Best Cruises in San Diego

By <a href="#author-bio">Stuart Bak</a>
By Stuart Bak
Published: July 18, 2024
Woman looking across the water towards San Diego's skyline

San Diego Bay is second to none when it comes to world-class beaches, shops, restaurants and entertainment, not to mention those swoonsome sunsets so typical of the SoCal coastline. You might find yourself hiking the pine-scented bluffs of La Jolla, diving kelp forests at Point Loma, fishing for herring from the historic Ocean Beach Pier, sipping craft beer on the Mission Bay boardwalk, or toasting s’mores at sundown on lively Pacific Beach. But there’s just as much fun to be had on the water, with sport and snorkeling activities aplenty as well as plenty of opportunities to go exploring and whale-watching by boat. Read on for our guide to making the best of the Bay (and beyond) with our pick of the best cruises in San Diego…

The Harbor Cruise

San Diego's Seaport Village

The classic harbor cruise is a must-do for newbies, as essential a San Diego activity as experiencing the Gaslamp Quarter nightlife, saying hey to the La Jolla seals, or ogling Monet masterpieces in the San Diego Museum of Art. Here’s your chance to kick back, relax and let the crew do the sightseeing for you. Landmarks you’ll spot along the way include Seaport Village (pictured), Coronado Island, the Cabrillo National Monument, and the Old Point Loma Lighthouse on the tip of the peninsula. Crew will also be on hand to serve drinks and point out any native marine life along the way. The San Diego Harbor cruise can be booked via a variety of different operators – the 90-minute City Cruises experience is one of the best and is available as part of the money-saving San Diego attraction pass from Go City. Get more info on pass options here.

The Whale-Watching Cruise

A gray whale's tail

If viewing whales and dolphins in their natural habitat is on your bucket list, you’ve come to the right place. San Diego’s balmy waters are prime territory for marine mammals: gray whales cruise through the bay en route to and from Mexico’s calving lagoons in winter and spring, while blues cruise the same aquatic highway in summer. Pods of dolphins and colonies of harbor seals mean you rarely have to wait long before some sort of sighting. 

Boat tours depart daily from Downtown and Mission Bay, with many guaranteeing a refund in the unlikely event you do fail to set eyes on any of our splendid sea-faring friends.

The Speed Boat Cruise

Speed boats in San Diego

Take it up a notch (or seven) on a speed boat adventure across San Diego Bay. Ok, so this one is less a cruise and more of a white-knuckle ride (depending on who’s doing the driving, of course). Just pick up your 13-foot, two-person cruiser and, well, the Bay is your oyster. Maybe you’ll cruise over for close-up views of the USS Midway aircraft museum, or meander down to admire the curvaceous Coronado Bridge, a 200-meter engineering masterpiece in concrete and steel that links Coronado Island to the mainland. Or, y’know, you can just spend the whole time doing donuts in the harbor. The choice is yours. Speed boat hire is also available as part of the Go City San Diego pass.

The Coronado Ferry Cruise

Woman in a summer dress in front of Coronado Island's iconic Hotel del Coronado

The cute old-fashioned ferry that chugs across the bay from San Diego to Coronado Island is hands-down the most romantic way to travel between the two. Hop aboard at Broadway Pier (every hour) or San Diego Convention Center (every half-hour) to reach the island in just a few short minutes. There’s plenty to do once on the island, too, from selfies at the iconic Hotel del Coronado (pictured) to farmers’ markets, coastal cycling adventures, and firepit s’mores on the beach. Check out our guide to all things Coronado here.

The Amphibious Cruise

Street sign over the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego

San Diego SEAL Tours offers the best of both sightseeing worlds thanks to its amphibious ‘boats with wheels’. Board at Seaport Village or the Embarcadero for a 100-minute narrated tour that takes you on one of San Diego’s best ‘cruises’ first through the scenic streets of downtown San Diego then into the water. Transformation from bus to boat complete, the tour continues to sights including the millionaire mansions at Point Loma, Shelter Island, and the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The Foodie Cruise

Bottle of bubbly and two glasses on a boat

Everybody knows serious sightseeing can be hungry work. What better way to acknowledge this than by booking one of San Diego’s top brunch or dinner cruises? Again, there are loads of different operators to pick from, but City Cruises are among the most reputable locally. Get your sea legs on for a two-hour brunch/sightseeing experience that includes pastries, eggs, smoked salmon and more, plus unlimited mimosas during the two-hour cruise. Or, if you prefer to wait until the sun’s over the yardarm, opt for a dinner cruise that promises cocktails, a la carte dining, live DJs and swoonsome views of the San Diego skyline at sunset.

