The Top 5 Most Romantic Places in San Diego
Top 5 Most Romantic Places in San Diego.
All right, I’ll admit it. It’s not hard to find a romantic place in San Diego. Coastal city, Mexican culture, beautiful mountains and skylines, sunsets which take your breath away…San Diego is a pretty easy place to have a date.
But if you want to be really good…
San Diego isn’t condensed like an east-coast urban center. West coast culture is our heart, and its easy to find beauty in centuries old Missions, or white beaches. The few spots I’ve named are but a starting point, places I think have a song to sing which is all their own. Each locale is different, eclectic in it’s own way and each place speaks to its visitors differently. Maybe Coronado isn’t your dive…if not, try La Jolla or Pacific Beach. Cruise along the Boardwalk or take a trip to Mexico. The coastal, west-coast nature of San Diego makes it ideal for exploring with a friend….
1. La Jolla – Remember the Beach Boy’s Song, “All over La Jolla/ at Waimia Bay/Everybody’s gone surfin’/ Surfin’ U.S.A…
Hmmm….maybe this could be just dating me. Anyway, La Jolla is a beautiful and sheltered area of San Diego. Sheltered I say, because in order to reach La Jolla you travel over a mountain ridge and most notably, over a fault line. If you have the good luck to drive down on a sunny clear day, the view is nothing short of spectacular. At sunset, the small and trendy coastal village is bathed in warm, orange light.
Once there, you are confronted with the first of many choices. You could park and walk along the chic Prospect Street, speckled with high-end shops and an ice cream parlor, have a Starbucks, go to the famous Living Room coffee shop, and explore the sea-line area. If shops aren’t your dive, descend into “lower” La Jolla and walk for almost a mile along the sidewalk, admiring first the Pelican colonies, the craggy cliffs and coves, (the surfers\divers\swimmers!), finally ending at Seal Cove\Children’s Cove where in winter dozens of seals bask along the sands…barking at passer-bys.
Yet the walks and views pale in comparison to La Jolla’s best and most entertaining activity. By far the most exciting date is to ditch the clothes for a wetsuit and go snorkeling in La Jolla Cove. Populated with Garibaldi, Top Smelt, Kelp Bass, and the occasional ray, snorkeling in La Jolla cove is a fun, exciting, and frankly, an inexpensive way to pass an entire day. (Note: The water tends to be a chilly on the Pacific side so if you’d like, bring a shortie\wetsuit, or scamper up top for a Starbucks).
2. Mt. Soledad – Also in La Jolla is one of the grandest monuments in San Diego, perhaps in Southern California. Perched more than eight-hundred feet above Sea level, on a mountain which marks the cross-roads between Pacific Beach and La Jolla, the Mt. Soledad Cross\Veteran’s Memorial is an open-air, quiet, park-like atmosphere. The Cross itself stretches over fifty-feet, and is the center of an on-going constitutional controversy, regarding the separation of Church and State. Law aside, the view from the high mountain, (Soledad, by the way, is Spanish for loneliness) is a incredible experience. On a clear day, the view can stretch as far away as the outskirts of Poway and as far south as Coronado. Look to the west and Scripps Pier, La Jolla Shores and Torrey Pines State Beach come into view. Inland you can catch a glimpse of Scripps Ranch and Mira Mesa….sometimes as far inland as the Marine Corps Air Station. Calming, and tranquil, at night the mountaintop becomes a clear, if not slightly chilly place to view the stars. Again, not so much romantic as it is moving, it still is a marvelous place to go. How can a monument be romantic ? Visit and find out, if nothing else you WILL enjoy the view.
3. Coronado – Across the famous Coronado Bay Bridge lies the island city of Coronado. Named after the famous explorer and General, Francisco Vasquera de Coronado, the “crown city” is a rather quaint and aged community which is sheltered from the bustling and fast-paced life of downtown San Diego. Take the 5 South down from the North County of San Diego, or if you are already downtown, hop on East Harbor Drive for a view of San Diego Bay before rising two hundred feet into the air (about twenty-stories above the water) on a five lane bridge…one of the largest modern bridges in the world.
