San Diego is a family friendly place. There are family friendly restaurants and family friendly beaches and family friendly parks and family friendly amusements scattered throughout this wonderful city. You probably don’t need a guide to suggest that Sea World is a family friendly place. Or Legoland.
But we are here to offer something a bit more nuanced. We have made a series of 24 hour itineraries that are family friendly in the sense that kids will be welcome and have a good time, but they are places where mom and dad and grandma and uncle Steve can have a drink and enjoy themselves too. Places where you would go even if you didn’t have kids, but the kids will have fun alongside you. Places where half the customers will be families, the other half will not.
Perhaps you live in San Diego and have kids, but your kid-free friends are coming to town and you want to take them out for a drink – this guide is for you. Or the opposite – you live here and have no kids, but your friends with kids are coming to visit and you’re not trying to go to Chuck-E-Cheese- this guide is for you. Or maybe mom and dad just need to unwind and you can’t find a babysitter…anyway, you get it.
The Itinerary
1. Play Mini Golf at The Loma Club
2. Eat at Liberty Public Market
3. Walk Down the Art Walk
4. Watch a Movie at The Lot
2. Get Dinner at the Corvette Diner
3. Map to this itinerary
Daytime
Play Mini Golf (Or Real Golf) At The Loma Club
At the northern end of Liberty Station you will find The Loma Club – a combination of a par three golf course, a bar that serves food, two mini golf courses, and a large patio/courtyard with a stage where there is often live music. If this sounds like an oddly eclectic mix of things to you, you’re not wrong, but once you get there you will realize that all it just kind of works. The Loma Club has a very Caddy Shack/golf party kind of vibe to it and we love it.
Pick up some beers from the mini golf hut, or bring your own, and venture out onto the par three and play a round. This is a very casual course so kids of all ages are welcome and drinking is encouraged. Or get some colorful putters and play mini golf at Tappers – either on the Gator Course or the Gopher Course.
At The Loma Club you will find lots of post-golf groups, pre-golf groups, mini-golf groups, or just local neighborhood families sitting on the patio having a hotdog and a beer, watching the live band. This is probably the only golf course in the world that encourages loud noise. Right next door is the restaurant Dirty Birds which serves some of the best wings in San Diego if you need something different than what the clubhouse offers for food. But probably you should skip the food altogether here, as just across the street you have Liberty Public Market with much better options.
Eat At Liberty Public Market
Liberty Station is home to several restaurants, but Liberty Public Market is our favorite place to eat here. Liberty Public Market is a food hall a la Chelsea Market in New York, that has a labyrinth of small food stalls serving any types of food you can think of. Many local San Diego restaurants have stalls at Liberty Market.
Think Korean BBQ, or a slice at Landini’s Pizzeria. Think fried catfish at Cane Patch Kitchen or a poke bowl at Chris’ Ono Grinds. Think Filipino bowls at White Rice. There is a bar and beer store within the market itself (Bottle Craft), as well as a Stone Brewery beer garden outside. The place is big and chaotic and awesome, perfect for the children to run around. Really you could spend hours eating and drinking here and you should be able to find something for everyone.
Walk Down The Liberty Station Arts Walk
Just south of Liberty Public Market is a long grassy walkway called the Central Promenade that is lined by art studios, galleries, restaurants, and a few stores. This is the arts part of the Arts District of Liberty Station and there always seems to be a lot going on. Keep an eye out for the more interactive events happenings in the studios, as well as new public art installations popping up all the time. One of our favorite stops on the promenade is Carruth Cellars, a lovely winery and tasting room with indoor and outdoor seating right on a grassy promenade. Sip a glass of wine and watch the live music inside while the kids roll in the grass.
Watch A Movie At The Lot
The LOT is a small, independently-owned movie theater that not only has a handsome restaurant and bar attached, but serves delicious food and drinks in the theater itself, delivered directly to your very comfortable and very wide seat. We voted The LOT the best movie theater in San Diego and it remains our go to movie theater. Small and friendly, clean and high quality, this is everything you want a movie theater to be.
Evening
Get Dinner At The Corvette Diner
The Corvette Diner is an over-the-top 1950s style diner located at the northern part of Liberty Station, across from The Loma Club, complete with a giant arcade and waitresses dressed like Marylin Monroe. It’s always busy and always a good time. You might even join in on the arcade action.
