12 Places Every Tourist Should Visit Around San Diego

Are you a tourist looking to visit San Diego, eager to scope out all the exciting and wonderful location the city has to offer? Well, you’re in luck! San Diego is home to a variety of attractions and exhibits that cater to just about every demographic imaginable. Tourists should definitely check out these places!

1. San Diego Zoo

Among the highest quality zoos across all the United States, the San Diego Zoo is a remarkable tourist destination that offers a fun and educational time for all those who visit. It is famously known for being the first to lead the charge on the idea of outside exhibits with no cages for its enclosures. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is also operated here and provides more intimate, up-close experiences with the animals.

2. SeaWorld

The sunny slopes of California always go great alongside a little water to cool down! San Diego’s unique coastal locale has provided this city with the bombastic SeaWorld theme park that’s become a crowd-pleasing hub of entertainment ever since. SeaWorld operates as both a theme park and animal exhibit, with roller coasters and staple ride attractions very near wildlife reserves of marine animals. There’s something for every tourist here at San Diego’s SeaWorld resort, so dive in!

3. Balboa Park

There’s a lot offered at Balboa Park, with local carnivals, seasonal attractions, and pet-centered events that help give the park its well-earned fame. The park’s vast, beautiful scenery is what allows it to host so many events as well as its own features. The number of museums and educational programs are among these features that offer spectacular displays of historical recording and technology.

4. USS Midway Museum

Unlike the myriad of museums you can visit in San Diego, the USS Midway is a historic museum on an aircraft carrier! Located at Navy Pier in Downtown San Diego, the Midway Museum aircraft carrier holds many exhibits that detail and house a large collection of military vehicles. The USS Midway itself was used extensively during the Cold War, giving personality and a sense of militaristic pride to this important carrier.

5. Little Italy

Downtown San Diego is an amazing urban destination but can be plagued with really crowded centers, really dirty scenery, or having virtually nothing exciting to do. Little Italy is a neighborhood in Downtown that doesn’t see much of these problems. It’s numerous amount of Italian eateries and market stops make it a wonderful sight-seeing time for tourists into the urban atmosphere.

6. Coronado Island

Coronado Island is an often overlook blip on the San Diego map when it’s ironically just a bridge away from the heart of Downtown San Diego. For visitors and tourists looking for a quaint and peaceful setting, Coronado Island is meant to be enjoyed for its relaxing beach frontier. Watch passing boats travel around the island, fish off the pier, or lounge around for some lazy recreation.

7. La Jolla Cove

Beaches are no stranger to the coastal city of San Diego, but La Jolla Cove is considered the be among the best the city has to offer. La Jolla Cove is a beautiful seashore home to much natural wildlife that includes seals, barracuda, and sea lions! For more hands-on activities, snorkeling and scuba diving are offered undersea adventures, and kayaking for oversea recreation!

8. Old Town

There’s something quaint and cozy about this little San Diego community. Old Town features a large array of historical attractions and museums. San Diego locals are all too familiar with Old Town as their number one spot for elementary school field trips, so its no stretch to assume tourists will get the same history lessons out of it. There is a ton of history preserved in Old Town museums, chronicled and recorded by so many San Diegans. Don’t miss out on the wild footnotes of our past!

9. Birch Aquarium

The Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (wow, what a mouthful) is an outreach program at the campus of University of California, San Diego. Having many hands-on exhibits, the intimate interaction between fish and guest is unparalleled elsewhere in San Diego. Because it exists on a college campus, the research and findings on marine life are stunningly comprehensive and sure to win over tourists in the area!

10. Liberty Station

A hub of artistic creativity and public entertainment, Liberty Station is a huge hit with tourists for its reputation as an all-in-one attraction center. Liberty Station is a major supporter of the local art scene, bringing in venues and independent artists to form its own creative channels. Art isn’t the only creative venture Liberty Station invests in, as dance performances and theatre dramas are quality staples of this fabulous place.

11. Belmont Park

Not looking for a theme park as high end (and pricey) as SeaWorld or Aquatica? Want something just a bit bigger than your local seasonal fair? Belmont Park is the perfect middle solution for that problem! This delightful amusement park is located in Mission Bay and is among San Diego’s best entertainment centers. Go on roller coasters, walk along the coast, enjoy the delicious beer and food, and even go rock climbing! The possibilities for fun are endless at Belmont Park!

12. Chicano Park

Let’s discuss something quasi-serious here a minute, folks. Barrio Logan isn’t the dangerous, low-income neighborhood it used to be famous for. What has befallen it is something none of us local San Diegans could have imagined: gentrification.

Whatever your view on gentrified neighborhoods, you have to admit, at least the area is safe to venture through. Now that means the famous Chicano Park is back in the running to be among the must-see destination spots for tourists! There is so much cultural heritage on display here, so much Mexican American pride, all of it rendered in beautiful murals and art styles. Don’t let it go to waste!