What should we do in San Diego over the 4th of July weekend?

June 28, 2008 10:02 PM

My girlfriend and I are visiting San Diego over the 4th of July weekend. What should we do and see? Are there any special 4th of July events we shouldn't miss? And what about good vegetarian restaurants?

We're staying in the Gaslight district, but we'll have a car so we'll be able to get around to other places if necessary.

posted by jacobm to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

I got great tips in this thread including several veggie restaurant and where-to-visit ideas.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:17 PM on June 28

If you're staying in the Gaslamp Quarter, you don't really need to bounce around much since there's so much to do there.

I'm guessing it'll be packed next weekend, but great fun anyway.

Walk up and down the streets in the Quarter. There are several cool cigar bars and a hookah bar called Fumari, if you're down for that sort of thing.

There are plenty of restaurants and stuff; check the LobsterMitten thread for that stuff.

You can walk down to the end and see the Convention Center which itself is wholly uninteresting, but provides for interesting views of the bay.

If you want to jump around a bit, you should definitely go see the Hotel Coronado and Coronado Island in general; it's gorgeous and a great beach.

SeaWorld is fun, and the San Diego Zoo is freaking sweet. I mean, they have PANDAS!

Oh, and this will sound weird but if you pass by the Courtyard Marriot in the Gaslamp, step inside and look at the lobby. It's a former bank, turned into a hotel, and VERY cool. (The conference rooms are in the former safe deposit vaults; there's a room in a suite that has a welded open vault door for the bathroom door, with a separate door in its place.)
posted by disillusioned at 12:45 AM on June 29

Small but very nice art museum, I think in Balboa Park, closeby the zoo et all. A nice collection in a nice setting.
posted by dancestoblue at 2:18 AM on June 29

Oh nice, I'm visiting a friend there the same weekend. Thanks for posting this thread! Don't know if you're into it like we are but we're going to the Star Trek exhibit at the aerospace museum.
posted by olinerd at 7:30 AM on June 29

On the 4th of July you should go to Ocean Beach, buy a bottle of tequila, get a burrito, and sit on the beach to watch the fireworks. Or, better, if you've saved your easter candy, eat that while watching the fireworks and drinking tequila.
posted by beerbajay at 10:45 AM on June 29

Just stay out of Pacific Beach. The place is a madhouse that weekend. Ocean Beach is a good suggestion though. :)
posted by natabat at 12:33 PM on June 29

If you have a car, you might enjoy Legoland. It's just a short ride north of S.D. (be aware obtrusive sound automatically plays on their site).
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 12:56 PM on June 29

When we were there we did one of the Hornblower 4th of July cruises. Wonderful meal and drinks and the view of the fireworks from the water was incredible.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 12:57 PM on June 29

Just a warning, alcohol is banned on San Diego beaches nowadays.
posted by zompus at 4:46 PM on June 29

Things to do:
I'd get out of the Gaslamp District, but I'm biased. (Third generation San Diegan, who foolishly moved away and is very jealous of your 4th of July fun.)

As you cross the bridge into Coronado, there's a small park called Tidelands down at the bottom. Great place to watch fireworks from. Likely to be crowded and parking on Coronado is going to be a pain. Sorry. However, the ferry landing is an equally good place to watch from.

I'd stay away from OB, PB and Imperial Beach, everyone else is going to be out, and if you're a tourist, enjoy the downtown areas.

Balboa Park is great, there's the Zoo, Spanish Village, Fleet Space Theater (IMAX) the Houses of Hospitality, Aerospace Museum, dancestoblue is thinking of the Timpkin Art Gallery (free), the Spreckles Pavilion will be doing a concert on Sunday afternoon.
posted by msamye at 9:30 PM on June 29

On the 4th of July you should go to Ocean Beach, buy a bottle of tequila, get a burrito, and sit on the beach to watch the fireworks. Or, better, if you've saved your easter candy, eat that while watching the fireworks and drinking tequila

Just a warning, alcohol is banned on San Diego beaches nowadays.

Yep. Doing as beerbayjay will get you at least a ticket.

There's a park on the embarcadero near Seaport Village, right near the Gaslamp, that juts out into the water and would provide almost the same fireworks view that any place in Coronado would have, but it'll probably also be crowded. But, it's in walking distance for you, and there's multiple ways to access the place, unlike Coronado, which is hellish on July 4th (I speak with the voice of experience here).

As far as vegetarian places, Rancho's is a Mexican restaurant with two locations, one in OB on Sunset Cliffs, the other in North Park around 30th and University. Both locations will be a bit of a schelp for you to get to, but their food is quite a contrast to the standard greasy Mexican food; their menu is full of vegan options. I don't know of many veggie options downtown, but since this is SoCal, most places will have a couple things on the menu that meet your needs. All the specialty restaurants I can think of are pretty far flung.
posted by LionIndex at 9:54 AM on June 30