Lucky D's Hostel

Must see places in San Diego…

BALBOA PARK - Get Directions
45 minute walk or 15 minutes via bus
Balboa Park is a 1,200 acre (4.9 km²) urban cultural park located just north of downtown San Diego, California. The Park is named after the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

Balboa Park’s site was placed in reserve in 1835, and so is one of the oldest sites in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. Besides open space areas and natural vegetation green belts, it contains a variety of cultural attractions including many museums, theaters, gardens, shops and restaurants, as well as the world famous San Diego Zoo.

CORONADO BRIDGE - Get Directions
15 minute walk (to Embarcadero Park)
Visible from Embarcadero Park on the bay front. The San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, locally referred to as the Coronado Bridge, is a “prestressed concrete/steel” girder bridge, crossing over San Diego Bay, linking San Diego with Coronado, California.

The 2.12-mile (11,179-foot) long bridge interchanges with Interstate 5 in San Diego and becomes Route 75 in Coronado. With a vertical clearance of approximately 200 feet, the tallest ships can easily pass beneath it.

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Get Directions
60 minute walk or 30 minutes via bus
The 100-acre (40-hectare) San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, located just north of downtown San Diego, is one of the largest and most progressive zoos in the world, with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species, and a prominent botanical collection with more than 700,000 exotic plants.

It is also one of the few zoos in the world that houses the giant panda! A must see while staying in San Diego. Lucky D’s also offers discounted prices on tickets!

SAN DIEGO ZOO SAFARI PARK - Get Directions
120 minutes via bus or 60 minutes via car
Formerly known as the San Diego Wild Animal Park, is a zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in San Diego County. The Park houses a large array of wild and endangered animals including species from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. The park is in a semi-arid environment and one of its most notable features is the Journey into Africa tram which explores the expansive African exhibits. These free-range enclosures house such animals as cheetahs, antelopes, lions, giraffes, okapis, elephants, zebras, Przewalski’s horses, rhinos, and bonobos. The park is also noted for its California condor breeding program, the most successful such program in the United States.

BELMONT PARK - Get Directions
55 minutes via bus
Sure to please kids of all ages, Belmont Park is located on the surf and sand in Mission Beach and offers free parking and free park admission. Visitors can enjoy traditional and contemporary amusement park rides, ride the waves at Wave House, play mini golf, arcade and midway style games, shop and enjoy a wide array of cuisine throughout the Park which includes beachfront restaurants as well as food court style dining.

SEAWORLD SAN DIEGO - Get Directions
70 minutes from hostel via bus
Where can you look a shark in the eye and live to tell the tale? Only at SeaWorld San Diego! One of California’s premier family vacation and travel destinations, SeaWorld features some fabulous aquatic shows, amusements, and other adventures. No wonder both kids and adults love this place—it’s educational as well as profoundly entertaining.

SUNSET CLIFFS - Get Directions
60 minutes via bus and a short walk
The perfect way to end a San Diego day. Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is a public shoreline park which includes the entire strip of land immediately adjacent to the ocean, as well as a larger area of undeveloped park and nature preserve on the south side of the area. There are surfing spots below the cliffs and the cliffside trails are popular for walking and for watching the sunset.

A bus trip from the hostel to Ocean Beach followed by a casual stroll will lead you to intricately carved coastal bluffs, arches and sea caves. It affords inspiring panoramic ocean views. From the cliffs, the California Gray Whale can be seen migrating annually from the Bering Sea to Baja California.

Don’t forget to check what time the sun will set!

LA JOLLA - Get Directions
90 minutes via bus
Since the 1880’s, La Jolla has been a favorite vacation destination. Fine dining restaurants perched atop La Jolla’s jagged cliffs. Boutique-lined streets, gemmed with art, gifts, and other shopping destinations. Indulgent soft sand beaches, with year-round vacation sunshine and the Pacific Ocean’s watercolor sunsets. From the village to the cove, La Jolla truly is the jewel of Southern California.

THE GASLAMP QUARTER - Get Directions
Just three blocks away
A 16½ block historical neighborhood in downtown San Diego. Its main period of development began in 1867, when Alonzo Horton bought the land in hopes of creating a new city center closer to the bay, and chose 5th Avenue as its main street.

The Gaslamp Quarter has successfully transformed into a premier shopping, dining and entertainment district.  With over 200 restaurants, bars, nightclubs and lounges, and countless boutiques, art galleries and shops to peruse, the Gaslamp has established itself both as the playground of hip, eclectic San Diegans and as an elite urban destination. 

CORONADO ISLAND - Get Directions
30 minutes via bus
Just two miles from downtown San Diego, across one of the world’s most distinctive bridges, is Coronado Island - a world away. With one of the finest beaches in the world, bathed in endless sunshine and rich in history, Coronado is a vibrant beach community loaded with charm.

