We had the best time in San Diego during our California trip! Of all the destinations we visited, we spent the most time in San Diego, although we both agreed we could have used at least one more day because there is so much to do. Andrew had always wanted to go to San Diego, and I was eager to explore more of the city, especially since my previous visit with my parents only allowed for a quick day trip. We managed to check off so many things on our list, though there were still plenty of experiences we couldn’t fit in. We’ll definitely have to plan another trip there in the future! In this post, I’m sharing five things to do in San Diego based on our itinerary while we were there.

Little Italy

Our first stop when we arrived in San Diego was Little Italy. This neighborhood was recommended to us by a local, and by a friend who used to live in San Diego. Andrew and I are both Italian, so we loved this charming neighborhood filled with pizza restaurants, Italian fine dining, and more. We strolled through a residential street with the cutest and most colorful old houses, but what Andrew was most drawn to was the water. From the streets of Italy, there were amazing views of the ocean, and they were just calling his name. We decided to walk down until we found a street where we could access the marina, and I’m so glad we did. Andrew was as happy as a clam as you can see in the photo below. Afterwards we checked into our hotel downtown, and drove over to our dinner reservation at Cori in North Park.

North Park

After exploring Balboa Park, we headed back into the main area of the North Park neighborhood where all the shopping and dining is located. We checked out this adorable boutique Pigment, and then had our second cup of coffee and pastries at Lovesong Coffee. Afterwards, Andrew stayed there for a work meeting, and I explored more of the local boutiques in this area with Sage in his stroller. I’m highlighting more of the coffee shop and the boutiques below! One of the locals mentioned to me how this is really one of the only walkable neighborhoods in the city for shopping and dining. We really liked this neighborhood so I suggest you check it out if you like that sort of thing too.

Balboa Park

On the morning of our second day in San Diego, we visited Balboa Park after having breakfast at Communal Coffee in North Park, just minutes from Balboa Park. This was one of the spots I visited with my parents and sister when I was 6 months pregnant with Sage. I really loved the Spanish architecture of the buildings there, so I wanted to make sure I could bring Andrew there. He absolutely loved it too! We even took our own little hiking excursion in this area of the park that looked straight out of The Jungle Book. It was definitely off the beaten path. In fact I’m sure we weren’t supposed to be there at all, but it was Andrew’s favorite part of that day!

La Jolla

One of the places my parents had insisted we needed to visit during my first trip to San Diego with them was La Jolla. It was so beautiful there that day, and my sister ended up taking some maternity swimwear photos of me on the beach of this little cover there. I wanted to take Andrew, but I couldn’t remember where it was or if we could have accessed it at that time. It was still pretty even on an overcast morning, especially with the flowers, and we had so much fun showing Sage the seals! There were so many birds as well. We all enjoyed the wildlife there. This was a stop on our way to Malibu, after having had breakfast at Selva Coffee House.

Sunset Cliffs

During the evening of our second day in San Diego, we drove to Sunset Cliffs near Ocean Beach to check out Sunset Cliffs before our dinner reservation at Elvira. We actually had not originally planned on visiting this spot, we just managed to squeeze it into our itinerary. This was another spot our friend had recommended to us and I can see why, because the views of the ocean were stunning and the homes in this area were absolutely beautiful too. Sage had fallen asleep in the car on our way over, and managed to continue napping as we strapped him onto Andrew with a baby carrier, which he would never normally do. He was just so tired from all of our travels! It was so sweet. The drive up the coast to our restaurant in Ocean Beach was so pretty too.

XOXO