The Gondola Cruise

The Coronado Bridge at sunset

Like your cruise experiences a little more… quirky? San Diego Gondola Cruises has just the thing for you! As the name suggests, this experience brings a little slice of Venice to Southern California, with your choice of daytime or sunset cruises of the Coronado Cays aboard a Venetian-style gondola. The ride comes complete with stripy-shirted gondolier, traditional Italian music, and (for an extra charge) a real-life mandolin player. You can even add wine and truffles to the 50-minute experience. Who said romance is dead?

The Fishing Cruise

Deep-sea fishing reel

The waters around San Diego are rich in sea bass, rock fish, halibut, yellowtail and more. Why else did you think so many dolphins, seals and gulls hang out along the coastline here? There’s a wide range of fishing charters available, from half-day local forays into the harbor and kelp fields to epic voyages into Mexican waters for prized game including dorado and bluefin tuna. Check out the plethora of local operators to find the trip that best suits your skill level and preferred catches.

Save on Tours, Attractions and Activities in San Diego

Save on admission to San Diego attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.

Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
Freelance travel writer

Stu caught the travel bug at an early age, thanks to childhood road trips to the south of France squeezed into the back of a Ford Cortina with two brothers and a Sony Walkman. Now a freelance writer living on the Norfolk coast, Stu has produced content for travel giants including Frommer’s, British Airways, Expedia, Mr & Mrs Smith, and now Go City. His most memorable travel experiences include drinking kava with the locals in Fiji and pranging a taxi driver’s car in the Honduran capital.

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The pier at Ocean Beach, San Diego
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Things to do in Ocean Beach San Diego

Antique shops rub shoulders with surf boutiques, organic grocery stores and tempting taquerias in bohemian Ocean Beach, a buzzing neighborhood at the estuary of the San Diego River, around 10 kilometers from downtown. The broad sun-kissed strip of golden SoCal sand draws surfers and sunbathers from near and far while the neighborhood’s historic streets play host to markets and festivals throughout the year. Read on for our pick of the best things to do in Ocean Beach San Diego. Paint the Town Laidback Ocean Beach revels in its reputation as San Diego’s hippy chic hangout. There’s a real community feel to this welcoming neighborhood: stroll palm-lined Newport Avenue and you’ll soon see what we mean. This is also the place to find unusual souvenirs of your trip. Head to French-themed antique store Vignettes for vintage Chanel and Tiffany jewelry, beautiful art prints from Paris and unique Victorian and Edwardian engagement rings. Track down that elusive Pearl Jam LP in hip Cow Records and pick up preloved vintage fashions and other collectible knick-knacks in the boho Humble Heart thrift stores. There are also several tattoo parlors, should you be in the market for a truly indelible souvenir of your trip. Newport Avenue bursts into life every Wednesday when the popular Ocean Beach Farmers Market rolls into town. Wander among more than 100 stalls soaking up the community vibe and live music, and breathing in the heady aromas of sizzling burgers, fresh flowers, handmade soaps and more from local producers. Pick up a canvas tote bag adorned with the market’s colorful logo and stuff it full of goodies to take home: the freshly baked breads and homemade desserts here are to die for. Afterwards, sample San Diego’s legendary craft beers in one of the avenue’s sociable taprooms. Close to the seafront, Ocean Beach Brewery serves up house ales, lagers and porters alongside tacos, burgers, salads and bar games, with a side order of sensational sea views from its third-story rooftop terrace. Further back along the drag, Kilowatt Brewing offers an eclectic selection of small batch beers amid several works of black light art and – in a nod to the brewery’s name – cool, color-changing LED lighting. If wine is more your bag, the nearby Gianni Buomo Vintners has you covered – take a tour of the winery and sample a flight of six great wines, some from California. You can also, should the mood take you, grab a coffee to go and take a gentle stroll around the neighborhood, noting the colorful painted murals and historic buildings including the old Strand Theater and the Bank of Italy – both around 100 years old – along the way. Life’s a Beach Ocean Beach’s tempting stretch of blonde sand and rolling waves make it a firm favorite with surfers. Pros and novices flock here and to other nearby surf spots every summer. Watch them turn 360s and wipe out from the comfort of your lounger or get involved with popular beach sports including volleyball and over-the-line. Wander the 600-meter length of Ocean Beach Pier, the longest concrete pier on the West Coast. On any given day you’ll be sure to see young couples taking selfies against the famous California sunset and dozens of anglers fishing for herring, no doubt with a couple of hopeful-looking pelicans hanging out nearby. Look out for sleek native harbor seals ducking and diving in the fish-rich waters below. When the tide goes out, vast beds of rock and kelp emerge beneath the pier. Kids can take a well-earned break from sandcastle-building duties to forage in the exposed tidepools, discovering hermit crabs, anemones, prickly sea urchins and maybe even an occasional sea star. At the top of the beach by the mouth of the San Diego River, Dog Beach provides amazing off-the-leash fun for your four-legged friend. Here, dogs of all shapes and sizes frolic freely in the sand and surf and mingle with like-minded canines. Note that owning a dog is not a prerequisite to visit this pretty stretch of beach; you’re equally welcome if you simply wish to fill your heart with joy at the sight of all those doggos living their best lives. Attractions Near Ocean Beach Ocean Beach’s location just north of Point Loma means easy access to attractions along the peninsula. Hire a bike and take a ride down Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to Sunset Cliffs Natural Park where – as the name suggests – you can expect stunning sunsets from atop rugged cliffs. Adventurers will relish the chance to scramble down to the Sunset Cliffs Cave at low tide, but be prepared to get wet! To reach this geological marvel – a huge open-ceiling sea cave – head to Luscomb Point and take the steps down to the bottom. You’ll have to cross rocks and wade through some shallow water to reach the cave from here but, boy, is it worth it. Towards the tip of the peninsula, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse is a historic landmark that lies a mere 20-minute drive south from Ocean Beach. Erected in 1855, the lighthouse marks the highest point within the Cabrillo National Monument park. Visitors can take a look around inside and may occasionally be startled by volunteers in period costume, there to reenact key moments from the lighthouse’s storied history. The lighthouse tower is open only twice a year: on August 25 and November 15. Like Sunset Cliffs, the lighthouse is a great place for filling your Instagram feed with humblebrag snaps of the sun setting over the ocean. It’s also pretty good for spotting whales between December and April, when gray whales migrate en masse from Alaska to the warm calving grounds of Baja’s lagoons. Dedicated whale-spotters may even be lucky enough to see mothers swimming with their calves in late April and early May, as they set out on their long journey back to the Arctic. Save on things to do in Ocean Beach San Diego Save on admission to San Diego attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
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A beach at sunset in La Jolla, San Diego
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Where To Stay in San Diego

