https://www.pacificterrace.com/

Pacific Beach area. Lots of food options within walking distance. La Jolla is a short drive or uber for more food options. Watch the surfers from your room. If you fish, surf fishing is good from the beach or pier.

For what you mentioned you want to do, I'd get a place on Coronado. Plenty of options for a lot less than the Del.

As mentioned, Manchester Grand Hyatt.  Stayed there many times.   You can walk to many restaurants and shops in Sea Port Village and the surrounding area. Including the Midway.  Next to the Midway, is some excellent seafood right on the harbor at the Fish Market Restaurant.  There's also a bar at the top of one of the Hyatt towers with an excellent view.   A little further walk is the Gas Lamp district with plenty of bars and restaurants.

The trolley can be caught right outside in Sea Port Village.  This will take you to many places you'll want to go. You just hop on and off as you like.  

Hop-On Hop-Off San Diego Old Town Trolley Tour

Stops:
Old Town Market
Maritime Museum / Star of India
Embarcadero Marina
Seaport Village
Marriott Marquis And Marina
Gaslamp Quarter
East Convention Center – Petco Park and Hilton Bayfront
Barrio Logan
Coronado / Orange Avenue
Balboa Park / Zoo
Little Italy

you can eat and shop in any big city

hit the beach, brah

I don't generally enjoy going to California, but San Diego is a nice place to visit.  

I've stayed in the big hotels downtown, and I've stayed on Coronado looking across the water at downtown.  

Yes to Point Loma.  Yes to McP's.

All good, thank you and keep em coming. I wish we had more than 5 days there. I do not eat seafood unless I am near the coast so I am looking forward to finding some fresh.

Is it OK and safe to walk around at night in the bay areas and beachfronts or do all the whackadoodles really come out then.

I wouldn't go out after dark anywhere south of La Jolla or north of Carlsbad.  (sorry, Oceanside, I know you're respectable now, but Hill St. warped me)  

Depending how long it's been since you've been there Oceanside has changed A LOT. Plenty of places in O'side that are totally fine past dark.

I'm very rarely in San Diego past dark, and when I am it's usually to catch a show at Brick by Brick so I can't comment on that.

The zoo which is labeled as the best or at least one of the best in the world was underwhelming to say the least.  They are such hippies running that thing that half the animals are hidden.  It is also poorly organized and you end up backtracking and walking past shit you have already seen.  The only bright side to that is seeing animals that weren't out on your first pass.

Let's if good suggestions.  We stayed at the Intercontinental on harbor drive we went to my son's graduation.  Lots of stuff nearby and can get around easy. Midway nearby. Moderate amount of homeless.

Ocean Beach,  Coronado,  mission bay and LA Jolla all good choices

good call. the aquarium is a affordable activity that is fun.

I always like The Keating in the gas lamp district, nice walk to the USS Midway.http://www.thekeatinghotelsandiego.com/

downtown is hobo-land to the south east and everywhere at night.

I travel to SD every few months for work. I stay out toward Point Loma because it's close to work. I try to stay here. It's close to Liberty Station (shopping and restaurants in a repurposed Navy base) and the harbor. Traffic is easy. Down town is only a few minutes away. Freeways are close to get you to other stuff. Sometimes I extend my stay and my wife comes down and we sight see.
It's also nice to have a kitchenette if you're going to be there very long. Can save a few bucks on meals.

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/santa-towneplace-suites-san-diego-airport-liberty-station/overview/

Carmel Valley is an area of San Diego.

Paradise point is really nice.
Hyatt islandia

When I go out for work I always stay in La Jolla ir Carlsbad.  I just enjoy that area.

It's really expensive, I spent 2 months there last year.  We stayed in Carlsbad, it's quite a bit cheaper but further north.

We did most, if not all of the tourist things.  I have zero interest in ever going back.

This. I got married at the Hotel Del and we sent the people who wanted to save a buck over to the Glorietta Bay Hotel. It’s right across the street and you can still do everything you want as if you were staying at the Del.

