Page 71 - 2024/2025 Travel Guide to CALIFORNIA

a narrow strip of road and sand running past Navy installations and pristine beaches to the south county. The red tur- rets atop the Victorian Hotel del Coronado peek above the city’s modest skyline. Coronado’s pleasures include shopping and dining on Orange Avenue, visiting the Coronado Museum of History, ogling the San Diego skyline from Tidelands Park
and teeing off at Coronado Municipal Golf Course.
Balboa Park
San Diego’s century-old cultural heart occupies 1,200 acres of hills and canyons just east of downtown. It hosts 18 museums and cultural institutions and The Old Globe theater, winner of multiple
MUST
SEE,
DO
• MISSION BAY PARK With plenty of room for jogging, bicycling, boating, kite flying and countless other activities, this 4,235-acre aquatic and land park is centrally located along I-5 near the wildly popular communities of Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach. Some areas have fire rings, playgrounds or picnic areas, while others are best for watercraft and swimming. Cruise along Mission Bay Drive for an overview and keep an eye out for crowds, as boat races, charity runs and other events are common.
• sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/regional/ missionbay
• LA JOLLA This upscale Mediterranean-style community lives up to its name (“The Jewel” in Spanish), with a postcard-ready setting, white sands, turquoise waters, sea caves (including Sunny Jim Cave, California’s only known land-access sea cave) and the Underwater Park teeming with pinnipeds, rays, scuttling lobsters and countless fish. It’s not just another pretty face, though; it hosts the Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (reopened in April after an extensive renovation and expansion), Murals of La Jolla and the Birch Aquarium—while also offering the “Rodeo Drive of San Diego,” named for Prospect Street’s stellar shops, galleries and restaurants.
• lajollabythesea.com
• ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK There aren’t many places where you can drive from the beach to the mountains and on to the desert in less than a day. San Diego County encompasses all three, including California’s largest state park. Traffic reaches rush-hour proportions during the spring cactus bloom, when the vast brown explodes with color. The park is fascinating any time of year, as is the town of Borrego Springs.
• parks.ca.gov
• BALBOA PARK The country’s largest urban cultural park is a rambling landscape of museums, theaters, attractions, artists’ studios and gardens. The tiled California Tower, with its unobstructed 360-degree view of the park and city, has become a treasured landmark.
• balboapark.org
• CABRILLO NATIONAL MONUMENT High above the tip of Point Loma, this sprawling park commemorates Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and San Diego’s early history. It’s most popular for the panoramas of the boat-filled bay and sea, the mountains to the east and the hills of Tijuana to the south. It’s a great place to look for whales spouting offshore in winter.
• nps.gov/cabr/index.htm
DOWNTOWN VIEW FROM HARBOR ISLAND, SAN DIEGO, opposite; Coronado Bridge, above.
SPECIAL EVENTS 2024
GASLAMP QUARTER MARDI GRAS Feb. 9, 10 and 13, Downtown San Diego gaslampevent.com
COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL Mar. 29-31, Downtown San Diego comic-con.org
SAN DIEGO CREW CLASSIC ROWING REGATTA Apr. 5–7, Mission Bay crewclassic.org
FIESTA OLD TOWN CINCO DE MAYO May 3–5, Old Town San Diego oldtowncincodemayo.com
GATOR BY THE BAY May 9–12, Spanish Landing Park gatorbythebay.com
ROCK ’N’ ROLL MARATHON June 1–2, Central San Diego runrocknroll.com/san-diego
SAN DIEGO COUNTY FAIR June 12–July 7, Del Mar Fairgrounds sdfair.com
OB STREET FAIR & CHILI COOK-OFF June 22, Ocean Beach oceanbeachsandiego.com
BIG BAY BOOM FIREWORKS July 4, San Diego Bay bigbayboom.com
DEL MAR THOROUGHBRED CLUB HORSERACING July 20–Sept. 8, Oct. 31–Dec.1, Del Mar dmtc.com
STOCKZILLA CATFISH STOCK EVENT Sept. 14–15, Santee Lakes santeelakes.com/fishing- events
SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW Dec. 29, 2024–Jan. 1, 2025, Downtown San Diego sdautoshow.com
2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 69
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