4-Day San Diego Long-Weekend Itinerary

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Good old San Diego – where do I start?! We spent three nights in San Diego over a Labor Day weekend since we had an extra day off work to maximize our travels. We had been wanting to do a little San Diego getaway for a while and finally made that happen.

Living in California, or anywhere in the U.S. for that matter, we are lucky to have so many easy weekend getaway opportunities at our fingertips! So, if you are looking for a little San Diego itinerary inspiration, here are some suggestions you might find helpful based off our San Diego Weekend Itinerary.

A few notes about who this itinerary is good for:

• Those who are short on time and are staying primarily in the downtown area without a vehicle
• Travelers who are very food and beer/drink-focused

For more detailed reviews on the food and drinks we had, check out my previous post: A Weekend of Food and Drink in San Diego, CA

Day 1 – Arriving to San Diego

When we arrived at the San Diego airport, we made our way to the Uber/Lyft waiting area and hailed our Uber ride. Note: you’ll want to follow the signs that direct you to the “App-Enabled Rideshare Services” area. I just love having so many easy transportation options! You never have to worry about getting a ride anywhere and it’s very affordable.

We also just happened to get a holiday coupon from Uber as well, so our rides were discounted all weekend! It was much cheaper to Uber around the city than pay for a rental car and the exorbitant daily parking fees at the hotel.

Travel time to hotel: approximately 15 minutes.

Stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt

1 Market Pl, San Diego, CA 92101
https://manchester.grand.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

We had a pleasant stay with the Manchester Grand Hyatt right on the San Diego waterfront, which you can read more about in this post.

To sum it up, we chose the Grand Hyatt because of it’s location (waterfront), as well as it’s proximity to everything Downtown (i.e. less than a mile walking distance to restaurants, about a mile to Petco Park, right next to Seaport Village, etc.). We paid for an upgraded room so that we could check in early and leave our bags, and were happy to have a lovely view during our stay!

Favorite things about this hotel:

• Comfortable king beds
• Free Wi-Fi
• Excellent location
• Opportunity for awesome views in the upgraded rooms

Apps & Drinks at Puesto

789 W Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101
https://www.eatpuesto.com/

After we settled into our hotel, we wandered next door to Puesto for an appetizer and a few drinks before heading to our event for the day – the Tacos, Tequila & Beer Fest (because you totally need to pre-game before going to a beer fest right?).

We sipped on their Margarita of the Day, had some new and delicious Mexican IPAs, and chowed down on some crab guacamole.

A word to the budget-conscious – this place is not exactly easy on the wallet. My pro tip here is to come to Puesto either during Happy Hour or on Taco Tuesdays where you can get cheaper margaritas and discounted tacos! 

Favorite things from this visit Puesto (because yes, we went back there):

• Mexican IPAs on tap
• Guacamole was good (although you can save yourself some $$ and get it without the crab)

Tacos, Tequila & Beer Fest San Diego

What perfect timing that we were there when they were having the Tacos, Tequila & Beer Fest! Or so I thought…

We visited on probably one of the hottest ever in San Diego, which was unfortunate because we were outdoors in the direct sunlight for a couple of hours, drinking beer and tequila and becoming extremely dehydrated. There was absolutely nowhere to hide in the shade to shield yourself from that incessant sun beating down on you. To make matters worse, being right by the sea, you also have to contend with the humidity factor. My face actually melted off (okay, it was just my makeup, but that counts, right?).

But it wasn’t ALL that bad. In all seriousness, before we succumbed to our heat stroke, we did get to try some really great beers!

beer tasting

We found delicious beers by Novo Brazil, who make a fantastically hazy mango NE IPA. Another favorite brewery was the local Acoustic Ales. We didn’t get a chance to make it there on our trip to San Diego after the beer fest, but we really loved their delicious kettle sour called Strawberry Fields!

tequila & mezcal tasting

We also tried a few different tequilas, which I’m not sure was such a good idea to combine with beer at the same time! I typically don’t enjoy drinking liquor straight without a mixer, but it is nice when you are just doing a tasting so you can get the flavor of it without any type of cover up.