Coronado’s flat white sand beach has family-friendly surf and postcard sunsets framed by the picturesque silhouette of the Point Loma headland. Coronado Beach is consistently rated one of the best beaches in the world. In addition to the beaches, there is the bayside district with breathtaking views of the San Diego skyline and bustling water sport activity.

PACIFIC BEACH - Get Directions
40 minutes via bus
Pacific Beach, with its endless boardwalk (three miles from here to the Mission Bay Harbor Channel) and funky beach bars, is a favorite haunt of college students and young adults living the California Dream. The heavily trafficked boardwalk is a fascinating exhibition of contemporary style and beach culture. Tattooed skateboarders rub elbows with study-weary grad students as bronzed beauties cycle past in bikinis.

From the Crystal Pier to Pacific Beach Drive, PB offers regular lifeguard service, bathrooms and pockets of dedicated parking at Grand Avenue and PB Drive. You can find anything from bicycle rentals to biker bars along the coast here, and more of the same as you head inland up Garnet Avenue for many blocks. Swimming and surfing are segregated throughout P.B., the latter being mediocre here at best. There’s always a party on the beach and on the boardwalk, especially on any sunny summer afternoon.

CABRILLO NATIONAL MONUMENT - Get Directions
60 minutes via bus

Climbing out of his boat and onto shore in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stepped into history as the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States. In addition to telling the story of 16th century exploration, the park is home to a wealth of cultural and natural resources.

It also offers a view of San Diego’s harbor and skyline, as well as Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island. On clear days, a wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Tijuana, and Mexico’s Coronado Islands are also visible.

At the highest point of the park stands the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, which has been a San Diego icon since 1854. The lighthouse was closed in 1891, and a new one opened at a lower elevation, because fog and low clouds often obscured the light at its location 129 meters (422 feet) above sea level.

OLD TOWN - Get Directions
40 minutes via trolley
Step back in time into a colorful world of fun and entertainment in beautiful Historic Old Town San Diego, the Birthplace of California where the first Europeans settled. Around every corner there is more history waiting for you. The finest in professional theatre, artisans, galleries and shops are all within easy walking distance with free live entertainment, mariachis, dancers, period attire docents providing tours and more.

Old Town San Diego is nestled in heart of San Diego, with more than 150 shops, award-winning restaurants, 17 museums, and historical sites. Old Town is just a short walk from the San Diego Trolley Transit Center and a short drive from most San Diego destinations.

TORREY PINES NATURAL RESERVE - Get Directions
90 minutes via bus
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is located within San Diego city limits and yet remains one of the wildest stretches of land on our Southern California coast! Because of the efforts and foresight of the people in this area, 2000 acres of land are as they were before San Diego was developed -with the chaparral plant community, the rare and elegant Torrey pine trees, miles of unspoiled beaches, and a lagoon that is vital to migrating seabirds. One can imagine what California must have looked like to the early settlers, or to the Spanish explorers, or even to the first California residents here, the Kumeyaay people. There are 8 miles of trails, a visitor center, and guided nature walks on weekends and holidays.

BIRCH AQUARIUM - Get Directions
60 minutes via bus
Birch Aquarium at Scripps is the public exploration center for the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the aquarium features more than 60 habitats of fishes and invertebrates from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico and beyond. An interactive museum showcases research discoveries by Scripps scientists on climate, earth and ocean science.

SEAPORT VILLAGE - Get Directions
22 minute walk
A 14 acre waterfront shopping, dining and entertainment complex recreating a harbor side setting of a century ago. Includes 54 one of a kind shops, 13 casual dining eateries, 4 fine dining waterfront restaurants. Opened in 1980.

A monthly calendar features live musical entertainment including blues, jazz, country and swing. A talented cast of street performers and artisans—caricaturists,face painters, balloon sculptors, oriental brush art—complete the line up. 1895 Antique carousel with hand carved animals by Charles Loof.

TIJUANA, MEXICO - Get Directions
45 minutes via trolley
Located right across the border from San Diego, California, USA. Tijuana has a population of around 1.2 million people according to the last census, although it is believed that the number is now closer to three million. The city has grown from a small border town with a salacious reputation during the Prohibition Era in the United States into a large, modern city with a sizable middle class.

Its proximity to the United States has made it a very popular tourist destination, especially for day-trippers from San Diego.

Spanish is the dominant language in Tijuana, as it is in much of Mexico. However, English is spoken by almost everybody in the city’s tourist hot spots (such as Avenida Revolución), as well as by taxi drivers and the Americans who live in the city. Having someone with you who can speak Spanish will be helpful when going away from Avenida Revolución.

Most tourists enter Tijuana through the border crossing at San Ysidro, which is reportedly the busiest border crossing in the world. The crossing can be made by car, bus, bicycle, or on foot.