How To Do San Diego In A Day
This may be my favorite city to visit for one-day escapes. Its simply perfect. In fact, Ron Burgundy says it best, San Diego, which means whale's vagina, is the classiest city in America. Japanese Friendship Gardens, fine dining above landing airplanes, stacking rocks behind the USS Midway, and watching the Padres do what they do best: lose-all within walking distance. Here's what we did on my last day before going back to the confines of architecture studio in USC.
We started our day by driving down to Banker's Hill, an area of San Diego nestled between the airport and Balboa Park where you will find some of the upper tier apartment complexes and a modern industrial feel to it. The reason we came here was to dine at one of the city's finest restaurants. And if you have read enough of my blogs, you'll come to realize that one of the most important things for a special dining experience in my humble opinion is to have the best view possible. Betrand at Mr. A's provides me with just that. On the rooftop of a building, you can see the entirety of the San Diego skyline and the gorgeous bay, along with being above the planes landing in San Diego Airport (which is ranked as one of the least favorite amongst pilots thanks to its proximity to high-rise buildings, such as the one Betrand at Mr. A's is perched on top of.) Betrand at Mr. A's serves up Modern American cuisine with definite European influence, and is without a doubt one of the most romantic, if not the most romantic restaurant in the city. I ordered a paella and my mother, who fits the bill for best option to take to the most romantic restaurant in San Diego, ordered herself a mean burger, both of which were fantastic. Pricey, but with great food and even better views, Betrand at Mr. A's is definitely worth it.
View out over the airport from the patio of Betrand at Mr. A's
The sculpture garden of Balboa Park
Balboa Park is right next to the restaurant, but frankly, its right next to basically everything in San Diego. One of the largest parks in America, Balboa Park has everything. Museums, zoos (the largest in America), restaurants, this place has got it all. On this visit, we first went to the Japanese Friendship Garden. It is a beautiful garden showcasing Japan's best foliage and was exactly what we needed to walk off our lunch and enjoy the incredible beauty. Then we went to the Museum of Art, which was surprisingly impressive in its collection of styles. After a quick bike around the park, we sipped on coffee in a sculpture garden just behind Panama Square while watching a performance at the Organ Pavilion. If that doesn't give you an idea of what Balboa Park has to offer, then I don't know what else to tell you.
Beautiful gardens and a perfect place for an early-afternoon stroll
Great views of the high rise hotels. From left to right, is the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Marriott Marquis and Hilton Waterfront.
After the park, we made our way down to the downtown area of San Diego, parking by the Seaport Village. This is one of the cutest parts of the city, with mom-and-pop shops set in wooden buildings around a little creek bordered on one side by the harbor and on the other side by the high rises of downtown. Some of the best dessert shops are here, just as a side note. Almost every time I come to San Diego, I make a pit stop here just to enjoy the vibes there are here. But this time, we made our way over to The Headquarters at the Seaport Village, where we were welcomed with the site of a Latin Music Party. Everyone was dancing and singing and enjoying life under the setting sun, and it was sort of one of those moments where I looked around and saw the true essence of this city. It's a big city with a small city feel, where everyone just loves to enjoy life, be outside and engage with one another. There's a community here, and a friendliness that's hard to come by anywhere in the world, let alone in one of the country's largest cities. But anyways, we snagged a seat at Puesto and had some of the best tacos in the entire world while watching the performances and diverse range of people enjoying the night.
It was a good time dancing out here, and the beauty in the diversity and connection of the people here was symbolizing of the city
And then, a light bulb went off. Petco Park looms over downtown and is known as the best stadium in all of baseball. Personally, I am an Angel's fan, but when I realized the Padres were playing at 7:30, I just could not miss out on this opportunity. So we made our way to the stadium (finding a perfect parking spot on the street just a block away) and were able to get a ticket from a high-end, easy to understand machine for $20 per person. We made our way through the stunning stadium, through bars on sand, local breweries, and trendy food stalls to the absolute top of the stadium where we watched the Padres lose, again. But the fact that we could park in downtown San Diego, just on the edge of the famous Gaslamp Quarter, and walk into a massive, beautiful stadium, was totally awesome.
Waaayy up, but an experience I will not forgot, that's for sure. This truly is the best stadium of any sport in America.
So that's how you do San Diego in a day! Of course, the city has so much more to offer, like the whole Mission Bay area and SeaWorld, La Jolla, Coronado, Point Loma, Wildlife Park, LegoLand, Old Town, etc. This is just one of many itineraries I've had in San Diego, because the city truly is one of the finest in the entire world.