The top things to do in San Diego are the San Diego Zoo ($78 for ages 12 and up), Balboa Park, the USS Midway Museum ($39 online), Old Town, Coronado and La Jolla Cove. You do not need a car for most of them, because MTS trolleys and buses reach downtown, Old Town, the zoo and the airport for $3.00 a ride. We read each source on 14 October 2026.
The sights, with address, hours and price
San Diego Zoo
Address: 2920 Zoo Drive, San Diego, CA 92101, inside Balboa Park (San Diego Zoo, plan your visit page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from 12 to 15 October 2026. Other dates may differ (same page)
Price: 1-day pass, any day: $78 for ages 12 and up, $68 for ages 3 to 11. Value Days: $73 and $63, online only, bought ahead, on select days. Parking is $16 a car a day (zoo tickets and plan your visit pages, read 14 Oct 2026)
The tickets page shows a "Kids Free" offer for 1 to 31 October. We could not read its terms. The zoo says the Rapid 215 and Route 7 buses stop there.
Balboa Park
Address: 1549 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101. Phone 619-331-1980 (Balboa Park, visit page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Price: The park itself is a public park, and its visit page lists no entry fee. Each museum charges its own price. Which gardens are free, and the Explorer Pass price, are not confirmed on an official page
The City of San Diego says park museums give free general admission on a rotating Tuesday each month. That offer is only for residents of the City and County of San Diego and for active military and their dependents. The city also says a free tram runs daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and that free organ concerts play at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion on Sundays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (City of San Diego, Balboa Park page, read 14 Oct 2026).
USS Midway Museum
Address: 910 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101, next to Navy Pier (USS Midway Museum, know before you go page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: Every day, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Last entry 4:00 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day (same page)
Price: Adult (13 and up) $39 online, $41 at the door. Youth (4 to 12) $29 online, $31 at the door. Veterans with ID $26. Free for ages 3 and under, active duty military with ID and reservists. $5 with a SNAP EBT card and photo ID, at the ticket booth only. The Navy Pier lot is $20 for up to 6 hours and $25 for longer (same page)
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Address: 4002 Wallace Street, San Diego, CA 92110. Phone 619-220-5422 (California State Parks, park page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: The visitor center and select museums are open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day. Museums are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas (same page)
Price: The state page lists no entry fee and says the park lots are free for up to 4 hours. It does not say in words that entry is free, so that part is not confirmed
Old Town Transit Center is next to the park. The Blue and Green trolley lines stop there, says MTS.
Coronado
Getting there: Flagship ferry to Coronado: $9 one way, about 15 minutes. From Broadway Pier it leaves every 60 minutes. From the Convention Center it leaves every 30 minutes. Phone 619-234-4111 (Flagship, Coronado ferry page, read 14 Oct 2026)
We could not read the City of Coronado or Hotel del Coronado pages, so we give no beach, shuttle or hotel details.
La Jolla Cove
Note: We found no official page with an address, hours or fee for the cove. Wikipedia says California sea lions live there, that free parking is limited and all on the street, and that it is illegal to harass the sea lions (Wikipedia, La Jolla Cove, read 14 Oct 2026)
We could not confirm a bus route to La Jolla Cove, so we cannot say how long it takes without a car.
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve: closed until about March 2027
Note: California State Parks says the reserve is closed to all visitors from 22 September 2026, including people on foot, bikes and cars. All trails, the Beach Trail stairs, the Lodge and both upper parking lots are closed. Its news release says the reserve should reopen in March 2027. Torrey Pines State Beach and its North and South Beach lots stay open (California State Parks, park page and news release 1578, read 14 Oct 2026)
Price: Beach parking uses demand pricing: North Beach $10 to $25 a vehicle, South Beach $12 to $25 a vehicle (California State Parks, park page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Gaslamp Quarter
The Gaslamp Quarter is a downtown area of restaurants, bars and live music. Hours depend on each venue. The Green Line trolley stops there (MTS, trolley page, read 14 Oct 2026).
Do you need a car in San Diego?
No, for downtown, the Gaslamp Quarter, Old Town, the zoo, Balboa Park and Coronado. The airport has a direct bus, and the Santa Fe Depot train station is on the trolley. This is our view from the MTS and Pacific Surfliner pages. We did not ride the system.
