Jay71

I appreciate the info your question has/will generated.

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We've tentatively booked a small boutique hotel in Little Italy.
Appreciate the local transportation tips.

darthbimmer

The part that will be hard is finding 2 weeks worth of things to do without a car. A trip of 3-4 days without a car? No problem. Plenty of stuff is easy to walk to or reach via good public transportation. Do 2 weeks of touring based around San Diego? After the first few days you'll be itching to have your own car.

Added: See this thread for a recent example how difficult it is to get around via public transit/taxis/Uber outside of town:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/26419630-post10.html

Roger

Thanks, darthbimmer. I just checked - it's actually 11 days. Same principle applies, though.

That's partly why I'm planning 3 separate hotel stays. With a car, no problem of course, but that won't happen this time.

SanDiego1K

Consider Coronado Island should one of your hotel options be there. It's charming. There's not a lot to do other than enjoy the beauty, use the beaches and eat in its restaurants but for 3 days or so that might be enough.

Roger

Thanks, SanDiego1K, for your suggestion of Coronado Island. Building it into the plan.

Troopers

Must say that I stayed at the Gaslamp for a night this past weekend. Haven't strolled the Gaslamp in years. I must be getting older or something but it's not my scene.

SanDiego1K

We ate there yesterday. It was great. It is roughly a 5 minute ride from the rental car building, probably no further by Uber from the terminals. I wouldn't fly cross country for it, but if I had 3 or 4 hours connection, I'd come over. The various variants of chicken and eggs were imaginative and good. They have six different sauces for the chicken. There is spacious outside seating that appeals.

San Diego Magazine's review of the menu was my guide for what to eat. I particularly enjoyed the chicken oysters. We didn't make it thru the six mini biscuits, so took them home. They were excellent with the miso/maple/bacon butter.

Jay71

Just a follow up on our stay.

Again, I appreciate all the feedback we received because it was pretty bang on.
We stayed in a little boutique hotel in the Little Italy district and the missus and I agreed that this was the right neighbourhood for us as it is a very walkable district with a number of restaurants in the area. Parking was a bit of a pain in the rear though, mainly because we stayed over a Wednesday and Thursday when they did overnight street cleaning and overnight parking spots were at a premium as half the streets weren't available one overnight and the other half weren't available the other overnight.

We walked from Little Italy to the Marina district, to Gaslamp district, and back. It is a bit of a trek but I think it's a reasonable walk. Didn't feel unsafe walking back from the Gaslamp district but a few of the block felt a bit sketchy and fairly deserted. Agree with the comments that Marina district was likely a bit too quiet for us. The Gaslamp district reminded a me a little bit of Gastown in Vancouver with a lot of pubs. If I was visiting with buddies instead of the missus, I'd probably lean more towards staying in the Gaslamp district.

We visited Coronado, La Jolla, Old Town, etc among other places and I think those districts are likely a bit further out that we would have liked to have been.

We did eat at Crack Shack twice for "small bites"; once for the Chicken Oysters and the second for the Firebird and Cracked Slaw. The Chicken Oysters were delicious; 9 out of 10. Really nice flavour, crispy on the outside and tender and moist in the inside. 1 point deducted for being a tad oily. Because the Chicken Oysters were so delicious, had to go back to try a sandwich. Firefird was tasty; a little heat but no burn. The pickles and brioche bun were nice pieces of the sandwich. (It's so disappointing to have a great sandwich/burger with a subpar bun.)
The Cracked Slaw was good with some unique flavours for us.
The staff were really friendly and we were able to avoid the rush by going way before lunch time.

SanDiego1K

Jay71, thanks for circling back and giving us a trip report. Glad you had a good stay in my city.

Roger

And +1 from me. A great help for our upcoming stay.

Madone59

+1. I live here and his report give me ideas.....I haven't been to Crack Shack in months. Thanks Jay71^

bigguyinpasadena

I just stayed the night at the Grand Hyatt and I really love the location.
It gives easy access to Little Italy and the Gas Lamp district, there is a trolley stop right across the street, and the Amtrak station is a short distance away. IMO as I like to walk and San Diego has fantastic weather for walking most of the year.

It is a HUGE hotel-and not to everyone's taste-but staying on the 34th floor and looking out at PetCo park and the marina (FIREWORKS!) and taking nice strolls is a real treat for me.

One area I would not recommend is the area near the Andaz- noisy, dirty and a bit dangerous. But there are some fun bars around there

Non-NonRev

Another vote for Juniper and Ivy. Here is an illustrated review:

http://www.kevineats.com/2015/04/jun...-diego-ca.html

Jasper2009

I'm planning to attend a conference at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego.

Unfortunately the hotel is already sold out, so I'm wondering whether anyone can recommend any decent hotels nearby?

It doesn't have to be anything overly fancy, a 3* hotel or even a nice B&B would be perfectly sufficient.

I had a look at properties in Coronado itself, though the choice seems to be between very low-end properties and the Hotel del Coronado at $450/night.

Since I'm not overly familiar with the area, any input would be much appreciated. Thanks!

MSPeconomist

IIRC there's a Marriott on Coronado.

There's also boat service between Coronado and someplace near convention center, but I don't know how close this is to Loew's. Check pricing and frequency before booking the Grand Hyatt, Marriott at Convention Center, Hilton, etc.