There are a choose few locations offering winter solar that vacationers scope out yr after yr — California being one in every of them.
Whereas iconic cities comparable to San Francisco can get a bit nippy, Southern California boasts year-round sunshine, from the intense lights of Hollywood all the way in which right down to the border.
Simply to show I am not partial, journey consultants named my hometown California’s high sunny escape from the frigid temps that blanket a lot of mainland America.
That is proper — my hometown of San Diego is that this yr’s high winter getaway, according to Going (previously Scott’s Low cost Flights).
They usually’re proper!
Not solely are there vibrant shores awaiting to steal you away from shoveling your driveway, there is no scarcity of enjoyable within the solar relating to “America’s Best Metropolis”.
San Diego: Wintertime Is Finest To Keep away from Hordes Of Crowds
Individuals I meet who know I reside right here, however have by no means been right here, all the time make the belief San Diego lives as much as its “75 and sunny” vibes three hundred and sixty five days per yr.
Whereas no place is flawless, it is fairly shut, excluding a handful of oddball climate days intermixed. Heck, we even had a twister warning final week!
However, don’t be concerned — that is like seeing a unicorn on the San Diego Zoo.
The climate is actually blissful, and much more so when you could find your individual slice of paradise, which is an inconceivable process throughout late spring and particularly summer time.
Mission Seashore (as seen above), lined with carnival video games and curler coasters, virtually turns into off-limits to locals throughout “vacationer season” when Arizona and Nevada plated-vehicles invade our roadways.
As does La Jolla to see the ocean lions, as does Pacific Seashore to persuade your self you are still younger, and even what we San Diegans contemplate our tight-lipped secrets and techniques have slowly however absolutely turn out to be vacationers’ new go-to spots (ahem, Solana Beach).
However all that adjustments in winter. You possibly can rating entrance row parking mere steps from the seashore, and discover an open barstool at a seaside bar in a jiffy, which my new favourite is Miss B’s Coconut Club in aforementioned Mission Seashore, and naturally, get into the well-known San Diego Zoo with far fewer snot-nosed kiddos operating round like wild banshees.
Insider Tip: Regardless of opportune parking in winter, pay attention to San Diego’s newly issued downtown parking laws applied throughout occasions ($10 per hour?!).
Expertise Extra Tradition Than You Would possibly Count on
On condition that San Diego lies in LA’s gargantuan shadow, first-timers appear to assume San Diego is a small, coastal city.
In actuality, it is a full-fledged metropolis with quite a few charming aspects regardless of the place your pursuits lie.
Sure, some seashore communities ooze small-town attraction the place locals all appear to know one another, however San Diego is definitely one of many largest cities in America, and I all the time encourage guests to go outdoors their consolation zone past the Zoo, Mission Seashore, the Gaslamp Quarter, and another notable locale that is been endlessly regurgitated by guidebooks.
For instance, do not eat at Mission Seashore until it’s important to — it is a vacationer entice.
For an genuine meal, go to the Convoy district close to ever-popular La Jolla for San Diego’s model of Chinatown. Enterprise to the outskirts of downtown to Little Italy and seize a Soppressata sandwich at Mona Lisa’s deli, or my new favourite espresso spot, Twive, a hidden stand on the far north finish that feels and tastes straight out of Italy.
Or if you’d like the most effective seafood on the town, hit up Mitch’s, and I promise the one disappointment is that it is busy year-round.
For a portal to a previous period, when you do go to the Zoo, you are already steps away from the guts of Balboa Park, which appears to be like straight out of Previous World Mexico with its ornate Spanish Colonial structure and tiled fountains.
It is actually mesmerizing, regardless of what number of instances I go to — and I have been coming right here for 10 years.
New Flights & Airport Makeover: Extra Methods To Get Right here Than Ever
Giving credence to folks’s misperception of San Diego’s small city vibes, they’re proper about it feeling that manner since San Diego Worldwide Airport solely has one runway.
Terminal 1 was a time capsule up till its current glow-up, and I am completely satisfied to report it is now open and higher than it is ever been with fashionable facilities and higher site visitors stream to make sure you make your flight.
What’s much more thrilling is San Diego now has 2 airports. Sure, you learn that proper…
35 minutes north of downtown lies the underrated seashore metropolis of Carlsbad, which simply final yr welcomed American Airways as its first industrial suitor in years.
It has been so successful that United is now following swimsuit, however vacationers must wait till March 2026.
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