<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by amanuensis:
I am resisting renting a car because the hotel changes A LOT for parking. So hence my query to those of you with local knowledge: is there any place safe to park a rental car that is within walking distance of the hotel that charges a lower parking rate, say at the golf course or at the nature reserve. What about just parking the car on a side road? Since the hotel has a free shuttle service, is there some place in downtown La Jolla where I could park the car and use the shuttle service to get to as needed? I absolutely HATE paying high parking fees at hotels.</font>
Unfortunately I think you are out of luck w/parking. The nature reserve closes at night, and street parking (there is little of it in the north torrey pines area) is 2-hours where it exists, which is closer to UCSD. The Biotech companies probably tow. The only free lot I can think of in that general area is the glider port, and you're looking at a minimum 1/2 hour walk from there to the hotel.
Outside of downtown La Jolla, once you get to the residential areas, you can find free street parking. Downtown is all meters or 1 or 2 hour limits.