved to include a range of menus and atmospheres, from the casual to the elite. Outstanding Asian food can be found in Kearny Mesa, where unfussy restaurants serve up dishes from a range of regional cuisines. For some of the city’s best Mexican food, head to Barrio Logan, an artsy neighborhood with vibrant murals.

San Diego is famed for its great weather and lovely beaches. If you’re beach-bound, the only question is: which beach do you want to go to? Mission Beach is the perfect place to start. Its boardwalk is lively, and you can eat lunch with a view of the water.

If you’re interested in surfing, Del Mar is an excellent destination, although there are other beaches where surfing is popular too. If you miss the dog you left at home during your trip, Ocean Beach’s Dog Beach lets dogs off leash.

If you’re interested in getting above the city, Point Loma is stunning. You can see straight to Mexico if the weather cooperates.

While you’re in town, make sure to eat plenty of avocados. San Diego produces more avocados than anywhere else in the U.S.

But water isn’t plentiful in the city (true of much of California). San Diego imports 168 million gallons of water a day. That’s more than enough to circle the Earth if the water were put into bottles.

We have San Diego to thank for drive-through restaurants. The first one was opened here in the mid-twentieth century by the future founder of Jack in the Box.