We also tried mezcal for the first time! If you’re wondering what the difference is between mezcal and tequila (since they are both made from the agave plant), tequila is only produced from the blue agave plant, whereas mezcal can be produced from as many as 30 different varieties. They have very distinct differences in taste, and while I prefer the taste of tequila over the mezcal that we tried, I would certainly like to try other brands to see what their flavor profiles are like.

Festival Info

• I don’t think this exact festival exists anymore, but here are a couple alternatives:
  • West Coast Taco & Beer Festival (September dates)
  • Taco & Tequila Music Festival
• Pro Tips: Bring a hat to shield you from the sun! Also be sure to drink plenty of water before, during, and after the event to stay hydrated.

Baseball at Petco Park

After a little nap after our tiring afternoon, we headed to Petco Park to catch a Padres game. We want to make a point to visit every ballpark in a new city we explore!

Petco Park is SO nice. We are used to going to the Coliseum in Oakland for our beloved A’s and Petco Park is premium. The Padres were playing their neighbors to the north, the LA Dodgers, and the stadium was packed with a sea of blue Dodgers fans!

We just paid for a general admission ticket which got us access to the park and the vendors, without actually purchasing a seat.

There are SO many vendors at the park selling all types of food, and they have a ton of places to try different local craft beers. Since we hadn’t eaten since our snack at Puesto earlier in the day, we decided that we’d grab a few items in the park for dinner.

I had a really good fish taco plate that came with a side of rice and black beans and some so-so nachos from a different vendor. I should really know better than to get ballpark nachos though…that cheese…yikes. Micah got a burrito from the same place I got the fish taco from but the fish taco was the clear winner.

Ballpark Info

Tickets: We waited in line and purchased tickets the day of (on a holiday weekend playing a big area rival) and we were able to get the GA tickets without any issues. You can also buy yours in advance here.

Price: Price varies depending on which game you’re planning on attending (and where you want to sit). It does look like GA tickets can start at $22.50 for standing room only.

After our self-guided tour of the ballpark, we were pretty spent. We walked back to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening!

Day 2 – Brunchin’ & Beer

Day two in San Diego was reserved for brewery hopping, which one of the main activities that drew us to San Diego in the first place. But first, sustenance was necessary.

Brunch at Barleymash

6916, 600 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
http://www.barleymash.com/menu/brunch/

I don’t know what it is about brunch, but I have become quite obsessed with this meal over the past couple of years. There are always more interesting options than your typical breakfast fare! Naturally, since we tend to not be the earliest of risers, we planned for a late brunch before we started our day in San Diego.

San Diego has so many different spots to indulge in this well-loved meal. It makes it extremely hard to choose where to go when you only have a few days. We actually wanted to go to a spot called Werewolf, but found the wait to be just a smidge longer than we were interested in. So, we walked around the corner to this place called Barleymash, right in the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter, and got our brunch on (with zero wait).

What we ate

• Veggie hash (for me) without the fried egg
• Pretzel benedict with braised short-ribs (for the husband)
• Make-your-own Bloody Mary bar – one for each of us (the benefits of not having to drive while on holiday). You can build your own skewer of fixings, and make that sucker as spicy as you want it!

Highlights

• The make-your-own Bloody Mary bar (as seen above)
• Their delicious bourbon brown-butter hollandaise sauce that gets slathered all over their hash and benedict dishes
• Portion sizes: they are huge! We definitely did not need that much food but it’s a good value for your money. I recommend trying to share dishes, especially if you can’t take food back to your hotel.

Brewery Hopping at Modern Times & Pizza Port

After we stuffed ourselves silly, we went brewery hopping to Modern Times Point Loma and then over to Pizza Port (via Uber of course).

