Traveling with Kids: What to Do in San Diego, California
Plan the perfect San Diego family vacation with these kid-friendly attractions, beaches, and budget tips for visiting San Diego with kids.
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It’s spring break time! For a lot of families that means planning a family vacation, preferrably to somewhere warm and sunny.
One destination that has been a roaring success for our family multiple times is San Diego, California.
Why San Diego is a Great Vacation Destination for Families
Listen, I’m a California-born girl (I was raised in the Central Valley), and after a long winter in Utah, I need all the warm weather I can get. San Diego’s temperatures are pretty mild year-round, so it’s a safe bet no matter when you’re traveling.
It also has lots of family-friendly activities for all ages and stages… more than you’ll ever be able to fit into a week-long vacation. Combine a couple of big, bucket-list attractions with lots of of simple, low-cost fun (aka – beach days!) and you have a winner of a trip!
In this guide, you’ll find:
- A great place to stay with kids in San Diego
- The best attractions for families
- Free and budget-friendly activities
- Helpful planning tips for visiting with kids
Where to Stay in San Diego with Kids
Where to stay obviously depends on your budget and your priorities, and we’ve stayed in several different places over the years. Usually we opt to stay in Mission Valley near Old Town because it’s centrally located and relatively affordable. For our most recent trip, we stayed at the Hilton Homewood Suites and it worked out perfectly for our family.
Why we loved Hilton Homewood Suites:
The suites are great for families.
They offer one-bedroom suites that can fit up to six people, which made a big difference for us. Everyone had a little more space to spread out instead of feeling crammed into one room.
The kitchenette was super convenient.
Having a small kitchen made it easy to cook a simple dinner (a frozen Costco meal I brought in a cooler from home) our first night and keep snacks, breakfast items, and leftovers in the fridge throughout the trip.
The pool was simple but perfect for kids.
It wasn’t huge or fancy, but it was clean and the kids had a great time swimming and winding down there in the evenings.
The courtyard was a fun surprise.
There’s a really nice central courtyard with oversized games like giant chess and giant Jenga, which my kids loved playing in the mornings after breakfast.
The free breakfast was a big win.
Hotel free breakfasts are often iffy, but this one was genuinely good. They had hot options like waffles, French toast, oatmeal, eggs, and bacon, as well as fruit, juices, cereal, and pastries (which my kids were especially obsessed with). It was a great way to start the day before heading out to explore.
Weeknight dinner is a nice bonus.
On weeknights, they also offer a free light dinner in the same space as breakfast is served. We didn’t use it every night, and the options were somewhat hit and miss, but I loved that I could go make myself a salad in the evenings (since it’s often harder to eat healthy, fresh food on vacation). The kids, on the other hand, loved the french fries!
For our family, this hotel struck a really nice balance between comfort, location, and affordability. I would absolutely stay there again.
(P.S. – This is not sponsored in anyway by Hilton. It was just a great experience I wanted to share.)
Other areas to consider staying:
- La Jolla: Close to tide pools and our favorite beaches. A little more upscale and expensive.
- Mission Bay: Calm waters great for young swimmers, lots of family resorts and bike rentals.
- Carlsbad: Ideal if you plan to spend a lot of time at LEGOLAND. Quieter and often more affordable than central San Diego if you’re not interested in other attractions in San Diego proper.
Top Things to Do in San Diego with Kids
There is so much to do in San Diego! Here are some of the can’t-miss things to do in San Diego with kids that are absolutely worth adding to your itinerary.
Big Ticket Attractions in San Diego
Visit the San Diego Zoo
If you only plan one major attraction, make it the San Diego Zoo. Before our recent trip, I hadn’t been there since I was a little girl, and it’s one of the most famous zoos in the world!
The zoo is huge, and very hilly, so be prepared for a full day of exploring (and a good leg workout), but it’s absolutely worth the effort.
We started the day by taking the free 35-minute bus tour around the park, and I highly recommend it. It gave us a good overview of where things were in the zoo, allowed us to see a bunch of animals without having to walk, and helped us get a feel for which areas we wanted to go back and visit later. (Tip: Sit on the right side of the bus for the best view.)
You’ll never be able to see everything in one day, so pick your priorities and enjoy whatever you can. For us, the highlights included:
- Seeing all the baby animals, and there were a lot! koalas, baboons, orangutans…so cute!
- Sitting in the cool, shaded hippo viewing area.
- Watching a rhino run!
- Learning about aardvarks during a keeper talk.
- Being amazed by all the different, unique birds in the aviary area.
- Seeing pandas in person for the first time (although they weren’t active at all)
- Watching the bird show (another good opportunity to sit down).
Make sure to download the zoo’s app before you go. It makes it much easier to navigate the winding pathways and find your way to the specific animals you want to see.
Spend a Day at LEGOLAND
If you have kids who love LEGO (and honestly, whose kids don’t?), a day at LEGOLAND California Resort in Carlsbad is guaranteed to be a hit.
This theme park is especially perfect for younger kids and elementary-age children. We’ve gone twice now, and our boys loved it both times. The first time, our kids were ages 6, 3, and 8 months. This last time, our boys were 12, 10, and 7. My twelve-year-old still really enjoyed the park, but I think he’s on the upper end of the target age-range.
Some of our favorite things to do:
- The Driving School, where kids drive their own little cars has been a favorite ride both times
- Emmet’s Flying Adventure Ride. This was everyone’s top favorite ride of the day! Keep in mind, you have to be 40″ tall, so be sure to use rider swap if you have little ones.
- LEGO Ferrari Build & Race. Kids can build their own LEGO cars and race them down a timed track against other people. I was amazed at how long my kids wanted to stay here.
