26/02/2021
Thinking of unplanned weekend getaway from San Diego???
When you decide it's time to get away from the warm weather and beautiful beaches of San Diego, the surrounding region provides an almost endless array of options. From hiking through the rugged canyons of Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert to fishing off the coast of Baja Mexico, it's all just a short drive away.
Natural wonders, like the giant redwoods of Sequoia National Park are easily accessible, as are urban adventures like exploring the exploding food scene of Downtown Los Angeles.
Southern California's extensive freeway network, combined with some short time planning, can also allow for two extremely different adventures in a single day. Quite easily, it's possible to surf at Pacific Beach in the morning and spend the afternoon skiing in the mountains of Big Bear.
Plan your adventures with our list of the best weekend getaways from San Diego.
1. Los Angeles
Only two and half hours north of San Diego. LA makes a great weekend getaway destination. It's probably best to focus on a single area, like a beach getaway to Santa Monica or an urban foodie getaway in downtown Los Angeles.
The downtown area of LA is thriving - it's full of street after street of new restaurants, and building after building converted into luxury loft apartments or upscale shopping. A meal at the Grand Central Market, now a gastronomic food hall, is a must-do, as is a visit to Disney Hall for a music concert. DTLA's renovated Regent Theater hosts more modern musical performers.
If you don't want to drive, Amtrak trains run from San Diego's Santa Fe Depot right to Union Station in DTLA. It's then easy to take the Metro system all over downtown and all over Los Angeles including tourist destinations like Hollywood, Universal City, and the Santa Monica Beach.
2. Palm Springs
About three hours by car from San Diego, this desert resort destination boasts more than 100 golf courses in the Greater Palm Springs area. It also averages about 350 days of sunshine per year.
The Coachella Valley area has an excellent restaurant scene, hundreds of luxury and resort hotels, and a lot more to do than just golf. Aviation fans will love the vintage planes of the Palm Springs Air Museum, and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is another must-do. It whisks you from the desert floor to a mountain summit almost 9,000 feet high, in only 10 minutes. It's possible to play in the snow at the top, while it's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) down below in Palm Springs.
3. Temecula
This beautiful rural area, only an hour from San Diego, has transformed itself from an agricultural region into a popular tourism destination. The Temecula Valley is filled with golf courses and now also many hotel options. It's also a very popular spot in Southern California for hot air ballooning.
Temecula's Old Town area pays homage to its farming past and retains some of the original architecture. The compact downtown area has many restaurants and antique shops, along with a few museums, including Pennypickle's Workshop, a hands-on children's science museum.
The Signature Temecula is a good option for those wanting to spend more time in the Old Town area. It's next door to Lienzo Charro, considered one of the best Mexican restaurants in town, and a short walk from the Old Town area.
4. Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is a scenic four-hour drive up the coast from San Diego and is an excellent destination for a weekend getaway. The city's downtown area, focused around State Street, offers visitors a melange of locally-owned shops, restaurants, and art galleries.
When you get hungry, head down to the city's Funk Zone, a former industrial warehouse area now filled with hip restaurants and art galleries.
5. Solvang
Although mostly an invention for tourists, this quaint Danish town is about 30 minutes from Santa Barbara and a five-hour drive from San Diego. It's all about Denmark here - the shops and little business district is completely done in Danish/European architecture, and it feels like you're in Copenhagen.
The main draw here are the many Danish restaurants, shops, galleries, and bakeries - it's fun just walking around and exploring. A trip to Solvang is also a good day trip during a weekend getaway to Santa Barbara.
6. Ojai
This picturesque valley in Ventura County is near Santa Barbara and a five-hour drive from San Diego. You'll find a cool, New Age town, filled with unique shops and various types of healers.
The surrounding area is mainly agricultural, and the local produce and food products are especially amazing. Try to visit a local farm stand for some fresh fruit or produce.
7. Idyllwild
This summer-only weekend destination is high in the San Jacinto mountains of Riverside County, but only a two-hour drive from downtown San Diego. The mountain resort has a few streets of eclectic shops and art galleries, along with restaurants and cafés.
You can visit during the winter, but there are no ski resorts in the area, and the mountain roads can be difficult to drive on in the snow. Some businesses shut down as well.
Idyllwild is a jumping-off point for hundreds of miles of hiking trails, for all levels of hikers. The alpine landscape, filled with huge pine trees, is beautiful and looks like something out of northern Alaska, rather than Southern California. To extend your getaway, you can drive down Highway 74, known as the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway, which connects Idyllwild with Palm Desert, near Palm Springs. It's less than a hour drive away.
8. Sequoia National Park
The majestic, giant redwood trees of Sequoia National Park are about a six-hour drive from San Diego. Sequoia National Park is in Central California, in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Visitors get two national parks right next to each other, as Kings Canyon National Park is adjacent to Sequoia.
The giant redwood trees are breathtaking, and at around 3,500 years old, some are the oldest living things on Earth. These redwoods, some of which have grown to be 300 feet tall, with a trunk almost 30 feet in diameter, are fascinating to explore and walk beneath. There are a number of campgrounds, as well as four lodges, located inside Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.