For beer lovers, Modern Times definitely has game when it comes to their hazy IPA creations. If you’ve never had a hazy IPA before, I highly recommend giving your taste buds that pleasure! It’s like drinking a tall glass of juicy beer. The dankier, the better. One of my favorite Modern Times hazy IPAs at the time was Critical Band, which we were able to get at this tasting room.

Modern Times has two locations in San Diego, but we chose the Point Loma tap room due to it’s proximity to the Pizza Port location we were also visiting. Oh yeah, that and the Michael Jackson Post-It wall art. You have to see it for yourselves.

Modern Times Point Loma
3725 Greenwood St, San Diego, CA 92110
https://www.moderntimesbeer.com/locations/lomaland-fermentorium/

Pizza Port Brewing

A short Uber ride away, we made our way to Pizza Port Brewing. Pizza Port has been in my life since the early years of my craft beer drinking – most notably, the Swami’s IPA. Because I like to keep tabs on how many breweries we visit, I couldn’t pass up a stop here. It’s a casual joint that was pretty crowded when we got there, but we were fortunate to grab a bar seat to enjoy our beers and a tasty shrimp pizza within our own little bubble.

Pizza Port also has several locations within/outside the Greater San Diego Area. We went to the Ocean Beach location as it was the closest for us. The original location is in Solana Beach, which is a bit farther north.

Pizza Port Brewing – Ocean Beach
1956 Bacon St, San Diego, CA 92107
http://pizzaport.com/grub/

Shuck It! at The Oyster Bar

After our beer adventures, we met up with a couple of friends who made the drive down to San Diego to hang out with us for the evening. We walked around the Gaslamp Quarter in search of some good drinks and a spot for dinner and ended up finding The Oyster Bar SKC.

Sadly, this restaurant recently closed! You can still visit their Anaheim location, however.

They had this fun chalkboard wall there where you could write down your best oyster-related saying. Some of them were quite clever!

Favorites from The Oyster Bar SKC

• The Pan Roast dish (below) which is one of the most tastiest things ever – almost like a seafood stew or gumbo
• Their Moscow Mules!
• The décor, ambiance, and of course, the chalkboard wall

Not-so Favorites

• They had run out of oysters by the time we got there…an oyster bar that ran out of oysters…perplexing
• Crab cocktail: nothing fancy, just some cold crab legs and cocktail sauce

Maybe they will reopen someday in San Diego in the future! For now, if you really want to get your taste of the Pan Roast, venture up to their Anaheim location.

Day 3 – Exploring Balboa Park

On our third day in San Diego, we started off with another hearty brunch and then spent the rest of the day exploring the enormous Balboa Park. For dinner, we ended up back at Puesto since it was convenient to our hotel.

Brunch: Take Two – The Garage Kitchen & Bar

655 Fourth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
https://www.garagekitchenbar.com/menus/brunch/

Our second brunch on our long-weekend getaway to San Diego was at The Garage Kitchen & Bar. The hipster in me just can’t get enough of that brunch life!

What We Had

• Smoked salmon avocado toast – because #basicbitch
• Carnitas chilaquiles – for the Mr.
• Cheddar biscuit – yum!
• Bloody Marys – #drinkyourbrek

This was a cool spot. We had a little bit of a wait for a table, but we sat in the bar area for a bit enjoying our Bloody Marys. I really can’t complain about anything we had here!

Wandering Around Balboa Park

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the massive Balboa Park. If you’ve never been to Balboa Park, here are some facts:

Cost

Free! (other than specific museum or attraction entry fees of course). But you could spend hours upon hours walking the park without paying a dime. Just make sure you wear your comfy walking shoes because this place is so big! They do have several ticket packages for museum entry fees if you are interested on their website here.

Food & Drink

This place is so massive, that of course they would have plentiful options for food and drink! We stopped in at The Prado for a little cocktail before setting out to explore the park. They even gave us some complimentary hummus dip and crackers. I love free snacks!

More info on what’s available in the park can be found here.

