Always-Sunny San Diego Keeps Getting Better—Here's How to Explore

The new hotels and restaurants to know about, plus things to do and neighborhood guides.Lucianna McIntoshSan Diego's calendar of sunny days, endless string of beaches on which to enjoy them, and family-friendly attractions have long drawn visitors year-round to the city and surrounding county. Lately new, design-centric hotels and a growing slate of destination restaurants are joining the enduring pleasures to create an era of vibrancy for all travelers to enjoy.A surfer emerges from the waters of La Jolla Cove Lucianna McIntoshWhere to exploreWith walkable streets, vintage shops, and craft breweries, North Park and Hillcrest districts are also rich in restaurants and nightlife. In North Park, sample French bistro fare at the Smoking Goat or Iberian seafood at Mabel's Gone Fishing, then end at listening bar Part Time Lover. Hillcrest, the epicenter of the LGBTQ+ scene, is home to the Brass Rail, the city's first gay bar, and Urban Mo's Bar and Grill, a beloved hub.Soaring sea cliffs and palm-lined boulevards are only part of La Jolla's appeal—visit arts and culture institutions like La Jolla Playhouse and the Museum of Contemporary Art, and try classic restaurants such as George's at the Cove or The Marine Room for lunch with a view.Historic neighborhood Barrio Logan is the heart of the city's Mexican American culture. Grab a mocha at Por Vida and queue for tacos and tamales at Las Cuatro Milpas, a stalwart since 1933.The vintage elegance of peninsula Coronado, long a vacation spot for the well-heeled, endures thanks to buzzy openings attracting visitors across the bridge for a stroll on palm-lined Orange Avenue.Up the coast in North County, Encinitas is the quintessential Southern California beach town, a quirky little mecca for yoga, wellness, and, of course, surfing at beaches like Swami's and Moonlight.Next door, find everything in Carlsbad from outlet shopping and golf to fine dining—don't miss chef Eric Bost's Michelin-starred bistro, Jeune et Jolie. He runs two other restaurants in the area: Lilo, with a coastal tasting menu, and lively Campfire, designed to look like a glamping site.Sleeper hitsSan Diego's biggest hotel news is coming out of Coronado. Few stays channel classic Americana quite like the Hotel del Coronado, which, over its 138-year history, has hosted everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Franklin D. Roosevelt. It underwent a massive revamp in 2025, but that's not the only change afoot here: Across the street the sleek Bower Coronado also began welcoming guests in summer 2025; it was joined by the maximalist, seashell-inspired Baby Grand this spring. Last May, Hilton's new Outset Collection unveiled The Margot Hotel, with 135 sprawling suites, in the Gaslamp Quarter, right by Petco Park, home of the Padres. January will see the debut of the nearby 231-room Le Méridien San Diego Pinnacle, a gleaming tower close to the trendy restaurants and nightlife of Little Italy. Up in Carlsbad, an erstwhile Sheraton resort was reborn in March as the botanical-themed Hotel Solea, Autograph Collection, a stone's throw from Legoland.LA Bryson’s Nocturnal Nostalgia (2021), on display in Liberty Arts District Lucianna McIntoshArtsy and outdoorsyEverybody knows a visit to the world-class San Diego Zoo and a ballgame at Petco Park are must-dos, but there's much else to consider. With 17 museums dedicated to everything from science and architecture to world music and Comic Con spread throughout a 1,200-acre expanse, Balboa Park has enough going on to keep you busy for a whole visit. Cast a wider net and you'll find creativity surging all over the city. Set in the Spanish Colonial Revival–style former Naval Training Center, the Liberty Station Arts District was recognized this year as one of California's state-designated cultural districts, thanks to its dense concentration of galleries and performing arts venues. Up the coast in Oceanside—a thriving creative enclave that's home to the Oceanside Museum of Art and a downtown arts district splashed with dozens of murals—surfer Ryder England opened Dear Tomorrow, a community art house with residencies, a shop, and events including botanical dyeing and figure drawing. In the San Diego Black Art and Culture District in Encanto, celebrated street artist Maxx Moses established Graffiti Gardens, a vibrant community hub with plenty of alfresco space to showcase his murals. You'll find lots of murals in historic Barrio Logan too: In the 1970s artists and activists painted vast murals at the base of the San Diego–Coronado