This Stunning Beach City Is California’s Top Winter Getaway, According To Travel Experts

There are a choose few locations offering winter solar that vacationers scope out yr after yr — California being one among them.

Whereas iconic cities corresponding to San Francisco can get a bit nippy, Southern California boasts year-round sunshine, from the intense lights of Hollywood all the best way all the way down to the border.

Simply to show I am not partial, journey specialists named my hometown California’s prime 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 prime 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 isn’t any scarcity of enjoyable within the solar on the subject of “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 idea 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, except 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 yow will discover your personal slice of paradise, which is an unattainable process throughout late spring and particularly summer season.

Mission Seaside (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 Seaside 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 grow to be vacationers’ new go-to spots (ahem, Solana Beach).

However all that modifications in winter. You may rating entrance row parking mere steps from the seaside, 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 Seaside, and naturally, get into the well-known San Diego Zoo with far fewer snot-nosed kiddos working round like wild banshees.

Insider Tip: Regardless of opportune parking in winter, pay attention to San Diego’s newly issued downtown parking laws carried out throughout occasions ($10 per hour?!).

Expertise Extra Tradition Than You May Anticipate

Provided 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 irrespective of the place your pursuits lie.

Sure, some seaside communities ooze small-town appeal the place locals all appear to know one another, however San Diego is definitely one of many greatest cities in America, and I all the time encourage guests to go outdoors their consolation zone past the Zoo, Mission Seaside, the Gaslamp Quarter, and some other notable locale that is been endlessly regurgitated by guidebooks.

For instance, do not eat at Mission Seaside until it’s important to — it is a vacationer lure.

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 would like one of the best 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 straight out of Previous World Mexico with its ornate Spanish Colonial structure and tiled fountains.

It is really mesmerizing, irrespective 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 individuals’s misperception of San Diego’s small city vibes, they’re proper about it feeling that method since San Diego Worldwide Airport solely has one runway.

Terminal 1 was a time capsule up till its latest glow-up, and I am joyful to report it is now open and higher than it is ever been with fashionable facilities and higher visitors circulate 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 seaside metropolis of Carlsbad, which simply final yr welcomed American Airways as its first business suitor in years.

It has been so successful that United is now following go well with, however vacationers must wait till March 2026.

Sam Sears

Sam, our Lead Author & Journalist primarily based in San Diego has visited 36 international locations and written over 1000 articles with a deal with sharing his personal journey experiences and shining a light-weight on lesser-known gems.