San Diego to San Pedro - trip ideas?

[CoolKath]

I'm renting a car in San Diego on Saturday and driving to LA for my cruise that leaves on Sunday. I'm planning to stay at Crowne Plaza and turn in rental car Sunday AM.

 

Any suggestions for how to spend my day or best driving route?

 

All suggestions are appreciated.

[CptSticky]

San Diego has a world famous zoo. What sort of things do you like. So Cal has lots of stuff.

[Bruin Steve]

I'm renting a car in San Diego on Saturday and driving to LA for my cruise that leaves on Sunday. I'm planning to stay at Crowne Plaza and turn in rental car Sunday AM.

 

Any suggestions for how to spend my day or best driving route?

 

All suggestions are appreciated.

 

First, the best driving route is the direct freeway route...the 5 North to the 405 North to the 110 South into Pedro...Of course, if you want to see things along the way, you will need to deviate from this main route of travel...

 

There really isn't a "scenic" route or an interesting route...There are stretches you could drive along the coast--but usually slower and not necessarily more than passing through a lot of towns...

 

Better to think in terms of 1) How much time you have and 2) What you might want to visit on the way...

 

I assume, since you live in Washington and are renting the car in San Diego, that you are already in San Diego and have therefore, spent some time there and likely seen the San Diego sights--like the Zoo, Sea World, Old Town, Coronado, etc.--or at least have already had the opportunity to see those...

 

North of San Diego, you have places like La Jolla and Torrey Pines, but I'll assume you're leaving the Greater San Diego area before you start deviating from the road...

 

Once you leave North San Diego County, you pass through the very large Camp Pendleton--a fairly non-scenic Marine Base through there, you are sticking to the 5...When you emerge out of the other end, you are in South Orange County...

 

Assuming you have lots of time left in your day, here is where you can start making choices to deviate from the route...

You may want to leave the 5 and use the Coast Highway, Route 1, and go through Laguna Beach...or, first, you may want to follow the 5 a little further north before cutting over to the 1 and visit the Mission San Juan Capistrano...an important historical site...and to where the swallows legendarily return each year...for that, you'd pass the 1 and keep on the 5 another couple of exits to Ortega Highway...exit and turn left...it's a couple of blocks off the 5...

 

http://www.missionsjc.com/

 

You may then want to backtrack to the 1...and head north on the 1 to Laguna Beach...a quaint little beach town known for its art galleries...

 

http://www.lagunabeachinfo.com/

 

Continuing north on the 1 takes you to Newport Beach, a ritzy little town centered on a nice yacht harbor...

 

http://www.visitnewportbeach.com/

 

From there, I'd jump on the 55 north to the 73 to the 405...

 

If you are into shopping, you might want to get right off the 73 at Bear Avenue and turn right and head just across the 405 into the South Coast Plaza, one of the largest uposcale shopping malls in the world...

 

http://traveler.southcoastplaza.com/?lang=en

 

Afterwards, continue up the 405 to the 110 South to Pedro...

 

Or, depending on time and interests, you could depart the 405 at 7th Street (22 West) and head through Long Beach...Turn left on Alimitos and it will take you down to the Downtown/Harbor area...the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific and other touristy stuff is down here...

 

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/

 

http://www.queenmary.com/

 

http://www.shorelinevillage.com/

 

http://www.thepikeatlongbeach.com/

 

Afterwards, you take Ocean Blvd. West, across Terminal Island, traversing the entire Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor and across the Vincent Thomas Bridge and into San Pedro...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Thomas_Bridge

 

You won't have time to do all of this, but figure out what it is you'd like to do and we can refine it...

 

I hope this helps as a start...

[CoolKath]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. Yes, I will be in San Diego for a few days before heading to LA for the cruise. Have to drop a couple of colleagues at the SD Airport late morning, then have the rest of the day to see/do something fun on the way to the cruise. Like the sight seeing ideas, not too much into shopping.

 

Again, thank you for the ideas, i'll be bringing them with me.

[Nanatravel]

Bruin Steve gave great recommendations.

 

During our recent visit and sailing, we met with friends and basically did a similar route just backwards. Our friends live in DelMar, a suburb of San Diego. They drove to and stayed in San Pedro with us for the weekend. Our drive up I 5 took us to the coastal route including Laguna Beach, Seal Beach, Cave Beach area which was very beautiful ending at their home. We stopped for a great seafood lunch in Laguna along the shore. As we have toured San Diego including the Zoo and the Mission San Juan Capistrano, we didn't stop at any sites their, but I would highly recommend those stops.