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Condé Nast Traveler picks
 Best of San Diego
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Hugging the California coast just above the Mexican border, San Diego has a gentle climate, excellent natural resources, and an endless, beautiful coastline. And yet America's seventh-largest city—overshadowed by its Golden State cousins Los Angeles and San Francisco—has never quite gotten the respect it deserves. The locals seem to be okay with that, content with their low-key lifestyle, active sunny days, and skyrocketing real estate. And looking out at the Pacific, it's clear why. On a clear day—which is to say most of the year in San Diego—you can pick a spot anywhere along the coast, turn away from the inland sprawl, and see for yourself what the allure of Southern California is all about.
Attractions & Activities San Diego County covers more than 4,000 square miles—the size of Los Angeles County with less than a third of the population. While there is a trolley and bus system, because of San Diego's size and the distances between sights, most visitors do as the locals do and drive. The 1,200-acre Balboa Park, on a slope a few minutes' drive east of downtown, is an admirable urban oasis, a landscaped expanse that's home to some of the city's prime attractions. Built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the park centers on El Prado, a long promenade lined with some of San Diego's top cultural attractions. These include the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, with the very first IMAX theater (619-238-1233; rhfleet.org); the Old Globe, a highly respected regional theater known for its Summer Shakespeare Festival (619-234-5623; theoldglobe.org); and the San Diego Zoo, widely regarded as one of the best in the country (619-231-1515; sandiegozoo.org). The Gaslamp Quarter, in downtown and not far from the waterfront, was once the Stingaree red-light district, home to Chinese opium dens, some 120 whorehouses, and the lawman Wyatt Earp. More than a century later, its 16 formerly squalid square blocks of Victoriana are freshly scrubbed and filled with jolly bars and restaurants as well as trendy shops. During baseball season, Padres fans swell the streets before, during, and after games at nearby PETCO Park. If it weren't for the banners with images of men tossing pizza dough in the air, it would be easy to miss the Italian connection in Little Italy, an area around India Street. San Diego was once America's tuna fishing capital. Many of the fishermen on the seiners at the wharf were of Italian origin, and this part of downtown was their home. But tuna peaked and faded after the 1950s, and much of what was left of the local character moved out with those seeking work. Like the rest of downtown San Diego, Little Italy has come back to life in the last decade or so, with modern condo buildings, design stores, and advertising agencies moving into the semi-industrial loft spaces. Old-timers still play bocci in Amici Park, where there's a tribute to the glories of marinara sauce: a statue of a table with a red-checked tablecloth topped by a plate of steel ravioli. Once you've exhausted downtown, you can easily fill a pleasant day driving to Coronado, the seven-mile-long beach town attached to San Diego by bridge, and out to Point Loma to take in the views from the Cabrillo National Monument, the 160-acre nature preserve of rugged cliffs looming over the Pacific, marking the site where Europeans first landed in these parts. Moving south to north, you'll encounter quirky Ocean Beach; popular, pet-friendly Dog Beach; and Mission Beach, with its lovably cheesy vibe. A 20-minute drive north of downtown San Diego is La Jolla, an idyllic hamlet known for its sea caves, serene parklands, and expensive real estate. A center for scientific research beautifully perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific, La Jolla's Salk Institute, with its view of endless blue ocean framed by architect Louis Kahn's calm laboratories of concrete and teak, is both a monument to and a machine for encouraging learning and goodness (858-453-4100; salk.edu). Nearby, the Museum of Contemporary Art is at least as well known for the building—a low-slung affair redesigned by architect Robert Venturi—as for its modern masters (858-454-3541; mcasd.org). Lodging Two of the San Diego area's most esteemed properties are in its north, and both rank on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List of the very best places in the world to stay: Rancho Valencia Resort, a hacienda on 40 secluded acres in Rancho Mirage, and the Four Seasons Resort Aviara, a Spanish colonial low-rise on 200 acres overlooking the Pacific in Carlsbad. The W San Diego brings a bit of modern glitz to downtown—like