Fodor's San Diego 2001: Completely Updated Every Year, Smart Travel Tips from A to Z, Pull-Out Color Map (Fodor's Gold Guides) [Paperback]

Fodor's (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2000 | Series: Fodor's Gold Guides

"Fodor's guides cover culture authoritatively and rarely miss a sight or museum." - National Geographic Traveler

"The king of guidebooks." - Newsweek

No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go.

Insider info that's totally up to date. Every year our local experts give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do -- from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun.

Hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges -- from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special.

Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice -- from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency.Full-size, foldout map keeps you on course.



We've compiled a helpful list of guidebooks that complement Fodor's San Diego 2001. To learn more about them, just enter the title in the keyword search box.Fodor's California 2001
Fodor's Compass American Guide Coastal California: A full-color guide, providing in-depth coverage of the history, culture, and character of Coastal California.Fodor's upCLOSE California: Designed for travelers who want to travel well and spend less.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Fodor's guides cover culture authoritatively and rarely miss a sight or museum." - National Geographic Traveler

"The king of guidebooks." - Newsweek

No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go.

Insider info that's totally up to date. Every year our local experts give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do -- from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun.

Hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges -- from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special.

Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice -- from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency.Full-size, foldout map keeps you on course.

We've compiled a helpful list of guidebooks that complement Fodor's San Diego 2001. To learn more about them, just enter the title in the keyword search box.Fodor's California 2001
Fodor's Compass American Guide Coastal California: A full-color guide, providing in-depth coverage of the history, culture, and character of Coastal California.Fodor's upCLOSE California: Designed for travelers who want to travel well and spend less.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Destination: San Diego

To the Casual visitor, San Diego defines a vacation paradise: year-round sunshine, miles of white-sand beaches, family-oriented outdoor entertainment at Sea World and the world-famous San Diego Zoo, a laid-back casual ambience, and bits of history and Hispanic culture. But there's more than meets the eye here. If you look beyond the obvious, you'll discover why what many locals proclaim is "America's finest city" draws more than 14 million visitors annually.

Beaches

The coastline in and around San Diego encompasses some of the best beaches on the West Coast. Some are wide and sandy, others narrow and rocky; some are always crowded with athletes and sun-worshippers, others seem created for solitary beachcombers and romantic pairs.  Among the standouts are Imperial Beach, a classic southern California beach favored by surfers, swimmers, and frisbee fliers; Silver Strand State Beach, relatively calm and family-friendly, the underused North and Central portions of Municipal Beach on the isthmus of Coronado; Ocean Beach a.k.a. Dog Beach because of the number of canines found romping next to volleyball players and sunbathers; Mission Beach, which has a boardwalk popular with walkers, rollerbladers, and bicyclists, La Jolla Cove, where tidal pools and cliff coves provide exciting diversions for explorers; and Torrey Pines State Beach between La Jolla and Del Mar, one of the easiestand most comfortable beaches to visit in the area.

Outdoor Activities and Sports

At least one stereotype of San Diego is true -- it is an active, outdoors-oriented community. People recreate here more than they spectate, and as a visitor it's hard not to join in. As you would expect, the emphasis is on fun in the sun and surf -- sailing, swimming, surfing, diving, and fishing head the list. Some favorite activities and the best places to enjoy them include scuba diving off La Jolla Cove, surfing at almost any of the beaches, golfing at Torrey Pines, La Costa, or Rancho Bernardo, rollerblading at Mission Bay, and jet skiing at the Snug Harbor Marina in Carlsbad. But the San Diego area also contains vast open spaces -- mesas, plateaus, and oak-studded foothills which appeal to nature lovers, hikers, and mountain bikers.

Shopping

San Diego's many shopping districts are a mélange of self-contained megamalls, historic districts, homey villages, funky neighborhoods, and chic suburbs. Whimsical Horton Plaza, in the heart of center city, is the place to go for department stores, mall shops, and one-of-a-kind boutiques; the adjoining Gaslamp Quarter is chock full of art galleries, antiques shops, and specialty stores. Seaport Village on the waterfront is thick with theme shops and arts-and-crafts galleries. Coronado has a few blocks of fancy boutiques and galleries as well as Ferry Landing Marketplace, a waterfront shopping and dining center. Bazaar del Mundo in the historic Old Town district resembles a colorful Mexican marketplace, where you can browse in shops selling international goods, toys, souvenirs, and arts and crafts. Hillcrest is the place to go for vintage clothing, furnishings, and accessories. La Jolla boasts a collection of trendy designer boutiques and galleries among Prospect Street and Girard Avenue. Discounted designer fashions can also be found at the recently opened Carlsbad Company Stores.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Fodor's; Revised edition (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679005595
• ISBN-13: 978-0679005599
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,575,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really helpful to the newcomer, March 21, 2001

By 

Clint Simpson (MCAS MIRAMAR, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fodor's San Diego 2001: Completely Updated Every Year, Smart Travel Tips from A to Z, Pull-Out Color Map (Fodor's Gold Guides) (Paperback)

As a Marine just stationed in San Diego, this book has proved invaluable. For starters, it showed me exactly where MCAS Miramar (my base) was in the San Diego area. So I bought this book before coming here determined to see the sights and to know the city itself. Whenever I leave base, I like to make the most of my time and know where I are going. For that matter, even to know WHERE to go. Now, I just read about a part of town and off I go.

At my earlier duty stations, I would go out looking for things to do in the city and often find nothing. Worse, sometimes I would try one thing only to learn later there was something better I could have done instead. And that is with me living in the area! I have no idea how someone could fully appreciate a city during a vacation without these travel guides.

Without this book, I would never have known I arrived during Whale Watching season until it had ended and the public transportation system would have taken me much longer to learn. Also, I would still be clueless about Balboa Park, which is now my favorite place in San Diego! As it was, I could have done all of this in a weekend, but I took two because I was in no hurry.

I plan on using this book on many outings during my stay in San Diego. It gives me something to do other than go to the Mall and spend money (but it can help do that as well).

Something for the first time traveler: Restaurants come and go, with some changing names and the admission prices to events and theme parks change as well. In the course of the year, nothing is too drastic but nothing is written in stone either. Nonetheless, the information in this book was always relevant.