San Diego is a great city - it is like a diet Los Angles! Great weather, plenty of things to do, but the traffic is not crazy and the folks are a bit more relaxed. If you find yourself in San Diego and want to hit a great beach, then head on out to Pacific Beach!
There are many beaches to choose from in San Diego and many ocean spots to spend some time. I like Pacific Beach because it is not as touristy as some of the other areas: Mission Bay and Beach, the San Diego Harbor, Coronado. Pacific Beach is long stretch of sand running from Palisades Park on the north end, down to approximately W. Mission Bay drive, where it blends into Mission Beach.
My favorite stretch of Pacific Beach is the southern end, near Mission Beach - from Pacific Beach Drive down to Santa Barbara Place. This segment is away from the PB Pier and the tourist attractions, along with being in a residential area of beach cottages and mellow condos. Of course, this means parking is a definite challenge and on weekends many folks park up near the Pier and walk down the Ocean Front Walk to find a mellow place.
The sand is very soft and deep, with a nice light brown color. The vibe is mellow with all the homes and people just enjoying the beach. If you want to grab a work out, then there are plenty of beach volleyball courts and the Ocean Front Walk that runs for miles in each direction. If you want to be creative in your exercise, you can park in PB (as the locals call it) do some kayaking or roller blading at Mission Bay Park (which is just on the east side of the houses), then come relax after your workout on Pacific Beach.
When I have been at PB, I did not find too much opportunity to surf, but that could be because there was not a swell coming in. I don't know if it was the shape of the coast line, but most folks went up towards La Jolla to grab the waves. The water at PB was okay - nothing to write home about, but there was a fair a mount of kelp or sea weed out in the water. For families, it all depends on the swell that day - if there is no swell, then PB is a great because there will be enough shore line waves to keep the kids active, but nothing too scary. If there is a swell, then you will know because there will be lots of surfers out in the water and I would suggest you keep the kids in the white stuff (the wave foam near the beach).
What I liked most about PB, was just how relaxed and friendly people were. Asking a few strangers to play some beach volleyball was no problem and everyone was relaxed. When you would park and walk through the side streets, the residents were just hanging out on their patios, reading the paper and would give you a "hello". There is no traffic noise or beach bar music - just a mellow day at the beach.
Mid-week is the best time to find an emptier beach setting. The weekends can get busy and the Holiday weekends have the potential to become crazy with people. Unlike Los Angeles, which has beaches that almost run the entire coast line of the greater LA basin, San Diego's topography does not allow this. With the hills of La Jolla, the Mission Bay inlet, the San Diego Harbor and the Naval installations around Coronado, it does not have the sheer mileage of non-stop beaches as up north.
Like the Los Angles beaches, PB can get some early spring-summer morning fog, that sometimes will be stubborn and not burn off. You could be in Old Town San Diego putting on sun block, but the beach would still be gray. Usually the mid-summer to mid-fall is the time to catch the San Diego beaches and especially Pacific Beach. The temperatures on the San Diego beaches tend to be about 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the Los Angeles beaches, and this area usually stays away from some of the rainfall that blows into the LA basin in mid winter.
San Diego, because of its well established tourism options has no shortage of places to stay. Luckily, the city is rather quick to get around, so staying in a central location while hitting the San Diego Zoo, catching a ball game or beaching it, is not an all day investment. You can rent a beach place in Pacific or Mission Beach, stay in well to do La Jolla, there are plenty of high end hotels fronting the San Diego Harbor and inland from the beach, off of Interstate 8, the hotel options run for miles.
San Diego is famous for its zoo, proximity to Mexico and the harbor, but you should plan on getting down to Pacific Beach to spend a day - it is the best in San Diego!
