{"id":17657,"date":"2013-07-25T04:45:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T04:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/?p=17657"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:43:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:43:16","slug":"beach-101-in-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/beach-101-in-san-diego\/","title":{"rendered":"Beach 101 in San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m beach-obsessed. I live for sand in my toes, salt in my hair, and sea in my midst – a world where lifeguards are rock stars and surfers are celebs (cue the\u00a0Baywatch<\/em> theme song). On the flip side, I also love a good city scene, which is why <\/span>San Diego<\/span>\u2019s<\/span><\/a> easy, breezy beach life, splashed in cosmopolitan cues, reaches a high in my tide chart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to look very far to find a swath of sand in San Diego. If the shore beckons, simply follow the throngs of cars with surfboards strapped to the roof. Doing so, I get distracted. It’s 10:24 a.m. and I haven’t eaten, so I swoop into\u00a0Bird Rock Coffee Roasters<\/a> in La Jolla, an upscale coastal community in San Diego\u2019s northern city limits, where corporate types wear wetsuits in the a.m. and business suits in the p.m. Teeming with surfers sporting still-wet hair topped in half-on beanies, I order a coffee and a cookie – breakfast of champions – savoring the scene from a wooden bench running the length of the storefront.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wearing my bathing suit under my clothes, I’m ready to try the tides and conquer a corner – or two – of the city\u2019s 70+ miles of coastline. First stop: the nearby Palisades Park, a green space tumbling over California\u2019s iconic beach bluffs bordering North Pacific Beach. Spreading my blanket over the grass and cracking my book, I think of my friends who love the beach life, yet hate the sand – go figure. Best of both worlds at Palisades Park.
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Viewfinder Tip: Always carry a beach towel in San Diego<\/a>, you never know when you\u2019ll want to hit the shore.
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Since a coffee and cookie only go so far in the fuel department, I make up for my morning nutrition-fail at the\u00a0<\/span>Fig Tree Cafe<\/a>, and fill my stomach with a big-enough-for-two eggs benny accompanied by parmesan-truffle-arugula-roasted potatoes. Dining under the shade of a massive ficus tree, midbite I spot more evidence of beach life, this time in the form of bathing suit-clad sun seekers riding cruiser bikes to the seaside. Check please!<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again I follow like a not-so-stealthy beach bum searching for the nearest break. I find it at Pacific Beach. Perched above lifeguard tower 25, all I can see is sand and sea. At that moment, 30 Pelicans do a fly-over in a perfect linear formation – the universe <\/span>must<\/em> be welcoming me to my muse. Walking down the wooden, sun-bleached steps to the hot sand, I spend the afternoon basking in the ocean breeze, rising only to spy on surfers – I mean sip water!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pacific Beach<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Beach buffs of the world: stay at Pacific Beach. Lined with lifeguard stations you wish you could call home, and a host of San Diego hotels<\/a>, this buzzy beach spot is bathed in local flavor. If you’re searching for coastal cool, check into\u00a0Tower23 Hotel<\/a>, the oceanfront\u2019s chicest shack, encased in glass and gallery whites. A stroll away, the\u00a0Pacific View Inn’s<\/a>\u00a0throwback exterior and spruced-up interior is a little lighter on the wallet and includes breakfast and WiFi.
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So much sand, so little time; the beach-capades must go on! I stop in for $1.50 fish tacos from <\/span>Marisco\u2019s German<\/a> taco truck (one of the city\u2019s top-rated) while it\u2019s still light outside, and venture to Coronado Beach for power hour – sunset! I plug the meter with $0.25, thinking I\u2019ll get six minutes of time, but then an hour pops up! I\u2019ll take a $0.25 sunset any day, thanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Coronado Beach<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Watching the sun fade into oblivion from Coronado’s white ribbon shoreline, swimmers and surfers catch the last length of light. Lost in the moment, I find myself humming the\u00a0Baywatch<\/em> song – SO embarrassing! – while running down the beach in slow motion. Oh my, are you as beach-obsessed as I am?<\/span><\/p>\n

What seaside towns do you visit in search of the easy, breezy beach life?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding San Diego's sand-soaked spots<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1813,1808,1782,1777,1774,1880,1843,1818,1776],"tags":[35,33,45],"authors":[2232],"class_list":["post-17657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach","category-california","category-destinations","category-family","category-occasions-and-seasons","category-san-diego","category-solo","category-summer","category-type-of-vacation","tag-coffee","tag-couples","tag-surfing","authors-trip-styler","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeach 101 in San Diego | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/beach-101-in-san-diego\/\" 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