Plan Ahead

I would definitely recommend checking out the list of activities and sights to see in the park before you go, especially if you are short on time. There’s no possible way to cover all the different places in one day! If there are some specific things you want to see, definitely map out your route.

Here’s a list of activities and attractions: https://balboapark.org/attractions-experiences/

balboa park highlights

Botanical Building: One attraction I really wanted to go in and explore was the Botanical Building, but it was closed the day we were there! I attribute that to us being there on Labor Day. This is definitely on my list of places to return to when we give San Diego another go! It was still beautiful on the outside though.

Beautiful Spanish Architecture: I really loved walking around looking at all the pretty Spanish buildings. It definitely gives you that old world feel and almost transports you to Europe as you wander by all the different buildings.

The Desert Garden: One of the other main places I wanted to see in the park was the Desert Garden. Call me crazy, but there’s just something about a good cactus that puts a smile on my face. This is a completely different garden than the Old Cactus Garden, which is in a different part of the park.

There was quite an array of cacti there and I really did love the contrast against each other with all the different textures and colors.

Spanish Village Art Center: This was one of those Instagram inspiration places I wanted to see because everything looked so colorful. The buildings in this area were actually built back in 1935, and the village is currently occupied by different artists and vendors. You can watch daily art demonstrations, and even visit an onsite glass blowing facility.

Museum of Man: We did not have any plans to visit museums this day but we ended up popping in there, mostly because they had the Cannibals exhibit at the time. To my delight, the first area we perused was the history of beer.

The Cannibals exhibit was more about the history of cannibalism. Not really sure what we were expecting to be honest? It was just alright, and we really didn’t spend a lot of time at that exhibit.

And this one just flat out made me laugh, which I’m sure was its intention.

All in all, the Museum of Man wasn’t really our thing, but we are not huge museum buffs to begin with.

I would definitely say my favorite part of Balboa Park was everything we saw while walking around freely (the Spanish architecture and the beautiful Botanical Building). I would love to go back and explore some of the gardens that we didn’t get a chance to see!

*Note that the San Diego Zoo is also located in Balboa Park. I had been once before years ago, but I made a decision sometime after that to never go to a zoo again. I prefer to see animals in the wild where nature intended them to be!

Back to Puesto for Dinner

Since we were really tired from walking around Balboa Park that afternoon, we decided we didn’t want to go far for our last dinner in San Diego. Puesto was just across the street from our hotel, and we really wanted to try their tacos, so the logical choice was to give it another go.

What We Had

• Tamarindo Shrimp Tacos: the shrimp were good, even though the tacos overall were pretty disappointing (I cover that in detail in my food-specific post)
• Taco Trio: Chicken, carnitas, and one very expensive lobster taco
• Tres Leches des Cafe Cake: Sinful. The best thing we had all weekend at Puesto!
• Margaritas: We got a bottle of margarita. It was around $40 or so but I think we got 4 drinks out of it, which was cheaper than if we had ordered four separate margaritas with our dinner.

My least favorite thing at Puesto were their really bland house-made tortillas. They really needed some salt for flavor. They were thick and fluffy though and didn’t fall apart when eating the tacos at least! Perhaps they were just having an off day?

Day 4 – U.S.S. Midway & Fish Tacos

On our last morning in the city, we skipped brunch (because tacos were happening for lunch that day) and walked over to the USS Midway Museum for a tour (which is actually a decommissioned naval aircraft carrier).

A Bit of History at the USS Midway

Before becoming a museum in 2004, the USS Midway had seen many different parts of the world, including the Arctic, Vietnam, Japan, the Arabian Gulf, and the Philippines, and now holds the title of “first navy ship museum to host 1 million visitors annually” as of 2012!

Self-Guided Ship Tour

I don’t really know how to recommend what to see here because there is a lot of ground to cover. We spent a few hours wandering around the ship and still did not see everything! With your ticket, you get a self-guided audio tour and a map of different things to see on the ship. Each stop has a number that you punch into your little handheld audio guide. Once you enter the number, it plays a recording on the history or facts about what you are looking at.

