Souvenirs to Bring Back from San Diego

One of our favorite things about coming back from a vacation is sorting through all of the new treasures you’ve brought back from your adventures. Souvenirs are one of the most important ways we recall our travels, with each item evoking important and beloved memories about the trip.

UPDATED AUGUST 2024
By Katie Sagal
San Diego souvenirs

With that in mind, it’s probably a good idea to make smart choices when buying souvenirs and to choose things that you’ll value for years to come. For those traveling to San Diego and looking for top places to buy souvenirs, we’ve put together this guide. They can be found all across the city, of course, but here are some suggestions for the best places to acquire those all-important mementos.

San Diego Zoo souvenirs

San Diego zoo

Zoos are among our favorite places to buy souvenirs in any destination, and the San Diego Zoo offers an especially promising series of gift shops – ten of them! If you’re traveling with the kids, then you’re going to want to set aside a bit of time to scope out the San Diego Zoo Kids Store. This shop features a wide selection of apparel, toys, books, miscellaneous odds and ends, and of course, the beloved plush animals. It’s so well regarded that it’s been Zagat-rated.

Other intriguing options for places to buy San Diego souvenirs at the Zoo include the Zootique, which offers a more high-end selection of fashion, jewelry, gourmet foods, and handcrafted gifts. There are also a few animal-specific shops, including Sydney’s Shoppe (koala-themed items), Arctic Trader (polar bear-focused), and the self-explanatory Panda Shop.

Their sister attraction, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, also sells top-notch souvenirs.

SeaWorld San Diego souvenirs

aerial-view-seaworld-marine-life-theme

A similarly exciting option for souvenirs is SeaWorld San Diego. Boasting dozens of engaging exhibits with a conservational focus, SeaWorld is more than its exhilarating rides and attractions. As a result, their souvenirs have a significant educational bent, with plenty of toys, games, and books available for visitors of all ages.

The SeaWorld Store boasts the widest selection of gifts, toys, collectibles, and other souvenirs. There are also stores with a specific focus on turtles, whales, penguins, sharks, and more. Some stores are only open in the summer, so be aware of this when planning your souvenir shopping.

USS Midway Museum souvenirs

uss-midway-san-diego

For fans of military history or those with an avid interest in the American past, the USS Midway Museum is one of the top places to buy souvenirs in the entire city. The museum boasts the eclectic Jet Shop, a gift shop filled with U.S. Navy and USS Midway apparel, educational books and toys, special memorabilia, and plenty of San Diego-specific souvenirs.

If you enjoyed your tour of the ship, you can also purchase a souvenir photo taken as you enter the ship. Choose from a variety of backgrounds!

LEGOLAND® California

legoland-california

While it might seem like you can get LEGOs at any regular toy shop, there’s something special about the LEGO set or character that you get straight from the source. Our favorite toy-themed amusement park, LEGOLAND® California offers the best in LEGO entertainment for your little ones.

As far as souvenir shopping goes, you can find uniquely themed venues that focus on different areas of the park, including stores specific to Heartlake City and the LEGO Movie. In addition to their regular gift and souvenir shops, you can trade LEGO minifigures at various locations throughout the park. During special seasonal events, you can get minifigures here that you can’t find elsewhere!

The San Diego Natural History Museum

natural-history-museum-san-diego-california

This museum is a smart choice for educational San Diego souvenirs. The Alex and Elizabeth Wise Museum Store at the San Diego Natural History Museum features a wide selection of gifts, books, toys, and stationery. Among many other eclectic offerings, the store also includes items specific to popular exhibitions (like dinosaur-themed items correlating to Fossil Mysteries).

Souvenir-hunters will also appreciate distinctive items like original botanical artwork and a line of sustainable products. A similar institution that offers the same kind of souvenirs, albeit with a different selection, is the Fleet Science Center.

San Diego Air and Space Museum souvenirs

Air and Space museum

Museums are pretty reliably good places to souvenir shop, especially because their offerings are usually distinctive and often unique to their location. The San Diego Air and Space Museum is no exception to this rule. This museum is a perfect destination for those shopping for space enthusiasts or anything with a love of all things aviation.

A brief survey of their products includes apparel, toys, books, collectibles, puzzles, stickers, and more. If you’re searching for something a little more outside the box or unique, you can also find plaques autographed by astronauts, airplane models, and space food (including everyone’s favorite, astronaut ice cream).

San Diego Museum of Art souvenirs

For culture lovers, the San Diego Museum of Art offers plenty of artistic souvenirs that can’t be found in other places around the city. These unique products are often crafted specifically for this museum and/or the special exhibition they accompany, too. For example, you can find art prints of paintings that the San Diego Museum of Art holds—paintings that exist nowhere else in the world. You’ll also find exhibition guides and coffee table books, distinctive apparel like silk-printed scarves, and hand-made puzzles and toys.