Stayed at Marriott Marquis next door to the Hyatt a couple months ago.  Nice area and a short walk to the Midway, Gas Lamp District and Sea Port Village.

Make sure you hit Little Italy for dinner.  Filippis was really good and the house chianti was great!

https://realcheesepizza.com/little-italy/

Dumb comment

As a San Diego native still living here, and Zoo member for more than 20 years, it's the best zoo in the US.

Animals are largely lazy and will sleep the majority of the day past 11am.

Get to the zoo right when they open and walk to tigers, apes, polar bears, and especially the cheetahs and see them out for feeding. It's cool and they play most in the AM. The cheetahs can often be seen around the park with their Labrador buddies!

After you see the major animals, take the tram around to see the wrest. Have an amazing lunch at "Alberts" in the zoo and after several hours there, take in Balboa Park.

But lots of bad info in this thread.

1) Avoid Pacific Beach and Mission Beach
2) Downtown and embarcadero is fine after dark.
3) I wouldn't stay in Coronado. It's a pain in the ass coming into town on the bridge. Sure, you can take the Coronado ferry for a few bucks but it's a hassle.
4) Don't stay in Mission Valley. It's central but nothing is near Mission Valley except Old Town and the old Spanish mission, The Presidio.
5) Places people say are "touristy" are often fun to check out. About every other week we walk the dog at Old Town and have a great time. Get drinks at The Cosmopolitan (https://www.oldtowncosmopolitan.com/ ), check out Old Town and the history there, then walk up to the old Victorian homes that have been restored. 5 min walk from Old Town

The Midway is fun. Seaport Village has some neat shops. My favorite burger place is San Diego Burger Company in Seaport Village. There is also a new Mike Hess brewery (Very pro-conservative business owner) there. Little Italy is good for small bites or dinner. Take an Uber there as parking is horrendous. Get dessert at Cafe Zucherro.

Balboa Park is my favorite place in San Diego. Great dining at Panama 66, Artifact or Cafe Mingei (https://mingei.org/visit/artifact , Prado are all excellent. Most of the museums have cafe's and there are several cafes throughout the park. Hint, best\cleanest bathroom is at the Old Globe venue, Prado, San Diego History Museum, or Casa Del Prado where the SD youth sympphony practices. Easy to find on a map.

Coronado is nice. The ferry landing has a few shops but it's expensive. It's a nice walk from the ferry landing to the bridge and back. Great views. "Downtown" Coronado is about what you'd expect from a beach town. The locals hate you and if you park on the street, they will egg you car and leave a note telling you park at the Del. But The Del is nice. Places to eat, drink and you can walk from the north end of the Del to practically the amphib base in about 30 minutes. It's a nice walk. Otherwise, hipster dining, expensive shops.

Have fun!

If I was to stay anywhere, my top choices would be anywhere on the water front, or the new Marriot or Hampton inn adjacent to Libery Station.

PM if you have any questions at all.

Encinitas got way left.

Hyatt on the marina is nery nice. Beautiful view.

We enjoyed some great Mexican food in Old Town.

This is some excellent advice.

Hit up one of the 'Bertos.
Rolberto’s, Alberto’s, Adalberto’s, Juan Bertos, Filiberto’s, Jilberto’s, Brobertos, the possibilities are endless!

Stay at the Marriott Marina across the Bay from North Island NAS.

Get a High Floor with a balcony with view of Coronado-Bring Binoculars.

Go next-door to the Hyatt on Thursday for the Prime Rib buffet.

I love Coronado-You can drive across the Bay and Park at the Grocery store-Safeway I think-And take the Nat Gas Bus-with no one on it to the Del and eat at Miquel's across the street.

That part of the beach from the Del to North Island is my Favorite and if you're lucky you'll see some Navy jets come toward the beach very slowly and with a huge bank fly into the NAS.

I would rate Coronado the safest place I've ever been-because of all the Navy peeps there. We used to go twice a month from across the Mountain-Ranch Mirage.

Have fun!

ETA: Hyatt Next Door is fine too.

Get some Apple Pie in Julian!!

