There are so many things to do in San Diego with kids during the summer months! San Diego is filled with kid-friendly attractions, hotels, and restaurants. This makes it a great destination for a summer trip with the entire family. Love!

In the middles of July, we took a road trip to San Diego. It is a favorite California destination for me. I have family in San Diego, so I have road tripped down there many times throughout my life and have always loved all the activities I was able to do as a child. It was always so much fun! So, there was no question we would road trip to San Diego for a week to not only visit family, but to show our kids all of the fun things to do in San Diego with kids in the summer.

Below I have listed the four activities we did as a family during our vacation. These are great things to do in San Diego with kids over summer vacation.

LegoLand

If your kids love Legos, then Legoland is a must! There are amazing pieces of art throughout Legoland made from various sizes of Legos. It is absolutely amazing. In addition to incredible Lego art, there are rides for small children, as well as older kids. There are even rides adults can enjoy. I loved the boat ride, and the new Ninjago ride is a huge must. Since the Ninjago ride is brand new, make sure you get there when the park opens and go directly to the ride first. This way you can avoid the 45 minute line which forms by mid-morning, and lasts throughout the day.

There is a great, healthy marketplace for lunch which is located by the car ride. It is a great buffet-style lunch spot where your kids can avoid pizza, hots dogs and the like. I made a yummy salad. It is a little on the pricier side for theme park food, but it is worth it for the healthy food. Yum!

If you have a daughter, there are shows put on by Lego Friends which are fun to watch. A daily show schedule can be found at the main gates of the park.

You can learn more about Legoland online here.

San Diego Zoo

The San Diego is world famous; and the perfect place to bring kids! It is hard to see the whole zoo in one day, but if you get there when the zoo opens, you can do it! The pandas are adorable, and I loved the polar bears! You can learn more about the San Diego Zoo online here.

Seaworld

Sea World is a fun place to bring your kids. It doesn’t require as much walking as the Zoo, so it is a good place to go the day after visiting the zoo since you and your kids might be a little fatigued from the zoo. Sea World has a large selection of shows to watch, where you can sit down and relax, so it is great to do when your vacation is making you a little bit tired!

Be sure to catch the Dolphin show, Killer Whale shows, and the Comedy Sea Otter show; which is fabulous! Some of the rides have water, so you will get wet. Be sure to wear clothing that dries quickly, and you won’t mind getting a little bit wet. You can still have a great time if you choose not to go on the wet rides.

You can learn more about Sea World online here.

Mission Beach and Belmont Park

Mission Beach is a great beach to relax on. The parking is also free! Love that!

We arrived around 9am to enjoy the beach, and then at 11am we walked over to Belmont Park which is a boardwalk of sorts. It has rides, laser tag, and an arcade. It is a lot of fun!

If you have a sweet tooth like me, check out the ice cream shop which has the yummiest homemade fudge! You can learn more about Belmont Park online here.

Where to Stay and Eat

We Stayed in La Jolla at the La Jolla Sheraton. It was perfect for families. They have suites which feature two queens beds, a sofa bed, refrigerator, and microwave. It was very spacious, and my kids found it to be extremely comfortable. Love that!

The swimming pool was a great treat after spending the day outside in the sun, walking around. My kids loved cooling off in the pool.

Our favorite restaurants in San Diego, which were family friendly and yummy, were as follows:

Our Hotel restaurants featured delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. The Mickey Mouse pancakes were the cutest children’s pancake meal we have ever seen! My son was in pancake heaven. We also enjoyed WaveHouse Beach Club which is located on Mission Beach at Belmont Park. They had tables in the sand, and you could watch people surf while you dine. Love it!

Our favorite restaurant of the trip was Su Casa Restaurant. It is family owned, and the food was a-ma-zing! My kids loved it, and the food was so good! We definitely need an excuse to return to San Diego so we can eat at Su Casa Restaurant again. You must try it when you are in the area!

Travel Tips

We purchased the 4-day Go Diego Pass which was a great way to pay for our activities in advance, and save quite a bit of money along the way. You can purchase a Go San Diego Pass online here. We purchased ours through Costco, so if you have a Costco, or similar warehouse club membership, check to see if they have a good deal on the Go San Diego Pass.

These were our favorite places to go in San Diego with kids for our summer vacation. There are many more places to go, but these were our favorites. If you get the Go San Diego pass, you will find more places to visit. I recommend seeing the Safari Park in the winter, not the summer, as it gets VERY hot in Escondido.

Have a great vacation and thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy