Where to stay in San Diego

San Diego covers about 960 km² with no single centre, and the choice of neighbourhood determines less the comfort than the time spent in the car. Downtown and the Gaslamp Quarter concentrate the chain hotels, the rooftops and the noise of Friday and Saturday nights; a room there usually costs between 180 and 300 USD, within walking distance of the Embarcadero and Petco Park. Little Italy, ten minutes further north, offers the same access to the centre with a fabric of restaurants and a market on Saturday morning, at comparable rates but in relative quiet. Coronado, linked to the mainland by a 3.4 km bridge, is a separate municipality: a wide beach, a residential and military population, resort rates, and the need to cross back over the bridge for everything else. La Jolla, 20 km to the north, brings together cliffs, the cove and luxury shops, with rooms frequently above 300 USD and difficult parking. Pacific Beach and Mission Beach live off surfing and the seafront bars: the coast is at its cheapest there, and at its noisiest between June and September. North Park and South Park, 5 km east of the centre, form the neighbourhood of breweries and independent restaurants, where hotels are still scarce, the Lafayette being the exception. Old Town, finally, trades on its Mexican heritage and its position on the trolley network, halfway between the airport and Mission Valley.

Three caveats deserve to be stated before booking. Tax first: since 1 May 2025, the City of San Diego's Transient Occupancy Tax is no longer a flat 10.50% but is divided into three zones, 11.75%, 12.75% or 13.75% depending on proximity to the convention centre, to which is added a 2% San Diego Tourism Marketing District assessment for properties of 70 rooms and more; Coronado, an independent city, applies 10% of its own. Then come the charges excluded from the displayed price: the resort fee or destination fee commonly falls between 40 and 50 USD a night, 50 USD at the Hotel del Coronado, of which 15 USD goes to its preservation fund, and parking is billed separately, 59 USD for self-parking and 79 USD for valet parking at that same hotel, 70 USD at several Gaslamp addresses. The climate, next: May Gray and June Gloom are the names given to the marine layer that covers the coast in the morning in May and June, sometimes until early afternoon, when inland neighbourhoods such as North Park clear far earlier. Mobility, finally: the trolley, at 2.50 USD a trip and 6 USD a day, serves the centre, Old Town and Mission Valley, but neither Pacific Beach nor La Jolla, and each ride-hailing trip to the north of the city runs into tens of dollars. Without a car, you are in practice confined to the centre.