Bay Bridge; today Chicano Park is a National Historic Landmark. Nearby, in a 45,000-square-foot former bakery, James Brown and Isabel Dutra opened Bread and Salt, a sprawling center for experimental art and craftsmanship. Every second Saturday join the Barrio Art Crawl, which pops into galleries, breweries, and record shops throughout the neighborhood. But the city's biggest draw remains its natural beauty. Some of the best hiking trails are along the cliffs of Torrey Pines Natural Reserve, like the three-quarter-mile Beach Trail, which winds through clusters of pine trees and wildflowers on the way down to the sand. If you're inspired by the surf culture and want to hit the waves yourself, ease in at La Jolla Shores or Tourmaline Surfing Park, but if you're more seasoned, you can try your luck at Windansea Beach or Sunset Cliffs.Handmade ravioli with sage from Dora Ristorante Lucianna McIntoshFresh eatsThe proximity to Tijuana—drive 20 minutes from downtown and you're at the border—means you can sample the full pantheon of regional Mexican flavors here, including at Nómada, in Carlsbad, chef Alex Carballo's ode to Sinaloan fire-based cooking, or Carne y Hueso, a new North Park restaurant from sisters Chantelle and Crystal Godinez, who champion indigenous ingredients from Puebla, Jalisco, and Oaxaca in dishes like bone marrow sopes with hand-pressed masa and huitlacoche tetela with mole rojo. There's also a bounty of impossibly fresh seafood plucked from the coast, like at By the Sea, which opened in August near the beach in Coronado in a second-floor dining room styled to resemble a Mediterranean villa. It's directly opposite another newcomer to Orange Avenue, the splashy alfresco Greek restaurant Night Hawk at the Baby Grand, complete with large Greek statues and seating in grottoes. À L'ouest, chef Brad Wise's boisterous brasserie, was a hit the second it touched down in North Park in February; upstairs, the speakeasy Georgette's makes the wait for a table much more fun. And eating out in La Jolla has never been more interesting, thanks to a host of new destination restaurants: Chef Travis Swikard's Fleurette serves French-Californian fare such as “Oeufs & Eggs” with San Diego uni; across the street from the La Jolla Playhouse, Dora Ristorante, named for chef Accursio Lota's Sicilian grandmother, dishes up perfect pretheater bites of house-made gnocchi with pork sausage sugo and Pecorino; and Lucien earned chef Elijah Arizmendi San Diego's only new Michelin star this year. Also on deck: the ambitious 5,000-square-foot Roseacre development with multiple concepts under one roof, led by chef Erik Anderson, previously of the Michelin-starred Coi in San Francisco. Over in Liberty Station, meanwhile, a former navy outpost in Point Loma is being reimagined with restaurants, galleries, shops, and gardens. In 2027 the long-awaited Admiral will open its doors here, while the eventual 2028 completion of the entire project will transform five vacant World War II–era buildings into a new arts and dining hub.Ask the locals“I grew up surfing Pacific Beach, right next to Tourmaline Surfing Park. I surfed there once or twice a day, seven days a week. In La Jolla there's a place called Marine Street Beach, which is great for bodysurfing; you get barreled on every ride. Up in North County, Swami's Beach is more crowded—you'll see a lot of pros there.” —Travis Swikard, chef, Fleurette and Callie Travis Swikard“We have a lot of arts here: Balboa Park and the museums, La Jolla Playhouse producing pieces that end up on Broadway. The Symphony has gotten a lot of love, and at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, you can see everything from pop concerts to the most classical Rachmaninoff.” —Roxana Velásquez, Maruja Baldwin executive director and CEO, San Diego Museum of Art Roxana Velásquez“I was born and raised in San Diego, and I'm not leaving. Picking my favorite Mexican food is tricky. My go-to order at Roberto's is rolled tacos with guacamole and cheese, because that's what I grew up on. Mexico Viejo is one of the most solid taco-stand type of places—I get the bean-and-cheese and the rice-and-guacamole burrito.” —Tony Hawk, professional skateboarder Tony HawkThis article appeared in the December 2026 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.Previously Editor in Chief of Condé Nast Traveller Middle East, Sarah Khan has reported from seven continents for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Afar, Robb Report, and many others. Her work also appears in Best American Travel Writing 2021 and New York Times 36 Hours: ... Read More