Price: MTS fares: adult $3.00 one way, $7.00 for a day. Reduced fare with ID $1.50 one way and $3.50 for a day. Rapid Express and premium routes $6.00 one way and $14.00 for a day. Riders 18 and under ride free with a Youth PRONTO card or app (MTS, fares page, read 14 Oct 2026). These are the fares after the change on 1 October 2026. SANDAG's news release of 17 July 2026 says the adult month pass went from $72 to $85 on that date, and that a second rise follows on 1 October 2027
Getting there: Trolley: the Blue Line runs from UTC Transit Center in La Jolla through downtown to San Ysidro at the Mexico border, with stops at Santa Fe Depot and Old Town. The Green Line serves the Gaslamp Quarter, Santa Fe Depot and Old Town. We could not read hours or how often they run (MTS, trolley page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Getting there: Airport: route 992 runs between both terminals and Santa Fe Depot in about 15 minutes. It runs from 4:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., every 15 minutes. The free San Diego Flyer runs to Old Town Transit Center from 4:45 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., every 20 to 30 minutes (MTS, airport page, read 14 Oct 2026)
A car helps most for La Jolla. Parking costs money at the big sights: the zoo is $16 a day and the Midway's lot is $20 for up to 6 hours.
How far is San Diego from LA?
By train, 2 hours 54 to 2 hours 57 minutes from Los Angeles Union Station to downtown San Diego. By road, Greyhound's Los Angeles to San Diego page gives a shortest distance of 116 miles (read 26 Oct 2026). We did not check drive times.
Getting there: Pacific Surfliner timetable, effective 4 May 2026: 13 trains a day from Los Angeles to San Diego, leaving Union Station from 6:10 a.m. to 10:10 p.m. They reach downtown San Diego 2 hours 54 to 2 hours 57 minutes later, and Old Town San Diego about 13 minutes before that. There are also 13 trains a day the other way. Stops include Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Oceanside and Solana Beach. The timetable gives no fares (Pacific Surfliner, schedules page and PDF timetable, read 14 Oct 2026)
Note: Service alerts on the Pacific Surfliner home page on 14 October 2026: no trains anywhere between San Diego and San Luis Obispo on 7 and 8 November 2026, with no bus bridge. Trains 566 and 567 were canceled on 14 October because of a disabled freight train near San Clemente. Check the alerts for your date
Where to stay in San Diego
We did not check any hotel's rate or room list, so we give no prices.
| Area | What it is near |
|---|---|
| Downtown and Gaslamp Quarter | Green Line trolley, Santa Fe Depot, the airport bus, the Midway, the Broadway Pier ferry |
| Old Town | Old Town Transit Center, with the Blue and Green trolleys, and the state park |
| Coronado | The beach and the ferry to downtown |
| La Jolla | La Jolla Cove and the UTC end of the Blue Line |
Downtown suits a first trip without a car, because the train, trolley, airport bus and ferry all meet there. Old Town works if your train stops there. Coronado and La Jolla are quieter. We did not check walking times from each area to the sights.
What we checked and what can change
Read on 14 October 2026: the San Diego Zoo tickets and plan your visit pages, the Balboa Park visit page, the City of San Diego's Balboa Park page, the USS Midway Museum's know before you go and buy tickets pages, California State Parks pages for Old Town and Torrey Pines and its Torrey Pines news release, the Flagship Coronado ferry page, MTS fares, trolley and airport pages, the MTS fare change page, SANDAG's news release of 17 July 2026, the Pacific Surfliner home page, schedules page and PDF timetable, and Wikipedia's La Jolla Cove entry.
Not confirmed: which Balboa Park gardens are free, Explorer Pass prices, Balboa Park hours, the Zoo's Kids Free terms, free entry to Old Town stated in words, any official address or fee for La Jolla Cove, any bus to La Jolla Cove, trolley hours, Surfliner fares, the road distance and drive time from LA, the exact Torrey Pines reopening day, and any hotel rate. Prices and hours change, so check the operator's page for your date. We did not visit San Diego for this page.
