San Diego

San Diego from air and sea

San Diego’s nickname is ‘America’s Finest City’, and with great weather, plenty of attractions and an enviable ocean-side location it’s hard to disagree.

Take a cruise and take in San Diego's skyline © Patricia Carswell/Lonely Planet

Patricia Carswell

Lonely Planet Writer

In the last few years, San Diego has come into its own on the international beer scene and is now one of America’s capital of craft beer. Dubbed the ‘Napa Valley of craft beer,’ San Diego county is renowned for its West Coast-style India Pale Ales (IPAs) and even stronger, hoppier Double IPAs, with more than 100 (and counting) breweries, which between them won 15 medals at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival.

Every November San Diego Beer Week (sdbw.org) showcases a host of craft-beer-related events, from barrel tastings to wine versus beer food-pairings. Year round, Brew Hop (brewhop.com) can put together guided brewery tours tailored to your taste buds, while Brewery Tours of San Diego (brewerytoursofsandiego.com) run daily scheduled group tours. You can track down your top tipple with a beer savvy app such as TapHunter (taphunter.com) and the San Diego Beer Guide (sandiegobeerapp.com), or download maps and information from the San Diego Brewer’s Guild website (sandiegobrewersguild.org).

Sarah Gilbert

Lonely Planet Writer

First time San Diego: discover the best of America's finest city

San Diego calls itself America’s Finest City, and who are we to argue? Its sunny, breezy countenance animates the pandas and koalas at its world-famous zoo, skaters and surfers on its iconic beaches, tousled-haired valet parkers and vested bartenders slinging drinks in hipster hangouts of the Gaslamp Quarter. It’s the nation’s eighth-largest city, yet we’re hard-pressed to think of a more laid-back burg of any size.

Boats harbored in San Diego Marina. Image by B Garrett / CC BY 2.0

Andrew Bender

Lonely Planet Writer