Best Beaches in San Diego, California
I’ve been living in San Diego for the past two years. Don’t get me wrong, I love the city, the weather, and the shopping, but I can’t stand going to the beaches. They are overcrowded with residents and tourists to the point that you can hardly find a plot of sand to spread out your towel. During the summer, San Diego’s beaches become more like giant parking lots filled with large families, obnoxious children, and drunk teenagers.
Another part about visiting the beaches I find especially frustrating is simply getting to the beach. Many of the little beach towns (Solana Beach, Del Mar, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, and Mission Bay) have only a few streets leading from the I-5 freeway to beach access. Traffic is heavy, the small streets that run through the beach towns become clogged, and the parking situation can be particularly horrendous.
To spare yourself from the time and agony of sitting in endless traffic to spend a few hours on a crowded beach, I highly recommend that you visit Coronado Island. Located only 8 miles from the San Diego Lindbergh International Airport, less than 5 miles from San Diego’s famous downtown Gaslamp District, and a world away from the packed more well-known beaches of San Diego, Coronado provides the seclusion of quieter, less populated beaches combined with boutique-style shopping and great restaurants.
I find that visiting Coronado Island, even as a resident of San Diego, feels like going on vacation. It’s somewhat cut-off from the craziness of tourist season and with the beaches being less crowded, I can take a stroll down by the water and gather the peace-of-mind that comes with taking a real vacation from work and life.
Getting there is easy. You can drive there on the I-5 freeway heading south, merge onto the California 75 highway bridge, crossover from the bridge to 3rd Street, and hang a left onto Orange Avenue (the main street on Coronado Island for access to the beach, hotels, shopping, and restaurants). Or, you can travel from San Diego’s downtown Broadway Pier over to Coronado Island on the San Diego Bay Ferry. For less than $5 round-trip, it’s an inexpensive means to visiting a part of San Diego that most tourists never take the time to see. You can even bring your bicycle on the ferry for a minor fee, and enjoy Coronado’s 15 miles of scenic bike paths.
When you get to Coronado Island, I suggest heading to the famous Hotel del Coronado. There you’ll find my favorite strip of sand. And, apparently, I’m not the only one that thinks this beach is the best in San Diego. The Travel Channel named the Coronado Central Beach the number one Best Beach for Families. The attraction to this particular beach is all about the great sand, the beautiful scenic surroundings, and, of course, the less-crowded atmosphere that you can find only on Coronado Island.
In addition to the Coronado Central Beach, there are also several other beaches to visit as well. What you may not realize since I’ve been referring to Coronado as “Coronado Island” is that it is actually a peninsula. The long strip of sand connecting Coronado to the City of Imperial Beach is also a great place to spend the afternoon up to an entire weekend. Called the Silver Strand State Beach, you can camp out with your RV for around $14 a night or enjoy a small bonfire near the shoreline.
If you’re looking for a place to take the kids, I suggest heading over to the Glorietta Bay Beach, located just south of the Hotel del Coronado. There you’ll find not only another quiet sandy beach, but also a grassy park with a playground.
With such high praise, it’s a wonder the beaches on Coronado Island haven’t already been mobbed by San Diego’s summer tourists. So, I guess I should continue to take advantage of Coronado’s “Best Beach” secret while it lasts, and perhaps you will too.
