[Marcu]

I plan on making it out to San Diego for a few days sometime in July and I'd like some suggestions on where to go and where to stay. I will most likely not have a car so walkability or access to mass transit would be great.

I also want to make a trip out to Tijuana. Any recommendations in terms of when to go, shuttles/busses, etc.? Is it worth going to in the first place?

Thanks in advance.

[HurricaneHugo]

where to stay....budget?

the trolley drops you off right on the border, and then its just a 5 minute walk/shuttle to get into Tijuana, i only go to tijuana to party, i dunno if its worth visiting otherwise

[Derek]

If you want easy access to the trolley system then stay downtown. You can get anywhere from there.

[IntotheWest]

San Diego probably needs a sticky for this kind of topic...isn't it the conference capital of North America :-)?

So...I have the same question as the original poster, but I'll be more specific. My wife and I are staying in downtown across from Petco stadium in early June for a few days. Won't have any car. We're not into going to Mexico, and not party diehards (my wife is in a conference actually).

Any suggestions for shopping/restaurants/festivals - and more importantly, any areas we should avoid on foot (re: crime areas/blocks)? We were in San Diego back in Jan, but didn't really see downtown - so, we've already seen Coronado, Balboa, etc...looking for very specific ideas that we can do on foot in the DT area, especially restaurant ideas.

Oh - and is walking along the "Embarcadero" really worth it?

[rs913]

Downtown has a few things worth seeing. 5th Ave. (otherwise known as the Gaslamp district) is the highlight. There's a lot of restaurants, bars, shops, and people-watching.

The Horton Plaza outdoor shopping center is worth checking out, if only because it's so architecturally wacky (http://photos.igougo.com/images/p135864-San_Diego-Horton_Plaza.jpg).

The walk along the Embarcadero isn't that great, but it does get you to the USS Midway and to Seaport Village. The shops in the village are total tourist traps and geared towards the cruise-ship crowd, but you can get great views of the harbor and Coronado from some of the restaurants.

To the original poster...assuming you stay downtown, you may want to check out the #30 bus (http://transit.511sd.com/Services/Route.aspx?r=30), which runs from downtown through Pacific Beach and up to La Jolla. These are the two beach areas I'd suggest a first-time SD visitor not miss. The former is more of a typical, fun SoCal beach town, while the latter is more upscale and sedate (but very scenic!)

[dobermankid]

Be careful going to Tijuana! I hear crime is terrible there. Military (E3 and below) is actually not authorized to visit.

[Fusey]

The tourist areas of TJ are still all right (well, most of the time). I wouldn't go there without knowing how to speak conversational Spanish, though. Obviously the locals aren't going to chatter about local problems in English.