As you rise, can you almost imperceptibly feel your spirits lift and the stress remain earthbound ? At the apex of 200 ft, the eagle-eyed can catch a glimpse of Tijuana, Mexico and the harbour and Star of India far below. The Coronado bridge is an exciting drive and gives the illusion (brought on by the rather low sidewalls) that you are actually driving on air…for that reason alone, it may not be the best idea for those who don’t like heights.
While in Coronado, seeing the majestic old “Hotel Del,” short for “Hotel del Coronado” is a necessity. Myth and lore surround the sweeping red and white estates of this old gem. Built only a few years after the Civil War, it has been the hideout of Hollywood film stars, government officials, and of course the laity. Ask an employee about the legendary ghosts which haunt the grounds, or enjoy a night of dancing in one of the many live jazz spots scattered throughout the Hotel itself. Relax and enjoy the music, the soft sounds of a dulcet jazz singer, and have a drink. If you’re feeling adventurous, try a swing dance.
4. Balboa Park – In the heart of downtown San Diego is a large spanning oasis of peace and tranquility. Familiar to San Diegans because of the beautiful Renaissance like Dome and bell-tower visible from Sixth avenue, Balboa park captures the old Mission style architecture, the warm soothing tones of orange clay on mosaics, dark red tile and soft amber light at sunset. Over the “Prado” bridge, you emerge from a jungle of cars and cement into a forest of green and silver eucalyptus…over a bridge and past statutes reminiscent of Moorish Spain. Nowhere is San Diego closer to its Spanish-American heritage than here…in the heart of the largest urban cultural park in the United States…Balboa.
Named after the Vasco NÃ?ºÃ?±ez de Balboa, Balboa park is a beautiful during summer and fall. From parking in the courtyard under the Shadow of the massive statute of El Cid (Charlemagne) walk between the Museums to the giant open-air fountain. Stop along the way to enter into the San Diego Botanical Garden, past the Lily pond complete with giant koi and turtles. The Lily Pond, perhaps the most simple of the attractions, is entrancing…dotted with purple, pink, white, and scarlet lotus blossoms. Moving further into the park, pass the fortune-tellers, the artists, the street musicians until majestically, the open-air fountain cascading jets of water twenty-feet into the air emerges.
Of course if culture is on your mind why not visit one of the fifteen or more museums and exhibits scattered throughout the park. Feeling avant-garde ? Try the Museum of Photographic Arts. Stressed ? The Japanese Friendship Garden is always a good walk. Perhaps most notably, Balboa park is home to San Diego’s famous Old Globe theatre…a vibrant and lively company which continually plays stimulating and often comical pieces. In summer, a fascinating way to catch a theatrical performance underneath the stars is the Lowell Davies Outdoor Theatre
5. Point Loma Lighthouse – The Old Point Loma lighthouse, perched high above San Diego Bay, is now within the larger area of Cabrillo National Monument, part and parcel of the Federal National Parks. It is, of course, in the older community of Point Loma, a peninsular outcropping of the San Diego shoreline…Point Loma in fact, is the oldest westernized part of San Diego, as Point Loma was the landing point for Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the conquistador whose Spanish explorations founded San Diego later in the 17th century.
On a clear day the Old Lighthouse provides a beautiful lookout point above San Diego. Sitting almost 400 feet above sea level, the lighthouse allows a panoramic view of the bay from a winding…almost shell-like staircase. Nearby is the Cabrillo National Monument center, a rather interesting place to visit and home to a spectacular view above the bay of San Diego. Above it all is a statute of Cabrillo himself, the explorer conquistador who discovered San Diego. (Note: In order to get to the Lighthouse, you must first travel through Rosecrans National Cemetery, a singularly moving and powerful experience.)