Sunny San Diego is made up of a series of neighborhood villages, each with its own distinct personality and stacks of different things to see and do. But where to stay in this often bewildering landscape of canyons, mesas and golden California sands? Surfers and divers could do worse than La Jolla, with its easy access to rolling waves and underwater kelp forests. Bringing the kids? You’ll love the laid back family vibe of Ocean Beach and Coronado. If you’re just looking for some of that legendary San Diego nightlife, that’d be the Gaslamp Quarter and hip nearby neighborhoods of Hillcrest and North Park. Still not sure? Read on for our mini guide to where to stay in San Diego. Best for First Timers San Diego’s atmospheric Old Town is an intoxicating hybrid of Mexican, Spanish and American culture. Here, in the birthplace of California, first timers can truly immerse themselves in the city’s heritage. It’s a place where palm-lined streets are crammed with colorful shops and restaurants inside restored adobe buildings and there are more fab museums, galleries and – gulp – haunted houses than you can shake a very large stick at. Visit the notorious Whaley House Museum, once described by LIFE magazine as ‘the most haunted house in America’ and scare yourself silly on one of their spooky evening tours – if you dare. The nearby Old Town San Diego State National Park contains many more original and reconstructed 19th-century buildings including the old courthouse and restored Cosmopolitan Hotel. It’s a real slice of the Old West, with regular living history demonstrations and a colorful Mexican market housing independent boutiques, artisan souvenirs and, of course, plenty of lip-smackingly authentic taquerias. All of which makes the Old Town a fantastic choice for first-time visitors to San Diego. Couple that with easy access to Downtown, Mission Bay and historic Mission Valley, home to the Insta-perfect Mission San Diego de Alcalá (the sugar-white 18th-century church that gives the region its name), and you have all the ingredients for the perfect introduction to America’s Finest City. Best for Seeing it All Perched on the San Diego Bay, the Downtown neighborhood is the location for you if it’s fine restaurants, the best nightlife and easy access to the city’s bucket-list attractions that float your boat. Head to the waterfront Embarcadero for sport fishing, seal-spotting, sensational seafood and sweeping sunset views of Coronado, and get your fix of pizza and pasta in Little Italy, with its cobbled piazza, ornate tiled fountain and traditional trattorias. Sample some of San Diego’s famously excellent craft beers in the Gaslamp Quarter’s atmospheric dive bars or shake it up with rooftop cocktails and live music here in the city’s nightlife mecca. If you’re planning on seeing the Padres in action or spending a lot of time in Balboa Park (and let’s face it, why wouldn’t you?) Downtown is the place to stay. The Padres’ huge home stadium also puts on major concerts and has hosted such household names as Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney in recent years. Balboa Park is San Diego’s vast green lung. Walkable from Downtown, it also happens to contain some of the city’s biggest attractions, including – deep breath – San Diego Zoo, the Fleet Museum of Science, a Japanese Friendship Garden, the San Diego Museum of Art and an old-fashioned carousel. And that barely scratches the surface. Sun worshippers take note: while San Diego Bay is renowned for its views across the water it is less esteemed for its beaches. Because, well, there aren’t any. Fear not though: Ocean Beach, La Jolla and Pacific Beach are within your grasp thanks to Downtown’s proliferation of cabs and other easy transport links. Best for Families and Beach Lovers Sunny days that number well above the national average, a laid back SoCal vibe and some of the best beaches on the West Coast make San Diego a great choice for family vacations. South of the San Diego River, hippy-dippy Ocean Beach has a lovely community vibe. It’s packed with cute taquerias