12 of the Best Things To Do on a Girls Weekend in San Diego
Planning a girls weekend in San Diego? This guide has the best places to shop, hike, and beach hop during a San Diego girls trip.
From art museums and vintage shops to oceanfront trails and whale-watching boat tours, there are endless fun things to do on a San Diego girls weekend.
The sun-soaked coast of Southern California is the perfect destination to spend time with your gals, whether for a girls getaway or a weekend bachelorette party in San Diego. If you’re planning a girls trip to San Diego and looking for the best shopping streets, beaches, and entertainment venues, this list will point you to a few of my favorite spots.
Keep reading for 12 things to do on a girls weekend in San Diego below and be sure to check out the city pass I recommend that includes admission to museums, kayak and bike rentals, boat rides, city tours, and so much more. I used it on my last San Diego trip and it made it so easy to hop around to these activities!
San Diego Girls Trip Go City Pass
I used it on my last trip to the city, and not only can it save you on admission, but it’s also a lot quicker and easier than waiting in line for tickets or coordinating payments with a group. If everyone on your San Diego girls trip buys her own pass, you’ll each just be able to pull it up on your phone at the attractions you visit and be ready to go!
And it’s not just for admission to museums and the zoo either. There are some really cool things on there like a speed boat adventure, a whale-watching cruise, stand-up paddleboard and bike rentals, and city tours.
Things To Do on a Girls Weekend in San Diego
From hiking and stand-up paddleboarding to the best places to shop and museum hop, these are my favorite things to do on a girls weekend in San Diego.
Explore Balboa Park
You can’t skip Balboa Park on a girls weekend in San Diego. The urban park is packed with cultural attractions, and you could easily spend a whole day here hopping in and out of museums, walking the garden trails, and taking photos in front of historic buildings.
One of the most famous landmarks in Balboa is the San Diego Zoo, but on a San Diego girls weekend I prefer to visit spots like the Japanese Friendship Garden, Mingei Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, and Spanish Village Art Center. There are actually 18 museums in the park, so it’s easy to find a niche spot that your girl group will love. You can also check the performance schedule at Spreckles Organ Pavilion for outdoor concerts and The Old Globe for shows.
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Beach Hop in San Diego
Southern California has miles of beautiful, sun-soaked coastline, and a girls weekend in San Diego is the perfect time to beach hop around the area. Depending on where you’re staying and how long you have, you may prefer to just visit one or two close by, or you can attempt to beach hop to all the suggestions below.
Spanning down the coast from La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach are three popular options close to downtown. Pacific Beach is known for its party vibes, with beach bars and casual cafes. Mission Beach has a fun boardwalk, walking and biking trails, and the oceanfront Belmont Park with rides and carnival snacks. Ocean Beach is all about the weird and quirky vibes and is a haven for artists, free spirits, and surfers.
Further up the coast north of La Jolla and Torrey Pines, you’ll find other incredible spots, like Carlsbad and South Carlsbad State Beach, Del Mar, Moonlight State Beach, and Oceanside.
Check Out the Museums
If your girl group is into museums, there are some great ones in the city that you should check out on your San Diego girls weekend, many of which are concentrated in Balboa Park and along the waterfront downtown.
The USS Midway Museum is perhaps the best known, located on a historic aircraft carrier on the harbor. It has over 30 old planes and helicopters you can see up close and audio tours to guide you around the different levels of the huge ship.
The museums of Balboa Park are a can’t-miss, and there are 18 you can pick from. Art lovers especially will enjoy the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Mingei International Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, and the San Diego Museum of Art.
The Women’s Museum of California is also a great choice on a San Diego girls trip. Other niche options in Balboa Park include the Comic-Con Museum, the San Diego Air and Space Museum, and the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages.
Grab Dinner and Drinks in the Gaslamp Quarter
The Gaslamp Quarter is where you want to go out at night on a girls weekend in San Diego. The downtown San Diego district is full of wine bars, cocktail lounges, restaurants, and entertainment venues, perfect for meeting up with friends for drinks and dinner.
Check out the Balboa Theatre and Spreckles Theatre if you want to add a show to your San Diego itinerary. Both historic downtown performance venues have a calendar of live concerts, plays, ballets, movies, and more.
If you’re planning a bachelorette party in San Diego, the Gaslamp Quarter is the perfect zone to bar-hop and have a great time with the girls!
Hike Along the Coast
Outdoorsy gals looking to hit the trails on a San Diego girls weekend will find lots a great spots to hike along the coast near the city.