Unfortunately San Diego is being over run by hoards of homeless.

Downtown smells like piss- traffic parking sucks
Mission Valley/Hotel Circle- homeless everywhere anc car dealerships.
Mission beach/Pacific beach- trashy college kids partying like crazy
Ocean Beach/IB. Hippies and homeless- trash.
La Jolla snobby rich folk. Parking and getting in is a mess
Del Mar- even more snobby than La Jolla- but its nicer because the beach is better in Del Mar.
Carlsbad- kinda far away from downtown- but its a little hidden gem.
I would suggest Coronado. Close to the attractions and walk to the nicest beach in SD. Stay at El Cordova. You can walk around and park.  Yes. I live in Coronado.

Used to travel to TJ regularly for work, stayed in SD.  Usually the Sheraton on Harbor Island.

Point Loma, good views, and stop by Point Loma Seafood.  Little deli-style shop with *great* lunches at a reasonable price.  https://pointlomaseafoods.com/

If you do Tijuana, highly recommend Mr Pampas do Brasil.  Great brazilian steakhouse for a lot less than just about anything in SD.
Usually took the Otay Mesa crossing, a lot less hectic than San Ysidro.  

USS Midway, do that while you're there.  

Lots of nice restaurants in the gaslamp district, and not too dumpy (at least when I was there).

all of the northern coast is left as fuck now. it blows my mind seeing people in 1-2million dollar houses with libtard bumper sticker everywhere.

Another for stay on Coronado and McP and Point Loma.  Nice little hole in the wall taco joint just down from hodadies in OB. Usually stay on NASNI Navy Lodge

Hehe.  Fatal Strike!!

or be a patriot and pay your respects to the Taffy 3 at Point Loma

Mario's for Mexican food:

https://www.facebook.com/MariosdelaMesaR/

I also like Marieta's:

https://marietasmexicanfood.com/locations

I have a studio apartment right on the beach at Moonlight. I keep my boards there. I grew up surfing there but don't surf Swamis out of respect for the longtime locals. I'm a regular at Pipes, Beacons, and Cardiff Reef. My mom and stepdad are the camp host at San Elijo. I miss when Encinitas was a sleepy beach town. Luecadia is stilll nice.

And they just dumped off 1500 illegals!

All good advice here OP

To the part in bold: if you end up near Liberty Station make sure to eat at Stone Brewery.  Amazing food and really good beer on tap.

Was in the area last week. Spent a few days at my brothers in Murrieta, a couple of nights in an Airbnb on the ocean in Oceanside, then a couple of nights at an Airbnb in Imperial Beach on Evergreen Ave.

Go to La Jolla Cove and have lunch/dinner around there.

Alot of good advice here.  I'll add mine.

I used to stay right in downtown sometimes.  Even for breakfast, Little Italy was a short walk and has some fantastic bakeries that are open for fresh pastry and really good coffee.  

Go to the Cabrillo monument and the tide pools below.   Also Old Town.

We stay in SD once a year for a week or so for 20+ years. We've tried Coronado, Mission, Gas Lamp Area, Carlsbad, Oceanside and La Jolla. We prefer La Jolla, Carlsbad and Oceanside.

There are a ton of breweries in SD, I like Ballast Point, Carl Strauss or Viewpoint if you plan on having a meal. We like going to the Marine Room(La Jolla) for a seafood meal and Old Town Mexican Cafe or Cafe Coyote in Old Town San Diego for Mexican food. Near the Gas Lamp area we like Boun Appetito for Italian food. There are also some good restaurants in old town

For beaches we like La Jolla(La Jolla Shores) and Coronado, Mission Beach can get pretty busy.

We've never had any trouble in SD although there were more homeless in the Gas Lamp area than normal.

We typically drive everywhere, parking can be a pain at time, but Ubering three times a day gets expensive.

Its more than that a week.

The Cabrillo monument has some great views.





And you're pretty much on level with the helicopters heading out.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is stunning.

you cant swing a dead cat without hitting good mexican food in SD.

My sincere apology for suggesting North County.

I should've known better.