This is our second itinerary of places that are legitimately fun for children, but where adults will have a good time too. A swimmingly good time if you will.
Whether you are hosting friends who have children, or you are a local with a new child who is hoping to get back out in the world again, or you are visiting San Diego with your baby or young kids, this itinerary highlights the parts of the city that are both booze-friendly and kid-friendly at the same time. Places where you would go before you had children, but will also be nice now that the kids are here. Places where the workers will not bat an eye at the fact that you are holding a beer in one hand and a tiny companion in the other.
The Itinerary
- Spend the Afternoon at Liberty Station
- Get Dinner at the Corvette Diner
- Go to the San Diego Zoo
- Get Dinner at Panama 66
- Go to Belmont Park and Mission Beach
- Get Dinner at Pizza Port in Ocean Beach
- Map to this itinerary
Friday Afternoon
Spend the Afternoon at Liberty Station
Liberty Station is one of the more accessible and family-friendly areas of San Diego. An old Navy Training Base that was sold to the City of San Diego in 2000, over the last two decades it has transformed into an all-encompassing neighborhood and entertainment destination of its own. It is a great place to spend the day with young children in tow while enjoying quality fun for adults too.
Starting at its northern end, you can play some mini golf (or real golf) at The Loma Club – a mini golf course and a nine-hole par 3 golf course that are both connected to each other via a clubhouse bar and patio serving food and drinks. The patio sits right on hole nine and is often host to live music, making this probably the only golf course in the world that encourages noise. 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. 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. So let the kids putt around while you have a couple drinks in your Taylor Made hat. Then move on.
Preferably, eat light at The Loma Club and walk across the street to the south for lunch. Here you will find a few restaurants (Go Go Amigo and The Presley, both kid friendly), but we suggest you go straight for Liberty Public Market. This is a food hall a la Chelsea Market in New York, that has stalls hosting any types of food you can think of with many local San Diego restaurants on offer too.
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 cookies and donuts and coffee or 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 there should be something for everyone.
If you haven’t had your fill yet, you can continue south down the grassy walkway in the peaceful Arts District and you’ll find 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.
But why stop there? Keep walking south to arrive at The LOT, a small-scale movie theater that not only has a restaurant and bar attached, but serves delicious food and drinks to your seat while you watch the latest Pixar movie. This is our go to movie theater in San Diego as it has great seating, drinks and food options and the kids love it.
Obviously, you should pick and choose which of all of these activities you do, but the point is that the place is packed. And we did not mention the several playgrounds, the skating rink, the acres of open grassy fields, and the public, kid-friendly art studios all within walking distance of each other. Liberty Station is a legitimately good place to spend a day with kids.
Friday Evening
Get Dinner at the Corvette Diner
Image courtesy of Ruby Shoes
And you never have to leave Liberty Station. 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. At this point you’ll be so drunk you’ll be into it. You might even join in on the arcade action. Is the food going to blow your mind? No. But it doesn’t matter, you are here for the children.
Saturday Morning
Go to the San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is obviously a great place for kids, but what most people don’t know is it is one of the most underrated drinking establishments in the city. It is also one of the most underrated places to simply take a walk in San Diego. Everyone we know with kids here has a membership and so do most San Diegans without kids. We visit the zoo often for a casual pre-dinner drink and a stroll without much of a plan because while the animals are cool, the park itself is centrally located and just beautiful – with an incredible tree canopy and flora you will not find most places on earth.
So head to the zoo with the kids in tow and plan for a casual stroll rather than trying to see every single animal there is. Importantly, there are plenty of beer and cocktail stands scattered about for stops. It is hard to walk more than ten minutes without stumbling across one, so you rarely even need a map. While your toddlers run up and down the paths looking at the animals, the adults can casually stroll with a drink in hand and admire the landscape. You might even forget you are at the zoo until you glance over a see a jaguar or a gorilla sitting ten feet away.
All the way to the left when you enter the zoo there is an open-area water park and rope climbing tree house situation that is a lot of fun for the kids. We mention this because you should probably take them here earlier rather than later, lest you fall off the rope bridge, get blasted by an unsuspecting water fountain, or stumble drunk into the monkey cage. Or perhaps it would be more fun after a few beers. It’s up to you.
We would never advocate breaking the rules, but some locals follow a BYOB policy at the zoo. Backpacks are allowed and rarely searched. The beer stands pour their beer into plastic silver cups here, so maybe buy one at the stand and refill your cup from there on.
Saturday Evening
Get Dinner at Panama 66
Image courtesy of cultivar413
Located in Balboa Park, same as the zoo, Panama 66 is an outdoor restaurant that has live music almost every night, has a big open sculpture garden attached to it, and serves delicious food. Grab a cocktail and walk out to the sculpture garden to let the kids can run around, or sit in front of the live music, eat dinner, and drink a beer while the kids shake their sillies out. The seating is casual enough that you can get up to chase them around when needed. The food, beer, and drinks here are all top quality and it is located right in the heart of Balboa Park, so is a great place to come after the zoo or a day of museum touring.
Sunday Afternoon
Go to Belmont Park and Mission Beach
Belmont Park is an amusement park located right on the boardwalk in Mission Beach. It is small enough to be digestible in one afternoon, but big enough to keep the kids entertained for hours. There are rides for kids and adults of all ages, including a very old wooden roller coaster called The Giant Dipper. There is an arcade, a laser tag area, a mini-golf course, a rock climbing wall, a zip line, a rope course, and a 7D theater called Xanadu which we have yet to visit, but seven dimensions sounds intense. The whole park is well maintained and easy to navigate.
Most importantly, it has a few stalls serving beer, canned cocktails, and frozen margaritas among the rides. There are also three sit-down restaurants attached to the amusement park that serve drinks and full food menus right on the boardwalk with a view of the ocean. So spend the morning riding rides and discovering what the 7th dimension has in store for you (and the 6th, 5th and 4th). Get lunch at one of the restaurants. Head to the beach and jump in the ocean. Then once you’ve worked up your courage, go back and ride the one hundred year old roller coaster.
The beach out in front of Belmont Park is wide and lovely, so a good adjunct to the day at the park, but it is technically illegal to drink on all beaches in San Diego (and pretty much all parks). Just put it in a plastic cup and don’t act like an asshole you will likely be okay.
Sunday Evening
Get Dinner at Pizza Port in Ocean Beach
Pizza Port is one of the first breweries in San Diego and remains one of the best. It has locations up and down San Diego County (including one in Belmont Park) that are all family-friendly and all serve quality pizza and beer. We suggest you leave Mission Beach and cap off your day by heading south to Ocean Beach for dinner. It is about a 10 minute drive from Belmont Park. You can’t go wrong with a Swami’s IPA or a Chronic Amber Ale to wash down a slice at the end of the day.
A Map to This Itinerary
About the Author
Oscar has lived in Boston, the Carolinas, New York, South America, and California. He has been to Le Bernadin and Taco Bell and found value in both. He claims no expertise in anything.
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