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is one of my favorite spots to hike near San Diego, located about 20 miles north of downtown on the oceanfront. Several short trails in the park lead to different overlooks of the jagged, rocky coastline from atop the ridges. I did a 2.5-mile route to Yucca Point, Razor Point, and down to the beach, where you can walk near the water at low tide.
Cabrillo National Monument at the tip of Point Loma is another great option for incredible views and short hikes. The only National Park Service site in the county, the park juts into the Pacific on a peninsula and has a lighthouse and monument to explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. To hike here, head to the Bayside Trail for a 2.5-mile path down to the water line, or the Coastal Trail for a 1-mile steep walk to tide pools and an old World War II shelter.
For an easy walk with beautiful Pacific vistas, head to Sunset Cliffs Natural Park near Ocean Beach. The bluffs here stretch along 68 acres of coastline on the western side of Point Loma, with views of rock arches, sea caves, and marine life. The section along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard is the easiest to access, though it gets busy here around sunset, a gorgeous time to visit and watch the sky turn to shades of pink and orange over the sea.
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Bike Around the City
Biking around San Diego is such a fun way to explore on an outdoorsy girls weekend in San Diego. With beautiful paths like the Pacific Beach Boardwalk, Bayshore Bikeway on Coronado Island, and the San Diego River Trail, you’ll have your pick of where to cycle.
Aside from trail riding, bikes are a great way to get around town if you don’t want to spend the weekend sitting in traffic and looking for parking spots.
Take a Sightseeing or Whale Watching Cruise
A sightseeing cruise in the bay is the perfect group activity on a girls trip to San Diego. The narrated boat rides take you around to see the city skyline, offshore islands, and the wildlife that hangs around in this area (hello, sea lions).
You can order drinks and food onboard for a fun afternoon out on the water with the girls!
Rent Paddleboards or Kayaks
Want to get out on the water during your San Diego girls weekend? There are tons of great spots to go kayaking or stand-up paddleboarding along the 70 miles of coastline in San Diego County.
Visit Old Town San Diego
Old Town San Diego is a fun spot to hang out during your girls trip, since it has a blend of history, sightseeing, shopping, and dining in a walkable area. The Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is a living history museum in a village setting with old-timey buildings and cute little stores.
You can stock up on handmade taffy at Cousin’s Candy Shops, try on vintage hats at the Johnson House, and grab a coffee from the Rust General Store in between touring the museums and 1800s houses. There’s also a festive shopping center, wine bar, and restaurant at the attached Fiesta del Reyes.
Outside the park, Old Town spills over into surrounding blocks full of cute coffee and ice cream shops, a brewery, a saloon, and tons of Mexican restaurants. There are also nighttime ghost tours in this area if your girl group is into spooky fun.
Ride and Play at Belmont Park
Looking for a fun spot to go hang out with a group on a girls weekend in San Diego? You can’t go wrong with the oceanfront Belmont Park. Located in Mission Beach, the park dates back to 1925 and is full of classic coasters, fair foods, and all the carnival vibes you could hope for.
There are also some cool eateries here where you can have drinks with an ocean view or even rent out a space for a bachelorette party in San Diego. Cannonball serves sushi and Pacific-inspired dishes and has a rooftop with fire pits and Beach House has tiki bar vibes with cabanas just steps from the sand.
Catch a Show at the Shell
The Rady Shell at Jacob’s Park is the spot to catch a concert or show during your weekend in San Diego. Located on the bay near downtown, the open-air live music venue looks like a work of art on the coastline.
Check the calendar to see what’s on during your San Diego girls trip. The concert season is mostly May through December.
When there aren’t any events going on, you can head to the steps at the stage to watch the sunset behind Coronado Island. The neighboring South Embarcadero park is also open to the public with a fishing pier, restaurants, and a waterfront walking path.
Go Shopping
Looking for places to go shopping for a San Diego girls weekend? There are tons of fun neighborhoods and beach towns with everything from lux boutiques to funky vintage shops.
In the Village of La Jolla, head toward Girard Avenue and Prospect Street for high-end goods and the can’t-miss Warwicks bookstore. Hillcrest just north of Balboa Park has an eclectic collection of second-hand and vintage shops. Liberty Station in Point Loma has artsy shops and galleries, home goods, and a gastropub brewery along Historic Decatur Road and surrounding blocks.
You also don’t want to miss the Spanish Village Arts Center in Balboa Park, where over 200 artisans sell their paintings, jewelry, and decor, or the open-air markets at Old Town for colorful clothes and handicrafts.