and boho boutiques and there’s a weekly market with live music and great street food. Not to mention that all-important stretch of sun-kissed California sand, where surfers ride the gently rolling waves, pelicans dive-bomb the herring-rich waters for their dinner and kids hunt for crabs and anemones in exposed tide pools beneath the epic, 600-meter Ocean Beach Pier. There’s even a dedicated dog beach here where your four-legged friends can frolic happily in the surf and sand with their doggo pals. Head over the river to Mission Bay for SeaWorld San Diego, where there are enough thrill rides and sea creatures to keep even the most jaded teen entertained for a day or more. Across the bay, Coronado’s landmark hotel is a tourist attraction in itself. The Hotel del Coronado is a San Diego institution (haunted, of course) that has been hosting US presidents, household-name celebs (you’ve heard of Marilyn Monroe and Sly Stallone, right?) and royalty since the 19th Century. Its turrets are even said to have inspired resident writer L. Frank Baum’s Emerald City in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Families build sandcastles along the fine stretch of golden sand in front of ‘The Del’, go paddle-boarding in the lagoon and gorge on firepit s’mores at sunset. Around 12 miles north of Downtown San Diego, La Jolla is an absolute playground for outdoor types. Set in pine-scented hills along seven miles of coastline, it scratches your surfing, sunbathing, sea-swimming and seal-spotting itches all in one go. Here’s where you can find native harbor seals basking in their dozens at Children’s Pool; spot dolphins and migrating whales from high in the bluffs of wildflower-rich Torrey Pines Nature Reserve; and scuba-dive among the green tendrils of La Jolla Cove’s vast kelp forests. Or get your sea-critter fix at the Scripps Aquarium where you can meet leopard sharks, loggerhead sea turtles and a giant Pacific octopus without even getting wet! La Jolla also boasts fine dining and boutique shopping galore in its village, a world-class clifftop golf course and some of the best outdoor art in the city. It’s also well-placed for day trips to family favorites just north of the city, including LEGOLAND California and the sprawling 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Best for Hip Young Things Hip with a dollop of history might be the best way of describing Hillcrest and North Park, the alluring uptown neighborhoods that hug the north end of Balboa Park. Hillcrest is the heart of San Diego’s thriving LGBTQ+ community, its streets brimming with lively gay bars and cool brunch spots. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hillcrest also provides the hub for the annual Pride festival. Each July, thousands of revelers from around the globe descend on its leafy avenues, here for the legendary Parade, huge music festival in Balboa Park and – in some cases at least – the 5k fun run. Like its neighbor North Park, Hillcrest is famed for its fine 1920s Crafstmen’s houses – simple dwellings that date to the 1920s Arts and Crafts movement – as well as being one of the jewels in San Diego’s craft ale crown thanks to the likes of the Hillcrest Brewing Company, self-styled ‘first gay brewery in the world’. North Park’s charming jumble of colorful street art, microbreweries and 1920s style earned it a place in Forbes’ 2012 list of America’s finest hipster ‘hoods, in which it was praised for its creativity and cultural diversity. And you don’t have to wander far in this art lovin’ beer drinkers’ paradise to see what they mean. There’s around a dozen local microbreweries within two or three blocks around University Avenue and 30th. Look out for the Belching Beaver Brewery, right next to the famously Instagrammable Greetings from San Diego mural, and the Fall Brewing Company, with their excellent hazy IPAs and beloved Humpty Dumpty mascot. Save on things to do in San Diego Save on admission to San Diego attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak

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