Confirmations for flights and your San Diego hotel have both hit your inbox. That’s a relief, for sure. However, you still likely have some San Diego vacation decisions that need to be made before you depart.
The goal of this post is to address what you need to think about next. It’s for people who come to us after they’ve booked flights or a hotel or both. I have a lot to say and this list is based on the questions that people email in.
If You Don’t Yet Have Flights or Hotels
1. Protect Your Trip
My mantra for 2025 is that everyone needs to check their travel insurance coverage. This starts with your credit cards. And if you have coverage on your credit cards, make sure to use that credit card for relevant bookings.
However, you’ll notice that credit card coverage can be limited and that you might need to supplement it. If you have a non-refundable flight or hotel booking that you’d like to protect, the sooner you buy travel insurance after purchasing your trip, sometimes the cheaper it is.
While it seems unnecessary to purchase travel insurance if you have a flexible hotel cancelation, mother nature may have other plans. We had to get exceptions for a lot of people who were within their cancelation windows and some big hotels were surprisingly difficult to get this to happen.
- Hurricanes came fast and furious and we had to unwind a lot of hotel stays in the Caribbean. Bad weather can have a domino effect on the airlines.
- This week in San Diego was extremely foggy to where planes were diverted and could not land. Hotel stays were impacted.
- You or your kids might get sick and become unable to travel (this happens a lot).
- Life happens and you can’t travel.
2. Figure Out How You’ll Get Around San Diego
After arriving by car, train, or plane, consider whether you’ll rely on a rental car, black car services, or rideshare apps. People do all three, so which you choose depends on your itinerary and budget.
Most people rent cars. When factoring in cost, remember that most San Diego hotels charge for parking, which can be steep even at downtown budget hotels (street parking is almost never an alternative).
A few places offer free parking as part of the resort fee (Bahia Resort Hotel, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, and Four Seasons Aviara come to mind) but expect to pay between $25-70/night to park in a hotel.
About Public Transportation in San Diego
3. Plan Your Airport Transfer
This ties into the above, of course. Many hotels can arrange airport transportation for you. A black car service or Uber Black can pick you up at the curb at San Diego airport.
Black car services will usually give you a choice. They can park and come in to meet you at baggage claim. Or, they can wait in the cell phone parking lot. After you collect your bags, you’ll go to the curb and look at the green zone sign. Call and text them with the letter on the green zone sign.
Tip: If you’re flying American or Alaska like I do, the zones outside of your baggage claim are O or P.
4. Research What You’ll Put on Your Itinerary
I would first mock up a tentative to-do list. If you need ideas, we have a massive aggregation of things to do in San Diego based on budget, interest, and neighborhood to help you research.
Keep in mind that our county is about 70 miles long and a bit wider than that. There’s traffic sometimes so you’ll want to try to lump activities into the part of town you’ll be in rather than zig zag.
Don’t overschedule. Leave room to go with the flow. We are a relaxed town. You may not feel like leaving the beach.
The reason why I say tentative is because of #5 below.
See also: Top Family-Friendly San Diego Activities
5. Decide Whether You’ll Buy a Sightseeing Pass or Individual Tickets
There is absolutely NO NEED to pay gate pricing at our major San Diego attractions. You’ll need to crunch some numbers to decide whether to save more with a sightseeing pass or discount tickets to individual parks.
I work with vendors around town to provide exclusive savings on tickets but I really believe that how you save depends on what you want to do. There are three sightseeing passes to choose from (in my opinion):
- Go City San Diego
- San Diego CityPass (only makes sense if you’re going to LEGOLAND California and/or SeaWorld San Diego)
- Balboa Park Explorer Pass (for the Balboa Park museums only)
See also: Go City San Diego or San Diego CityPASS — Which to Choose
If you do go with a sightseeing pass, this may alter your itinerary a little because you may choose to see included attractions that you might not have otherwise considered.
See also: Our List of San Diego Tickets and Discounts
6. Make Reservations
A handful of attractions require timed tickets, like LEGOLAND California. If you purchased tickets through us make sure you have a reservation. If you bought through LEGOLAND, then you probably have a date specific tickets.
The other reservations I’d make are for some of our higher end restaurants like the ones with Michelin stars such as Addison. Or, anything that’s waterfront like the Marine Room.
You’ll also need reservations for sightseeing tours like whale watching or harbour cruises.
7. Plan For What You’ll Need to Bring
I’ve written a guide about what to pack for San Diego. The most important tip is always to pack layers and sun protection. You can get sunburned in the winter here, trust me.
Life is generally a lot of athlesiure unless you plan to go clubbing or to a nicer restaurant.
8. Review and Organize Your Travel Documents and Memberships
If you’re arriving from overseas, your passport needs to be valid for six months after your trip.
Another FAQ is about various travel programs you may or may not belong to that you might need logins or cards to access (that is if you’re not app savvy).
- Priority Pass: This gets you into the Aspire Lougne (always busy don’t plan on it) and Chase Sapphire Lounge
- CLEAR: We do have CLEAR in Terminal 2. I’m a member and love it. However, Terminal 2 has two “wings” for lack of a better way to put it. CLEAR is located over where you check in for Delta. If you fly American or Alaska you may want to just brave TSA Precheck to avoid a long walk to your gate.
- TSA Precheck: Yes, we have it in all terminals.
- American Express Lounge Access: Aspire Lounge
- American Airlines Admirals Club: Aspire Lounge
Aspire Lounge gives priority to Admirals Club members above AMEX so know that if it’s busy.
9. Download Helpful Apps
Here are some apps that can help make your stay easier. Search for them in your relevant app store.
- Uber or Lyft
- Waze: To find out what the real traffic situation is.
- Circuit: Some places like Pacific Beach, Downtown, Oceanside, National City, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, and Coronado run low cost Circuit shuttles that are really great.
- Pronto: This is a reloadable fare card for public transportation.
- San Diego Zoo and Safari Park both have apps
- SeaWorld San Diego
- LEGOLAND California
- Balboa Park
- Opentable for restaurant reservations
- Your hotel app: Hilton, Hyatt, Four Seasons (this is the best app)
- SpotHero: Disclaimer that I haven’t personally used it but people tell me it’s a great way to find parking for events and busy days near the beach and downtown. I’ve downloaded it and can see why it’s useful.
10. Double or Triple Check Your Confirmations
I do get frantic emails from travelers sometimes who booked the wrong dates or didn’t realize their hotel was in Oceanside when they thought it was in downtown. Before you go, double check everything especially the location of the place you reserved relative to your itinerary.
Have questions? Let me know.