9. Joshua Tree
When you want your weekend getaway to include some camping and strikingly beautiful natural scenery, a trip to Joshua Tree National Park is the perfect destination. It's just outside Palm Springs and about a three-hour drive from San Diego.
Here, you'll find hundreds of thousands of square miles of raw desert landscape, with beautiful campgrounds and hiking trails. The small town of Joshua Tree seems intentionally caught in a 1960s time warp and can be almost as fun to visit as the national park.
You can also do Joshua Tree as a day trip from Palm Springs. The park entrance is only 30 minutes from Palm Springs, and many of the park's highlights are accessible to visitors who drive. You can drive from the park's main entrance near the town of Joshua Tree through the park to the other entrance in about two hours. The park's other entrance is near the Cottonwood Visitor's Center and very close to the 10 freeway.
10. Lake Arrowhead
Located high up in the San Bernardino mountains, Lake Arrowhead is only a two-hour drive from San Diego. In the winter, it's a popular spot for skiing - the Snow Valley ski resort is only 30 minutes away, but in the summertime, it's a beautiful, rustic family-friendly getaway destination.
There's a huge lake, of course, along with hundreds of miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. The small town of Lake Arrowhead has a nice selection of hotels, restaurants, shops, and art galleries.
11. Mammoth Lakes
This mainly winter resort destination is high in the Eastern Sierra mountains. It's a day's drive (about eight hours) or a brief flight away. You can fly to Mammoth from San Diego with a connecting flight, or in the winter season, drive about 90 minutes and fly direct from John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County.
In the winter, it's all about snow, and Mammoth gets a lot of it. The Mammoth Mountain ski resort boasts California's highest lift-serviced ski mountain. There are 28 lifts taking you to 150 runs, the longest of which is three miles.
Mammoth is also a great place for a summer getaway. The mountain resort is filled with hiking trails, world-class mountain biking, and some great golf courses. Some of the ski lifts operate, so you can explore higher elevations.
12. Day Trip: Palomar Mountain
The Palomar Mountain is located in the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California, is about an hour drive from San Diego.
Tempting as it may be to play one more poker hand at the wildly popular Indian Casinos in Northern San Diego County, the time usually comes for cutting our losses and closing that gi-normous blackhole in our wallet. The best way to turn our frowns upside down is to shake off the stale loser-funk by sucking up some clean mountain fresh air and starting out with a scenic drive through the Pauma Valley on a crazy curvy road that draws adventure hungry motorcyclists from across the region.
Palomar is home to a world class Observatory and one of SoCal’s best State Parks flush with ample camping and hiking opportunities, off road travel and possibly the best Independence Day views in all of California. Check out the Observatory website for tour times and plan on showing up early to buy tickets from the gift shop. Cameras are totally cool but don’t forget a light jacket because the interior of the dome is always kept at chilly chilly night time temps to protect all of this friggin’ expensive scientific equipment. You can always spend your waitin’ time admiring the outer space displays at the visitor’s center and kicking back at the observatory’s picnic area, or heading a few minutes back down the road to Mother’s Kitchen for a veggie sandwich and an ice cold beer.
Check out the July 4th fireworks from Boucher Hill Summit in Palomar Mountain State Park! The viewing deck right next to the lookout has the same incredible access to views that span the range from Mexico all the way to Palos Verdes and out to Catalina Island which makes this the perfect spot to spend the 4th of July with an outdoorsy front row seat to at least 25 different fireworks displays across Southern California. This is the only night of the year that Park Rangers will leave open the access gate for the road up to the Fire Lookout. If heights don’t scare the bejesus out of you, try visiting the lookout earlier in the day for a crash course in local landmarks so you can impress the family later on that evening with your vast knowledge of SoCal geography. Don’t forget to bring a chair, a cold beverage and stake out a cozy spot on the deck.
There’s plenty of shaded camping throughout the park to sweeten the deal so make reservations up to six months ahead through ReserveAmerica.com and spend a long weekend exploring Palomar. If you’re not camping a day use fee of $20 applies, cash or check only.
Halfway up the Mountain you’ll come across Mother’s Kitchen in an ironic twist on the vegetarian biker hang out. Palomar Mountain just happens to be a favorite day ride for motorcycle enthusiasts of all sorts and one can often spot a bevy of paparazzi lurking along these curvacious mountain roads snapping pics as the bikes race by. If you’re jonesing for a bathroom break or a healthy snack after your Nessy sighting you can share a hummus plate and a bucket of cold beers here so it’s totally worth a stop. There’s also a General Store and a tiny United States Post Office in the same parking lot just in case you need some band aids or a few more Forever Stamps.
Google this badass hermit Nate Harrison’s backstory then check out the original road up the mountain. This unmaintained dirt road is fairly easy but a high clearance vehicle is definitely recommended while it takes you through local orchards and spits you out onto the familiar Pala Road, aka Highway 76.
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