I really enjoyed seeing all the different planes – both older and newer on the flight deck, as well as the hangar deck inside the ship. The audio tour also guides you through different portions of the ship such as the mess hall, the brig where they held prisoners, a command center, bunks where all the crew slept (very tight spaces – not good for tall people!), pilot ready rooms, etc.

It was all really cool, and we enjoyed this museum much more than the Museum of Man in Balboa Park.

This is also a great spot for lovely views of the city!

Pertinent Info

• Cost: It was $20.00 for adults at the time we were there (but online ticket prices now show $31.00), which includes the self-guided audio tour. You can buy tickets online here before you go: https://www.midway.org/visit/buy-tickets/.
• Address: 910 N Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101
• Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily

And of course be sure to stop at the park next to the ship harbor where you can find the Unconditional Surrender statue.

Fish Tacos at Oscars

927 J St, San Diego, CA 92101
http://www.oscarsmexicanseafood.com/

Our last order of business in San Diego was to try some fish tacos! San Diego is one of those places that is known for their fish tacos, but it’s definitely hard to choose a spot or two for a short trip. Oscars kept popping up in my searches so I figured they must be pretty legit! Their original location is in Ocean Beach, but we went to the Downtown spot.

What We Ate

• Battered Fish Taco: The most affordable and simple taco.
• Smoked Fish Taco: One of their staples – and super delicious!
• Taco Especial: Smoked fish, shrimp & scallops all in one taco.
• Grilled Octopus Tacos: For the love of pulpo.

These tacos were definitely a good way to end our time in San Diego! I am sure you will not be disappointed with the tacos at any of the Oscars locations.

Goodbye San Diego!

After we finished up with our tacos, we headed down the street to The Oyster Bar SKC one last time so that Micah could get his oyster fix (since they had run out on our previous visit), and headed back to the hotel to grab our things.

We had our bags held at the hotel after we checked out so that we could explore a little more without having to worry about our luggage. The Manchester has a nice room across from the check-in area that is guarded by a staff member in order to keep your belongings nice and safe!

Itinerary Recap

Day 1

• Arrive in a.m. via San Diego Int’l Airport
• Uber to Hotel – The Manchester Grand Hyatt
• Check in early (we upgraded our room to be able to do this) – or leave bags with Porter
• Brunch/early lunch (we had appetizers and drinks at Puesto)
• Beer Festival in afternoon (alternatively – explore Downtown breweries)
• Baseball game at Petco Park (San Diego Padres) – Have dinner @ the ballpark

Day 2

• Brunch at Barleymash
• Brewery hopping at Modern Times & Pizza Port Ocean Beach
• Explore the Gaslamp Quarter
• Happy Hour and/or Dinner (we ate at The Oyster Bar SKC)

Day 3

• Brunch at The Garage Kitchen & Bar
• Explore Balboa Park for the Day: Museum of Man, Spanish Art Village, Desert Garden, Botanical Gardens
• Stop for a cocktail at The Prado (located inside Balboa Park)
• Happy Hour/Dinner (we ate at Puesto again!)

Day 4

• Breakfast/brunch (we skipped our morning meal this day)
• USS Midway Museum
• Lunch – fish/seafood tacos at Oscars Downtown
• Fly back home in the afternoon

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Hopefully this gave you some good ideas of things to add to your weekend trip to San Diego! We hope to go back again soon and have a more nature-oriented trip (i.e. explore some of the beaches and do some hiking). If you have any suggestions for things we could do on our next trip there, please let us know!

And don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel for vlogs of our trip to San Diego!

• San Diego Vlog Part 1: Beerfest & Baseball
• San Diego Vlog Part 2: Brunch & Brews
• San Diego Vlog Part 3: Balboa Park & the U.S.S. Midway

Also Read:

• A Weekend of Food and Drink in San Diego, CA 
• A Stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

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