3-Day Weekend Girls Trip to San Diego, CA

When the weather gets cold at home here in Seattle, my friends and I love to travel to warmer climates and have some fun. This November we traveled to Pacific Beach in San Diego, California for a 3-day weekend girls trip to enjoy the sunny southern Cali coast and all the amenities this town has to offer. San Diego, often known as the birthplace of California, has beautiful mild year-round weather and is packed full of cultural significance from Old Town, to Little Italy, and more. As well as being home to beautiful beaches, San Diego is home to a dynamic food and beverage scene and incredible nightlife. Everything you could want for a short getaway with your friends you can find in San Diego. Here is a look at our 3-day weekend girls trip to San Diego, California!

Day 1 – Travel to San Diego, Lunch at Pacific Beach Alehouse, Shops at Pacific Beach, Bars at Pacific Beach, Dinner at the Tavern, Dessert at The Baked Bear

Our first day started with an early flight from Seattle to San Diego – it is only a 2 hour flight, so we arrived and were ready for our day by 10:30am! We stated at See the Sea, right on Garnet Ave in Pacific Beach. There are tons of bars, restaurants, and shops in this area, it is a great location if you want a fun party scene! It was also only about 20 minutes or less to most locations in San Diego.

After getting to our condo, we took a beautiful walk along Pacific Beach and enjoyed lunch at Pacific Beach Alehouse. You can sample $2 beer tasters as well as some tasty cocktails. Try the Cortez Chicken flatbread and the Fish Tacos (the bean and corn side is amazing)!

The rest of the day was spent shopping and bar hopping along Garnet Ave in Pacific Beach. There are just so many places along here! We had drinks at Bare Back Grill (try the Vodka drink – the fresh strawberries are YUM) and got pedicures just down the street. We ended up having appetizers and drinks for dinner at the Tavern. Since it was Thursday we watched Thursday night football at the bar – it was a great place to watch the game and have drinks! Our fav app was definitely the nacho fries. For dessert, there’s a great little sweet shop called the Baked Bear – you create your own ice cream sandwich – everything from the cookie to the ice cream is completely customization!

Day 2 – Brunch at Breakfast Republic, Parasailing with San Diego Parasailing Adventures, Exploring Old Town, Shops & Dinner at Casa de Reyes

Friday morning began with an amazing brunch at Breakfast Republic. Everything looked amazing. Everything tasted amazing. The Jurassic Bloody Mary is topped with candied bacon (YUM) and you can order a mimosa bucket with a whole bottle of champagne!

Next we headed out to San Diego Parasailing adventures to enjoy some fun out in the water. This was such a fun way to kick off the weekend!

After some quick freshening up at the condo, we headed to Old Town to enjoy the rest of the evening. San Diego was originally centered on the Old Town district, established in 1769 as he site of the first European settlement in California, until it shifted to the “New Town” or present-day downtown-waterfront location in the late 1860s. We spent most of our time at Casa de Reyes, an outdoor Mexican restaurant located in a beautiful Spanish style courtyard. It is surrounded by tons of small shops right in the middle of this historic area. Awesome Hot Sauce was one of our favorites, with samples of every variety to try, we all found several we enjoyed and purchased to bring home. Our other favorite was a cute toy store called Gepetto’s, which was full of nostalgic and new toys alike, which made for a great place to look for something for our kids.

Dinner and drinks here were so fun! The food was excellent – we spent a couple hours here enjoying the atmosphere – a mariachi band even took the stage! Try the Mar Y Tierra with crab stuffed bacon wrapped shrimp and the Margarita de Corona.

Day 3 – Little Italy & Little Italy Mercato, Lunch at Napizza, Shops at Seaport Village, Dinner at Edgewater Grill, Gaslamp Quarter, Trailer Park After Dark

San Diego’s most dynamic food and drink scene is located in Little Italy. The Piazza della Famiglia is a 10,000 square foot plaza featuring a large tiled fountain and is the central gathering point of Little Italy. Just a few feet from the plaza is the Little Italy Food Hall with food, drinks, and deserts to showcase the local fare – but there are tons of delicious foods throughout this food-centric district, including some of the best pizza I have ever had at Napizza. The porcini mushroom was super decadent! You will also see Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in this are. Known for guiding fisherman to safety since it was established in 1925, it is now the center of spiritual, social and cultural life in Little Italy. 

Saturdays in Little Italy are home to the Little Italy Mercato – from 8am to 2pm over 200 tents line W. Date Street from Kettner Boulevard to Front Street. From food to shops to local delights, this is a market not to be missed! Our favorite vendors included San Diego hats, Urban Octopus shirts, and La Luz jewelry.

After lunch and shopping in Little Italy, we walked down to Seaport Village at the Waterfront. The walk was a great way to see downtown San Diego – along the Waterfront we saw even saw some huge ships!

Seaport Village offers over 50 shops and restaurants and often hosts fun outdoor entertainment. We had a nice sit down dinner at the Edgewater Grill where we enjoyed some appetizers and drinks and a beautiful view of the water at sunset.

Drinks at the Gaslamp Quarter was next on the agenda. This 16 square-block district in downtown San Diego combines Victorian-era buildings and modern skyscrapers side by side, with over 100 of the city’s best shops, nightclubs, pubs and restaurants in one awesome location. How the area gets its name is quite interesting. When this “New Town” was established, the city installed about 50 Gas Lamp Street lights in order to light up this new, much more modern than the old Spanish “Old Town” part of the town. Over the years as the city grew, the signature Gas Lamp Street lights remained, giving the area its name. Our first stop here was for Gelato at the Chocolate Cremerie – the toffee flavor was amazing!

With so many restaurants, pubs and nightclubs to choose from, it was hard to decide where to go! But once we found Trailer Park After Dark, it was an easy sale. Located in a basement, once inside you’ll see full size trailers that you can actually sit in – one even has the iconic leg lamp from A Christmas Story! Beer is served in a paper bag, cocktails have hilarious names, the chairs at the bar are actual grocery carts and the ceiling is lined in solo cups and light fixtures are… garbage cans! They play old school videos on the TVs and old school music in the background. Our favorite drink was the John Daly with sweet tea vodka. I only wish this place was located close to home so I could go back again soon!

Day 4 – Breakfast at Crushed, Travel home

A quick and simple lunch at Crushed ended the trip before we flew home. The food was good – though regrettably we couldn’t end the trip with a last drink because they don’t serve alcohol until 10am. Technically it is a 4-day trip but I never count the travel home day 😉

Until next time San Diego!

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