San Diego museum of art

The museum offers two stores: the regular Museum Store where you can find the prints and sundries, and the Bibliotheque, which sells gifts with a focus on San Diego’s prominent cultural interests: art, sports, and beer. Both of these shops are a sure bet for unique San Diego souvenirs. For more artsy souvenirs, check out the Museum of Contemporary Art (Downtown).

South Coast Plaza souvenirs

For the shopaholics out there, South Coast Plaza boasts over 250 different retail venues. This is the place to come if you’d like to indulge in some serious marathon shopping. Popular stores include high-end luxury brands like Gucci, Hermes, Harry Winston, Alexander McQueen, and more.

Of course, you can also find more affordable brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Free People, Gap, and H&M. In addition to a wide range of men’s and women’s fashion, you can also shop for jewelry, eyewear, athletic wear, handbags and accessories, and plenty of other products.

Can't choose? No need, see it all with Go City® 

We’re sure you’ll enjoy one or more of these places to buy San Diego souvenirs and hope that they offer top ideas for that perfect memento of your trip. While you’re budgeting for some shopping, keep in mind that products like Go City® San Diego passes can help you save on admission to the museums and attractions that sell those lovely souvenirs.

With an All-Inclusive Pass, you can visit both attractions for a fraction of the cost. Plus, you could save up to 50% on all your San Diego must-sees. Or pick an Explorer Pass, if you've chosen your fave and have a specific bucket list you're dreaming of ticking off.  

☀️ Compare San Diego passes ☀️– 🌏 Explore other destinations 🌏 –  ✈️ Buy a pass ✈

Katie Sagal
Go City Travel Expert

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Parasailing off the cliffs of La Jolla, San Diego
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Adventurous Things to do in San Diego