all W properties, it's largely about style, in this case, a cool, contemporary design that marries marble and stainless steel to rich fabrics and maritime colors (canvas white, epaulette gold, navy blue), reflecting the seagoing heritage of the nearby waterfront—even if the rooftop bar, where you can wiggle your toes in genuine Pacific coast sand while quaffing a piña colada, is tragically just three stories up. Only a long ball away from PETCO Park, the Hotel Solamar, at ten stories, is considerably shorter than most of its downtown rivals, but its fresh sophistication gives it an edge. Awash in whites, blues, and browns, the 235 guest rooms have teakwood furnishings and abaca headboards whose design mimics coiled ropes on sailing vessels. Named for a local lifeguard tower on Pacific Beach, the sleek Tower 23 brings a swagger to the beach scene. Keeping with "PB" tradition, bare feet and board shorts are welcome, and guests can even wash off their surfboards in the reflecting pool. But this is no ordinary surf shack. The 44 spacious guest rooms have flat-screen TVs and Xbox entertainment systems, and the Wi-Fi access extends all the way to the high-tide mark. Suites have whirlpool tubs with underwater lighting and automatic aromatherapy release. The Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa sprawls along the bluffs north of La Jolla, setting a Spanish mission mood with red-tile roofs, faux adobe walls, and 210 rooms and suites set around arcaded courtyards. The interiors are equally inviting—an eye-pleasing array of apricot, avocado, and pumpkin hues set against Mexican reproduction antiques and Indonesian wicker. It would be difficult to improve upon the location and look of the 175-room Lodge at Torrey Pines. North of La Jolla on a bluff overlooking the Pacific, it adjoins the spectacularly scenic golf course of the same name and is Arts and Crafts nirvana: a California bungalow writ large, with a two-story timber-beam lobby, Stickley furniture, and reproduction William Morris wallpaper. Dining Jeff Jackson brings a light touch to the food at A. R. Valentien at the Lodge at Torrey Pines, practicing a kind of do-no-harm approach: Good ingredients are left to speak for themselves. Sweet glazed turnips with duck breast and leg confit, perfect little spring onions with local smoked sablefish—these aren't the kind of pyrotechnic pairings that would make for exciting TV on the Food Network, but they put on quite a show in their simplicity on the plate (11480 N. Torrey Pines Rd.; 858-777-6635; entrées, $28-$32). To the north, at the Pamplemousse Grille, the food speaks much more loudly and carries a big stick (of butter), but it can be quite good and the place is boisterously fun and has a voluminous wine list (514 Via de la Valle, Solana Beach; 858-792-9090; entrées, $25-$45). As an antidote to all the nouvelle California cuisine, get your sturdy traditionalist and truffled French fix at Tapenade, in La Jolla, where chef-owners Jean-Michel and Sylvie Diot deliver no-nonsense French classics such as oeufs brouillés aux truffes noires and civet de sanglier (7612 Fay Ave.; 858-551-7500; entrées, $26-$36). Deborah Scott revolutionized the San Diego dining scene with Kemo Sabe and Indigo Grill. Island Prime, her latest venture, a few minutes' drive from downtown on Harbor Island, proves that the celebrity chef still has the touch, and it combines a stunning waterfront setting—the spacious dining room hovers over San Diego Bay—with a hip and sometimes humorous take on surf-and-turf joints. The menu ranges from traditional filet mignon and old-school linguine and clams to offbeat signature Scott dishes such as nut-crusted Brie with honey-roasted garlic and jalapeño jelly (880 Harbor Island Dr.; 619-298-6802; entrées, $13–$48). It may actually be illegal to leave San Diego without eating at least one fish taco. Rubio's has bragging rights to pioneering the So-Cal favorite, but these are chain restaurants and they look like it (rubios.com; fish tacos, $2). For something a little more down-home—and scenic—try Las Olas, a casual open-air Mexican joint in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, just across the road from the breaking waves (2655 Hwy. 101; 760-942-1860; fish tacos, $4). Truth in Travel is the guiding principle for all content published in Condé Nast Traveler. Other travel publications often accept free travel and accommodations. Condé Nast Traveler does not. It is independent of the travel industry. The magazine always pays its way, and, as far as possible, its correspondents travel anonymously. By doing so, they experience the world—both the good and the bad—as other travelers do, and their reports and recommendations are fair, impartial, and authoritative.
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