It is well known among San Diegans that this is one of the most expensive places to live in the United States, which means it is one of the most expensive places to live in the world, but that does not mean that everything to do here is expensive. Just like all cities there are plenty of cheap things to do in San Diego.
This guide does not come close to covering everything free and cheap to do in San Diego, but it is a start. Of course, one option is just to walk across the border to Tijuana where things get much less expensive, but this is a guide for San Diego, so we will stick to San Diego.
The Itinerary
1. Walk Through Old Town
2. Have A Picnic At Kate Sessions Park
3. Go To A Dive Bar
4. Head To The Little Italy Farmers Market
5. Go To Ocean Beach
6. Have A Bonfire At Ocean Beach
7. Go For A Hike
8. Get Lunch At Las Cuatro Milpas In Barrio Logan
9. Walk Through Chicano Park
10. Map to this itinerary
Day One Morning
Walk Through Old Town
Old Town is not the original site of the first settlement in California (that is up the hill at El Presidio, founded in 1769), but rather the site of the early pueblo that started around the 1830s. There you go, now you know a little bit about the history of San Diego.
Old Town is free to visit and is worth a walk through at least once. It is kind of like if Colonial Williamsburg was Mexican and slightly more fun. There is usually a mariachi band playing somewhere and the place turns up pretty well for Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos. You can shop for Mexican cultural gifts like skull art and luchador masks or you can eat at one of their festive restaurants.
When you leave, just for fun, make a detour through Mission Hills, the neighborhood above Old Town (drive up Juan St out of Old Town which will turn into Sunset Boulevard at the top of the hill). Cruise this wealthy boulevard with your windows down and gaze at the multi-million dollar houses lining the streets. Perhaps allow yourself to dream of winning the lottery. Then savor that thought as you drive to your apartment with no windows that you share with four strangers because San Diego routinely tops cost of living charts.
But that is a different discussion.
Day One Afternoon
Have A Sunset Picnic At Kate Sessions Park
There are many, many lovely green areas with beautiful views in San Diego, but Kate Sessions Park in Pacific Beach is one of the best. Bring a blanket or chairs, pack your own food or bring a portable grill to cook out (it is legal, just try not to start a forest fire), and find a spot at the top of the hill. The view is spectacular – you will see all of Mission Bay, downtown San Diego, and south all the way to Mexico.
Alcohol is illegal at all San Diego parks and beaches, but our policy is don’t be an ass and you will probably be okay. Eat an early dinner and stay for the sunset. The park fills up quick, so arrive early afternoon to claim your spot at the top of the hill.
We should note that at the bottom of the hill there is one concrete grill with picnic tables, but this area doesn’t allow you to see the view, so it is kind of pointless.
We should also mention Kate Sessions, the person – she is single handedly responsible for planting every tree in San Diego and she created Balboa Park and without her San Diego would be a barren desert. Look it up.
Now you know some San Diego history.
Day One Evening
Go To A Dive Bar
The term dive bar is probably overused. A true dive bar won’t be in a guide. But something that isn’t dressed up and Instagrammable will fit the ticket these days. Generally, it will be a place that has a pool table or arcade games, serves Bud heavy, and is not particularly focused on customer service. San Diego has lots and lots of good dive bars. Here is a list of our favorites, in no particular order, with no additional details. We will leave out places that are aggressively local. You should not go to those.
Good Dive-ish Bars: The Dog, The Lancers, Live Wire, Rosie O Grady’s, West End, Waterfront, The Lamplighter, Alibi, Nunu’s, Star Bar, Aero Club, Bluefoot Bar, Princess Pub, Blarney Stone, Pacific Shores, The Ould Sod, Chee Chee Club, The Tower Bar.
Here is a map to the dive bars:
Day Two Morning
Head To The Little Italy Farmers Market
Wake up early and get a cab or bike or take the trolley or walk or leap-frog (just do not drive, there is limited parking) to Little Italy Farmers Market. San Diego has some of the best year-round produce in the country because of its weather, and just over the mountains Imperial Valley is essentially the winter breadbasket of the nation, so visiting San Diego’s farmers markets are one of the best cheap things to do in this city.
Peruse what’s on offer or buy food for breakfast or an early lunch. The produce at San Diego’s farmers markets is cheaper than the grocery store and of infinitely better quality. Ruth’s No. 5 salsa is hands down the best salsa we’ve ever had in our lives, Masala Cottage has delicious and filling samosas, and E&P Boulangeries makes damn good cookies and pastries. There used to be an entertaining little dog that drove around in a remote control car at the Little Italy Farmers Market, but he must have died?
Take your food to Waterfront Park and enjoy the view of the harbor. Sit near where the kids play on the playground or run in the fountains during the summer. If you want to splurge on coffee Portal Coffee right across from Waterfront Park is delicious. The owners are locals and super friendly.
When you’re done relaxing, a stroll down the Embarcadero is always nice. Walk down to Tuna Harbor, past the USS Midway, and back. This is all free eye candy on a sunny San Diego day.