San Diego is an adrenaline fiend’s playground, a sprawling city of beaches, cliffs, canyons and theme parks that promise all manner of thrills, from century-old wooden rollercoaster rides to paragliding from the bluffs high above La Jolla’s pristine sands. Brace yourself for our pick of the 10 most adventurous things to do in San Diego... Kayak Through the Sea Caves Set sail from La Jolla Shores and paddle your way gently across the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park, an astonishing marine reserve with gin-clear waters where you might spot friendly leopard sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, harbor seals and bright orange Garibaldi fish darting under your boat. You’ll soon reach the seven secret sea caves at La Jolla Cove. Steer your kayak inside to follow in the footsteps (boatsteps?) of smugglers who snuck alcohol and opium into San Diego via these same secret passageways during the Prohibition era. Kayaks are available for rent at La Jolla Shores. Ride a 100-Year-Old Rollercoaster Expect thrills galore with a healthy dollop of nostalgia at Belmont Park, an oceanfront fairground that’s been operating at San Diego's Mission Beach since 1925. Amid ultra-modern scream machines that perform high-speed vertical drops and stomach-flipping somersaults you’ll find more sedate old-fashioned amusements such as mini golf, bumper cars and an aerial assault course. The Giant Dipper rollercoaster is the undisputed jewel in the park’s crown. Here since the park opened, this traditional wooden construction provides rickety thrills aplenty along its 2,800 feet of track. Hop aboard, if you’re brave enough. Hit the Surf San Diego’s gentle rolling waves make for ideal surfing conditions, attracting thousands of surfers to its shores every year. Hire a board to give it a go yourself. Sheltered areas at La Jolla Shores and Pacific Beach are particularly forgiving for newbies, and your inevitable first wipeout should be considered a rite of passage. But, if a mouthful of sand and seawater is enough to confirm that surfing isn’t for you, look on the bright side: you can always plonk your board upright in the sand and use it as a sunshade while you admire the views. Brave California’s Longest Zipline Thrillseekers rejoice! For here’s an extreme sport that will really get the adrenaline pumping. Set in an Indian reservation north of the city in the verdant Pauma Valley, the La Jolla Zip Zoom boasts the longest zipline in California. Here, brave souls can soar high over canyons, forest canopies and the San Luis Rey River at speeds reaching up to 50mph. There’s over 6,000 feet of ziplines to whiz down across the whole reservation, with the longest a whopping 2,500 feet. Not for the faint of heart. Lace up your Boots San Diego’s unique landscape makes for some excellent walking opportunities. Hit the hiking trail through Torrey Pines Nature Reserve, 2,000 acres of rugged cliffs and wild plateaus named for the endangered Torrey pine, which is unique to this reserve. You’ll also find colorful wildflowers, towering cacti and monolithic rock formations; maybe even the occasional cheeky raccoon or lizard. Head to Yucca Point Overlook for fine views across the La Jolla bluffs to the golden beaches and shimmering ocean below. There are also guided tours available at Mission Trails Regional Park and Tecolote Canyon. Rent a Jet Ski Do you feel the need... the need for speed? Tear up the waters of San Diego Bay on a Yamaha Waverunner jet ski ride against the picturesque backdrop of the Downtown skyline. These streamlined dream machines can reach speeds of up to 65mph so you can visit bay attractions including the USS Midway aircraft carrier, Shelter Island and the curvaceous Coronado Bridge in no time at all. Keep your eyes peeled for playful seals and dolphins frolicking in the surf and maybe even racing alongside you! Leap off La Jolla’s Cliffs San Diego activities don’t come much more adventurous than leaping into the unknown on a paragliding experience from the cliffs at Torrey Pines. Take a tandem ride from the Gliderport here and let your expert guide do all the hard work while you admire sweeping views of the coastal bluffs and spot leopard sharks cruising the clear waters below. Top tip: paragliding is also a mesmerizing spectator sport, so those without a head for heights can simply bring along a picnic and enjoy the colorful spectacle from terra firma. Have a Whale of a Time San Diego is prime whale-watching territory, with majestic blue whales often spotted off the coast in summer and fall, and gray whales migrating to and from the warm lagoons of Baja en masse for calving season in winter and spring. Get up close to these magnificent creatures on a boat tour. If you’re lucky you might even spot a mother swimming with her calf, or get close enough to feel the sea spray from a blowhole or disappearing tail fin. Dozens of trips depart daily from Downtown and Mission Bay, with many guaranteeing a refund if you fail to see anything. Sample Unusual Beers San Diego is the craft beer capital of the USA, with dozens of microbreweries concocting weird and wonderful beverages for your delectation, and taprooms on nearly every street corner. It would be simply remiss not to sample a few while you’re here. Head to Hillcrest Brewing for unusual brews including Crotch Rocket Irish Style Red Ale and Banana Hammock Scotch Ale. And stagger on down to North Park for a punchy, hazy Technomancer at Modern Times’ taproom, known locally as ‘the Flavordome’. Major beer festivals hit town in June, October and November, when sampling the gamut of beers, from stouts to sours and frothy IPAs to flavored brews, is positively encouraged. Go Ghost-Hunting Here’s a way to increase your heart rate without going to the extreme lengths of e.g. jumping off a cliff strapped to a man with a big parachute. Once described by LIFE magazine as ‘the most haunted house in America’, The Whaley House in San Diego’s Old Town has seen its fair share of grisly deaths over the years and was reputedly built on the site of a former gallows. Eek. Scare yourself silly on one of the museum’s spooky evening tours – if you dare. Save on adventurous 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
Coronado Central Beach in San Diego
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Best Time To Visit San Diego