- Miniland USA, where entire cities are built out of LEGO, is fun to wander around (even if some of it is a little dated).
- Hideaways is a fabulous, shady playground area near the back of the park. It’s a great spot to take a snack/lunch break (and buy the delicious apple fries at the stand nearby).
The water park is also really popular if you’re visiting during warmer months, but we haven’t done this.
Compared to a lot of other theme parks, LEGOLAND feels much more relaxed and manageable with kids. It’s not as busy (at least on weekdays when we’ve gone), lines aren’t too long, and you don’t feel like to have to rush all day to take it all in.
Spend a Day at SeaWorld
We didn’t do Sea World on our most recent trip, but we loved it when we visited it in the past. In fact, I wrote a full post about our experience at Sea World, including all the tips I learned from my friend, a local who has had season passes multiple times. This time we swapped Sea World for the zoo, since our kids hadn’t done that before.
Budget-Friendly Family Activties in San Diego
Explore Balboa Park
Even if you’re visiting the zoo, it’s worth setting aside a separate time to explore Balboa Park itself. It’s a massive park that is filled with museums, gardens, playgrounds, and really amazing Spanish-style architecture. It’s the kind of place where you can easily spend several hours wandering and discovering things.
When we visited on a Sunday afternoon, there happened to be an organ concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavillion, so we sat and listened for ten minutes or so, which was so fun. It’s apparently the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world. I love discovering unplanned gems like that on vacations!
Note: There is lots of parking right by the organ pavillion, too, which is helpful.
As we wandered through the park, here were some of the other FREE highlights we enjoyed:
- Palm Canyon Trail: Be sure to stop and look at the big banyan tree on this short trail.
- Alcazar Garden: We walked through this formal garden on our way to the botanical building.
- Botanical Building and Lily Pond: The building itself is gorgeous (see the picture above), so even if you’re not into plants, it’s worth a look.
- Timken Museum of Art: Small, but a fun brief stop to expose our kids to some fine art, including an original Rembrandt!
- Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden (and nearby desert garden)
Explore Old Town San Diego
Old Town San Diego has a really fun, historic vibe and it’s a great place to grab dinner one evening at one of the many Mexican restaurants in the area.
We also like visiting the Mormon Battalion Museum, where you can take a free interactive video tour about these soldiers and their contributions to the settlement of the American West. My kids have loved it both times we’ve gone. They get to pan for (fool’s) gold, learn about brick-making, play music using spoons, and dress up like a soldier. Free, fun, and air-conditioned!
Next time, I’d also like to spend some time exploring the historic buildings Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Spend a Day (or Several) at the Beach
There are lots of great beaches in San Diego. Here are some of our favorites, recommended to me by my childhood best friend, who lives in San Diego:
- La Jolla tide pools: Check the tide chart, and go at low tide to search for all kinds of fun little critters like hermit crabs and anemones. There are also great paths to walk along the beach. It’s a little cliffy, so hold on to little ones’ hands.
- Children’s Pool: It’s a great spot to see seals, which have basically taken over this beach.
- La Jolla Shores: Just a few minutes away from the tide pools and children’s pool, this is a great beach with lots of parking that is great for spending the day playing in the sand.
- Coronado Beach: It’s a bit of drive to get out there, but it’s a huge, pristine, soft beach with gentle waves. Keep in mind that afternoons can get really windy out here, so bring a sweatshirt in case you get chilly. Bonus: Take a walk (or drive) past the famous Hotel Coronado.
Planning Your San Diego Itinerary
I used to be the kind of person who tried to squeeze in as much as possible into a vacation. I mean, if we’re going to spend a bunch of time and money to travel somewhere, I wanted to see everything!
But, as I’ve traveled more with my family, I’ve realized that doing more isn’t always better and often leads to grumpy, burned-out travelers. Now, I make an effort to balance busy adventure days with slower-paced relaxing days, and our trips have become so much more enjoyable because of it!
Possible 5 Day San Diego Itinerary for Families
Day 1: San Diego Zoo + Balboa Park (or save Balboa park for another day when you have extra time)
Day 2: Beach day in La Jolla: tide pools, Children’s Pool and Ja Jolla Shores
Day 3: LEGOLAND
Day 4: Coronado Beach + dinner in Old Town
Day 5: Torrey Pines hike or SeaWorld
This itinerary strategically starts with one of your most strenuous days (the zoo) when everyone will likely have more energy. I like to put a relaxing beach day in between each of our busy adventure days to give everyone a chance to recover (and sleep in!). Beach days also leave lots of time for swimming in the hotel pool and watching movies in the hotel room at night. We introduced our kids to the entire original Star Wars trilogy on this trip, and it was a great way to wind down after busy days.
I really wanted to explore Torrey Pines on this trip, but it just didn’t quite happen. That’s okay, though. It’s always nice to have something to look forward to for future trips!
A Few Final Tips for Visiting San Diego with Kids
1. Plan one “big” activity per day. Theme parks and the zoo are full-day experiences.
2. Start early. Crowds are usually smaller in the mornings, parking is easier, and you maximize your options when you start early. If you’re loving life, can stay all day and explore. Done early? Great, head back to the hotel for a swim and rest.
3. Build in beach days. Beach time is free, relaxing, and one of the highlights of the trip. These collapsible beach toys are the the best for travel. The shovels are strong, the buckets fold flat, and they come in a handy mesh bag. Highly recommend!
4. Pack layers. Even warm days can be cool near the ocean, especially if it’s cloudy in the morning, or windy in the afternoon.
That’s it! You’re all set for an amazing family vacation in San Diego.
Happy travels!