DayTwo Afternoon
In the afternoon, do the best cheap thing there is to do in San Diego – go to the beach. The choices are extensive and the beaches tend to get nicer the farther north you go (ignoring Coronado), so you, my cheap friend, should go to one of the more southern ones. We recommend Ocean Beach.
Go To Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach feels kind of like you stepped into a Sublime album – people describe it as funky, but perhaps grungy is a better term. Grungy in a good way. It is an eclectic place with lots of local So-Cal color and it is our personal go-to beach neighborhood in San Diego.
Newport Ave is the main commercial strip and leads west to the pier. Peruse the scene and get a feel for the place. There are antique stores and surf shops, bars and burrito joints, and plenty of tattoo parlors. Maybe get a “Badfish” tattoo. Maybe buy a necklace from the street vendors near the water. Maybe don’t because those cost money. If you happen to bring a skateboard and ride that around with no shirt on you will actually be perfecting OB. You will have a 100% score. Congratulations.
At the beach itself, there is plenty of space to sit and relax north of the pier and south of the jetty. South of the pier is mostly rocky cliffs so don’t bother. North of the jetty is dog beach which is lovely and wide and has gangs of dogs chasing each other, but it is not as relaxing a place to sit.
Swim, rent a surfboard, build a sand castle, do whatever it is you like doing at the beach, but we recommend you post up near a fire pit with an eye on the evening’s activity.
If you need food, go to Nico’s for a carne asada burrito or get a pizza from Pizzeria Luigi. Hodad’s is decent, but slightly more expensive given its popularity. If you are really on a budget – buy a pack of hotdogs and cook them over the fire you are about to have.
Day Two Evening
Have A Bonfire On The Beach
Fires on the beach are legal in San Diego County, but must be in a designated city fire pit. You can have a propane-fueled device, similar to the parks, but this does not really provide the atmosphere you want for a nighttime bonfire, so buy some wood from one of the local convenient stores (they all have it).
Once the sun begins to set, start the fire and watch the twinkling lights of La Jolla brighten the hillside just up the coast. Let yourself imagine the thread count of all those rich peoples’ bedsheets. And then remember that wealth is a burden, and that what you are doing is far more enjoyable than a stuffy fundraiser or a gallery opening, and then let it go.
If you are lucky, you will see a bioluminescence event in the waves that night.
Fires are allowed until midnight. If you still need more fun after, go to Newport Ave and enjoy another night of dive bars (see above).
Day Three Morning
Go For A Hike
There are lots and lots and lots of places to hike around San Diego County and we can’t even begin to list them all here. Look at our outdoorsy itinerary for some of the highlights.
We always love our local favorite – Mission Trails Regional Park. Walk down the Junipero Serra Trail or if you are feeling more ambitious climb South Fortuna.
Or head farther out west to Mount Laguna a great trail is the Sunset Trail to Laguna Meadow. It is flat along the entire path and leads to a beautiful open meadow.
The best time to hike is early morning, even leaving before sunrise to hike above the morning fog, if you can manage it.
Day Three Afternoon
After starting your weekend in the old, romantic version of Mexican San Diego (i.e. Old Town) head to the real, modern version of Mexican San Diego – the neighborhood of Barrio Logan.
Get Lunch At Las Cuatro Milpas In Barrio Logan
Not all good food in San Diego is Mexican and not all Mexican food is cheap, but when you want inexpensive and quality, Mexican food is hard to beat.
Las Cuatro Milpas, a taco shop in Barrio Logan, has become quite popular over the years, but it is for a good reason – they are a throwback to those local places that serve good food without any frills and without charging you an arm and a leg.
Las Cuatro Milpas have about five things on their menu and the line moves quick, so know what you are going to order before you get to the front. If you aren’t a local you may get impatiently rushed, the way you are at a New York bagel shop, but this is a good thing. This is how it is supposed to be. Embrace your helpless tourist-ness. And also, order the rice and beans with whatever you get.
Walk Through Chicano Park
Like a free museum and a living memorial to an overlooked population in San Diego, and California at large, Chicano Park is one of the largest collections of outdoor murals in the United States. Painted on the pillars of the overpass the city installed to, literally, pass over and dissect this old Mexican-American neighborhood, the murals of Chicano Park are filled with colorful Aztec and Latino imagery.
This place highlights a lot of the current tensions in California, between progress and history, between the well-off and the poor, between the various cultures that represent this state. The fact that Chicano Park is located below one of the more modern tools of city-sponsored destruction is definitely fitting. Read about the history of the 1970 protest that sparked the park’s formation and visit the museum.
A Reflection On The Weekend
From Old Town to new, from the beach to the mountains, you will have seen a lot of what San Diego has to offer for those who cannot afford a house on the bluffs, but as we said, this guide only scratches the surface of this lovely eclectic city.
A Map to This Itinerary
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