Let’s be honest: there’s no such thing as a bad time to vacation in San Diego. But when’s best to visit will mostly depend on what kind of break you’re looking for. Cultural sightseeing trip? Visit in February for half-price entry to dozens of museums during San Diego Museum Month. Traveling on a budget? You’ll find some of the best hotel rates between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Just looking to top up your tan? July through September is when beaches swarm with sun-worshippers as temperatures soar. Check out our short guide to the best time to visit San Diego, by season. Spring March through May is a fine time to visit San Diego, with low hotel rates compared to the summer season and Balboa Park’s thousands of flowers coming into spectacular bloom. Pack a picnic and make a pilgrimage to the city’s great green lung, where March is your last opportunity to admire flowering succulents and cacti in the Desert Garden, all brilliant reds, oranges and pinks contrasting with the dark green flesh of these otherworldly plants. Conversely, the neighboring Rose Garden is just getting started, with its near-200 varieties creating an absolute riot of scent and color through its peak in April and May. Meanwhile, March's enchanting Cherry Blossom Festival in the zen-like Japanese Friendship Garden will make all your Instagram dreams come true. This time of year sees beach life in San Diego already in full swing, with skaters whizzing along the boardwalk at Pacific Beach, firepit cookouts in front of the legendary Hotel del Coronado and kids foraging for mussels, anemones and hermit crabs at low-tide in the kelp-rich tidepools under Ocean Beach Pier and around La Jolla Cove. You can swim, snorkel and surf in the San Diego sea year-round, but you'll want to bring a wetsuit (or rent one from one of the city’s many, many surf shops) if you’re planning on getting wet in March, when the water temperature is still a teeth-chattering 60°F. May tends to bring overcast skies to San Diego. This coastal phenomenon is known locally as the ‘May Gray’ and just happens to make for ideal conditions for hiking the canyons, exploring Balboa Park’s trails or renting a bike to explore the long, rugged coastline with its plethora of sandy beaches. Indeed, for active outdoor types, this may be the best time to visit San Diego, when you get to have all the fun without the sweat. It’s also when the huge zydeco, blues and crawfish festival that is Gator by the Bay rolls into town, with great live music and dancing, plus 10,000 pounds of live crawfish imported straight from Louisiana and cooked to sizzling perfection, Cajun and Creole style! Summer As summer kicks off in earnest, you’ll find wetsuit-free locals and vacationers splashing around in the sea, even as the May Gray continues, becoming – wait for it – the ‘June Gloom’. Don’t worry, it’ll soon burn off! This is the season when sun-worshippers in search of that perfect California tan can be found lounging on beaches along the coast, with an occasional languid foray into the water to cool off. Average daily highs hit 77°F in August, so don’t forget your essentials: sunglasses, an oversized floppy hat and lashings of sunscreen! As well as being San Diego’s hottest season, it’s also its most expensive, with prices soaring in tandem with the summer temperatures, particularly in July when the massive comic book convention that is Comic-Con takes over Downtown, pushing hotel prices higher than Superman can fly – that’s if you can even find a Downtown hotel with any rooms left available. Hillcrest – heart of San Diego’s thriving LGBTQ+ community – also hosts the annual Pride Festival around this time, putting a further squeeze on the city center, but otherwise making it a lively time to visit. Prices increase everywhere at this time but, if you like your summer break a little less hectic, you may find the laid back beachy vibe of family-friendly La Jolla and boho Ocean Beach a little more palatable. Cool off at the San Diego International Beer Festival in June, when ale aficionados can sip, slurp and sample their way through hundreds of beers and ciders from nearly 200 breweries. Of course, great beer is a year-round preoccupation here in the craft-brewing capital of the US, where you can barely leave your hotel without accidentally stumbling into a microbrewery taproom, especially in hip young neighborhoods like North Park, Hillcrest and Ocean Beach. This convention at the Del Mar Fairgrounds merely serves to cement that reputation. Bottoms up! Fall September through November delivers some of the best times to visit San Diego, with clear blue skies, balmy Santa Ana breezes and relatively low rates between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. With kids back at school, major attractions like Pacific Beach, SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo are way less crowded, while late summer and early fall also sees some of the best surfing conditions, when surfers ride the gnarly swells beneath Sunset Cliffs and off the La Jolla coastline, especially at Black’s and Windansea beaches. A glut of events and celebrations lend a real carnival spirit to fall in San Diego, when the world’s fastest super-boats tear around Mission Bay for the San Diego Bayfair and America’s biggest military air show lifts off in Miramar. In October, kids go free at many of San Diego’s biggest attractions, including the zoo, LEGOLAND and the USS Midway Museum. Meanwhile, November’s rock-bottom rates, week-long beer festival (yes, another!) and the San Diego Bay Food and Wine Festival make for a fine cocktail of affordable gluttony and boozy revelry. Winter Winter is a great time to visit San Diego, thanks to the mild climate and stacks of seasonal events. Prices are inevitably up again during the festive period, but it’s worth it for the opportunity to ice-skate in your shorts at Hotel del Coronado’s annual Skating by the Sea event, right? Come for the Christmassy goings-on at Balboa Park’s December Nights festival, including magical light displays, carol singing and fab street food; stay for the Parade of Lights, when boats draped in colorful festive lights and holiday decorations cruise through San Diego Bay by the dozen. December to March is whale-watching season, when gray whales migrate en masse from Alaska to the warm calving grounds of Baja’s lagoons and spotters crowd the cliffs from La Jolla to the Point Loma peninsula in the hope of catching a glimpse. Get up close on a whale-spotting boat trip: there are plenty departing from in and around Mission Bay every day during migration season. You’ve nothing to lose: most will guarantee a sighting or refund your money, and you really can’t say fairer than that. Culture vultures make a beeline for San Diego’s world-class museums every February when Museum Month knocks 50% off the entry price at close to 50 venues. This includes big-hitters such as the San Diego Museum of Art and Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park as well as Downtown’s historic Gaslamp Museum and New Children’s Museum. Associated events in public libraries, where you can pick up your pass, are free. 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
Stack of pancakes with syrup
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Make your Sunday shine: top things to do in San Diego

From waterfront brunches to art walks and secret beaches, here’s the ultimate San Diego Sunday guide.

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